In the recent past there is lot importance is given to gut health. However Ayurveda the ancient science of health has said that poor gut health is the reason for not only digestive disorder but also many other diseases in the body. It can have tangible effects on your mood, immune system and more.
In Ayurveda Annawah strotas is known as Gut. It starts from mouth and end with anus. The whole gut comprises of stomach, liver, gall bladder, intestine, the pancreas. All this organs play vital role in process of digestion and keeping the gut health. The gut health is maintained by Agni.
What creates Imbalance in your Gut
In Ayurveda it is said that when Agni becomes weak this leads to imbalance in the gut. factors that affects the Agni ( digestive fire) are wrong food habits such as eating without being hungry, eating at improper timing, lack of physical activity, food that is heavy to digest, cold in nature leads to weakness in Agni ( digestive fire). Along with this holding natural urges and phycological factors such as fear, worry, grief, anger also affects functioning of Agni.
How to improve gut health with Ayurvedic diet
As explained above diet plays very important part in keeping the gut healthy. Wrong food choices leads to weak digestive fire. Ayurvedic diets are based on persons constitution and imbalance of dosha Vata, Pitta and Kapha. Here we are giving an ayurvedic diet to improve gut health. This diet not only helps in improving the digestion but also helps in managing many conditions such pain, inflammation, immunity and overall well-beign.
Ginger water:
Ginger is very good for improving digestion and also helps in relieving pain and reducing inflammation. Ginger water helps in digestion and absorption of Ama ( the undigested food ).
How to make Ginger water.
Take fresh ginger and cut it into slices and then crush it. Now take 1.5 liter of water add this crushed ginger to it and boil for 15 to 20 minutes. Let it cool down. Drink this water whole day.
Buttermilk :
Include buttermilk in your daily diet to improve gut health. Take this daily after breakfast and lunch. This is very good for digestion. It is natural probiotic and provides nutrition to the gut bacteria. In fact it is said to be best medicine for all gut problems such as irritable bowel syndrome, piles, dysentry.
How to make Buttermilk
To make buttermilk take fresh curd. Always try to make curd at home avoid taking curd available in market. Now add water 4 times of the curd, if you take 100gms of cued add 400 ml of water and churn it. After that add some cumin seed powder, black pepper powder, asafetida and rock salt. It is now ready to drink.
Rice water
Rice water gives the body ample nutrition and can naturally improve gut health as well as digestion. The presence of minerals help in balancing the electrolyte level in the body, especially during summers and humid weathers. It provides ample hydration to the body by replenishing the lost nutrients.
How to make Rice water.
Take small quantity of rice add water to it and boil for few minutes. Now take out the water in another pan. This is your rice water. Now temper it with ghee cumin seeds, asafetida, rock salt. Take this as your breakfast twice a week.
Lemon juice and hot water
Taking lemon juice along with hot water helps in balancing the Vata dosha there by gives relief from abdominal fullness and bloating.
Green leafy vegetable
This is must in your diet to improve gut health. Along with green leafy vegetables include Bottle gourd, snake gourd, pointed gourd as well as apple gourd in your daily diet. This vegetable provide lot of fiber and nutrition to the good bacteria in the gut. Fruits such as oranges, pineapple, papaya, apple are also very good for improving gut health.
Spices
One must use spices such as Asafedita, garlic, cumin seeds, turmeric, cinnamon, dry ginger powder as well as mint leaves while preparing food. This spices are known to improve digestion naturally. Also adding paste (chutney) prepared with mint leaves, garlic and ginger in the diet is helpful. Spices induce higher secretion of bile acids which play a vital role in fat digestion and absorption. When consumed through the diet also spices produce significant stimulation of the activities of pancreatic lipase, amylase and proteases. A few of them also have been shown to have beneficial effect on the terminal digestive enzymes of small intestinal mucosa.
Food to Avoid in Ayurvedic diet for gut health
Cold water and refrigerated food items such as cold drink, frozen foods items should be avoided because they are considered lifeless in Ayurveda. In order to get nutrition , stay active, enthusiasm in life you need food that is satvic and full of prana( energy). Frozen food are just opposite to this, the coolness in frozen food makes digestive fire weak. As a result of this there is Ama formation in the body.
Wheat, new rice, green peas, potato, puffed rice. These foods are hard to digest and contains very less fiber. So it should be avoided to keep gut healthy.
Very spicy and oily food.Too much Sweets and Sugar. Bakery products fermented food items. Non vegetarian food should be avoided to keep digestion healthy.
Avoid air conditioner when not needed. Stay away from cold and moist wind try to live in warm place or keep your surroundings warm.
Sitting at one place for long period and because of lack physical activity the intestines get sluggish and move slowly this affects the digestion process. Research also suggest that doing exercise affects the balance of good bacteria in the gut, preventing the growth of bad bacteria and helping the body digest and absorb what it needs from the foods we eat.
Sleeping during day time slows down the process of digestion and food eaten at lunch is not digested and then again dinner is taken this viscious cycle causes indigestion leading to accumulation of Ama in the system.
Excessive work and lack of rest impacts the digestive process as because of this there is no fix time for eating ,sleeping and the lifestyle is disturbed as a result of this digestion becomes weak. So try to keep balance in work and your eating habits.
Smoking, alcohol, tobacco and all other forms of addictions severely impacts the digestive process in the body.
Avoid excessive stress, worry, negative thinking, fear, anger. This phycological factors affects the mood and secretion of digestive juices leading to disturbed gut flora.
