Do You Have the Sluggish Digestion Blues?

If you feel tired and full for over an hour after eating, even eating normal portions, you may have slow, heavy digestion.

Slow, heavy digestion is when you feel like a bomb is lodged in your stomach. The bomb of undigested food plugs up your digestive tract, making you feel bloated and slightly nauseated. The thought of more food makes you queasy, even if you are hungry. The longer the foods sits there, the more it churns and the more sour you feel.

A sluggish gut can make you so tired that even getting up off the couch seems difficult. Externally, your belly may appear big and puffy. You may feel, in these circumstances, that you are overweight. However, the real problem is you've got a food baby to digest. A laxative will deflate the balloon in your belly, and you will feel 10 pounds lighter.

Here's a story of heavy digestion and why friends don't let friends eat Twinkies(tm). My neighbor's kids, astounded by my 15 year Twinkie fast, somehow convinced me to eat one. Against my better Ayurvedic judgment, I indulged in this former childhood pleasure. It was 'another learning experience.' Two days later I could still feel the Twinkie in my gut. It was like a brick in the pit of my stomach. I knew I was the victim of slow, heavy digestion.

What Causes Slow, Heavy Digestion?

A major cause of slow, heavy digestion is heavy or gooey foods like oatmeal, soggy french toast, bread, and cheese. These foods bog down your gut in mucus. Poor food choices, like Twinkies, or foods laden with preservatives are another common cause of slow, heavy digestion.

A client of mine once ate a Big Mac(TM), and burped up the taste of it three days later! Her health spiraled downhill after that Big Mac, and a few years later it took us a month to help her back on track. Although we were able to revive her digestive system she is still recovering from hypothyroid. That is a big price to pay for what must have seemed like a cheap meal.

Chronic slow heavy digestion, in the absence of a Big Mac or Twinkies, usually points to blood deficiency, low metabolism or poor circulation. For example, anemia causes poor enzyme production (a vata condition). Hypothyroid makes digestive muscles very sluggish (a Kapha condition). These conditions are all cold disorders in Ayurveda.

What Relieves Slow, Heavy Digestion?

Ayurveda has an antidote to gooey foods and slow, heavy digestion. Next time your stomach feels lethargic, try aromatic spices. Aromatic spices accelerate gastric emptying, propelling food out of the stomach and into the small intestine and beyond. Aromatic spices include common kitchen spices like mint and cinnamon. Cardamom, fennel, and hing are also superb aromatics. In fact, any spices with a strong smell can be a great aromatic.

If your digestion is cold you can warm it up and reduce food stagnation through pungent spices like ginger and black pepper. Warm foods that are easy to digest like soups and kitchari are also helpful. Avoid cold, heavy foods like ice cream and cold milk.

Digestive Bitters are rich in aromatics and may be helpful for those with sluggish digestion. The opus of Ayurveda includes many other striking tips to improve your digestion if you have that slow and heavy food bomb feeling.

Answer some questions about how foods make you feel. Then you'll receive a full food report customized for you.
COMPUTE MY DIET FOR SLOW, HEAVY DIGESTION
OR, GET A GENERAL DIET FOR BALANCING SLOW, HEAVY DIGESTION

Augment your diet with these specially chosen ingredients below which may be useful for 'Slow, heavy digestion'. 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. Please check with your medical doctor before making any changes to your health & wellness routine, and for the proper use of these products.

MORE 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.

Everything you eat has an effect on your body, which Ayurveda categorizes in a simple and easy way, using biocharacteristics (gunas). Biocharacteristics are qualities (like cold and hot) that describe the effect a food or herb has on your body. Cooling foods like cucumber, decrease metabolism. Heating foods like chili pepper, stimulate your body and increase metabolism. For 'Slow, heavy digestion', you should select foods with the following biocharacteristics. Individual results will vary, based on your body type and the root cause of your imbalance.

Digestion:

Carminative

CARMINATIVE

Stimulates the release of gas. Helpful for bloating or cramping abdominal pain. Propels food downward. Carminatives typically expel gas by relaxing the muscles of the intestines.

SEE ALL 'CARMINATIVE' FOODS / HERBS

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Digestive

DIGESTIVE

Herbs that encourage healthy digestion.

SEE ALL 'DIGESTIVE' FOODS / HERBS

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Spleen Tonic

SPLEEN-TONIC

An herb that strengthens spleen function by improving strength of the blood. Spleen tonics Builds agni, brighten the person's appearances & firms up tissues.

