Keeping It Balanced with Divya Alter of Divya’s Kitchen
If you haven’t noticed, NYC is becoming a health food paradise with new restaurants popping up weekly, each raising the bar for nourishing nosh and changing the way we think about food. The newest in this crop of restaurants is Divya’s Kitchen, an Ayurvedic restaurant in the East Village that is hip and chic and so delicious, and where all the food is mindfully created.
All that sounds really good in this season when food (and booze) can feel overwhelming and the temptation to overindulge can be hard to squelch. So, we dished with Divya about how to keep it balanced this season.
Here, Divya’s advice:
- Serve dinner earlier: As the evening progresses, our digestive fire lessens, i.e. you will have harder time digesting your meal and bigger chances of experiencing indigestion and sluggishness in the morning.
- Donate your leftovers! Ayurveda explains after four hours of preparation, the chemical make-up of cooked meals (even when refrigerated) begins to decompose. Being much harder to digest and more clogging for the body, leftovers are the culprits behind those extra pounds some of us tend to gain around holiday meals.
- Have some digestive condiments on the table: minced fresh ginger, lime slices, a black peppermill.
- Sip on this Digestive Tea with your meal or 30 minutes after. (This tea is excellent for reducing bloating and sluggishness in the stomach.)
2 cups spring or filtered water
½ teaspoon fennel seeds
½ teaspoon coriander seeds
½ teaspoon cumin seeds
Bring the water to a boil and add the fennel, cumin, and coriander seeds. Cover and simmer the tea on low heat for 3 minutes. Strain and sip slowly.
- Allow at least two hours between finishing your meal and going to bed. Going to bed on a full stomach is a recipe for weight gain and puffiness in the morning.
Praise the cook! Enjoying your meal with a grateful heart and positive thoughts will strengthen not only your digestion but also your relationships.