Agni, or digestive fire

Above all else, Ayurveda recognises that your digestive fire or Agni is EVERYTHING. The strength of your Agni is key to good health, and if you focus on stoking that fire and keeping it lively with your lifestyle choices – for example making time to cook real, fresh, seasonal foods and balancing out the effects of a busy life with meditation and proper rest – you won’t need to fixate on your Dosha type but rather you can balance your ever-fluctuating Doshas as they move with you.

There are thirteen different Agnis, or biological fires, at work throughout your body, including the tiny metabolic processes that take place in every single cell. Here we focus on the main Agni that lies in your stomach, filled with the enzymes and hydrochloric acid that break down your meal and begin the conversion of it into a nourishing energy that your body can use.

If we are the sum of our experiences, and we are what we assimilate, our digestive fire is responsible for our overall health and wellbeing – digesting emotional, mental and physical experiences, as well as our food. If we look after our digestive fire, it looks after us. A lively fire can reduce negative experiences into the basic information that we need to get us through life without having to drag it around with us and allowing it to ‘become us’. A lively fire gets the best from both nutritious food and nutrient-poor food. It protects us from bad bacteria and viruses and ‘cooks down’ raw and indigestible foods into something that our bodies can use. It has the power to transform everything it digests into ‘us’ and everything that we are. It takes the energy of the universe and converts it into forms that we can immediately use.

As I have heard over and over again from my Vaidyas and vedic meditation teachers: ‘It is better to have good digestion and a bad diet, than to have bad digestion and a good diet.’ While Ayurveda recommends eating wholesome, healthy and nutritious meals that are prepared appropriately for our Dosha and the season, digestion is so important that it pushes the importance of the actual food that we are eating down to third place, behind how we digest and how we eat.

While the actual quality and type of your food is important, the simplicity of your plate is even more so. As Vaidya Dr Avilochan said, ‘Don’t make a meal out of a meal’ – which basically means, the simpler the dish, the easier it is on the system. That doesn’t mean boring food, it just means that we should try to balance out our crazy eating days with a bit more, or maybe a lot more, zen.

HOW WE DIGEST

According to the principles of Ayurveda, our overall health and therefore our happiness, radiance and longevity rests on the health of our Agni. A happy, functioning in-balance Agni equals a happy, functioning in-balance you. On the flip side, a defective Agni will most likely present as illness, discontent and imbalance. The intake of food should be regulated by the condition of the Agni, the digestive fire in the body. If you feel hungry, your digestive fire is enkindled.

That means if your digestive fire is firing at the right level – not raging too quickly, which will destroy the food, nor too slowly that the food depletes your energy – your body can effectively get a decent amount of nutrients from any meal without too many problems. It’s also a bit of a vicious cycle, though, as the taste of your meal depends upon your Agni. You will not taste the food properly if your Agni is impaired, which leads to you making the wrong kind of choices to balance you.

Digestive fire works on the food mass that has been swallowed and liquefied, separating the nutrients from the waste material to produce a nutrient-rich nectar that flows freely and easily through the body. Imagine Agni as the fire in a wood-burning stove. The more efficiently the fuel (our food) burns in the stove, the more heat (energy) is produced. When the fire only smoulders, black soot builds up in the pipes and chimney, which can metaphorically be likened to toxins produced by an Agni that is not strong enough to burn cleanly. In Ayurveda this is known as Ama, a general term for the internal toxic residue produced by improper metabolic functioning – either as a result of poor digestion and/or poor dietary choices (or a reflection of an imbalance somewhere else in the gastro-intestinal system). This thick, black fluid is the opposite to the rich, nutritious nectar produced by a well-functioning Agni. The reason we’re all up in arms about a poorly operating Agni is because Ama is understood to to be the root cause of all disease.

Agni and Ama are opposite in properties. Agni is hot, dry, light, clear and aromatic, whereas Ama is cold, wet, heavy, cloudy and malodorous. To treat Ama, it is necessary to increase Agni. Symptoms of Ama are similar to those that we understand in the West of ‘feeling toxic’ – bogged down with unhelpful substances that quash our vitality, including loss of taste and appetite, indigestion, tongue-coating, loss of strength, insomnia, heaviness, lethargy and a dull or heavy pulse. Other common symptoms include bad breath, body odour, congestion, constipation, lack of attention and clarity, and depression. Ama is also perpetuated by foods that don’t work together in the stomach, and one cause of this is eating inappropriate food combinations (see here).

