Your Healthy Daily Routine Starts With Regular Mealtimes |
While the mind loves the freedom to eat whatever, and whenever it wants, the body loves stability. And eating off schedule not only causes indigestion, it confuses your body's biorhythms.
Ayurveda has been teaching the importance of regular mealtimes for thousands of years as part of a daily wellness routine.
Today, research supports this important concept. Let's take a look.
For example, your body requires sufficient blood to support good digestion. If there is not enough, you may experience gas and bloating as your undigested food will begin to ferment.
To ensure adequate blood supply to digestive organs, your body actually schedules increased blood delivery during meal times.
When you eat off schedule, blood supply to digestive organs is less. This not only causes indigestion, but also confuses the body's biorhythms.
On the other hand, when your body can count on you eating at a particular time, it can be ready with sufficient resources to do a good job of digesting your food.
However, if you miss a meal, or have to eat at other times, choose light, easy to digest foods so that you will be hungry on schedule for the next meal. Follow this rule of thumb for each meal: Breakfast is the spiritual meal. Lunch is the joyful meal. Dinner is the gentle meal.
When you eat after 5 pm, dinner should become simpler and simpler the later it gets:
Vata may eat smaller meals more often. At breakfast, Vata individuals should include simple proteins such as ten almonds.
Pittas naturally secrete more enzymes and bile than other doshas, making them hangry.
They also tend to get caught up in mental activities, missing meals or eating later than normal. Meanwhile, their bodies produce digestive enzymes at their normal meal times, irritating their intestinal linings and causing inflammation.
Kapha can eat fewer meals and skip breakfast altogether.
After sunset Kaphas should avoid heavy foods.
Avoid water after meals, or sip it very slowly.
Here are some tips for healthy snacking.
While Europe stimulates digestion with alcoholic aperitifs, Ayurveda recommends lime for its sour taste.
A ginger, lime, salt appetizer refreshes the taste buds, stimulates saliva, and brings blood flow to the digestive tract.
We find that eating out, fast food, and even making a sandwich takes more time than cooking soups. Check out this fast and easy way to cook soups.
In the morning I cook all three meals at the same time. First, I start a soup, then a pot of rice. Next, I cook my oatmeal or fry an egg for breakfast. This method of cooking is fast, easy, and healthy.
And, the rest of my day is kitchen free.
Here's a summary of best mealtimes: