Written by Dr. Nat Kringoudis, a TCM expert…

“Digestion is a complex party.  The dance starts in your mouth and keeps going right the way through until it leaves your body many hours later. But maybe foods you have been lead to believe are healthy and nutritious, actually, aren’t working for you.  How would you know?   Well, your body speaks to you every day but sometimes the messages are difficult to decode.  You might have found yourself eating all the ‘right’ foods but still gaining weight.  What you might like to understand is just why this happens – and that understanding begins with knowing a little more about digestion.

In a nutshell, for the body to process foods properly, the gut must first heat food up to 37 degrees before it can even begin to think about digesting and pulling nutrients from food and drink.  In Chinese medicine, we use the analogy of a pot (being the stomach) sitting on fire (the spleen) for this process to occur.  Now, if we are always eating cold and raw foods, this digestive fire eventually weakens because of the nature of these cold raw foods; they place strain on the system and slow everything down.  Eventually, the body will stop drawing nutrients out because it doesn’t have the energy to do so.  When the body stops processing these foods adequately, we can see weight gain occur because;

a. the nutrients aren’t being supplied to the body which

b. makes us crave food and eat more as the body tries to nourish itself.

It’s a disastrous circle.

You’re forgiven in thinking that smoothies tick all the right boxes – they can be nutrient rich and you can put almost anything in them and consume on the go.  Sounds like the perfect meal!  Problem is, they are a mixture of raw fruit and veggies blended with ice.   They are cold. They are super hard to digest and often very high in sugar which also leads to weight gain.  You may be starting to see why your smoothie may be causing you to gain weight rather than lose it!

Protein shakes fall under the same category and can be a huge trap, not only are they generally consumed very cold, they are often used as a meal replacement.  Your body actually likes digesting proper food.  It’s an important part of the digestive process and keeps your metabolism kicking along – a key part of the weight loss process!

There’s one other factor we need to consider at this party and that is our environment.  We are a product of our environment and so, if we are living in a very cold climate, it is even less suitable to be drinking cold raw smoothies.  In the summer months or for those of us who live in warm areas, the body may be better equipped to consume smoothies – but for the rest of the time, I recommend leaving smoothies alone.

So if your body is communicating to you by way of weight gain and sluggish digestion, it’s time to listen.  One easy way of giving that gut of yours a big boost is by adding Your Tea to the party.  Not only is it warm making for happy digestion, it contains ingredients to further aid the body leading to weight loss.  In fact, weight loss is almost a side effect of the tea blend because it’s main action is to get the digestive system firing.  With this, weight loss becomes effortless.

Always be mindful of decoding your bodies message.  It’s a very powerful clue into what works for you!”

With Love,

Your Tea

Smoothie bowl by @isiaaak