EATING – THE AYURVEDIC WAY
Ayurveda strongly recommends eating with your hands as the best way to eat. Avoiding cutlery such as forks, spoons and knives, might not seem like an attractive option, but give it a try when you are eating at home, and the changes to the digestive process it makes will shock you.
Ayurveda considers eating to be a sacred ritual. It requires due diligence and patience so that all nutrients are absorbed by the body, and all components of food are properly broken down. In order to ensure that this happens, it is important to eat your meals in a set manner. One reason why eating with your hands is the healthier option is due to the fact that it makes it impossible to multitask. This means, before every meal you’ll have to put away all your gadgets, and sit down, undistracted to truly enjoy the eating experience. It also allows you to eat your food with total awareness. Embrace how each dish tastes, feel it on your tongue and ONLY eat enough to fill your stomach. This heightened awareness and focus on the meal greatly stimulates digestion, and makes a healthy difference.
When the hand comes into contact with the food, you get an awareness of the texture of the food, the temperature and your body responds by preparing itself to digest the dish by salivating. This preparation is mostly lost when you choose to eat with tableware. Ayurveda also recommends a few other tips for enhancing the food experience.
Never eat when you are angry, depressed, sad or anxious. Any negative emotions in the body can hinder the digestion process and result in accumulation of ama or toxins in the body.- Always try to sit cross legged on the floor while eating. This puts the body in the ideal position for healthy gastrointestinal
- Remember to chew your food well, for a minimum of at least 32 times before you swallow. This helps the stomach and lowers the possibility of improper digestion.
- Enjoy the food in front of you. The body acknowledges positive feelings and this helps it function better.
Never eat when you are angry, depressed, sad or anxious. Any negative emotions in the body can hinder the By following these simple ways, your meal times become better, and consequently so does your digestion.
