Guidelines for Healthy Eating
How we eat is just as important, if not more so, than what we eat. How we eat determines how our body and our digestive tracts absorb and process the nutrients. We can eat all the right foods, but if we are not absorbing the nutrients properly, than our body can't really benefit. Below are a few simple guidelines that will help your body use the broken down nutrients for maximum results.
Hint: these tips are more simple than you'd think.
1. Food should be taken without distraction.
Yes...this means that one should not eat in front of the TV. Eating while distracted keeps us from chewing properly. When we are eating while we are distracted, our emotions will interfere with the process of digestion. The food particles then enter the digestive tract without being broken down properly. The intestines then cannot absorb the nutrients, and our body will not function at its maximum capacity.
2. Food should be taken with a proper frame of mind.
This directly ties into the first guideline. If we eat while upset, angry, or too excited, we are not concentrating on the task at hand...consuming nutrition. When eating, the mind should be peaceful and relaxed.
3. One should avoid cold drinks.
Cold drinks, especially right before or even with a meal, will weaken agni. Agni is best described as our metabolism. Think of our metabolism as a fire. We want our digestive fire to continuously burn at a consistent temperature to metabolize the food we consume. A small cup of warm tea or water is best to consume with our meals.
4. Eat until you are 75% full.
Overeating will slow down our metabolism. It may even put it out. Again, think of this as a fire. When we put too many logs on a fire, the fire is overwhelmed, and it stops burning. The same thing happens to our agni when we overeat.
5. Take time to rest after eating.
In a world that praised constant productivity, it is common for most of us to eat and rush back to work without giving our body time to digest the food. Think of what happens when we eat too fast. We often experience gas, bloating, or at the very least, discomfort. When we give ourselves time to sit still after eating we allow our energy to go towards processing the food we just ate. When we rush off to the next task right after eating, our energy gets diverted to what ever it is we are doing and the food we just ate isn't given the time it needs to be absorbed by the body.
Eating is sacred, and should be treated as such. What we eat literally becomes our body. We should respect this process. The guidelines are pretty simple, but it can be hard to break bad habits. If you want help in doing this, contact me. I can help you create healthy habits that will carry you to a healthy life.
Also make sure that you join my private facebook group. Every Friday I post a free yoga routine that is easy to follow. All you have to do is play it on your phone, ipad, or smart tv and follow along.
Much love to you friends.
I'm here for you if you have any questions about how to maximize your habits for the strongest version of you.
Sabrina White