Keep your Digestive System Thriving this Holiday Season with Ayurveda

How to enjoy all the goodies this holiday without the food coma

The holiday parties, the dinners and the charcuterie platters are coming! Whether you like it or not, it’s that time of the year and your gut knows it.

It can be a delight for the soul when we get all cozy-hygge-like in the dark of winter. It can feel like a relief to be around others laughing, eating, drinking and enjoying the extra dopamine or if you’re a hermit it can feel like ‘this is my season to be alone, in peace, thanks but no thanks’.

Either way, our gut doesn’t always agree with the plethora of appetizers and it can be hard to keep up with all of the food and drinks, while still feeling decent. Who wants to ring in the new year feeling like Aunt Selma… No one.

How can we keep our digestive system functioning and avoid gaining unnecessary weight this holiday season?

Ayurveda an ancient medical science from India has practices that will keep you thriving and feeling your best.

In Ayurveda, balanced digestion is very important. Many diseases can be traced back to some issue with digestion. Agni is our digestive fire and like all fires, it likes warmth, a little air and enough sustenance to keep it going. Ahoy, fasting which is not putting any sustenance on the fire can make it go out and putting too much can also make it go out. The way to keep our digestive fire going is to keep it stoked. Holiday season can weaken our agni if we do not care for it. Our agni effects our mood, our energy levels, our complexion as well. Taking care of our digestion (agni) is taking care of our body, mind and spirit.

Luckily, you are reading this article and will go into the holiday season prepared!

With the new year quickly approaching, wouldn't it be wonderful to start 2025 feeling great?

Ayurvedic Suggestions to Keep Your Digestive Fire Lit:

1. Drink hot water only. If you are thirsty, sip throughout the day and avoid chugging water, especially 45 minutes before or after a meal. Our Agni doesn't like large amounts of water all at once, it actually has to digest the water as well. Instead, have little sips throughout the day. Your body can absorb the water better and it won’t put out your digestive fire.

2. Avoid over eating. But if you overeat because I know it’s hard to stop, have a cup of hot dried ginger tea. About 1/4 tsp per cup should suffice. Avoid cold and ice water like it’s covid-19.

   If you were too merry for a couple of days and are feeling sluggish, heavy and can’t imagine eating your great aunt’s aspic. Skip dinner, drink a hot cup of tea with equal parts of cumin, fennel, and coriander seed (CCF). For measurements about 1/4 tsp of each spice per cup. You can drink this tea throughout the holiday season and it will help increase digestion, cleanse the body of toxins and keep your energy flowing.

   

   Add more spices to your diet to keep agni lit. Cumin, coriander, fennel, turmeric, rosemary, thyme, oregano are mild spices that can be used by everyone without aggravating pitta.

3. Have your biggest meal at lunch. If you have any say in planning the holiday meal, try and plan it between 11:45am-1:30pm. This is when our digestive fire is strongest. When the sun goes down in the evening, our digestive strength also reduces. If you have a holiday dinner in the evening, try to stick to the soups or lighter items. Avoid cheese, meat and harder to digest foods after sunset.

   Try to avoid eating a bunch of food and then going to bed. When we sleep with a full stomach our body stops the digestive process until we are awake again, this causes the metabolism to slow down, leads to weight gain, toxins accumulating in our system and food staying in the gastrointestinal track longer than is beneficial. If you wake up feeling sluggish from eating too much the night before, have a dried ginger tea when you wake up in the a.m. or the CCF tea mentioned above. Avoid eating until you feel true hunger.

4. After having a big meal go for a walk. See the Christmas lights, get some fresh air and walk off the turkey, your waist line will thank you.

5. Have dessert first. I know, I know but a bunch of turkey and stuffing with fruit cake on top isn’t great for your digestion. Food combining is a thing and in Ayurveda if you're going to have dessert, at least have it first, but if you have the willpower, skip it or eat it when your belly isn’t full of your main meal. The first stage of digestion is the sweet stage, by having your dessert first makes it go a little smoother.

6. Skip the charcuterie and just have the main meal if you can. It’s a lot of food combining and it can deplete your appetite before you get to the main meal. Its best to avoid snacking in between main meal times so that your digestive fire has a chance to ignite.

7. Avoid antacids unless absolutely necessary. These deplete your Agni further and actually make digestive issues worse in the long run. Acid reflux can be caused by not having enough stomach acid or agni to digest the food, or it can be from excess pitta. Instead of having the antacid right away try to avoid over eating, eat to only 2/4 of your stomachs capacity. For the rest, leave 1/4 for space for the stomach acid to churn and 1/4 for some liquid. Avoid alcohol, wrong food combining (eat simple), drink digestive teas like coriander seed or peppermint to help if having heart burn.

   

   I really encourage you to get outside when the sun is shining. Moving the body in the winter helps to prevent stagnation and accumulation and is a great mood lifter!

Food Combing:

• Dairy products and meat do not go together.

• Dairy products and fish/seafood do not go together

• Dairy products and fruit do not go together.

• Meat and fruit do not go together. Fruits should be eaten alone.

Following these Ayurvedic tips will help keep your metabolism and digestive flowing smoothly.

Thanks for reading and please share to prevent mass indigestion.

Merry Christmas, Happy winter solstice from our family to yours!