This type of digestion is irregular on behalf of deficient Qi (body energy) and Blood, causing excess coldness and dryness in the digestive system, manifesting as deficient gastric juices (acids, enzymes, bile) and deficient blood nourishment to the digestive organs.
The key to replenish the blood and the digestive juices is rest and deep nourishment. Individuals with this condition are usually “go-go-go” people who never turn off their minds to relax their bodies. It is important to make time every day to eat on time and then relax and turn inward. This can be done by meditating, praying, walking, and practicing qi-Kong or gentle yoga, being creative, painting, playing or listening to music. Too much time in front of a screen will make the condition worse.
Recommended dietary habits
- Routine – maintain a regular meal routine at fixed hours. Avoid extreme hunger!
- Frequency and quantity of food – Eat small meals often, but in an orderly manner (every 2-3 hours). Most appropriate are 3 main meals plus 2-3 small snacks.
- Attention – During the meal concentrate on eating only. Avoid distracters such as screens, books, or eating while working or driving.
- Chewing – chew the food well.
- Emotional state – It is best to approach the meal in a relaxed mood and a sense of gratitude. Avoid distractibility and restlessness during mealtime, although this recommendation is also valid for the time between meals…
- Cooked and hot food – the food must be cooked and served hot.
- Energetics – prefer food items of heating properties and use hot spices to stimulate digestion.
- Fresh food – cookoften, store food in the refrigerator for up to 3 days.
- Food texture – Avoid dry-textured foods, prefer food with sauce, moist, oily and soft.
- The nature of the food – eat foods that are of good quality and nutritious. Most of the diet should include fats, proteins and carbohydrates. Reduce or eliminate the consumption of dietary fibers, especially the non-soluble fibers.
- Flavors – It is advisable to stress in your diet the salty, sour and sweet flavors. A little spicy can also fit in.
- Food preparation methods: long cooking methods over a small flame or in the stove, using heavy closed utensils such as an iron cast pot, crock pot, and the addition of more salt and oil to cooking. Baking, stewing, long cooked soups or porridge, long-time pickling, occasional frying, and Japanese Nishime and Kimpire cooking styles.
- Desert – sweet foods are appropriate between meals
- Drinking – best to drink warm beverages between meals, keep hydrated with plenty of fluids and electrolytes. Add to your water a zest of lemon on a regular basis. Make sure to drink a glass of lukewarm water 30 minutes before each meal.
- You can enjoy a midday power nap or a longer rest but not immediately after eating, rather better once the stomach is emptied.
- Take a short, light walk after meals. A light walk after meals leads to better digestion and better health.
- Exercise on a regular basis
- Keep the abdomen and low back covered and warm
Cereal grains:
Cereals are a very good food group for balancing this condition. Grains are nutritious and grounding and relatively easy to digest. Most appropriate are the polished grains, which are more soothing and gentle on the digestive tract. Whole grains are rich in fiber and have a dehydrating effect and are more difficult to digest, but they can be consumed for this condition when an excess of mucus is present and needs to be cleaned from the system.
The most suitable grains for this condition are:
- Wheat in the form of bulgur, semolina and couscous.
- Pressed Oatmeal or spelt(cooked – not muesli or granola)
- Sticky Rice (sushi rice) and Basmati Rice.
- Flour products (wheat, spelt, oatmeal flour) should be with little or none fiber: Indian bread (chapatti), Sourdough bread, pasta or noodles from durum flour.
Less appropriate Cereals for this condition are quinoa, barley, rye, buckwheat, cornmeal, whole grain rice, millet, granola, crackers, and rice cakes.
Legumes:
Most legumes are very fibrous, hard to digest, dry and dehydrating, create constipation and gas. Legumes are not appropriate for this condition. When digestion is stronger and overall relative balance is stable, legumes could be introduced into the diet in small portions. To digest them without harm to the system, the preparation of legumes is critical and they should be cooked well. The most suitable legumes for this condition are green mung beans lentils, and tofu.
Legumes such as Adzuki beans and chickpeas may interfere with the delicate irregular digestive system. Other beans are unlikely be tolerated at all.
Cooked vegetables:
People with irregular digestion often cannot live exclusively on a multi-vegetable diet, but can reasonably digest a reasonable variety of cooked vegetables. To make the vegetables more suitable, they should be peeled to decrease fiber content. Preparation of vegetables with oil, salt and spices and eating them in the presence of cereals improves their digestion.
Most appropriate for this condition are onions and leeks, sweet potato, pumpkin, chestnut squash, squash, zucchini.
Second best are fennel, carrots, beets, parsley root, and celery root
Less appropriate for this condition are the green variety and the more bulky and rough vegetables. Consume with care when digestion is in good shape: celery stalks, green peas, green beans, potato, tomato, eggplant, artichoke hearts, okra, asparagus, spinach, chard.
Best avoided for most of the time is Cabbage, cauliflower, Brussels sprouts, broccoli, kohlrabi, radish, turnips, mushrooms, peppers. For these vegetables, it is recommended to add a generous amount of oil, salt and spices to allow proper digestion.
Uncooked raw vegetables:
Less raw vegetables are recommended for this condition, but fresh vegetables and salads can be eaten moderately, in the appropriate season, with a typical sauce of olive oil, lemon and salt. When digestion is strong, you can eat tomatoes, cucumbers, carrots, lettuce, parsley, coriander, dill, chives. To be on the safe side from a digestive point of view, it is better to eat only one or two raw vegetables at once, rather than a diversified salad. Example: add several cherry tomatoes to your lunch.If you are set on eating a salad, best preparation would be a pressed salad or a finely chopped salad.
It is best to avoid raw kohlrabi, onion, rocket, mustard leaves, baby leaves, radish, and cabbage.
Algae/seaweed:
The most suitable are komboand Arame. For less frequent use tryhjikiand wakma. The least suitable is the Nori seaweed (commonly used in sushi).
Animal food: (quality is very significant)
Meat (lamb, beef, chicken, and turkey), fish and eggs can be very effective for balancing this condition when cooked very well and in very small portions. Eggs and fish usually do the job and are the best. Well cooked chicken will also digest successfully. Heavier for digestion are beef and lamb, which can be eaten in small quantities, preferably as meat soup, or as minced meat and cooked well.
Also important for this condition is the consumption of internal organs (liver, heart and others), bone marrow, bones and cartilage. Meat stocks made by boiling beef or chicken bones (be sure to use free-range meats).
Milk and dairy products: (quality is very significant)
Most dairy products are good for balancing this condition because of their nutritious and moist quality, but because of their heavy and cool qualities, they should be eaten only in accordance with the strength of the digestive capacity. Avoid dairy if you know you do not digest dairy well.
The best of them is ghee, and in addition, boiled milk, natural yogurt, sour cream and butter. When digestion is stronger use also cottage cheese, cream cheese, labane cheese or salty sponge like cheese such as feta cheese / Bulgarian / Safed cheese. It is best to avoid ice cream.
Fruits:
Fresh fruits in the season have a pleasant quality, cleansing and increasing body fluids, but fruits are too light and cold for this condition. Therefore, fruit should be consumed in moderation, according to season, and should be eaten on their own (rather than mixed with other foods). Excess fruit in the diet will lead to instability, lack of concentration and lack of willpower.
Fruits that are more suitable are lemon, lime, grapefruit, plum, cherry, grape, strawberry, raspberry, orange, tangerine, pineapple, papaya, mango, banana, dates and figs.
Second priorities are pomelo, pear, apple (cooked), peach, apricot, and pomegranate.
Better to avoid raw apples, persimmon, guava, melon, watermelon, blueberries and dried fruits. Dried fruits that have been soaked in water and/or cooked, are appropriate, especially raisins.
Nuts and seeds:
Most nuts and seeds are good for this condition, especially if they are gently roasted and gently salted.
On the other hand, they are hard to digest and therefore should be consumed in small amounts at a time (not more than 15 units a day, maximum 5 units for each meal). Almond is the best (preferably without the skin). Also good are walnuts, pecans, pine nuts, macadamia nuts, hazelnuts, pistachios, cashews and sesame seeds. Less appropriate are Brazil nut, sunflower seeds, pumpkin seeds, flax seeds, nigella and peanuts.
Oils (cold pressed) and Fats:
The qualities of Oils and Fats are mostly warming and unctuous, and therefore most oils are very important and appropriate for this condition.
Best are cold pressed sesame seed oil and Ghee. Also very good are olive oil, sesame spread, almond spread, avocado and salted butter. Coconut oil is colder and heavier in nature and is appropriate only when digestion is stronger.
