Do you meal stack or meal space?
There are many different perspectives, theories and understanding of how to feed ourselves. From paleo, low carb, raw food, fat free, fat full, vegan, vegetarian, and so on. From eating every 2 hours to intermittent fasting. To me, having all the information wasn’t necessary comforting. Most of the time I was overwhelmed and unsure and lacking confidence in how to feed myself.
To be honest, I have probably tried them all at some point in my life, starting with the fat free approach when I was an athlete in high school. It wasn’t until I really started learning and applying Ayurvedic practices into my own life that I truly shifted towards an easeful relationship with food, digestion and true nourishment at a deeper level. Ayurveda is about preserving and maintaining health through everyday living. And on a basic level, our health is determined by what we can digest. This insight has led me to greater confidence in my own health and the health of family, than ever before.
I don’t diet, but twice a year I consciously set aside 3 weeks to give my digestive system a break, pull myself back from the fast pace of life and I rest. It’s honestly become less about food and more about a more disciplined bedtime rhythm and restrictions on screentime and access to media. I take care of myself at a deeper level, meditate more, play more and always feel lighter and so much more connected. This fall, I gained a kind of clarity I wasn’t suspecting and am still experiencing the ripple effect.
My teacher calls this “emptying the bucket”.
Have you ever had a bucket sit out in your yard and collect rainwater over a few different storms and gone back a few weeks later to find it full of scum and muck? Maybe that’s just around here. We’ve created a small urban farm of sorts on our property and we have a number of buckets around for watering, collecting eggs, collecting grass for the chickens and simply for splashing around fun in the summer months. Every so often, there’s a bucket that doesn’t get dumped and after a while it needs “tending to”, that usually means more than just dumping it out, but a good scrub. I believe our digestive systems need the same attention.
If we don’t give our digestive systems a break, food gets backed up, rots and becomes toxic. In Ayurveda, this is referred to as ama. Ama is the toxic buildup or sludge in the system that slows us down. It’s not moved out of the system quickly enough. If our digestive system slows down or gets backed up by stacking meal on top of meal without assimilating and digesting the nutrients we so carefully prepared, acidity is created in the system. The acidity can then leak out of the gut and cause more problems like migrate to our joints and settle in.
“Toxins accumulated in the body weaken the immune system and we become vulnerable to infections; they adversely effect our digestion and eventually can lead to serious neurological problems. As you can see, low digestive fire (agni) and excess production of toxins in the body is the main reason that we get sick according to Ayurveda.” – Dr. Vasant Lad, Founder of The Ayurvedic Institute
A lot of people who join my 10 week Embody Ease course share they woke with some level of joint pain before the course. They thought this was normal, a symptom of aging. I disagree and so does Ayurveda. We can shift the way we age with some simple lifestyle shifts and a supportive community. Most of our health problems are lifestyle issues and we have the ability to shift into a “new normal”. What’s cool is that 3-4 weeks into the ALIGN course with some minor shifts in when and how often they were eating and other simple lifestyle approaches these same people are waking with less pain and more energy throughout the day.
Why? How? Huh?
They put in place simple practices. They aren’t dieting, cleansing or detoxing. They are simply waiting for their food to digest in between meals and simply drinking room temperature or hot water between meals. This may sound simple and it is, unless you are used to snacking all day. Maybe you have a bowl of nuts on the counter that you reach for unconsciously as you walk through the kitchen or you typically offer your kids a snack on their way in the door after school and find yourself munching along. Or you grab a protein bar on your way home from the gym. It’s not a meal, it’s a snack. It’s a small nosh in the middle of the day.
According to Ayurveda this done regularly starts to slow down the digestive system and the digestive fire, which is referred to as agni. According to Dr. Vasant Lad, “agni is the main source of life and if you worship agni, you will be blessed with perfect health.”
3 Basic Tips to Increase Digestive Fire:
- Only drink room temperature or hot water between meals.
- Eat 2-3 times a day versus 5-6 small meals and have your last meal by 7pm.
- Drink a Digestive Tea before meals.
- Mix together equal parts a cumin, coriander and fennel
- Grind together in a high-powered blender or coffee grinder
- Store in a glass jar on your counter to be reminded to use it
- Place 1 t in a cup of hot water and drink
Spend a few days and look at your eating habits and how you feel when you wake up in the morning. The feeling you have in your body, mind and spirit upon waking is a good indicator of your overall health. Direct your awareness to your health first thing in the morning. If you feel lethargic, achy, and dull it’s likely there’s a need to “empty the bucket” and I suggest begin by eliminating snacking and replace with it water and watch how you feel in the morning shift and your overall energy soar as a result.
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Rachel Peters is a yoga teacher, yoga health coach, lifestyle and habits expert, easeful living advocate, and lover of wild places. She leads others towards Embodying Ease through a yearlong wellness & lifestyle journey to dissolve perfectionism, embody daily habits that promote mental clarity, overall ease, and deeper connection to life on this wild ride of modern living. Learn MORE today!