Anu Paavola, food and nutrition expert looks at a few examples of ‘healthy’ food, which could actually be more toxic to your digestive system than good!
We have many common dietary habits that seem to be healthy but underneath there is a truth that might make you abandon even super foods. When a food item is advertised of being rich in nutrients, great for gut flora and so on you need to take it with a pinch of salt. The benefit you get from say, goji berries or lactobacillus acidophilus depends firstly on your digestive power and secondly how you consume it. If your digestive power is weak or erratic even the best of the highly nourishing foods can become toxic. Let’s look at a few examples:
Orange juice is not healthy in the morning
The body tends to create mucous in the morning. Anything acidic and cold creates even more mucous. Mucous slows down the digestion and prevents nutrients from being absorbed. Orange juice is especially bad after a night out. Because it is acidic it makes your hangover longer the more you have it.
Super foods can be toxic
Any food item whether with high or low nutrient content or dosed with an amount of a rare rejuvenating magical component can poisonous. Maybe not like snake venom but to the extent that they can cause various symptoms starting from bloating and gas. The way you eat your food determines how it will behave inside you. Any food super or not, if you eat them too fast, too much, in great combinations will cause problems.
Raw food is summer food
Us humans were not designed to eat raw food in winter, especially in the colder areas of the globe. In summer and in warmer areas the sun “cooks” the growing vegetables to such extent that they are easy to digest, even if consumed raw. Raw food, being hard to digest, is harmful for those with poor digestion. No matter how nutritious e.g. raw spinach is, the fact is that, if your power of absorption is weak you get much less benefits from it than if it was cooked. Cooking makes everything much more digestible.
Yoghurt can cause constipation and digestive toxins
As with orange juice so it is with yoghurt. It is highly mucous increasing and if consumed in the morning it can seriously compromise you digestive power for the rest of the day. In addition, fruit should not be combined with dairy, a thing that many of us do in the morning or directly buy fruit flavoured options.
Ice cream for dessert is a cocktail for digestive disaster
Anything cold slows down your digestive process. When you eat you want to make sure your digestive enzymes perform at their best capacity to avoid bloating, gas and other digestive issues. Anything cold and slimy, like ice cream or yoghurt, will suppress the enzymatic functions and can even stop your digestion.
Anu Paavola is a Ayurvedic expert and owner of Jivita Ayurveda. She is a qualified ayurvedic practitioner (B.SC Hons, MAPA) and a yoga teacher. Find out more www.jivitaayurveda.com