HOW WE EAT

There’s so much more to eating than just chucking food into our mouths and swallowing it down, believing that our work is done. We have to take pleasure in eating it, which is surely why we want to do it in the first place, and why we’re all crazy about cookbooks, restaurants and TV cooking shows!

Pay attention the next time you eat a meal calmly and in a good mood and compare it to how you feel when eating whilst upset and stressed out or in a busy place with lots of distractions. Note how your system feels. It’s always better to take some time out, digest your environmental situation first, then when you’ve done that, return to the process of eating. For some people, life moves quickly and is very varied. Implementing the above goes a long way to recalibrating your nervous system, and this is the power of being mindful or ‘in the moment’.

Agni is also linked to the sun, ‘Surya’. Think of it as a bigger picture: without the heat of the sun, nothing can live. Let’s go to an even bigger picture. Think of the planetary system: too much heat from the sun, no life; too little heat, no life. The higher the sun is in the sky, the stronger the Agni, which is why in Ayurveda we eat our biggest meal of the day at lunchtime, which I refer to as Surya Agni (‘Sun Fire’), to fit this state.

THE FOUR TYPES OF AGNI

BALANCED AGNI – This is a lively Agni, known as ‘Sama Agni’, which belongs to the happy-go-lucky types. Few and far between, these types seem to sail through life, making clear decisions, right or wrong. They don’t get swept up in any bad luck and are very easy with themselves and others. They don’t suffer mental irritations or physical blockages, they don’t seem to get ‘hangry’ if a meal is late, and even if they are sleep-deprived they appear to get by with barely a grumble. Everything seems effortless for them, and that’s because they are not suffering conflicting internal agitations and toxic build-up. Balanced Agni is a result of a life in balance, one where stress is dealt with quickly and life is lived in alignment.

VATA AGNI – This is irregular or erratic, because Vata fire is wavering. Think of the movement of air on a fire – sometimes it fans the flames, sometimes it blows the embers away. Irregular and erratic in nature, it can change in a heartbeat. The waste material resuting from this type of fire is often dry or hard to pass.

PITTA AGNI – Fast-burning, Pitta fire is a well-built furnace. However, an overactive Agni is just as detrimental because the digestive process burns away, through combustion, the normal biological nutrients in the food, which results in emaciation. The waste material resulting from this type of fire is often oily and runny, and it burns.

KAPHA AGNI – Slow-burning, Kapha fire is as if built with wet branches on cold, damp soil. Too much moisture, too much cold and the fire doesn’t work. The waste material resuting from this type of fire is usually large, heavy and soft.

IS IT HUNGER?

I can’t tell you how many times while writing this book that ideas of ‘hunger’ popped up and sparked cravings as my digestive fire responded to the tantalising details. It was the kind of feeling that makes you head straight for the biscuit tin, but is it a reason to eat?

Those of us who are fortunate enough to live in the West are surrounded by food – cheap and abundant, it stares us in the face on a regular basis. If we’re not eating, someone next to us is. If we’re not cooking food, someone else is selling it. I love food, and I’ve always been pretty lucky to be able to ‘put it away’ at will. From the outside, my skin was good, my frame was small, but my digestion wasn’t happy with me, and when I fed that kind of hunger I never felt satisfied, only craved more until I was pushed over the edge and regretted it. We’ve all been there – eating when you’re full, staying up late when you’re tired and taking on more than you can do. In the past it was a challenge not to do something that I ‘impulsively’ wanted to do, but now I understand more about my Agni, so my reasoning kicks in. If I get a craving: I ask myself, am I just procrastinating? Is the nostalgia of my mum’s cooking or a holiday dish calling my name? Even simpler is to say – would I drink a lassi right now, or eat a carrot or a bowl of dal? If not, guess what? It probably isn’t hunger.

There are so many variables that dictate the amount of time it will take you to digest a meal; as a minimum you’re looking at two hours for a smaller meal, so if you’re hungry only two hours after eating, when the food has only just left your stomach, you’re probably not actually hungry (unless your Pitta is off-balance) and it’s just a case of waiting 30 minutes or so for the next stage of digestion. Sip hot water and wait for the earlier food to become the nutritious nectar that will soon nourish you and provide energy. Keep calm and carry on until you feel true hunger.

