Heal Heartburn in Pregnancy with Ayurveda

KEEP THOSE FIRES BURNING BABY

Agni (meaning Digestive Fire) is regarded in Ayurveda as THE most important concept for healthy digestion. When your Agni is strong, you can easily digest everything that you eat. If your Agni or digestive fire is low, you won’t be able to digest your food and your body will produce toxins. I’m sure you can see why a strong Agni is vital in pregnancy!

The Ayurvedic rule for nutrition in pregnancy, is to make sure your eating is “Sattvic and abundant.” Sattvic foods are easily digested and nourish the Dhatus (body tissues) of mum and baby. Ensuring that mama has a strong Agni, or ‘digestive fire’ is the first step to good health for mum and baby.

The body can easily extract its ‘Ojas’ or prime energy from Sattvic food too. Ojas means “vigor” in Sanskrit and is the pure and subtle substance that’s left from food, when the rest has been completely digested.

Some more Ayurvedic tips for encouraging a healthy Agni or ‘digestive fire’ include:

• Always aim to eat in a pleasant environment; take your lunch outside if it’s a nice day and enjoy the view.
• Focus on eating slowly and not eating while ‘on the go;’
• Avoiding overeating because you are eating for two. Think quality, not quantity.
• Avoid foods that are highly stimulating, for example sugars, caffeine or spicy foods.
• Make lunch the biggest meal as this is when the Agni is naturally at its highest. This also helps avoid constipation.
• Eat several smaller meals or snacks throughout the day to aid digestion.
• Avoid eating leftovers as much as possible as this food will have become stagnant or ‘Tamasic.’
• Try to include a good variety of all six tastes (sweet, sour, astringent, bitter, salty, and pungent) at every meal.
• Wait several hours between meals to ensure that the previous meal has been digested.

This is an extract from Cheryl MacDonald’s new book YogaBellies for Pregnancy available in paperback and Kindle on Amazon.co.uk click here https://www.amazon.co.uk/dp/151736583X