Snacking and Ayurveda

The Ayurvedic rules of snacking are......."NO SNACKING"!

Sorry, but seriously, when was the last time you were really really hungry?

When you think of hunger, think of a scale from 1 to 10. 1 is starving to death and 10 is Thanksgiving dinner. You should eat a meal when you are around a 2 or 3. You should stop eating when you are around a 7 to leave room to digest. A meal is the size of your two fists placed side by side. That is all that your stomach can comfortably hold. Yes, you can shove more food in your stomach than that, but it slows digestion.

When you think of your digestive system, think of a bonfire. We call it "Agni". You want that bonfire to be burning as hot and intense as possible. Overeating and eating between meals causes that fire to diminish. A weak fire cannot break down and absorb the nutrients in your food. A weak fire cannot facilitate elimination of waste.

So, get hungry. Let your belly start to rumble and work and then feed it. Leave room to digest and take a nice little walk after you eat.

If you are beginning the process of eliminating the habit of snacking from your diet, the following can get you through your transition:

Bliss Balls:

If you are participating in the Elemental OM Immersion, you can snack on Bliss Balls to your hearts content. Otherwise, use these as a healthy alternative for snacking. You will find they are very rich and filling.

• 1 cup sunflower seeds
• 1 cup almonds
• 2 cups dried cranberries
• 1 cup raisins
• 6 - 8 figs or dates, dried
• 2 tablespoons or more of maple syrup, mollases or honey
• 1 teaspoon vanilla extract
• 1 teaspoon or more nutmeg
• ½ cup shredded coconut flakes

Place all the nuts and dried fruit in a food processor and process until relatively smooth. Add the maple syrup, vanilla and nutmeg. Continue to pulse until the mixture begins to stick together. Taste for sweetness. Add more maple syrup if necessary to hold the bliss balls together.

Place the shredded coconut flakes in a flat bowl. Roll the nut and cranberry mixture into 1-inch balls, dip in maple syrup and roll them in the coconut flakes to coat. Store in an airtight container.

Play around with these, you may use any dried fruit or nut combination that you love. Consider figs, dates, raisins and other nuts. You might also consider adding Carob or a high quality dark chocolate.

Herbal Tea:

When you get the craving for a snack, have a cup of tea instead. When choosing tea, always pick the boxes that are yellow, orange or red. Pick anything that says zingy, zainy, zesty, uplifting, invigorating or other energetic word. These teas tend to have herbs in them that stimulate digestion.

Veggies:

Blanch some veggies and consume with hummus for a snack. Avoid raw foods. They are hard to digest.