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Digestion and Agni

Digestive help, Agni Support

Marie Mills: Posted on Tuesday, February 01, 2011 6:36 PM

Digestion really takes a hit in our life when we are busy and trying to get 'Everything done.'

Eating on the run has alot to answer for in this modern world. The routine of sitting down to enjoy one solid meal every day are almost a treat for some people, not to mention families!

So let's start at the beginning. In last week's post I was giving very simple steps to helping the digestion freshen up as signs of spring and Pitta try to move in and shove Kapha and Vata, our winter weather out of the way!

Digestion starts in our mouth. In the effort of chewing and the enzymatic process that takes place is quite related to the joy of eating, the comfort of feeling full, and taking our time to chew, and masticate our food so that the stomach can focus energy on the further digestive processes.

Armed with that information, it is very relevant to understand how much each individual should we intake and chew at one sitting?

Place your hands together and make fists, as the picture shows. This gives an individual a pretty good idea of the size of their stomach.

This does not mean you can eat that much food though!

For in Ayurveda there is the rule of three.

One fist is for chewed food. And the other fist, imagine it split in two parts- one part is for space, and the other part is for tepid liquid during the meal. We need the space for the action of the stomach, and we need the liquid for lubrication.

Food for thought for us all, those who over eat, and those who undereat, this is vital information, and most of us do a bit of each. Keeping it balanced is the most important.

(Please note: there is a slight difference in some schools, where the fists are split into 3 equal parts.)

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Balancing actions

Marie Mills: Posted on Monday, January 24, 2011 11:42 PM

It is that time of year where the body may need just a little help to fight any colds that may be passing around the house and office. And the next few simple rules, although almost too simple, are massively important to our digestive health and Agni support.

*Remember most of all that digestion begins in the mouth...our stomach does not have teeth, so it is important to chew our food as much as possible. One chew for each tooth may be a little excessive, but it does hold a point and creates a challenge, how much can you chew before swallowing? Test yourself and see.

*Never Ever use cold drinks with your meal, as this has a debilitating effect on the digestive actions, it is best to have a room temperature half glass of water during all meals.

*Know the physical size of your stomach is your two fists placed knuckles together in front of you. We can split this size in 3, one full fist is the amount of chewed food at one sitting. The other fist is halved, for liquid and an equal size for space which allows for the movement of digestive action.

*To begin to notice when you are full, and stop eating then, this is often signaled with the first small tiny burp.

*To try to eat just three meals a day, sitting down and if absolutely necessary...one snack. Avoid at all costs picking and grazing.

*This is a great time to get the warming pungent taste of ginger into your body through the day. It is best to make a flask of freshly grated ginger root tea, with a small amount of cinnamon bark(if you have high acidity, this may not suit you if you use too much ginger root, so use less and add fennel seeds to cool the effect).

Sip this through the day to increase the power of your digestion, especially 15 minutes before your meal and after. In this way assisting in your natural Agni and encouraging any excess Ama out of the digestive channel.

I hope this serves you well in the work to recreate Balance after Christmas and its digestive imbalances, Bon Appetite.

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Digestive help, Agni Support

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