The 6 Tastes of the Tongue: Supporting Strong Digestion
According to Ayurveda, you are not only what you eat, but how you digest what you have eaten.
You can eat all of the ‘healthiest’ foods in the world, but if your digestion isn’t optimally working, then your tissues and organs won’t be getting the proper nutrients that they require.
Without the proper nutrients, depletion takes place and before you know it your body begins to hurt, you begin to feel low energy, you start gaining weight, headaches emerge, poor sleep ensues, anxiety takes over and the list of only continues.
One simple way to support strong digestion is through the health of the tongue and a balanced diet consisting of the 6 tastes.
Chewing: The first stage of Digestion
Digestion begins the minute you begin chewing your food. Saliva mixes with the food, stimulating the release of stomach acids, which helps breakdown the food into assimilable nutrients that are then dispersed to their needed bodily tissues.
Properly chewing your food ensures that the digestive process runs smoothly. Incomplete chewing causes sluggish digestion or even worse: acid reflux, indigestion, and bloating. This is because your stomach must break down the improperly chewed food so that it does not damage other organs on its way out of your body. Feelings of heaviness immediately following a meal indicates that digestion is being slowed down and improper chewing can be greatly linked to this feeling.
One simple way to ensure you chew your food properly is by taking the time to enjoy your meal. This means sitting down to eat your food without multitasking other tasks simultaneously. Conscious eating is the first step to ensuring strong digestion. Take 20 minutes to eat each meal while sitting down, with the only focus being the task of eating, and see how this small change greatly effects your digestion in the weeks that follow.
Clearing the Tongue: Supporting Digestion
Chewing is the first stage of digestion and having a clear & clean tongue ensures that you are fully able to taste, and so metabolize, the food that you are chewing. Having a clear tongue allows the 6 tastes that reside on your tongue, in the form of taste buds, to activate digestive secretions that will help breakdown the food-materials for subtle digestion that nourish your bodies organs and tissues.
If the tongue is too coated, the body is unable to recognize the food/tastes being eaten and so cannot properly prepare the digestive organs for processing. This results in gross digestion becoming hindered resulting in common side-effects of constipation, diarrhea, bloating, acid-reflux, heart-burn, etc. In the long run this also effects subtle digestion, which can result in vital tissues and organs not receiving proper nutrients, resulting in common imbalances of hair-loss, sleeplessness, arthritis, G.I.T diseases, acne, asthma, etc.
Daily cleaning of the tongue is one assured Ayurvedic remedy for supporting strong digestion and fast metabolism. Ayurveda recommends brushing the teeth 2-3 times a day, as in customary in Western culture. Ayurveda then takes it a step further with the simple oral-hygiene practices of oil pulling and tongue scraping.
Oil Pulling
Oil pulling is best defined as oil gargling or oil swishing. Oil has a natural cleaning and detoxifying effect. All soap’s are based in oil, because it naturally pulls toxins from the body. Gargling/swishing the mouth with oil has proven benefits of pulling phlegm from the lungs, whitening the teeth, clearing bad-breath, strengthening gum health, clearing sinuses, relaxing the neck and jaw muscles and supporting digestive strength. Oil pulling can completely replace artificial mouth-washes, while still supporting over-all oral health.
Oil Pulling Technique:
First thing in the morning, on an empty stomach, place 1 tbsp of coconut oil or sesame oil in your mouth. The first few times will be a bit awkward, but as time goes on you will become accustomed to the feeling and taste of oil in your mouth. Gently swish the oil around the whole mouth, from side to side, front to back and in-between the teeth. The oil gargle should be light and subtle, instead of a furious and fast gargle. Continue this process for 15-20 minutes, until you begin to feel phlegm being pulled up from your throat. After the time has elapsed, spit the oil out and then gently rinse the mouth with warm water. Make sure not to swallow the oil, as it is now filled with bacteria from the night before, which could be damaging to digestive and heart health.
After completing the oil pulling, you can now practice the 2nd Ayurvedic oral-hygenic practice of tongue scraping.
Tongue Scraping
Tongue scraping is a quick and effective technique of clearing the tongue of bacteria that has built up over the course of the night/day. All it requires if a tongue scraper, which is an affordable tool that you can keep for the years to come. You can purchase one at your local Whole Foods, Health Market or online.
Tongue scraping clears toxins and bacteria from the tongue, freshens breath, clears the taste buds, removes the white coating, eliminates undigested food particles, enhances the sense of taste and promotes digestive strength.
