Ayurveda and Digestion

Ayurveda considers digestion a key indicator of good health. If your digestive fires (agnis) are functioning effectively, the food you eat gets completely digested, absorbed and assimilated by your body, with the wastes regularly flushed out.

An efficient digestion, absorption, assimilation cycle leads to enhanced ojas. Ojas is the biochemical essence formed at the end of the chain of transformation that takes place with the raw materials we take in. Building ojas is crucial for the enhancing the quality of physical, mental, emotional and spiritual aspects of an individual.

On the other hand, imperfect digestion leaves behind a residue that ayurveda calls ama. Ama, if left to accumulate in the physiology, eventually turns toxic, and difficult to flush out. Ama in the physiology offers fertile soil for disorders to take root and flourish. Little wonder, then, that assessing the strength of your digestive fire is an important part of an ayurveda health evaluation.


If your digestion feels sluggish, here are some simple dietary recommendations to help it function more efficiently:

1. Each morning, have a glass of warm water to which a tablespoon of lemon juice has been added. Lemon juice is a purifier and cuts ama in the digestive tract.

2. Have a glass of digestive sweetened yoghurt at lunch. Lassi helps enhance the digestive flora without clogging the microcirculatory channels of the body. Lassi should not be taken after sundown.

3. A slice of fresh ginger with a little lemon juice is recommended by ayurveda as a way to stoke the digestive fires and appetite before a main meal.

4. Cook with digestion-stimulating spices. Ayurvedic spices such as dried ginger, turmeric, cumin, coriander and ajwain not only enhance digestion, they also help flush toxins out of the body and help improve absorption and assimilation of nutrients.

5. Replace caffeinated and carbonated beverages with herb-spice teas. A cup of fragrant fennel tea after lunch helps aid digestion. If you enjoy the taste of fennel, you can chew on a few seeds after lunch or dinner.

6. Eat heavier foods, such a paneer, at lunch. Your digestive fires peak around the middle of the day, and are less bright in the evening at dinner time.

7. Buy fresh whole foods, and prepare and eat food fresh. According to ayurveda, foods that have been sitting around and processed foods are taxing on the digestion and more likely to create ama.




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