SEE ALL 'SPLEEN-TONIC' FOODS / HERBS

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Stomachic

STOMACHIC

An herb that increases appetite or settles a nauseas or nervous stomach. These generally increase the digestive fire, therefore relieving symptoms of sluggish or difficult digestion.

SEE ALL 'STOMACHIC' FOODS / HERBS

Bowel Health:

General Laxative

GENERAL-LAXATIVE

Promotes a bowel movement. General laxative is an umbrella term that refers to several different types of laxatives.

SEE ALL 'GENERAL-LAXATIVE' FOODS / HERBS

Energy Vitality:

Stimulates Energy

STIMULATES-ENERGY

This category groups thyroid and adrenal stimulating herbs.

SEE ALL 'STIMULATES-ENERGY' FOODS / HERBS

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Prana

PRANA

Prana is the Sanskrit word for vital life energy (Qi in Chinese Medicine, pneuma in Greek). Many herbs stimulate your energy, or improve the flow of prana through your body. Generally, prana needs to be increased in spring after a sleepy winter.

SEE ALL 'PRANA' FOODS / HERBS

Respiratory-Health:

Mucolytic

MUCOLYTIC

An herb that breaks apart mucus, liquefying the mucus.

SEE ALL 'MUCOLYTIC' FOODS / HERBS

Heart & Circulation:

Cardiac Stimulant

CARDIAC-STIMULANT

Herbs that increase the heart rate. Useful in cardiovascular health, blood stagnation, and subjective feeling of heaviness in the chest area.

SEE ALL 'CARDIAC-STIMULANT' FOODS / HERBS

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Blood Tonic

BLOOD-TONIC

An herb that produces more blood cells in the body, or otherwise improves blood cell quality or hemoglobin content. Helpful for anemia and other types of deficiency.

SEE ALL 'BLOOD-TONIC' FOODS / HERBS

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Vasodilator

VASODILATOR

A vasodilator is an herb that widens the blood vessels by the relaxation of smooth muscle cells within the vessel walls, thereby increasing circulation systemically or to a local area.

SEE ALL 'VASODILATOR' FOODS / HERBS

Subtaste:

Aromatic

AROMATIC

Herbs or spices with volatile essential oils that present strong aromas. Aromatic oils shock, refresh and numb tissue, with the end result of relaxing, opening and clearing stagnant fluids in tissues.

SEE ALL 'AROMATIC' FOODS / HERBS

Joyful Belly is a recognized college of biocharacteristics medicine.

HOW TO ADDRESS ISSUES IN STAGE OF DISEASE #1

SLOW, HEAVY DIGESTION IS IN STAGE OF DISEASE #1 - AFFECTING DIGESTION

If you have symptoms in this category, your body is sending you a warning sign. Since digestion is so metabolically intensive and sensitive to stress and emotions, the earliest warning signs of imbalance usually appear in the digestive tract first. You may have gas and bloating, for example, or acid reflux. Ayurveda recommends paying careful, close attention to warning signs. They indicate that an imbalance is starting to accumulate. Correct these warning signs before they accumulate further and weaken your body's resistance. This is usually accomplished by removing diet and lifestyle habits that aggravate your imbalanced doshas and biocharacteristics. (See all disease stages on JB)

GET MY FREE AYURVEDA BODY MAP According to Ayurveda, one or more of the following doshas and biocharacteristics may aggravate 'Slow, heavy digestion'. If you have an excess of one of these doshas or biocharacteristics below, Ayurveda recommends reducing foods and lifestyle habits that aggravate them. Click on the biocharacteristic to learn what foods and lifestyle habits should be reduced.

Are you prone to a problem with 'Slow, heavy digestion'? Find your imbalances and create a diet for your Digestion by taking the free digestion quiz:

TAKE THE DIGESTION QUIZ

The following symptoms & habits may be related to 'Slow, heavy digestion'. See your quiz results for a computerized assessment of your body type. Please click on the symptoms below to learn more about them. On average the biocharacteristics of people reporting Slow, heavy digestion were less aggravated than 70% of other symptoms. From the 21,898 people who reported Slow, heavy digestion in this research study of 74,671 individuals, average deviation in biocharacteristic levels were the following:

Risk Factors of Slow, heavy digestion

Complications of Those Reporting Slow, heavy digestion

WHAT'S NEXT?

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