tummy complaints

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Sometimes our digestion seems to be weakened for various reasons and we need to provide it with easy to digest and nourishing foods. Starting the morning with stewed fruit - apple or pear cooked with cloves is a good way to gently introduce food to the system. Apple and pear have good amounts of malic acid that gently supports liver function and cloves have a great deal of beneficial properties ( see previous blog)

Once the fruit have digested and you start to feel hungry that is a good time to have your hot morning cereal. Quinoa, amaranth, oats, buckwheat - all nourishing and easy to digest. Buckwheat is particularly good as it has many bioflavinoids. See link to the benefits of buckwheat - wonderful for heart and cholesterol. http://www.whfoods.com/genpage.php?tname=foodspice&dbid=11

Once breakfast is digested we can start planning for lunch. Lunch or the mid-day meal is the biggest meal. For according to ayurved when the sun is highest in the sky - that is the time when the digestive fires are strongest. So the midday meal is when we can digest the most food in the easiest way to the best product. Now is the time for our delicious meal. Ayurved usually recommends adding spice to the cooking process. These support the digestive and help make the food into intelligent blood that will feed every cell in our body. The standard spice mix of turmeric, cumin, coriander and fennel is a good place to start when cooking with ayurvedic spices. (see previous blog for recipe) They help digestion and support liver function. At this time it would be good to have a lassi - or diluted yogurt as our drink to supply to digestive process with "yoginis" or beneficial bacteria. Most people now know about the importance or "probiotics" in digestion.

The evening meal is best eaten at around 6 PM but no later than 7 - for now the body is slowing down and getting ready to rest. So some lightly steamed veggies with a good grain. My favourite is "asparagus soup" I cook asparagus with enough water and spices and a bit of ghee and soma salt and then blend it to a soup - having that with a bit of buckwheat is nourishing and also easy to digest.

Enjoy!!

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