Not Feeling Well? Is Digestion the Culprit?

I have wondered how frequently inefficient digestion can be implicated in physical, emotional and mental problems.  I know that, according to Ayurveda, digestion problems are the underlying culprit in many issues.

 

This weekend I visited with a young woman named Ashley and she had an interesting tale to tell.  Ashley said she felt terrible the last few weeks of her final term at college.  After coming home her symptoms worsened.

 

Ashley’s symptoms were all over the place.  She had a constant headache.  The pain in her head was, she said, “Like a narrow tense bar that extended over my eyes.”  The headache would become more intense after she ate.

 

Ashley was tired.  Sleep did not rest her body and she felt more tired after eating. She had inertia and wanted to do nothing but lie on the sofa and watch reruns of Gilmore Girls!  Parents aren’t happy when their teenage kids don’t want to rise off the sofa and so her family relationships began to suffer.  Her parents wanted her to see a therapist because she seemed depressed.  Ashley did not deny feeling down in the dumps but she adamantly insisted that something else was wrong.

 

Last Thursday Ashley had a meeting with an Ayurvedic practitioner and she learned that the underlying issue for the depression, the headache, the lethargy and inertia were—-you guessed it—digestive problems.  Her digestive system is a mess because of the poor eating habits she picked up at school.  During finals week her eating habits worsened and this was, so to speak, the icing on the cake.  She came home with the headache, low-grade depression and lethargy.

 

Today is Monday and Ashley began a cleanse on Thursday. She said she already feels significantly better.  She is giving her system a rest by staying away from gluten, heavy dairy products and meat.  Twice a day she drinks an 8 oz glass of water with 1 tablespoon of cider vinegar in it.  (She winced and made a “bad” face when she spoke of this concoction but acknowledged that it seems to be helpful.)  She is staying away from things that are difficult to digest such as cheese and salads.  Basically, in addition to cleansing her system, she is giving it a rest.

 

The Vaidya, Ayurvedic practitioner, who Ashley saw told her that her digestive system was full of toxins.  Since the digestive system was not working properly her immune system was low. She was fortunate that she hadn’t picked up a bad cold or the flu.  When the immune system is as low as Ashley’s it is also possible to develop allergies.

 

In Healing Depression the Mind-Body Way we discuss nutrition at length.  We discuss optimizing digestion and we give the Ayurvedic guidelines for eating.  We advise our readers that if these guidelines are followed, physical, mental and emotional health will be enhanced.

 

I asked Ashley to tell me what she had been eating at school.  “Oh,” she said, “You know, pizza and cheeseburgers and lots of diet coke and well, it wasn’t just what I was eating but when I was eating, mostly I ate late at night and now I understand that my food wasn’t being digested.  It was turning into toxins.” (undigested food).  “I became” Ashley noted, “a tank of ama.”  (Ama is the Ayurvedic word for toxins.)

 

She also told me that she was constantly hungry, never feeling satiated by her meals and that she had developed cravings.  Constant hunger and cravings are symptoms of toxic buildup in the physiology.

 

While at college, Ashley is gaining knowledge that will help her to build a career.  Now that she is home she is learning how to take care of herself.  After all, without health she wouldn’t have the vitality necessary to put her education to use!

 

Her story is an interesting one especially because we all tend to focus on symptoms when we feel poorly and we often don’t look for the underlying causes. The next time your health feels challenged, take a look at digestion as a possible culprit.  It just might be the source of the problem and might be easily fixed.  Remember, the physiology is not a hunk of material but a pattern of vibrations so the state of our being can change very quickly in either direction—toward health or away from it.  It did take several months of poor eating habits for Ashley’s problems to surface but they are dissipating very rapidly.  She is amazed at how quickly her new eating regimen is helping her to feel better and me—well, I’m just always amazed at the wisdom inherent in the human body when we know how to trigger the physician within!

 

As always, Sandra and I wish you perfect health and happiness.  Today we also wish you perfect digestion!

 

 

 

Feeling Tired Lately?

In the past few weeks, it has seemed to me, that when I ask friends how they’re doing, I often get the same answer, “Lately, I am just so darn tired.”   Or else I hear that they are recovering from a cough, a cold, or the flu.  Does the experience of my friends match your experience?

The calendar page has recently been flipped and we are now into April.  Spring has arrived!  Shouldn’t we all feel terrific and happy about this turn of events?

Springtime brings the promise of warmer days and a feeling of exhilaration.  After all, the freedom of summer is just around the corner.  At the same time spring does have a health-disrupting influence, primarily the result of the backlog of winter’s effects.

It is widely accepted in the scientific world that the elements of nature are expressed in the human physiology.  Following this line of thinking it is logical that we are all deeply affected by the change in seasons.  In Chapter 3 of Healing Depression the Mind-Body Way we discuss the “elemental you” and explain how the elements of nature are expressed in the human physiology.  (Physics is a heady subject but remember that modern quantum physics echoes ancient knowledge.  But don’t be scared.  We explain all this in a straight-forward, easy to understand manner—-Sandra and I find physics a bit intimidating too!)

