Nightshades
One day I was telling a patient about how acidic tomatoes are and he told me of his own experience.
He related that he was driving aloing the interstate when he saw ahead of him a truck lying on its side on the highway. As he got closer he saw a lake of tomato sauce on the road and drove through it with a swish.
He drove on to the next pit stop for some gas and as he was fueling the tank his attention was drawn to the lower parts of the car and found that the paint was peeling off. Now what would that do in our stomachs? Heartburn for those predisposed and imbalance for the rest us who are provoked.
The tomato in concentrated form can be acidic enough that people "burp" their sauces to neutralize the acidity using baking soda.
Nightshades In General
The nightshade family includes tomato, potato, bell peppers, and eggplant. Other relatives are garlic and the onion. Yes, these are common bill of fare in the American diet but that doesn't make them healthy.
Nightshades contain 8 neurotoxins that our body has to detoxify when we consume them.
From an energy view probably none of us should be consuming the nightshades. But they're cheap and quick so there we are. If we are seeking balance in our nutrition energetically, it would be helpful to look to see if tomatoes are in your nutritional format.
Take a look at foodsheal.com Take the test and find the nutritional format best suited for you.
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10 Ways to Improve Agni
In energy science work it's not just one thing that you do to bring about balance but a multiplicity of "things" And most of the time(80%) it's lifestyle behavior patterns not herbs and supplements that are the "things" that will make a difference This particularly plays out in digestive issues where attention to details pays big dividends
This approach to disease brings clarity both emotionally and mentally so that better decision making is done as you move along in the process So let's take a look at some important choices that the energy science recommends to improve digestion
10 Energy Science Remedies for Poor Digestion
1 Biggest meal of the day at noon The digestive system is most ready for the experience between 11a and 2p Conversely at the same time at night between 11p and 2a one should be in bed or there is a great chance that you'll be "raiding the fridge" particularly if Pitta is high and the digestion is too hot
2 No snacking Snacking confuses the GI tract So eating the main meals at predetermined times every 4 hours is very important If you snack you will never know true hunger Due to its simple sugars that can be digested quickly fruit makes a perfect snack food
3 Only eat if real hunger exists The way to tell if there is true hunger is to drink some water and see if you're still hungry If your hunger goes away then it's false hunger However the best way to lock into true hunger is to eat at specific times of the day, eat the biggest meal of the day at noon, and don't snack
4 Ice is not nice Ice cools the GI tract down and agni The enzyme systems work best at 98.6F and so when ice is used during meals it affects your digestion and creates ama which is undigested, unprocessed food Ama is root of all disease so you can see that simply avoiding is a major step to improving your digestion
5 Pay attention to what you're doing and chew food thoroughly There is good experimental evidence to show that when you pay attention to the eating process you digest better There are estimates as to how many "chews" should be used for each mouthful of food and I think that a reasonable number is 20 This guideline is also useful for food prepartation paying attention to the food being prepared
6 Take your time eating Setting down your fork and chewing food, appreciating the taste, textures, and the completeness of chewing the food
7 Make a deal to sit while eating Sitting in your car while driving doesn't count here! Even if it's a grape make a deal with yourself that you'll sit down to eat the grape to create a habit
8 Don't eat when emotional upset Having mental and emotional turbulence prevents you from being able to focus on the process of eating at hand
9 Moderate exercise Make a point to do some form of exercise every day This improves agni and supports quality digestion and prevents ama formation The use of pranayama and in particular kapalabhati(KB) is an excellent way to improve agni and get exercise It may not seem like much but doing 5 minutes of KB is like running a half a mile
10 Use churans with meals At foodsheal.com under nutritional tools there is a listing of churans which are collections of spices that can be used during cooking or sprinkling on food before eating In the energy science each meal should have all 6 tastes Churans can be instrumental in providing these tastes in order to help improve digestion
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Agni and Digestion
Most of us have gone without food for one reason or another and experienced a very strong appetite as a result. Seems pretty straight forward, doesn't it? Don't eat and we get hungry.
But let's examine this process energetically. What happens from an energy perspective.
As we volitionally go without food for a period of time, the enzyme system of the gut collectively known as the digestive fire, ramps up since it is not being used by food. This creates increasing appetite since the energy field's transformative energy is increasing and appetite is an expression of the health of the mindbody's fire in the gut.
But if we continue this process withholding food for several days, something very interesting occurs energetically. Since the fire is not being fed fuel(food), it begins to lessen in its intensity. This is similar to what happens with a campfire, right? If we don't feed the campfire any more wood, what happens? The fire becomes a glowing set of embers. Very hot but not the same kind of fire.
The embers of a campfire is analogous to the detoxification fire that begins the slow burning of undigested stagnant energy in the mindbody. In reality these islands of stagnant energy get heated up so that they can begin moving again and restore the free flow of energy in the physiology once again.
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