3 PARTY SEASON LIFESAVERS FOR DIGESTION

I’m not American but “holidays” is turning into an easy way to sum up the party season at the end of the year, Christmas, Hanukkah and other traditions around the world, and bringing in the New Year. ‘Tis the season to be jolly — lots of food, lots of booze, the need for a good hibernating sleep more than ever, but instead we fight the cold and the dark with bright flashing lights, making merry and a whole lot of stimulation with a side of excited stress and an extra side of anxious stress thrown in for good measure. Then depending on who you have to hang out with, whether even more of your coworkers at the office party or entertaining long lost relatives at Christmas, the stress can be an extra drag on the digestive system.

When I’m asked for tips for this time of year I always include these 3 Agni Savers: easy to make, easy to take, they’ll be your saviour when you find yourself around a table of food that Aunt Mabel is insisting you eat double portions of and will be your “get out of jail free” card when that extra cheeseboard you thought you’d set aside until you’re ready to take it on has also made its way into your tummy on top of everything else!

THE APERITIF - Ginger, lime and salt fire starter

Call me strange, but I nearly always have a knobble of fresh ginger in my bag when I’m out and about, otherwise I’m very seasoned at asking for a couple of slices of fresh ginger from the moment I’m seated at a restaurant table. As someone whose digestive capacity takes a hit with any stress (emotional or environmental) and as someone who travels a lot for work and therefore whose eating schedule gets thrown around a bit, a quick chew on a stub of spicy hot fresh ginger helps create the fire in my tummy that I need to digest my next meal. It’s not something I take every time but over the years I’ve got to know when my Agni — or digestive fire — could do with a helping hand. And when it comes to the almost non-stop eating phenomena of the party season (and the desire to just eat eat eat as the weather gets colder), it helps to fire up for a meal that there's no getting out of…

Even better than a slice of ginger — get prepped with the all guns blazing recipe: an easy combo of ginger, lime and salt. Even thinking about this combination (mentally go through the steps of preparing this concoction, from the grating of the ginger to the squeezing of the lime and the mixing in of the sea salt, then imagine tasting it), you might well find your mouth start watering and your appetite rising.

THE DIGESTIF - Candied fennel seeds

If the Fire Starter is the aperitif, then this candied fennel seed number is the digestif: the one that helps it all tick along from your last mouthful while also acting as a breath freshener and palate cleanser. This dry mixture can be made ahead of time and stashed in the fridge or your bag ready to pull out rather than reaching for aspartame sweetened mints or artificial breath freshener. I don’t travel without it. Plus if you get a nagging sweet tooth come the end of your meal and you know that a dessert is either going to send you to sleep by the afternoon or strain your digestive capacity, then a pinch of this mix chewed well should do the trick.

THE TUMMY SETTLER - CCF tea (cumin, coriander and fennel)

OK so you did or didn’t prep your digestion for that last meal, but whatever the weather, your tummy now feels a bit bleh, or maybe ouch...or maybe oof. Time to get more of that fennel seed in, but this time in liquid form (so as not to prompt your body into thinking it has to digest yet another meal) and alongside some other spices: cumin and coriander seed. Now you can see where the name CCF comes from. You might have come across this recipe already — it’s pretty classic in the Ayurveda circles. You can also adapt to suit your Dosha, or how you’re feeling at that particular moment: you can use less or no cumin if you’re feeling Pitta, or you can add some ginger if you need that extra boost for your digestion. You can also jazz it up with some honey or ghee for a grounding effect — perfect for that high-strung end-of-year event.