Mindful Eating

Mindful Eating: Eat according to your Digestion Power

Mindful Eating is an important part of Holistic Living, where we only eat and drink, what our body and mind needs and tolerates individually, according to our current state of health and digestion power. Check your digestion with the selftest here on this page below.

Mindful Eating: Always Eat according your Digestion PoweR

In HOLISTIC NUTRITION we take care, that we can tolerate and  digest the food, we are eating. This means Mindful Eating, where you only eat and drink, what your body tolerates and completely digests. For this, you have to choose food items, dishes and drinks, which fits to our current digestion power, so your body can utilizes the food and gets all the nutrients, your body needs. Otherwise there will be maldigestion which causes serious health problems. 

Mindful Eating according to your individual needs

You are unique and  your digestion power is unique too. You have to understand that your digestion is influenced by many factors. This includes the eating habits of your ancestors, which genetically determine which digestive enzymes and juices your body produces. This also determines the range of foods, dishes and drinks that you can digest. Your personal lifestyle and eating habits also influence your digestive power. Mindful Eating is therefore an individual matter.

Mindful Eating: Check your Digestion Power

For Mindful Eating you have to understand the digestive processes of your body in general. You also need to know about your personal digestion capacity. This way you can better adjust your food to your digestion power. You can check your digestion power in the SELFTEST below on this page and follow the recommendations. If you have any severe health problems, you better consult an experienced holistic doctor or therapist as well. Make the test again and again and remember the questions. Also feel what’s going on in your digestion system.

Mindful Eating: Eat according to your Digestion Power

Decide, if a you should eat a sumptuous meal or a soup according to your digestion power. Your food should give you energy and lightness. Tiredness and heaviness after eating are always an unmistakable sign that the food was too difficult to digest. When you are healthy and full of energy, your eating habits are optimal. When you are exhausted, weak or sick, follow the recommendation for “Easy to Digest” food and avoid those, which are „Difficult to Digest“. Find your personal diet.

Mindful Eating: Learn about Digestion

The digestion process starts already, when we just think, expect or prepare our food. through the release of neurohormones in our brain, which induce the production of digestive enzymes and juices in our body. These enzymes and juices break down our food into its components: proteins to amino acids, carbohydrates to sugar molecules, fats to fat acids. 

In the end these nutrients along with minerals, vitamins and water are absorbed by the intestinal mucosa into our blood and lymphsystem, while waste products are removed in the large intestines. The digestive process starts in our mouth with saliva and continues in our stomach and small intestines, where digestive enzymes and juices are produced by intestinal cells, pancreas and  gallbladder. 

Mindful Eating: Learn about Maldigestion

Poor digestion leads to serious digestive problems and diseases such as allergies and  autoimmune diseases. According to Ayurveda, food items, which are not digested properly, form sticky particles, which create slags. This slags are coating our intestines and disturb the growth of  good intestinal bacterias and allow bad bacterias and parasites to grow. This causes inflammation in our intestines, especially the small intestines. Over time the mucosa gets destroyed and. With Conscious Eating we can prevent the development of slags in the body.

Weak Digestion caused by Stress, Poor Eating and Hyperacidity

Most of the time, our natural strong digestive power is weakened by chronic stress. Also wrong eating habits like eating too quickly, too late, the wrong food, too much and too often has a negative influence on our digestion system. Hyperacidity caused by a diet, which contains too many acidic foods, creates an acidic environment, where our digestion enzymes doesn’t work properly. Conscious Eating is about counteracting acidity and is focussed on alkaline and deacidifying food items.

Mindful Eating: Adjust your Food with Changes of your Digestion Power

The production of digestive enzymes and juices can change. An infection or a previous meal, which keeps the digestion busy for hours, can weaken the digestive power. On the other hand, Certain dietary supplements or spices such as pepper, ginger or cinnamon can quickly stimulate your digestion. Climate and seasons also affect digestive activity, which is stronger in summer and hot temperatures, and low in cold seasons or on icy days. Mindful Eating is about adjusting your food to your digestion power. 

Mindful Eating: Know about your current Digestion Power

Because your digestion power is changing, you have to ask yourself about your current digestion before any meal. Mindful Eating requires to know about your digestive capacity. To come to know about your digestion power, you need to ask yourself some question, which you will find below in the Selftest. The state of your tongue and your digestion habits will give you the right answers about your digestion.

Mindful Eating: Follow the Diet of your Ancestors

The Holistic Diet is based on the food habits of our personal ancestors, but only if the digestion power is strong enough. Your digestive power, including your microbiom, has been formed over centuries by the dietary habits of your ancestors – with specific enzymes for cereals, dairy products, meat, fish or eggs. This digestion pattern is stored in your genes. Especially in remote rural areas like India, Asia, Africa or South America, people are eating the same food like thousand of years ago and don’t have any digestion problems, only when they eat too much or something unusual.

Mindful Eating: Only Good Food Quality

In our modern world, where plants have largely been genetically manipulated and farming and livestock farming are completely unethical, we have to carefully check about the quality of our food. Conscious Eating means to choose food items of good quality only, like organic fresh foods without genetic manipulation and unethical production. This requires accurate research, where to get best food, also when it comes to eat in restaurants. Ideally you get your food from a local market directly from the producer. 

Mindful Eating of "Easy to digest“ food items

According to the concept of Holistic Nutrition in Ayurveda all warm, soft boiled meals like soups, porridge, stews and mashes from plants are „EASY TO DIGEST“. Organic food items, which are fresh, tender and ripe, like fruits and vegetables, are also a good choice. Herbs and spices have a digestive effect and should be part of every meal.

holistic-nutrition-always-good

Mindful Eating: Better avoid „Difficult to Digest“ food

According to the concept of Holistic Nutrition and ayurvedic teachings, what is compact, hard, sticky, raw and cold, is „difficult to digest“ like milk and milk products, cereals, meat, fish and eggs. Not easy to digest are also certain food combinations like milk or milk products with fruits or meat/ fish/ eggs. Stay away from food with too many components and/ or artificial ingredients or „ready made food“ in general.  

Mindful Eating: Better alkaline

In Holistic Nutrition we focus on deacidifying and ALKALINE FOOD ITEMS. This ranges from sweet fruits, vegetables, cereals, lentils and natural sweeteners to fresh herbs and spices with bioactive and bitter substances. Avoid acidic vegetables such as tomatoes like from night shade families and fruits and juices from citrus fruits, berries (except blueberries), pineapple or kiwis, as well as carbonated sodas, vinegar, fermented foods like sauerkraut, alcohol, dairy products and especially industrial products from refined wheat.

Selftest for proper digestion

Great – you can keep on eating like before Just make sure you don`t have any other health issues. In case of any complaints, you better follow the recommendations for nutrition in weak digestion power below.

Selftest for weak digestion power and indigestion

Ideal nutrition for weak digestion power

The test shows that your current digestion power is weak. Now you really need absolute light food and healthy eating habits. Eat slowly, chew well, eat in peace, eat several small portions and eat the last meal of soup or cooked vegetables around 6-7 pm. Stay on

Food Items to avoid with weak digestion power