Digestive Health with Ayurveda Siva Mohan, MD MPH - - PowerPoint PPT Presentation

Digestive Health with Ayurveda

Siva Mohan, MD MPH www.svasthahealth.com

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Session 3: Digestive capacity

agenda

 Quick Session 1/2 review  Assessing your eating habits  Healthy eating habits in ayurveda  Food combining  Effect of food on consciousness  Q&A

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Ayurvedic review

• Everything in the universe is energy
• This energy can be categorized, or witnessed in

patterned ways

• Ayurveda presents the universe and its patterns in the

form of 3 primal energies (doshas): vata, pitta, kapha

• Doshas are flowing through everything in the universe

including ourselves and our food

• We are unique manifestations of the doshas
• How we interface with the universe is in part

determined by our energetic make-up, and in part by

• ur current state of affairs
• There are patterned ways we experience this

interaction with the universe, and we can see this in

• ur digestive systems & health
• FREE INTRO VIDEO

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Session 1 review

• Food is energy
• We can assess what the state of our digestive

system is based on our stool and symptoms

• We can then choose foods that are appropriate

energetically to help balance us (the doshas)

• Foods themselves can be modified; what is

important is the energetics of the end product or prepared dish

• Tastes can give us insight into the energetics

(doshas) of food

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Session 2 review

• We have a digestive capacity (agni) that is changing
• We can assess what the state of our digestive capacity

is based on our tongue, appetite and digestive symptoms

• We can then choose/modify foods so that they are

appropriate for our digestive capacity

• There are ways to improve your digestive capacity

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Learning Objectives

 To begin to be aware of your eating habits  To understand that ayurveda is applied dynamically, not a rigid system of rules  To begin to understand how to bring in your food energy in a way that supports optimal digestion

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Assessing your eating habits

Rate on a scale of 1(least)-5(most) 1. Prepare my body to receive food 2. Eat in a calm environment 3. Chew my food well 4. Eat at a moderate pace 5. Stop eating after I first feel satiated 6. Allow the body time to digest 7. Limit my liquid intake with meals 8. Drink liquids at room temperature or warmer 9. Have my largest meal in the middle of the day 10. Allow 2-3 hours between meals 11. Eat food prepared with love Score of 11-55 possible; If you are under 30, there is a great opportunity to improve your digestion based on how you eat.

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Eating habits to avoid

 Drinking when hungry  Racing  Iced drinks  Cooking with honey  Overeating  Not enough water  Eating when constipated  Too early or too late  Too heavy or too light  Fruit with meal  Snacking or grazing

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Eating habits to cultivate

 Constitution and Current State  Season  Fresh  Hunger  Sitting  Focus  Chewing  Thirds  Two handfuls  Proper food combining  Cooking

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Food combining

Food Incompatible with

Milk Fish, Melons & Sour Fruits* (esp. bananas), Yogurt, Kitchari, Yeasted Breads Yogurt Milk, Melon & Sour fruits* (esp. bananas), Hot drinks, Fish, Starches, Cheese Fruits (esp. melons) Everything! (esp. grains, starches, fried foods, cheese) Eggs Milk, Yogurt, Fruits, Cheese, Potatoes Starches Eggs, Milk, Fruits (esp. dates and bananas) Honey Ghee (in equal weight), Grains Corn Fruits (esp. dates, raisins, bananas) Lemons Yogurt, Milk, Cucumber, Tomato Nightshades Yogurt, Milk, Fruit, Cucumber

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How your digestive system is communicating with you

Excess Vata Pitta Kapha

Appetite

Low; variable;full quickly Strong; excessive; hungry soon after eating Low in am; most active late night

Symptoms Gas; bloating; cramping;

pain Heartburn; heat; pungent gas; inflammation Sluggish digestion; food coma; heaviness; bloating long term; weight gain

Stool

Constipation; hard; dry; nuggets; lots of gas at night; darker color; least smelly Loose to diarrhea; yellow- red-green; feels hot coming out; ribbony; pungent odor; urgency Easy movement; mucous; postprandial; smell of decay

Tongue

Ama coating, especially in back; gray, or brownish coating color; tongue with discoloration and indentations No ama; If any coating, yellow or greenish color; Hyper-red tongue tip Thick ama coating on whole tongue; white color; pale tongue, or swollen looking

Agni

Variable-low Too strong Too low