Kapha dosha, which is a combination of the elements of earth and water, accumulates in the physiology during the winter months.   Kapha dosha is responsible for the body’s substance.  In the spring this dosha is eliminated from the body.  If the physiology has accumulated excess Kapha, mucus is often produced as a waste product.  As a result in the spring many people are more susceptible to colds, nasal allergies, coughs, sinusitis, and other respiratory congestion syndromes, and they often have a heavy feeling of tiredness.

According to Ayurveda we need to alter our diet and our daily habits to fit the demands of the natural world.  Therefore, in the springtime we need to focus on reducing Kapha dosha.  Following are a few helpful ideas for accomplishing this goal:

Exercise is always an important aspect of daily routine but in the springtime regular exercise is more important than at any other time of the year.  Exercise reduces toxins in the physiology and protects against the build-up of mucus-causing illnesses.

Yes, you may feel tired at this time of the year but according to Ayurveda you should avoid daytime sleep.  Sleeping during the daytime doesn’t rest the body.  On the contrary, it adds to the experience of lethargy and heaviness.

In the springtime we often want to reach for a cool drink, but this is not advisable.  We should drink warm drinks which help the digestive system to eliminate toxins.  Stay away from cold and especially iced drinks.  At the very least make sure your drinks are room temperature.  And, stay warm—-Kapha dosha accumulates when the body is cold.  Mother was right when she told you to cover your head and keep yourself warm.  This does help to ward off colds!

Ancient knowledge suggests that in the spring we minimize cold, sweet, sour, salty or oily foods and favor warm, spicy, astringent, and bitter tastes.  Your food should, as always, nurture your spirit and fit the requirements of the season.  Remember, the most important requirements about nutrition are always that the food be fresh and eaten with attention.  In other words, pay attention to what you are eating.  Take the time to taste it and enjoy it.  No, attention-deficit eating allowed!

The seasons of the year influence us through many factors such as weather, length of day, and even plant life, which is altered during the yearly rhythm of the earth’s journey around the sun.  Seasonal transitions challenge the body; they cause minor illnesses and can contribute to larger ones.

Ayurveda is all about prevention and by adjusting our routines to the season we aim to keep the body in balance.  In this way we reduce colds, sore throats, and other seasonal ailments while maintaining health and vitality.

When we take care of our physical health we are also protecting our emotional life.  The mind-body is one—–moving smoothly from one season to another protects us from depression as well as from other maladies.

 

Thanks for reading,

Nancy and Sandra

 

 

Do the Holidays make you emotionally tired?

People get stirred up by being with the family.  Buttons get pushed and, all too often, we find ourselves reacting to family members in ways that make us feel unhappy.  Have you ever left a family gathering feeling upset and wishing you had behaved differently?  OK—so you also thought that one or another of your relatives behaved poorly but weren’t you sorry that you let him or her get your goat?  Truly, in the final analysis, it is only our own behavior which can continue to bother us.

In Healing Depression the Mind-Body Way we write about the necessity to digest mental and emotional experiences.  Our physiology can become exhausted from carrying around emotional baggage.  Past problems can cause emotional problems in the present.  For instance, an old conflict with a family member can cause you to become hyper-vigilant and to easily over-react.  Even if he or she was a bit of jerk in the past you end up looking bad in the present.   This current interaction can leave you with additional emotional and mental baggage.

Ama is the Sanskrit word for “toxins.”  When we eat the wrong foods at the wrong time of day we create physical ama.  We all understand this, but did you know that we can have mental and emotional ama as well?

Yes, there is gunk at the subtle aspects of our being.  Everyone can reach to their waistline and say, “O!  I need to lose five pounds.”  Often, after being with the family at holiday time, we need to reach into our mind and grab what should not be there and ask ourselves how to get rid of this residue.

In order to begin anew, we need to ignite the digestive fire in our being.  We need to rid ourselves of our mental and emotional ama.  Once we do this, we will begin to digest our life experiences efficiently and develop an ability to handle emotions without over-reacting.  It is a joyful experience to have your buttons pushed and to react calmly and effectively.  It is also sheer joy to leave a family gathering with one’s ego totally intact.   How do we do this?

We recommend meditation as the deep rest given by meditation, changes your basal metabolic rate and this allows for a purification of the mind and emotions.

On page 72 of Healing Depression the Mind-Body Way there is a section titled “Letting Go of Old Baggage. “ Pick up the book again and begin reading this section.  Move on and read the chapter on meditation.

Next week we will continue to explain how meditation helps us to expand our awareness and deal more effectively with other people.  With an effective meditation technique we will still hear the music, but we can break out into a new dance and perhaps even change the music for the entire family!  As always, we wish you the best this holiday season.