Our stomach is the size of two fists. When your guts bloat out, it’s in reaction to the food you’re eating and/or the way you’ve eaten it. When you overeat, the food ferments and putrifies, not only wasting its goodness but taxing your body. Aim to fill only one-third of your stomach with food and leave one-third for liquid and one-third empty, to allow enough space for the action of digestion to take place.

Overeating can be caused by stress (in an effort to placate feelings), eating too fast and not wanting to waste food. I was brought up to always over-cater but never to waste food, so this has been a challenge for me. I try to cook what I need for the day and any leftovers go to my three dogs, which serves them better than me! If you keep chickens, or have a compost bin or food collection bins, use these for the leftovers – in the grand scheme of things, that food is going to do better for the world recycled that way. Meanwhile, work on cooking just what you and your family need.

SECRETS OF A LIVELY DIGESTIVE FIRE

Too little digestive fire produces Ama (see here), which toxifies the body, and too much produces nothing so that the body has no material to repair, build and grow with. Here are tips to protect and promote a lively digestive fire.

HOW TO EAT		WHAT TO EAT		WHEN TO EAT
1 Chew your drink, and drink your food.		1 Simple is best. Balance out restaurant-style fare with plenty of peasant food. Too many ingredients (and courses!) make harder work for your digestion.		1 Do not eat unless you feel hungry, to make sure your digestive fire is awake, and do not drink unless you are thirsty.
2 Go slow. You can’t read the signs if you rush life, and eating a meal should be done with grace.		2 Enjoy plenty of slow-cooked one-pot meals, such as soups and stews, where Tastes and ingredients have a chance to mingle and are easier to digest.		2 At the same time, do not eat when you feel thirsty, and do not drink when you feel hungry.
3 Fill the stomach with one-third food, one-third liquid and leave the last third empty.		3 It’s better to enjoy hydrating food, rather than drowning your stomach fire with too much water with meals. Avoid cold and carbonated drinks.		3 Aim for regular meal times, 2–3 times a day is best, and establish a routine.
4 Bless your food. Gratitude helps you feel happy and keeps you in the moment.		4 Spice it up! Cook with pungent spices to aid digestion, and add sour Tastes with pickles and chutneys (see here).		4 Avoid snacking between meals (including too many herbal teas!) - let your hunger and Agni build.
5 Sit down to eat, and avoid using the TV, computer, mobile phone, or even reading.		5 To regulate digestion, get your digestive juices flowing and your Agni firing, enjoy fresh ginger or Ginger Anise Chews (see here) and bitter, pungent herbs.		5 Leave adequate time between meals to properly digest food (at least 3 hours after a light meal and 4–6 hours after a full meal).
6 Chew your food thoroughly and taste it; focus your mind on and be aware of the Tastes.		6 Eat foods filled with Prana (‘life’): rather than processed, packaged, fast food and frozen food, or even reheated/leftover foods. Whenever possible, eat freshly prepared.		6 If you can, make lunch the most important (and biggest) meal of the day, because your digestion is strongest at midday (or between 10am and noon Pitta time, see here). Avoid heavy breakfasts or evening meals, which is Kapha time. Think of breakfast as easing yourself into the day and dinner as easing yourself out.
7 Sip hot water throughout the day to stoke your digestive fire and to prevent the accumulation of Ama. Avoid drinking more than three herbal teas per day, and preferably with meals (though just plain hot/room- temperature water is fine too), otherwise it’s something else for your body to digest between meals.		7 Avoid certain food combinations that will weaken your fire (see here).		7 Watch your stress levels: don’t eat when you’re stressed or upset; eat with a sense of calm.
8 Take time to enjoy your food – usually you’ll feel full with less. Practise mindful eating and stop at the first burp! It will most likely be subtle, but this air bubble is the signal that your body has had enough food, so tune in to notice it.		8 Cook wholesome, nutritious meals to keep your digestive fire lively.		8 Eat a light supper and eat it early, 2–4 hours before bed, so that you can digest before sleeping.
9 Sit back and relax for a few minutes after finishing your meal and then take a short, brisk walk.		9 Tweak your cooking to bring balance and harmony to your Doshas and eat fewer foods that cause imbalance.		9 Do a cleanse and reset (see here) a few times a year, ideally at the change of the seasons.