It is better to avoid corn oil, soybean oil, safflower oil, canola oil, all refined vegetable oils, and hydrogenated products such as margarine.
Sweeteners:
In general the sweet taste is beneficial for this condition,the more natural the better. The best is sugar cane, in the form of Jaggery (boiled and condensed sugar cane juice).Other good sweeteners are pure maple syrup, rice malt, molasses, date syrup and fresh honey.
Best avoid white sugar.
Spices:
Proper use of spices can greatly help balance this condition, strengthen the appetite and decrease gas formation. In particular, it is recommended to season heavy or sweet foods to be better digested. Hot spices can increase dryness and should be used moderately, but are often desirable when suffering from internal cold and weak digestion. Rock salt is good for digestion, but excess salt is harmful.
Cooked or grilled garlic, Asafetida (hing), dry ginger powder, cardamom, nutmeg, fennel, miso paste, Umebushi paste, should be used regularly. Also good are cumin, caraway, dill seed, celery seed, ajuwan, cinnamon, basil, fenugreek, soy sauce, rock salt, pickles, natural vinegar and black pepper.
Lower priority spices are coriander seeds, cloves, turmeric, fresh ginger, mint, peppermint, Mustard seeds, thyme, rosemary, green onions. Herbs that are best avoided are table salt and dried chili.
Beverages:
For this condition enough water is needed, depending on daily activity and thirst, but water alone is often not sufficiently nourishing. Use the following as nourishing beverages: boiled milk before bedtime (cow, organic), cereal milk (almond, oatmeal), tea with milk and sweetener (Indian chai style). It is also recommended to drink small portions of natural sweet and sour fruit juice (orange juice or tangerine, apart from food on an empty stomach) or water mixed with freshly squeezed lemon juice and sweetener(lemonade or isotonic beverages). Small amounts of red wine during meals (40 up to 80 ml) may improve digestion.
Infusions of fennel seeds with cinnamon bark are highly recommended.
Optional daily menu for this condition:
Drink options following awakening:
Hot water with freshly squeezed lemon juice
Hot water with freshly squeezed lemon juice + table spoon of olive oil + pinch of rock salt
Kuzu Umebushi macrobiotic beverage
7:00Â Breakfast:
Pressed oatmealporridge or semolina porridge or wheat flour porridge. Cook the porridge either with water, oatmeal milk or cow milk diluted with water.
Oatmeal or semolinaPancakes
Toast with Ghee/butter/tahini/gomasio and egg (soft boiled/scrambled/sunny side up, omelet with feta cheese)
10:00Â Snack:
If the appetite is mild: a fresh fruit or a few dates and nuts (soak in hot water for 2 minutes).
If appetite is strong: chapatti bread or sourdough bread with a suitable paste (ghee, Labanne, yam paste, olive paste, tahini, salty feta cheese, date spread, etc.)
13:00Â Lunch:
Vegetarian meal:
Basmati rice or bulgur or pasta, 50% of the plate
Cooked Vegetable, 30% of the plate
Legumes (if digestion allows) or legumes and yogurt or plain yogurt or sour cream or salty sponge like cheese (feta), 20% of the plate
Or
Non vegetarian meal:
Basmati riceor bulgur or pasta, 50% of the plate
Cooked Vegetable, 30% of the plate
Chicken / fish / meat stew 20% of the plate
16:00Â Snack:
If the appetite is mild: a fresh fruit or a few dates and nuts (soak in hot water for 2 minutes).
Fruit compote and almonds.
Semolina cake
If appetite is strong: chapatti bread or sourdough bread with a suitable paste (ghee, Labanne, yam paste, olive paste, tahini, salty feta cheese, date spread, etc.)
19:00Â Dinner:
Oatmeal or semolina porridge or wheat flour milk porridge
Oatmeal or semolina Pancakes
Basmati rice or bulgur, cooked vegetables and egg
Vegetable soup or chicken broth soup and grain/pasta
Chapatti or bread with a suitable spread, soft boiled egg or egg slow fried in ghee
Semolina/bulgur and vegetable pie
Noodles or spaghetti with vegetable sauce and cooked tomatoes with cream
Rice pudding
22:00Â Bedtime:
A small glass of boiled milk with a little ghee and nutmeg
Indian style Chai tea with boiled milk
A cup of warm and spiced almond milk