Are you hungry?
I mean are you actually hungry? Do you feel the hunger in your belly? Is your digestive fire asking for fuel?
Why is hunger important and a pillar of health?
In ayurveda hunger and understanding the feeling of being hungry is essential for our health. Digestion is one of the pillars of health in ayurveda. And we need to understand when we are actually hungry.
The digestive fire can be translated as agni or more specifically jathara agni. This is the fire in our belly transforming and digesting food into nourishment or waste. This is why our digestion is paramount to our health. What we eat will nourish our tissues and our being - if we can digest it well. Or it can cause ama, undigested material which can lead to unhealthy or “toxic” situations. We want to be able to eliminate well too keeping the whole digestive channel happy.
What we eat will nourish our tissues and our being - if we can digest it well
Our fire or agni needs fuel. The fuel is our nutrition and food. Too much and the fire will go out, too little it may be erratic. Adding the wrong things at the wrong time on the fire in our belly can cause imbalances and ama.
So we need to listen to our gut. Knowing when we are hungry and when we are full.
"The digestive fire in the intestines (jataragni) is the root of all the digestive fires in the body. As it causes the increase or decrease of the elemental and tissue digestive fires it should be treated with great care."
- Ashtanga Hridaya Samhita
What hunger isn’t
Real hunger is not fantasising about food or cakes. Meal planning or talking about recipes. Or eating just because we usually eat at a certain time - even if we aren’t hungry. Comfort eating or binge eating is not due to the hunger or fire in our belly rather we want to fulfil an emotional urge.
Learning to truly listen is important. When do eat out of habit? Are you tasting the food/cake/treat? Are you enjoying the meal? What tastes and textures appeal to you when you are hungry? And how does it change through the seasons and cycles of life?
As we are constantly on the go we have forgotten to listen to our hunger and digestive fire. Either we are too busy and we simply forget to eat. Or we eat whilst on transport and at the same time listen to a podcast and scroll on Instagram. We put food in our mouths but forget to taste and experience eating and digesting it.
I have no appetite
Sometimes we just have no appetite. No cravings, no interest at all.
Sometimes because we are unwell and our digestion needs a bit of a rest. Perhaps we eat some easy-to-digest foods or soups or use spices and herbs to ignite our digestive fire again.
Having no appetite can also be due to having to digest a lot of emotions and thoughts - see everything needs to be digested! Being heartbroken or nervous can cause havoc with our digestion.
It could be a combination of both. Perhaps our digestion is asking for a little break…
Other times we have suppressed our hunger for so long that it’s become a habit as is seen in disordered eating. Or when taking hunger suppressants of any sort. As you can imagine this has a detrimental effect on our digestion, on our fuel and our nourishment. And therefore our overall health.
Igniting the digestive fire
If we have no appetite it is worth seeing an ayurvedic practitioner or health care provider. It could be due to feeling under the weather, feeling stressed or anxious but it could also be something more serious. And our appetite for food and fuel is also an appetite for life. Embrace it!
Ayurveda has many protocols to ignite digestion. It could be through a treatment protocol or a cleanse. But it can also be some very simple adjustments.
A guide to kindle our digestive fire
Always listen to your hunger
Eat early dinner (traditionally we would say 6 pm but lifestyle might push it to later) so you can digest through the evening and night.
Then you’ll hopefully feel hungry at breakfast.
If not have some warm water to ignite the digestion.
This could be an infusion of ginger or cumin
Eat mindfully, taste the food and feel the texture
Don’t eat too fast. Think of adding fuel to a fire - not too much too quickly
Ginger is a great digestive which is wonderful to ignite the fire and support a healthy appetite
Eat simple foods
Eat with the seasons
Eat locally-produced food
Enjoy well-cooked meals
Avoid cold and iced foods and drinks
Cook with love
Let your food be love, nourishment and nurturing you and your body
