School of Ayurvedic Diet & Digestion
Become a Digestive Health Coach: Live Intro Monday 9/28 at 7pm ET / 4pm PT!
Recipes
Food
Create Your Diet
Recent Articles (Blog)
SYMPTOMS & AYURVEDIC REMEDIES
LARGE PORTIONSWHAT DOES IT DO TO YOU? HOW CAN YOU MINIMIZE NEGATIVE EFFECTS?
Are you prone to a problem with 'Large portions'?
You've probably heard the infamous phrase "your eyes are bigger than your stomach" and for those who struggle with large portions, this often rings true. There are diverse reasons for indulging in large portions, such as emotional eating, an attempt to relieve pain in the upper GI, or even to fill a mineral or vitamin deficiency. Even an overactive thyroid gland can lead to a voracious appetite and therefore hefty amounts of food. Large portions can be unhealthy for many reasons. An overstuffed stomach has a hard time churning your food, making it difficult to digest your meal. Large portions make you tired. It's easier for parasites to survive breakdown from enzymes when hidden in a larger meal. Large portions can lead to overspending on food. Accordingly, addressing the underlying patterns and programming that lead to large portions is important in Ayurveda. Excessively large portions can cause stomach distension. When the quantity of food overwhelms your stomach's capacity, the food builds up pressure, ultimately forcing it's way into the duodenum, the start of your small intestine. Pre-mixed with digestive acids in the stomach, this food burns your duodenum, How much should I eat?The ideal portion in Ayurveda is the amount of food that fits into both hands cupped together. After eating, your stomach should contain 1/3 food, 1/3 liquid, and 1/3 air. In other words, your stomach should be 2/3's full. IF you eat quickly, you won't feel satisfied at 2/3's full. But if you wait 20 minutes, long enough for your body to start digesting the food, you'll discover you don't need to stuff yourself.Reconnect to True Hunger
You might have grown up in a family where you were expected to eat everything on your plate, regardless of your hunger, fullness, and satiety cues. Then as an adult, you find yourself struggling to hear to your body's internal appetite cues. If you eat too quickly or while distracted, you may unconsciously heaping up large portions before your body has a chance to alert you, "Enough!".
To reconnect with your hunger cues, start by paying attention, no matter how faint these cues may seem, simply try to feel them. Try eating until your half full. Then check in with your stomach to see how it feels. Does belly hunger persist? If it doesn't, try waiting ten minutes and see how you feel. One of the biggest appetite regulators of your body is the feeling of a full stomach. Each time you eat too much and overstretch your stomach, your stomach gets bigger and harder to fill. Your body gets used to having an abnormally high amount of food in its stomach and satiety is blurred. Your capacity to eat more increases as well, which can perpetuate the behavior. Ayurveda can help you return your stomach to a smaller size so that you can eat when you are hungry and know when you are truly full, as opposed to uncomfortably stuffed. If you find yourself tempted to continue eating despite fullness, distract yourself: go for a walk, talk to a loved one, work on a craft. Find an activity engaging enough to get your mind off the remaining food and back on life's other pleasures. What to do when you've eaten too much
If you do indulge in large portions on occasion, Ayurveda offers some helpful tips to avoid causing imbalance. Roasting a teaspoon of coriander seeds and a teaspoon of fennel seeds in a pot without oil and then chewing them can be effective at curbing indigestion. Another option is drinking a glass of water with the juice from half a lemon or lime and a pinch of baking soda. These practices are not a quick fix and should not be used to justify recurrent large portions, but they can help mitigate some of the imbalances caused by overeating if you slip up. ARE YOU NEW TO AYURVEDA?
Are you wondering what Ayurveda is and how to use it?
DIET FOR IMBALANCES RELATED TO 'LARGE PORTIONS'Augment your diet with these specially chosen ingredients below which may be useful for 'Large portions'. Individual results vary depending the cause of your imbalance and by constitution. Please research the ingredients below to find which are most helpful for you, and check with your doctor before making any changes to your health and wellness routine.FruitsApple (raw)  How does Apple (raw) affect this symptom?
IT FEELS BETTER IT FEELS WORSE IT FEELS THE SAME We will use this information to better predict food that helps you. Beans-LegumesBlack Beans , How does Black Beans affect this symptom?
IT FEELS BETTER IT FEELS WORSE IT FEELS THE SAME We will use this information to better predict food that helps you. Brown Lentil , How does Brown Lentil affect this symptom?
IT FEELS BETTER IT FEELS WORSE IT FEELS THE SAME We will use this information to better predict food that helps you. Chick Pea (Garbanzo) , How does Chick Pea (Garbanzo) affect this symptom?
IT FEELS BETTER IT FEELS WORSE IT FEELS THE SAME We will use this information to better predict food that helps you. Fava Beans , How does Fava Beans affect this symptom?
IT FEELS BETTER IT FEELS WORSE IT FEELS THE SAME We will use this information to better predict food that helps you. Mung Bean , How does Mung Bean affect this symptom?
IT FEELS BETTER IT FEELS WORSE IT FEELS THE SAME We will use this information to better predict food that helps you. Pinto Beans , How does Pinto Beans affect this symptom?
IT FEELS BETTER IT FEELS WORSE IT FEELS THE SAME We will use this information to better predict food that helps you. Red Lentils (Masoor Dal) How does Red Lentils (Masoor Dal) affect this symptom?
IT FEELS BETTER IT FEELS WORSE IT FEELS THE SAME We will use this information to better predict food that helps you. SpicesCaraway Seeds How does Caraway Seeds affect this symptom?
