It’s not what you eat, it’s what you digest. In today’s episode I talk about the relationship between how you approach eating and your digestive health.

It's short and sweet and will hopefully lead you to enjoy your next meal mindfully.

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Welcome to the Simple Ayurveda podcast. I’m Angela Perger, and this is a place where we discuss how ancient wisdom can be applied to your everyday life, so that you can be your happiest, healthiest self.  

Thank you for tuning in to episode 6. Today I am talking about mindful eating practices and why they are so essential in Ayurveda. And it all starts with agni, your digestive fire. In Ayurveda there is a saying, “It's not what you eat, it’s what you digest.” And that’s because our agni has to process everything that we take it, whether it’s food, drink, sounds, thoughts, the environment, conversations and so on. Everything we consume takes us toward or away from our natural state of balance. 

One of the ways that we can help to take care of our agni is to enjoy the proper amount of food under peaceful, relaxing conditions. So, our agni has to process everything that we take in. And that means that if we eat food while consuming media, whether it’s a television show, reading a book, going on our computers or our phones, we’re asking our agni to do two things at once. We’re asking it to digest the food and then also mentally digest that information that we’re taking in. not to mention that often times that information that we take in charges us in a certain way, and could be tied to emotions or feelings. So we’re just piling on more things that we’re asking our body to process at once. And for me, when I started to get more serious about this Ayurvedic lifestyle, it was one of the hardest things to give up was reading while I eat. Because I have little ones and so the time that they were taking a nap or at preschool for a few hours, I tried to cram in as much as I could and that meant eating something at the same time as doing something else, and that is detrimental to my health because my body just can’t process the food properly if it’s doing two things at once. So if you get nothing else out of this podcast episode, that maybe just take into consideration all of the things that we ask our body to do in a day and figure out a time where you could eat a meal, or two, or all of them under peaceful conditions giving your body the optimal environment and experience to do what it needs to do. 

Ayurveda teaches that overeating in one sitting is one of the most damaging things we can do to our agni. And for me that’s where these mindful eating practices are so powerful, in taking ownership over my own health. So some of the things that I’ve been working on for myself and for my family are taking a deep breath before eating, and it’s sort of just like Yoga, taking the time to pause and be mindful rather than mindlessly consuming things, and slowing down. And when I take that pause, then I can remember the practice of taking a moment in gratitude for the farmer that made the food, and I do this a lot with my son who is five, we talk about the transportation that it took for the food to get to us, the people that work in the store that make it possible for us to go and buy it. 

Ayurveda recommends avoiding stressful conversation while eating, so for me this means that if my husband brings up politics or the news at the dinner table, I tell him that it’s going to have to wait until later because it’s not good for my digestive fire to hear this right now. And at this point he laughs and he understands and he goes along with it. So, other topics that I try to avoid at the dinner table are schedules, planning things out, the logistics of running a household, if there’s a bill due, anything like that. I save it for another time when I’m not eating, and just try to keep the conversation positive and light. It can be really challenging to create this sort of environment with the kids, but just by setting up as many things as I can, like having their plates and their drinks where they can reach them, and trying to make the meal go smoothly is still a work in progress, to create that soothing environment for meals. 

Another really important part of mindful eating is to slow down, and to chew the food thoroughly. My teacher recommends putting the utensil down between bites and this is a really tough but powerful practice for me. I have a lot of pitta dosha which means I’m fiery, I like to do things quickly and efficiently and this often plays out with how I eat my food. But putting the utensil down between bites helps me to slow down and gives me the time to chew when the next bite is not already in my hand waiting. And Ayurveda would recommend that you chew each bite until liquid mush. So just taking the time to eat and chew thoroughly and practice gratitude around the meal really makes a big difference. And this is where Ayurveda is a holistic science because it looks at everything that we do, mind, body, soul and the senses, to contribute to this overall natural way of being of health and wellness. So doing things that are in alignment with our natural state of being. And it doesn’t matter if we make the healthiest dinner ever, if we eat it in a rush with a bad attitude it’s not going to make us well. 

I invite you to consider how you can create a soothing environment around your meals, what practices would help you to slow down, to notice if you’re like me and you like to read or consume media while you’re eating, and just start with one meal a day or more depending where you’re at right now in your own journey, and see what it feels like to start to be a little more mindful around your meals. 

You can find out more at simpleayurveda.com. All of the social media will be listed in the show notes. Thank you so much for being here. Namaste.