I have an Instagram post that goes something like this:

There is a lot of advice on the internet about how it's important to eat seasonally produced foods that are organically grown. But this isn't always accessible, practical or affordable. And if we don’t have the capacity to absorb these lovely ingredients, what use are they?

So, while we get there gradually with more shops selling locally produced foods and regenerative farming practices growing, what I think are more useful questions to ask ourselves in the moment are:

Why am I eating? Because I'm hungry, stressed, or because it's here? What can this tell me about my state of mind or feelings?
How am I eating? Mindlessly on the go while looking at the screen or sat down even just for a few moments?
How did I put this together and how can I get the most out of these ingredients so that they really nourish me?

Some might read this and say it encourages disordered eating. But, it's not about being neurotic, it's about being intentional and understanding what and why we do what we do. Ayurveda helps us hold a mirror up to our behaviours and habits so that we have a better understanding and awareness. So, it might not be that we have a sensitivity to a particular food but could be because we're rushed off our feet and never settled when eating, for example.

The above questions are a starting point for improved digestion and won’t cost anything extra. As Ayurveda teaches us:

Allowing our Agni to re-establish itself between meals is key. We can do this by leaving at least 3 hours between meals.
Eating whilst sat down, in a calm environment without distractions will also support our digestion as the mind and body are focused on this process.
Cooking with good fats and spices will support digestion. If this isn't possible, follow-up the meal with a herbal tea.

What's the science behind this I hear you ask.

Timing

Allowing around 3 ours between meals and reducing grazing throughout the day has shown to improve our glycaemic control and insulin sensitivity (1, 2). Having some sort of regularity to our eating times also helps with insulin sensitivity (3). As Ayurveda tells us, the body likes routine.

Stress

The chemicals released when we're feeling stressed can impact our digestion. Noradrenaline seems to have a dual affect, both stopping peristalsis and inducing contractions of the gut wall (4). Gut motility is important to help our food move along. When it stops moving, this can cause constipation and even a change in our gut microbiome as the food is not in transit as it should be. Instead, it’s hanging around where it shouldn’t be. And when the opposite happens, we might find we need to make a trip to the bathroom at stressful times.

The release of other stress hormones like cortisol stimulate the release of inflammatory markers in our gut (5). These are known to increase the permeability of our gut lining, making the lining leaky. This is where we can start to experience systemic symptoms because of toxins entering our general circulation.

And a final point on stress hormones is that they can impact the gut microbiome (6,7), strengthen the biofilm and stickiness of some bacteria (8), and can attract some pathogens (9).

By choosing to sit down and focus on our meal, our stress won’t magically disappear, but we can reduce some of the impact that stress has on our gut and support its function.

Preparation

Some nutrients are better absorbed by the body when paired with good fats. Take the example of tomatoes which are rich in an antioxidant called lycopene. A number of studies have shown that lycopene is better absorbed when cooked with olive oil (10).

Cooking with fats can also alter the make-up of ingredients. When cooked with ghee, the glycaemic index of rice is reduced while its resistant starch content is increased (11, 12).

And spices are also our functional friends. They’ve been shown to improve the bioavailability of nutrients from protein (13) and vegetables (14). So how we prepare our meals is just as important as what we choose to eat.

In an ideal world, we would have easy access to nutritious and quality ingredients with the time to prepare them into nourishing meals. But, it’s also important to acknowledge the realities of food availability and how time-poor we have become. This is where stripping back to the basics can help and reminds us that there is still a lot we can do ourselves to transform the food we eat into a bowl of self-nourishment.

P.S. Thank you for reading this article. I try to make my work available in different formats and on different platforms to make health information digestible and easily accessible. If you enjoyed reading this, please consider sharing it with someone who isn’t on Instagram, or doesn’t use the internet much.

References

1. Kahleova et al. (2014) Eating two larger meals a day (breakfast and lunch) is more effective that six smaller meals in a reduced-energy regimen for patients with type 2 diabetes: A randomized crossover study. Diabetologia, 57

2. Gomez-Ruiz et al. (2024) Meal frequency strategies for the management of type 2 diabetes subjects: A systematic review. PloS One, 19(2)

3. Farshchi et al. (2004) Regular meal frequency creates more appropriate insulin sensitivity and lipid profiles compared with irregular meal frequency in healthy lean women. European Journal of Clinical Nutrition, 58(7)

4. Kurahashi et al. (2020) Norepinephrin has dual effects on human colonic contractions through distinct subtypes of Alpha 1 adrenoreceptors. Cellular & Molecular Gastroenterology and Hepatology, 10(3)

5. O’Malley et al. (2013) Crosstalk between interleukin-6 and corticotropin-releasing factor modulate submucosal plexus activity and colonic secretion. Brain, Behaviour & Immunity, 30

6. Bailey et al. (2010) Exposure to social stressor alters the structure of the intestinal microbiota: implications for stressor-induced immunomodulation. Brain, Behaviour & Immunity, 25(3)

7. Galley et al. (2014) Exposure to social stressor disrupts the community structure of the colonic mucosa-associated microbiota. BMC Microbiology, 14

8. Cambronel et al. (2020) Influence of catecholamines (epinephrine/norepinephrine) on biofilm formation and adhesion in pathogenic and probiotic strains of Enterococcus faecalis. Frontiers in Microbiology, 11

9. Bansal et al. (2007) Differential effects of epinephrine, norepinephrine, and indole on Escherichia coli O157:H7 chemotaxis, colonisation and gene expression. Infection & Immunity 75(9)

10. Fielding et al. (2005) Increases in plasma lycopene concentration after consumption of tomatoes cooked with olive oil. Asia Pacific Journal of Clinical Nutrition, 2

11. Kaur et al. (2015) The glycaemic potential of white and red rice affected by oil type and time of addition. Journal of Food Science, 80(10)

12. Kumar et al. (2018) Rice with pulses or cooking oils can be used to elicit lower glycaemic index response. Journal of Food Composition and Analysis, 71

13. Prakash & Srinivasan (2013) Influence of dietary spices on protein digestibility and absorption in experimental rats. Food Digestion, 4

14. Luo et al. (2022) Black pepper and vegetable oil-based emulsion synergistically enhance carotenoid bioavailability of raw vegetables in humans. Food Chemistry, 373