IT FEELS BETTER IT FEELS WORSE IT FEELS THE SAME We will use this information to better predict food that helps you. Nuts-SeedsCoconut Water How does Coconut Water affect this symptom?
IT FEELS BETTER IT FEELS WORSE IT FEELS THE SAME We will use this information to better predict food that helps you. GreensStinging Nettles How does Stinging Nettles affect this symptom?
IT FEELS BETTER IT FEELS WORSE IT FEELS THE SAME We will use this information to better predict food that helps you. HERBS AND PRODUCTS FOR IMBALANCES RELATED TO 'LARGE PORTIONS'DIGESTION TIPS DISCLAIMER: The pathogenesis of each person's condition is unique, and so the diet must be fit to the individual and the unique root causes of the condition in your body. The information on this page is for educational purposes only and should not be used to treat a medical condition. It is not a substitute for medical care. Please check with your doctor before making any changes to your health and wellness routine. WHAT IMBALANCES CAN IT CAUSE?AGGRAVATES THESE DOSHAS & QUALITIES'Large portions' is likely to aggravate the following doshas and qualities. If you have a systemic imbalance of one of these doshas or qualities, Ayurveda would generally recommend removing, substitute or lessen the frequency of 'Large portions'. Imbalance Accumulates Improper food and lifestyle causes balances to accumulate. Ayurveda shows you exactly which doshas and qualities are likely to accumulate in your body. Once these doshas and qualities accumulate too much, they will begin to cause imbalance. You can reduce an imbalanced dosha or quality by removing things that aggravate it from your diet and lifestyle.V = VATA, P = PITTA, K = KAPHA 
To learn more about the symbols above, click on them. Are you prone to a problem with 'Large portions'?
Digestion: Appetite suppressant APPETITE-SUPPRESSANTSuppresses hunger without causing weight gainBowel-Poop-Elimination: High Fiber Laxative HIGH-FIBER-LAXATIVEA class of laxative that adds bulk and water to stools. The size of a stool stimulates peristalsis and the stool passes more easily through the colon. It is important to drink plenty of water when using high fiber laxatives, as they can be dehydrating.ADDRESS ISSUES IN STAGE OF DISEASE 0LARGE PORTIONS IS IN STAGE OF DISEASE 0 - POTENTIAL CAUSEPotential causes increase and disturb your imbalanced doshas and qualities, causing them to accumulate and spiral out of control. For example, if you're overheated and eat a chili pepper, heat may become excessive and cause disease. As a dosha or quality accumulates in your body according to your dietary and lifestyle habits, it is more and more likely to cause disease. You can reduce an imbalanced dosha or quality in two ways, by removing, or lessening the frequency of aggravating causes from your diet and lifestyle, as well as by favoring balancing diet and lifestyle practices. For example, try eating something as cool as a cucumber when you're overheated, instead of a chili pepper. REDUCE THESE RELATED SYMPTOMS & HABITSThe following symptoms & habits may be related to 'Large portions'. See your quiz results for a computerized assessment of your body type. Please click on the symptoms below to learn more about them.WHAT'S NEXT? 
DO YOU WANT TO LEARN MORE ABOUT YOUR UNIQUE BODY?What aggravates it? What heals it?
Then get your Personal Ayurvedic Body Book!
This book, written by founder and director of Joyful Belly, John Immel,
is individually formatted for your unique body and will help you confidently choose food that restores your
healthy glow to get you feeling like your best self.
Just $19.99!
HOW AYURVEDA WORKS
ARE YOU WONDERING HOW AYURVEDA CAN HELP YOU?
WHY IS AYURVEDA THE RIGHT SOLUTION?Ayurveda strengthens the body, in addition to addressing the disorder. It take a holistic, systemic approach, instead of myopically focusing on the disorder in question. Ayurveda shows a person how to interpret signs and symptoms of imbalance, and how to address them using materials from home, so they can optimize their health on a continual basis. You can't take the doctor home with you, but you can take Ayurveda home with you. Ayurveda is the most advanced and easy to use home system for self healing with an exceptional focus on digestion.HOW DOES AYURVEDA WORK?Ayurveda starts by identifying your body type, which identifies certain tendencies in your body to get sick (as well as identifying your strengths). It uses body type to determine the likely root causes of your disorders. Next, Ayurveda analyzes the nature of your disorder. It fits all your signs and symptoms into a pattern, expressed as a combination of gunas / qualities. For example, you may have a heat disorder, a cold disorder, or an oily disorder, etc. This simple categorical approach shows you how to correct systemic imbalances and strengthen your body as a whole.On Joyful Belly, we've created an extensive categorization of food so you can easily match food to your imbalances (gunas). By eating an optimal diet that balances your gunas, your whole body is strengthened and the conditions that created the disorder are removed. Once the root causes of the disease are removed, the disease lessens in strength or disappears altogether. Additional remedies - such as herbs and lifestyle practices - focused on the specific disorder, can greatly enhance your healing. Want to learn more about Ayurveda and its step-by-step approach to healing? Click below.LEARN MOREGET STARTEDTo get started on your Ayurvedic journey, we first recommend that your find your body type by taking our free quiz. In Ayurveda, every solution is based on your unique body type, so by taking this quiz, you’ll get the best results.5 WAYS TO HEAL YOUR BODY
|
On Facebook
On Twitter
SAVE IT
causing ulcers and inflammation in the upper gastric area.
FIND OUT
BOOKS BY JOYFUL BELLY
Get Ayurveda's approach to food cravings & emotional eating for balanced weight and health.
Join Joyful Belly.
Want our top Ayurvedic recipes and health tips?Subscribe to our free newsletter!