This is what the Christmas holiday season is all about: indulging, having a good time, eating more than we need to, and drinking more than usual.

It's all good. Ayurveda is not against us indulging every now and then.

And the winter is actually the best time for this undertaking.

To understand the why, we view it through the Ayurvedic lens. The winter is a Vata-dominant time. This means light, cold, and dry qualities, amongst others, are in the atmosphere. You may remember that I have spoken about balancing with opposite attributes. In this case, heavy, warm, moist, unctuous. For food, this means all the good stuff: fat-rich, heavy, and sweet.

The winter Vata time is also emaciating in its nature due to its light and dry qualities. So, we need to eat up to stay away from coming into a deficit.

After special times, when we overeat or eat challenging food, our body naturally asks for a time out. We might feel like fasting or eating less because our body is wired to self-regulate. It always bounces back into its own state of balance or equilibrium. This process is called homeostasis (homeo – the Latin word for same, and stasis describes the state where all stays the same).

What if we can’t bounce back?

There are occasions when we find it difficult to bounce back. We keep sliding deeper into the bad habits.

In this case, it is helpful to re-establish good eating habits.

Let us zoom out for a moment. Ayurveda always looks at the bigger picture. It always deals with more than one aspect. In this case, looking at when we eat, get up, and go to bed is equally important. These daily routines are called dinacharya (dina means day, and acharya means activity). Eating, exercising, and working are influenced by the different qualities throughout the day.

2 – 6 am/pm is a Vata-dominant time, where the Vata qualities prevail.
6 – 10 am/pm Kapha, with its qualities, is dominant.
10 – 2 am/pm is the Pitta time.

Regarding food, Pitta time is when our digestive fire is the strongest and, hence, the best time to eat a substantial meal.

Vata and Kapha digestion is slow and not particularly strong, so we should eat light, easy-to-digest food during those times.

4 Tips to Create Healthy Eating Habits

So here is how we apply this to create healthy eating habits.

Integrate one element per day so that you don't feel overwhelmed:

Start with getting up at 6 am, the end of the Vata time, because it ensures you have a good energy level throughout the day and helps with easy elimination.
Drink a glass of hot water first thing.
Hot water hydrates the body. Alcohol, coffee, and tea, even some herbal teas, dehydrate the system. The hot water is readily available to the body and hydrates the tissues.
Hot water also flushes out water-soluble toxins. You can add even a little lemon juice, which is even more beneficial for flushing the system.
Stick with suitable eating times.
Because at lunchtime, the outer fire, the sun, is at its highest. This means that our inner fire, agni, and digestive capabilities are the highest, too. Therefore, never skip lunch and make it your heaviest meal. Have a light and early dinner, at the latest by 6 pm a soup would be great. A light breakfast, at about 8-8.30 during the winter, stewed apples and/or pears are wonderfully light and nourishing. Check the recipe page for further meal inspirations, my favourite for these occasions is mung dal soup.
Chew your meal properly. Most of us, me included, need to chew more and eat too fast. We should chew at least 25 times so that the food in our mouth already turns into a soupy consistency. The smaller the food particles, the better the absorption for our body.
Another crucial factor when we eat is that we just eat. So put aside your phone, the newspaper, and your book, and switch off your TV. When our focus is elsewhere, we don't really notice the taste of the food. Our senses are essential; they want to be involved. If we are distracted, we tend to eat more; we don't realise what we eat and how it tastes, so we have another helping to enjoy it.

These tips are easy to implement and super effective. Eating times significantly impact our digestion because of the strength of the digestive fire at different times of the day. We can dismiss it as unimportant; however, according to Ayurveda, this is of utmost importance.

To highlight their efficiency, I would like to give you an example of one of my Back to Balance students. We changed Rupee's eating habits from a light sandwich on the go at lunch to a warm sit-down meal. As a result, she stopped snacking in the afternoon. By changing to only drinking hot water throughout the day, she lost 7 kgs within six weeks without any other changes in her food. This shows the importance of mealtimes and the consequences.

Final Thoughts

Sometimes, we get out of our rhythm and indulge, which is absolutely fine. Naturally, our body bounces back; we might not be hungry the next day and eat less, for example, or prefer only light food. This is a natural way for our body to return to its natural state of balance.

However, we might continue indulging a little longer, in which case it takes longer for the body to bounce back, and we might need to implement other measures.

Get up early and start your day with a glass of hot water.
Stick to your mealtimes, make lunch your biggest meal and have a light breakfast and dinner.
Chew your food thoroughly, at least 25 times.
Switch off and put aside all distractions.

By the way, these routines keep you healthy and strong all year round.

Did you find this helpful? I love to hear from you and your experiences. You can leave a comment below or a message on Instagram, Facebook or even good old email.

I love hearing from you!

Katja x