Strengthening Your Gut Goes Beyond A Healthy Diet, Says This Ayurvedic MD

You've probably heard the saying you are what you eat—and while there is some truth to that statement, it's not the whole story. From an Ayurvedic perspective, you are what you digest.

Ayurveda, the 5,000-year-old healing tradition of India, says there are five critical factors when using food as medicine: I call this the Principle of Ayurvedic Eating. It states that why, where, when, and how much you eat matter more than what you eat. All of these factors affect the strength of your digestive fire, which, in turn, affects your ability to eliminate toxins from your body and your mind.

In Ayurveda, everything that enters the body and mind—lifestyle, routines, career, relationships, environment, and diet—is considered "food" because each of these affects our health.

This science reinforces what Ayurveda has believed for 5,000 years: Overall health is directly linked to the health of the digestive system.

If you want to support your health, pay attention to your digestion. Here are three ways to make your gut smarter and stronger, according to Ayurveda:

The skin is the largest organ of the body, and dead body cells are a type of body waste. Sloughing them off with a dry brush before bathing can help the body excrete that waste from the skin more efficiently. It also stimulates the lymphatic system, which sits right under the skin, encouraging lymphatic drainage. I recommend dry-brushing for five to 10 minutes every morning. If you're new to dry-brushing, here's a step-by-step guide and a list of mbg's favorite brushes to help you get started.

In Ayurveda, teas are considered healing because they're made with nature's medicine: plants and spices. A warm tea made of equal parts cumin, coriander, and fennel (CCF tea) stokes the digestive fire, supports metabolism, and gets things moving in the digestive tract. Drink one cup of this tea first thing every morning and sip on it throughout the day.

If your digestive system is constantly processing what's coming in, it never has enough time to send waste out. By allowing your digestion to rest for 12 hours overnight, it has time to clean itself up. Ideally, you'd have an early and light dinner by 7 p.m. and then wait until 7 a.m. the next morning to "break your fast," but follow whatever 12-hour time frame works for your schedule.

A strong and healthy digestion creates a more balanced microbiome, which makes the communication between your brain and your gut clear. When you understand the Ayurvedic perspective that you are not what you eat, but what you digest, you understand that health goes way beyond your diet.