Happy 2015! I hope this year has started off smoothly for all of you! Each year, this period feels special. Clean slate, endless possibilities, New Year’s resolutions. Most people like to mark this period and make some changes in their lives. And for many of them, ‘healthy living’ or ‘detoxing’ is high on the list.

From an Ayurvedic perspective, there are multiple ways to ‘reset’ the body – meaning getting the Dosha’s back in balance. It also means getting rid of AMA in the body. Ama means undigested food, which, due to improper digestion, stays in our colon. Ama becomes toxic – and can eventually lead to disease. This is why the digestive system, and in particular the digestive ‘fire’ (power) called AGNI, is at the very essence of Ayurveda.

Basically, it comes down to this: in order to process your food, and feed your body, you need Agni to digest it. If you take good care of Agni (in other words: keep the fire burning) and eat the right food, your body will be able to process the food easily and take out all the nutrients to nourish your body. But behold, if your Agni becomes weak and does not function properly, Ama will develop in your system. Ama is the main cause of disease, according to Ayurveda.

If this is the case, the conclusion would be to take good care of Agni, right? And that is exactly what Ayurveda is about. There are some very simple rules, that help you keep Agni working:

1. Eat when you’re hungry, don’t eat when you’re not hungry
2. Eat no more than 3 meals a day (for some body types, snacks are allowed, if really needed)
3. Do not drink cold water with your food (sip warm water, in small amounts)
4. Do not over-eat (stop when you’re 70% full)
5. Eat your meals at the same time every day
6. Pay attention to how you eat your food (see my previous blog about this)

Like I said, simple guidelines. Or so it appears. Especially the first one is tricky, as we are so used to qualifying all kinds of sensations in our body as ‘hunger’. Boredom, for example. If find yourself standing in front of the fridge, saying “I need something… but I’m not sure what”, you’re not hungry. You’re probably either bored, restless, emotional, sad, angry or even thirsty. Try drinking a glass of (warm) water, wait 20 minutes and then see what happens.

So what about detoxing? I recently spoke to some people that are about to start a (multiple day) juice fast. According to Ayurveda, Vata season (which we are still in) is not the best season to fast. Fasting makes you light and dry, the exact opposite of what we need in Vata season. However, after the holidays, we might want to kindle our Agni and bring some peace back in our system. Doing a ‘mono-fast’ can be a good solution. This means you only eat one meal, three times a day, for one or more days. Kitchiri and mung bean soup are mostly used for this.

Below, you find the recipe for mung bean soup. You can find mung beans at Ecoplaza. Eat this soup 3 times a day for one or more consecutive days. This will boost your Agni and clean the digestive tract. Try eat only the soup, avoid coffee and drink herbal tea.

*Mung bean soup*

• 2-3 cups mung beans (soaked in water for 4 hrs)
• 2 teaspoons cumin seeds
• 2 teaspoons coriander seeds
• 1 teaspoon mustard seeds
• 1 small teaspoon tumeric (curcuma)
• 1 teaspoon cumin powder
• 1 tablespoon ghee

Cook the mung beans for about 15 minutes. Then, in another pan, heat the ghee until it gets really hot. Add the cumin seeds, coriander seeds and mustard seeds and stir. When the seeds start ‘jumping’ in the pan, add the powdered spices and stir once more. Take the pan off the fire so the spices don’t burn. Add the paste to the mung beans and cook for some minutes more.

Enjoy! <3