Indigestion

As discussed in chapter 3, the effectiveness of your digestion depends on the strength of your digestive fire (agni). If your food intake is large in quantity and heavy, very liquid, or quite dense in quality, these properties are antagonistic to the properties of gastric fire and can inhibit the normal function of the agni, leading to indigestion.

Emotional eating—eating for emotional reasons when the system is not in need of food or is given too much to comfortably digest—is another potential cause of indigestion. A third major causative factor is wrong food combining. Eating bananas and milk, melon and grains, and other incompatible food combinations adversely affects the digestive fire, leading to indigestion. (See chapter 8 for a chart of incompatible food combinations.)

These various factors promote excess secretion of acid, leading to acid indigestion, heartburn, nausea, or even diarrhea; fermentation of the food in the stomach or intestines may also occur, leading to gas, bloating, and a possible stomachache, depending on the severity of the cause.

So one has to deal with indigestion first by avoiding these causative factors, and second by using the herbal treatments recommended below.

FOUR WAYS TO INCREASE YOUR DIGESTIVE FIRE

The first key to prevention of indigestion is to enhance the digestive fire. Here are several suggestions:

GINGER. One of the best herbs to kindle agni is ginger. Before each meal, chop or grate a little fresh ginger, add a few drops of lime juice and a pinch of salt, and chew it up. Alternatively, you can simply cut a thin slice of ginger, put on a pinch of salt, and chew that.

GARLIC AND TRIKATU. Here is another before-eating stimulant for your digestion. Make a mixture of ¼ teaspoon garlic powder, ½ teaspoon trikatu, and a pinch of rock salt. (Trikatu is composed of ginger, black pepper, and Indian long pepper in equal proportions.) Take it before lunch and dinner.

HERBAL MIX. A similar mixture is 1 clove of fresh garlic, chopped up with ¼ teaspoon cumin powder, a pinch of rock salt, a pinch of trikatu, and 1 teaspoon lime juice. Take before meals.

BAY LEAF. Enliven your gastric fire with the common spice bay leaf. Steep ½ teaspoon crushed or ground-up bay leaf in a cup of hot water for about 10 minutes to make a tea. Add a pinch of cardamom, and drink after eating.

FASTING

Fasting can be beneficial to dispel indigestion. Fasting not only kindles the digestive fire, it also gives the digestive system a rest. When you have indigestion, you can either observe a complete fast, or try this: Drink 1 cup of sweet fresh pineapple juice with a pinch of ginger, a pinch of black pepper, and ½ teaspoon organic sugar. Take this 3 times a day.

WHEN YOU HAVE INDIGESTION

To relieve a case of indigestion:

ONION JUICE. Take ¼ cup of fresh onion juice with ½ teaspoon honey and ½ teaspoon black pepper.

GARLIC. Or chop up a clove of fresh garlic, add a pinch of salt and a pinch of baking soda, and eat it.

LIME JUICE. For acute indigestion, squeeze the juice from ¼ lime in 1 cup warm water. Just before drinking, add ½ teaspoon baking soda, and then drink it down quickly.

FOR CHRONIC INDIGESTION

For people with chronic poor digestion (that is, weak agni), prepare this herbal mixture:

trikatu 1 part
chitrak 2 parts
kutki 1 part

Take ¼ teaspoon of this effective formula before meals, with a little honey and fresh ginger juice. If you don’t have fresh ginger, just use honey. This mixture will strengthen the digestive fire.

TEN TIPS TO PREVENT INDIGESTION

• Don’t eat unless you are really hungry.
• Don’t eat emotionally. Emotional eating can affect the digestive fire adversely.
• Eat only two or at most three meals a day: breakfast, lunch, and dinner. Avoid snacking between meals.
• Avoid cold and iced drinks, especially during or after meals. They cool the digestive fire. For best digestion, take small sips of warm water during a meal.
• Fill your stomach to one-third of its capacity with food and one-third with liquid, leaving one-third empty. This aids in proper digestion and promotes mental clarity.
• Chew your food well to make sure the saliva is well mixed in. Saliva plays a major role in digestion.
• You can finish your meal by drinking a cup of lassi. This is made by blending 4 teaspoons of yogurt with 2 pinches each of ginger and cumin powder in 1 cup of water.
• Yoga postures that can be helpful for improving digestion include Leg Lifts and the Peacock pose. (See illustrations in appendix 4.)
• You might also want to try the Ayurvedic procedure known as nauli (see appendix 3).
• The pranayama (breathing exercise) called Breath of Fire will help to stoke your digestive fires (see chapter 6).