With festive season coming,
Christmas season coming,
There is going to be an abundance of edible delights and perhaps some not exactly edible substances that you'll be digesting or attempting to digest.
Well,
This track on Insight Timer is to help you mitigate the really inevitable accumulation of toxins that will be happening over the festive period.
So Merry Christmas,
Happy Hanukkah,
Happy New Year,
Happy Festive Season,
Whatever you are doing in this season,
Which in Australia we call silly season,
I'm going to help you support your digestion for minimal repercussions from the accumulation of toxic sticky substances,
Which happens when we can't digest food well or whatever we're trying to digest.
So this track on Insight Timer is with that intention to provide you with some tools to have under your belt this festive season.
I'm going to touch on them and you can perhaps indulge and that's the reality,
We're going to indulge,
We're going to enjoy the abundance of sweets and all the heavy foods which we are going to love once a year and we're going to eat it with joy and gratitude,
Guilt free and in moderation.
So here are some tips to digest this because why we need to digest and metabolize it is because if we don't,
Whether it is from a poor food and or it is from poor digestion,
That food will turn to a thick and sticky substance which will congest different parts of the body.
So in Ayurvedic medicine,
This sticky substance which we call Ama is the cause of most diseases when food is not digested well or when drinks or anything is not digested well,
Instead of turning to a thin fluid and nourishing the body,
It is turned to a thick fluid and congests the body and blocks certain channels which creates some issues.
So how are we going to do it?
I'm going to tell you,
Here are a few tips to digest the silly season and for less sticky toxic substance and more nectar from whatever the food is.
Number one is eat seasonally.
So our digestive fire is stronger in the winter and it's weaker in the summer.
That is because the cold wind of the winter causes our body,
The heat in our body to gather like a lump inside the stomach and increase this digestive fire to keep warm.
So therefore you may have noticed in the winter we actually have stronger digestion,
We have stronger digestive capacity,
Stronger appetite.
Modern science also shows this because the amylase enzyme,
Which is an enzyme important for digestive health and for digesting heavy proteins like gluten,
Amylase enzyme increases in the winter and it decreases in the summer.
Also our parasympathetic nervous system,
The rest and digest nervous system increases in the winter,
Decreases in the summer.
We have a greater hot,
Fiery,
Acidic,
Digestive secretions and enzymes and acids are stronger in the winter and we don't want them in the summer.
So wherever in the world you're going to indulge,
But at least if you're in the southern hemisphere,
If it is summertime when your digestion is weaker,
Perhaps consider using things like fruits as your party foods,
As your Christmas foods,
Having lighter foods.
Another second principle is eat with the sun.
Schedule your main meal,
Have your celebratory food and celebratory gatherings at midday and because your digestive fire is regulated by the sun,
When the sun is the strongest,
Your digestion is the strongest.
Your digestion is more robust and it's more fiery.
So have the main meal at lunch,
Those heavy foods,
Try schedule more lunch dates and you can do this beyond Christmas,
Beyond festive season.
You can do it in general,
These big meals,
Have it in midday because if you have a heavy dinner and heavy food at night,
You're going to lack the capacity to metabolize that toxic accumulation and you're going to neglect your sleep and all the important things which happen at sleep because your body's like,
What's in me?
I've got to digest this thing right now.
I'm meant to be doing other things like hormonal regeneration and liver detox and all the important things that I speak about on my Insight Timer tracks and courses on optimal sleep.
So we want to reserve our biological attention for optimal sleep.
We don't want to attend to the gut at night,
We want that to be in the middle of the day.
Third principle is avoid snacking.
This is simple,
Stick to three meals a day,
No snacks,
Give your digestion a rest in between each meal.
Simple as that,
Especially with the heavy foods,
Just rest it for a bit,
Sip hot water.
Fourth thing is use herbal digestive support.
Certain aphrodisiac herbal formulations like shodanavati or triphala and that tridoshic digestive tea,
You can make your own digestive tea as well,
Which I'm going to share with you in a moment.
These are really important to use the intelligence of nature's herbs and even the kitchen spices as well to metabolize this inevitable toxic accumulation,
Which we are going to accumulate as we indulge.
So making a digestive tea with spices like cumin seeds and fennel seeds and ginger,
And if you can also add a seed called ajwain seed,
That's A-J-W-A-I-N.
So you can do a pinch of cumin seeds,
Fennel seeds,
Freshly grated ginger and ajwain seeds if available,
Boil that in a pot of water or a couple of cups of water until it reduces and strain it and add a pinch of salt or black salt if you can,
There's a tea for you.
Cumin,
Fennel,
Ginger and ajwain seeds if possible,
It's a type of celery seed,
Add a pinch of salt at the end after you've boiled it and sip that after meals and if you're experiencing any digestive discomfort to help digest that meal.
Plain hot water is also a good one.
I mean,
Hot water,
Just like it washes grease off dirty dishes,
Does the same in the intestines,
It melts toxins,
It flushes them out of the body.
So really using these digestive teas,
Otherwise you can get Maitreya's tridoshic digestive tea,
Which has 22 herbs blended,
But you can make your own home remedies as well and use herbal intelligence,
Use digestive herbs and spices in between the meals.
Also,
Shodhanavati and swagani are two great Ayurvedic herbs for this season to help proper detoxification daily and as well as help proper digestion.
Another thing is fasting.
In Ayurveda,
It's said when you have a heavy meal or the meal does not properly digest,
Skip the next meal.
So if you had like a ridiculous dinner of ice cream and rich food and skip breakfast or just have hot meal or just a coffee if you drink that or a chai or tea and if you have a heavy lunch,
You over indulge,
You went all out,
You had the pavlova,
You had the desserts,
Maybe in dinner just skip altogether or just have some fruit for dinner.
So this is a really helpful way to digest the previous meal which has been heavy is either fasting the next meal and skipping the next meal.
The last thing I want to add is avoid foods that destroy the digestive strength.
Avoid foods and drinks that put out your digestive fire.
These are things like especially cold foods,
So drinks straight from the fridge,
Ice cold margaritas,
Ice cold beer,
Ice cold drinks,
Anything that's cold is going to put out the digestive fire.
Other things like cheese,
Yogurt,
Leftovers that have this very heavy oxidized energy,
Deep fried foods,
Excess water or drink with meals.
Reduce these things that are going to put out your food.
So put out your food because you won't be digesting it.
So they're going to put out your digestive strength,
Your digestive fire.
So again avoid cold things,
Cold foods and cold drinks,
Deep fried foods,
Leftovers of this heavy leftover inertia energy and also excess water is going to dilute the digestive enzymes with your drinks.
It's good to have a bit of drink with your meals,
Sipping on a drink like hot water or on buttermilk or a yogurt drink,
But don't have a lot of water or drink during your meal.
So I hope these tips help you with mitigating the inevitable toxic accumulation from Christmas season,
The silly season.
Whenever your silly season is,
Whenever your festive season is,
The number one principle is keep your digestive fire burning and balanced and do the things to support it.
And I hope this helps for more tips on health and digestive health and living in tune with nature's rhythms.
You can check out the other tracks that I have on Insight Timer.
I'm Dylan Smith,
Ayurvedic practitioner and health educator and grateful for you to join me today.
Let me know if you have any questions at all,
Please leave comments,
Reviews.
I'll be happy to answer them when I can.
Much love.
