After the Big Feast: The Crapulence

Midlife Digestion and Ayurvedic Sensabilities

Sometimes it takes a Substack note or comment to remind me what's really happening in people's lives. I either have forgotten about many digestive challenges or my clients aren’t telling me that they’ve moved away from their protocols for the holidays.

So it’s the day after Thanksgiving and someone was wondering, ‘how can this be after having eaten a Thanksgiving Feast?’. She realized that she had had more salt than usual so understood why her fingers and ankles were swollen but the question still remained, how is it that she’s hungry already? You would think that after having eaten so much the body would not be hungry. See my note on breakfast and Ayurveda, which is exactly the case. Not hungry for breakfast because you are still digesting last night’s late meal. So what’s going on here?

Waking up the morning after a feast – swollen from salt, yet somehow hungry. At first glance, neither of these things makes sense. It's either one or the other.

But like so many inconveniences of midlife, this contradiction offers a window into deeper understanding.

In Ayurveda, this morning-after state reveals something crucial about how our bodies process, absorb and digest various foods. The swelling we feel isn't just due to too much salt or sodium – it's also the story of how aggravated pitta (the transformative fire element in our constitution) can move through channels meant to contain fluid. How this plays out depends largely on your individual constitution (dosha).

When we overwhelm our system (whether from salt, spices, or heat), pitta responds by getting aggravated which then creates a subtle and sometimes overt disruption. Think magma or lava pushing through a volcano vent, most of the time the magma stays deep inside the earth. Bodily fluids that should flow smoothly through our channels when pitta gets aggravated begin to seep and pool where they don't belong.

Simultaneously, our digestive fire, agni, tells its own story. A feast that is too heavy or complicated eventually dampens this fire, creating a situation where the body has not yet fully digested the food. We feel physically full but our tissues remain hungry for nutrients. It's not unlike trying to cook a meal over a flame that's been doused – the ingredients are all there, but the transformation into something edible isn't complete.

This pattern becomes particularly noticeable in midlife, when our agni (digestive capacity) or some may say metabolism slows. The digestive strength that could once digest and assimilate any feast into nourishment now requires more careful tending. The aging body simply has different needs; it no longer needs to grow and build tissue.

The aging body simply has different needs; it's no longer in its building phase but rather in a time of refinement, wisdom and whether we like it or not decline. The same digestive fire that once powered growth and tissue building now serves a more subtle purpose - one that requires us to be more attentive to how we process not just food, but all forms of intake.

The morning-after paradox also reflects a broader truth about digestion and assimilation. True nourishment isn't just about quantity of food or even quality of ingredients. It's about our body's capacity to receive, transform, and integrate what we consume - which varies dramatically based on our constitution, toxin load and current state of agni. When this capacity is overwhelmed, we can experience fullness and hunger simultaneously – a powerful reminder that our digestive capacity operates on multiple levels.

This wisdom becomes particularly relevant as we enter the season of feasts. Instead of bracing for battle with our bodies and customs or resigning ourselves to discomfort, we can work with our individual constitution's needs.

While each dosha responds differently to holiday feasts, some universal principles apply.

A while back I created a simple Bloat No More For the Holidays Guide to Eating that takes into account these constitutional differences. In it I've got some simple practices you can do to prevent bloating while still partaking in holiday festivities. Nothing beats understanding and respecting your individual capacity, but sometimes one can't help oneself. There's no shame - you are human!

Simple practices like ginger tea before meals or taking moments to let our agni catch up during the feast become ways of staying in conversation with your unique body's wisdom rather than overriding its signals. Even walking after the meal helps with physical processing - you are literally helping move the food where it needs to go. These practices work regardless of constitution, though how much you need them will vary based on your dosha and current state of agni.

Here's where the knowledge of your Ayurvedic dosha and individual differences really matter. Your morning-after experience depends largely on three key factors: how much ama (digestive residue) is already in your system, how robust your agni is to begin with, and your basic constitution (dosha).

Think of it like this - if you're starting with a clean wood stove (minimal ama) and a strong fire (robust agni), you will process that meal very differently than if your stove is already gunked up and the fire is flickering. Some people will wake up not hungry at all because their system is still processing that feast. Others might feel that paradoxical hunger because their tissues are seeking nutrients even while their belly feels full.

What matters is understanding your own patterns - learning to read your body's signals and recognizing when it's telling you about undigested food versus true hunger for nourishment. If you are in a situation where you are hungry and full at the same time you are experiencing a first world food problem. It usually means that there is too much undigested food stuff clogging pathways into the tissues. What do I mean by a first world food problem? Well those are all the diseases which arise because we have too much food, or what is called food and the body cannot catch up. It is in starvation mode while it's trying to declutter all the excess undigested food stuff. Excess weight is a ‘too much’ issue and so is diabetes.

For most people once a year feeling like this isn't much of an issue. However if this is a consistent pattern, it may be signaling deeper imbalances that Ayurveda can help you understand and address.

For those curious about working more deeply with these health patterns, feel free to explore the Bloat No More guide or connect with me for a consultation.

Your digestion and gut health is as unique as you are. Learning its language takes time, but it's worth the conversation.

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