Why you mustn’t eat when angry or anxious, according to Ayurveda
Our overall well-being is dependent on our gut health, yet it is often ignored or missed. However, it must be known that gut health is not only ascertained your diet, how you feel — especially, emotions like anger and sadness — also plays a role. A study Harvard University, The gut-brain connection, noted that “the gastrointestinal tract is sensitive to emotion. Anger, anxiety, sadness, elation — all of these feelings (and others) can trigger symptoms in the gut.”
“This connection goes both ways. A troubled intestine can send signals to the brain, just as a troubled brain can send signals to the gut. A person’s stomach or intestinal dress can be the cause or the product of anxiety, stress, or depression. That’s because the brain and the gastrointestinal (GI) system are intimately connected,” the Harvard website read.
Adding to the same, Ayurveda and gut health coach, Dr Dimple Jangda took to Instagram to share that according to Ayurveda, the digestive system does not work optimally when one is feeling angry or anxious. “The nature of food changes based on the emotion you are experiencing at that point in time because the body, mind, and emotions have a one-to-one relationship,” she said in the video.
Happy hormones are important while we are eating as they will help in releasing the right kind of digestive juices (Source: Getty/Thinstock)
Dr Dimple added that when we are angry or stressed our body reacts to it activating the “fight-and-flight” stress response which leads to an increase in cortisol levels (stress hormone), as a result of which the digestion process shuts down.
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Agreed, Dr Rachna Agarwal and said, “Every hormone has a different role on our body and brain. As such while eating, the happy hormones are important as they help in releasing the right kind of digestive juices, in the right amount.”
Dr Dimple also explained that if the digestive process shuts down, the nutrients are not absorbed. “But when we are calm, our parasympathetic nervous system works, the cortisol level decreases, and our body starts digesting and absorbing foods easily,” she said, further suggesting that whenever angry one should take a few deep breaths, or have a glass of water before eating a meal.
Dr Rachna told that when angry, we tend to also not chew the food properly and instead gulp it down which, too, can affect the digestive process. “Undigested food is just a burden to the stomach and it is either getting passed out like that or it is causing constipation and toxins in the body,” she said.
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