Ayurveda views that most of the diseases arise from poor or wrong functioning of the digestive system. Though food is a heterogeneous substance, it is made homogeneous to the body at different stages of the digestion — breaking, absorption and assimilation. The factors responsible for these activities, whether they are in the digestive tract or in the tissue cells, are known as “agnis”. Ancient scholars have written that it is the proper functioning of the digestive fire or the “jatharagni” which is central to good health.
Proper digestion and nourishment promotes adequate energy and strong resistance to disease. To the contrary, undigested or improperly digested food becomes like a pathogen in the body, breeding toxins and upsetting the immune system. If we give due attention to feed and nourish ourselves, it is equally important for us to take care of the digestive system and give it the power to adequately extract and utilise the nourishment.
Digestive firehas four states in ayurveda: high, low, variable and balanced. The first one is a condition which is marked by excessive appetite, where a person digests even large quantities of frequent meals. The second one, called low digestive fire or “mandagni”, denotes a situation when it is difficult to digest or metabolise even a small quantity of otherwise easily digestible food. The variable digestive fire is an erratic state where it sometimes helps the process of complete digestion and at other times produces unsavoury symptoms like distension, colic, constipation and even loose motions.
Ayurveda lays great emphasis on achieving a state where all the body systems are supported by a balanced digestion. Called “samagni’, it is the equilibrated state of the complete digestive process which is marked with normal and regular appetite that is constant and is easily satisfied with normal and natural foods. In other words, it ensures complete digestion of food ingested at the proper time without any irregularity.
Digestion occurs in three stages.The first stage is dominated by “kapha” with alkaline secretions in the mouth and the stomach. Any abnormality here can produce symptoms of nausea, salivation and lack of desire for food. The second stage is dominated by “pitta” with acid secretions in the duodenum and small intestine. Hyper acidity and burning sensation are the result of the vitiation of the digestive process here. With the formation of stool in the large intestine, “vata” dominates the third phase. Symptoms of gas and constipation or erratic bowel pattern arise if digestion is faulty at this stage.
Improper digestion results in the accumulation of undigested and toxic food mass. It is indicated when the stools are not properly formed, breath is unpleasant, appetite is abnormal, a coating appears on the tongue and there is a feeling of heaviness in the body.
Even a person who has no immediate disease problem should keep a watch on his digestion, making sure that digestive impurities do not occur. Ayurveda believes that it is not only easy to stop the disease process at its origin but in treating all the diseases we also must consider first the state of the digestive system.