How to Use a Tongue Scraper
Hold the two ends of the tongue scraper in both hands. Gently run the tongue scraper from the back of the tongue to the tip of the tongue until it removes the unwanted coating, generally 7-14 times, pausing to rinse the tongue scraper every so often. Repeat this process 2-3 times a day, following the morning ritual of oil pulling/ the daily ritual of tooth brushing.
The 6 Tastes on the Tongue
Sweet, Sour, Salty, Astringent, Pungent, Bitter
There are 4 main taste buds on the tongue, each perceiving sweet, sour, salt or bitter tastes. The taste of pungent irritates the mucus membranes causing more salivation, while the taste of astringent pulls the mucus membranes, creating more dryness on the palate.
To maintain digestive strength and proper functioning of the body, all 6 tastes need to be consumed in certain proportions, daily.
The 6 Tastes and the Body:
Eating for the 6 tastes
1) Sweet
Promotes growth and strengthens all body tissues, stimulates salivation, improves circulation, promotes healthy skin and hair, strengthens the heart, relieves thirst and heartburn, increases milk production for mothers and acts as a demulcent, expectorant and mild laxative.
Examples: Complex carbs, sweet fruits, grains, root vegetables, natural sugar, honey, maple syrup, dates, milk, cheeses, oils and meats
2) Sour
Stimulates acid secretions, helps digestion, reduces gas, increases circulation, energizes the body, increases salivation, stimulates appetite and sharpens the senses.
Examples: Yogurt, limes, sour fruits, alcohol, vinegar, cheese, sour cream and fermented foods.
3) Salty
Makes food tasty, strengthen & improves digestion, maintains electrolyte balance, acts as a laxative, reduces stiffness, hardness & removes blockages, calms the nerves and spasms and helps in the elimination of wastes.
Examples: All salts ( rock, sea, gypsum, black salts), seaweed and tamari.
4) Astringent
Constricts the blood vessels, stops bleeding and flow, promotes healing, acts as a diuretic, antibiotic, antibacterial, hemostatic and is constipating, drain and improves skins texture.
Examples: Alum, the peel of a fruit, unripe banana, pomegranate peel, turmeric, golden seal, leafy green vegetables, blueberries, cranberries, beans, chickpeas and green beans.
5) Pungent
Improves metabolism, helps digestion and absorption, reduces congestion, improves circulation, relieves pain and muscle tension, works as an anticoagulant, cleanses mouth, raises body temperature, kills worms, promotes sweating, dries wounds and reduces excess fluids from the body.
Examples: Jalapeños, ginger, black pepper, pippali, cloves, cayenne pepper, garlic, wasabi ( horse radish), garlic, onion and radish.
6) Bitter
Purifies blood, detoxifies, body, works as an antibiotic, antiseptic, absorbs excess fat, oiliness, fluids, opens channels, reduces body temperature acts as a digestive tonic and liver tonic.
Examples: Leafy vegetables, neem, aloe, golden seal, fenugreek, black tea, myrrh, bitter melon, coffee and sandalwood.
Effects of Imbalanced Tastes on the Body
Eating a diet that consists of the 6 tastes supports and promotes strong digestion and metabolism. Eating a balanced diet that consists of the 6 tastes is key to healthy living, free of disease and illness. Both over-indulgence and under-indulgence of the 6 tastes can result in a multitude of imbalances. Take a look at the following 2 charts, do you recognize any of the following symptoms in you?
Taste // Effect of Underindulgence
Sweet / Weak bodily tissues, debility
Sour / Acid Imbalance
Salty / Water Imbalance
Pungent / Weak digestion, poor circulation, cold extremities
Astringent / Excessive discharge
Bitter / Accumulation of toxins
Tastes // Effect of Overindulgence
Sweet / Diabetes, obesity, slow digestion, tumors
Sour / Infections, ulcers, hemmorrhages, looseness in the body, thirst, fevers, boils
Salty / Hypertension, kidney stones, swelling, early balding, graying, wrinkling of the skin
Pungent / Dry lungs, dry cough, bleeding, increased thirst, weakens reproductive tosses and causes loss of energy
Astringent / Anemia, low blood pressure, insomnia, causes gas, bloating, weakens tissues, narrows opening of the channels, constipation
Bitter / Constipation, distention, depletes tissues
Simple practices of oil pulling, tongue scraping and eating the 6 tastes can greatly improve the digestive strength of your body, which means faster metabolism, easier weight loss and elimination of associated physical imbalances.