As we prepare to ease back to some normalcy when the enhanced community quarantine is lifted on May 15, I’m sharing some tips on digesting and eliminating your food based on yogic principles.
Our body is always in the process of extracting the nutrients of the food we eat and removing waste products. It’s why, according to yogic science, if you cannot digest the food you eat, your body is not nourished properly. If you cannot eliminate the waste products within a short time, these will accumulate in the body and become dangerous and poisonous to your health.
Snacking while in lockdown is inevitable, so here are some tips to help restore your body’s system:
1. Avoid snacking.
A snack is considered an extra meal and extra calories. We are designed to consume one meal a day and liquids for the rest of the time. If you are going to eat more than once a day, it’s important to rest between meals. It takes 24 to 72 hours to digest food, and this requires energy. If you are always snacking while in lockdown, you are continually disrupting the process, and thus, digestion will be incomplete.
2. Chew your food thoroughly until it becomes liquid.
The teeth tear, cut, and grind food so that it’s easier for the stomach to digest. Chewing activates glands in the mouth and throat to secrete saliva, which contains special enzymes that are not duplicated in the stomach. When you swallow your food without chewing, you lose the opportunity to get nourishment out of it.
3. Avoid eating 4 hours before bedtime.
It’s essential to give your digestive system adequate rest. While you’re sleeping, your body restores itself – cells repaired, muscle and tissues fixed, and hormones secreted around the body for total healing and rejuvenation. It’s important to eat light for dinner like fruit or steamed vegetables that are quick to digest. And to take a walk after to prevent the intestinal tract from getting clogged and move the bowels.
4. Eat what you can eliminate within 24 hours.
When food remains in the body for longer than 24 hours, the waste product begins to rot, and harmful toxins are absorbed back into the system. The liver, which is responsible for removing toxins from the bloodstream, becomes overloaded, and the whole body becomes contaminated. The symptoms are lack of energy, tongue coated, bad breath, headaches, irritability, nervousness, and constipation.
5. Fast once a week.
Fasting will give your digestive system a rest. On your day off, try to take warm water only. The warm water will help keep the bowels working well and avoid a build-up of waste matter in the colon, which is an indirect cause of colds. If it’s difficult for you to fast, try to skip one meal first then two, then work your way up to skipping all three meals.
When you feel like eating outside of your regular mealtimes or snacking while in lockdown, stop and ask yourself, “Does my body need this, or do I have some other reason why I want to eat this right now? Start to train your mind to be healthy and not eat.
Thank you for making me part of your lockdown habit.
I’m very grateful to have seen some of your regularly online and on screen! I’ll be giving an Intro to Tantric Numerology on Saturday from 10-12nn where you will learn how to discover your gifts and challenges. And every Sunday from 10-11 am, I’ll be teaching a kid-friendly and senior-friendly meditation class.
Closing this by wishing a Happy Labor Day, especially to those who are working on the front lines. A salute to the doctors, nurses, and medical staff who are working to serve those in this very challenging time. Let us also spread kindness, light, and gratitude to the clerks and delivery people who do their part in making us comfortable in lockdown.
Take caution, protect yourselves, and let us strive to start anew with the new normal.
In loving service,
Rosan
