Eating Out & Healthy Holiday Indulging Written by John Joseph Immel, Asheville, NC

10 Good Eating Habits | Eating for the Season | Eating Out & Healthy Holiday Indulging

Tasty temptations and New Year's libations may be difficult to avoid during the holiday season, or anytime we reconvene with friends and loved ones. While pumpkin pies, egg nog, and even potato latkes with sour cream all satisfy our winter urge to build a fatty layer of self-preservation against the bitter cold, the onslaught of heavy, difficult to digest foods overwhelms the digestive tract.

After the small intestine reaps a rich harvest of carbs, fats and proteins, it happily dumps them into the blood. Sludgy oozing-thick blood plasma, clogged with cakes and cookies, bogs the circulatory and lymphatic systems. Thick, poor circulation cascades into a host of illnesses from the classic indigestion and mucus filled stomach flu, to high blood pressure as the heart struggles to move blood, to full blown insulin resistant diabetes or a life threatening heart attack.

Luckily, 5,000 years ago Ayurvedic physicians realized that digestion is the cornerstone of health. The reason, illustrated above, is because food becomes blood, and all organs are bathed in the blood, including our mind. Thus food and digestion affect our mood, behavior, and physical health. Along the way, Ayurveda developed simple, useful, and practical tips to stay healthy so you can enjoy the feast and maintain health goals.

Preparatory Grace Period

Ayurveda recommends preparing the body for feasts and celebrations, as well as recovering afterwards, with a grace period of gentle foods. One should uphold a routine eating and sleeping schedule twenty four hours before and after challenging the gut. Strong stomachs usually tolerate minor transgressions once a week. Once we have eliminated our transgressions via the bowels, we can return to normal, less restrictive food choices. Here are some gentle food recommendations:

• Oatmeal for breakfast
• Soups for lunch and dinner
• Avoid heavy and sticky foods like wheat that clog the intestines.

Group Coordination

Social eating involves coordination, patience and inevitable delay. Hunger pangs, low energy, and irritability signal distressed digestion and blood, which should be remedied with appropriate light, easy to digest snacks. Although snacking should generally be avoided, in this case a settled stomach makes it easier to resist temptation later. When guests are hungry and waiting, here are healthy snack options:

• Almond Chai
• Banana with Ghee, Cinnamon & Ginger
• Gold milk
• Apple Cider
• Celery or Fennel Stalks

Eat Early

Lunch is the ideal meal for social feasts and eating out. Otherwise, schedule large dinners at 4pm while the body is still strong and to digest food completely before bedtime. Desserts have become a social norm at gatherings, however damaging to digestion, and should be served 6-7pm. Avoid eating after 8pm. Overnight, undigested food becomes stagnant in the blood, provoking kapha and mucous.

Prepare the Stomach

Prepare the stomach a half hour before the meal with a ginger, lime and salt appetizer. When eating out ask for warm water with lemon. Then add black pepper.

Indulge Wisely

Follow good eating habits during the entire meal. Select easy to digest foods first. Indulge only small amounts of difficult to digest foods. Instead of store bought cakes and pies, make your own healthy homemade desserts.

Digestive Bitters

Start a new tradition by serving a big bowl of dandelions in the center of the dessert table. As guests leave, give each one a dandelion leaf at the door. Dandelions regulate blood sugar and help digestion, heartburn, and encourage a cleansing elimination of the bowels. They just might prevent one of the guests from a heart attack.

Cleansing Afterwards

Take triphala at night before bed. Triphala is a mild laxative that cleanses and restores bowel health after an indulgence. Simple kitchari or the more extensive digestive recovery diet help rebuild agni (digestion and resiliency in Ayurveda) the following day. Please review these digestive products to address more specific ailments, as well as the following article on colds and sinus infection.

Please also review these related topics:

7 Steps to Healthy Baking & Homemade Desserts

Digestion in Ayurveda

Recovery Diet for Digestive Distress

Dessert

 

* These statements have not been evaluated by the Food and Drug Administration. The information and products on this website are not intended to diagnose, treat, cure or prevent any disease.

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