Belching with a bad smell, watering of the mouth, distension of the stomach, loss of appeute, aversion to food, offensive internal gas, physical weakness, fretful temper, constipauon or loose stool containing food particles.

When we take food it is converted into a juicy mass with the help of digestive fluids, then it is transformed into blood. Blood is the most important substance in the body. Fruits, roots, leafy green vegetables and other alkaline-type foods, after being digested preserve the vitality of the blood by increasing its alkaline portion, whereas fatty and carbohydrate-type foods increase the acidity of the blood. If there occurs a disproportionate increase in the acidity of the blood, then the spleen, liver, heart, kidneys, etc., which are our blood-purifying organs, come under too much pressure. As a result, these organs, being over-worked in purifying the blood become gradually so weak that they ultimately fail to do their task properly.

Since the different kinds of juicy fruits can be sufficiently digested in their own fluids, the liver bile does not have to make much effort to digest them. But in order to digest starches and carbohydrates, the saliva of the mouth must help at the preliminary stage. Chewing food brings an adequate quantity of saliva into the mouth. No sooner does the food mixed with saliva enter the stomach than the liver and the pancreas are enabled to to start secreting their bile and digestive fluids. So unless food is chewed well, the liver can never function properly.

If the quantity of non-vegetarian food is large, then the internal organs will ultimately become weak due to the increasing acidity of the blood. Then when the food from the stomach, having already been partially digested by fluid from the liver, enterthe duodenal canal, the weak pancreas will be incapable of secreting enough of its digestive fluid. As a result, the partically digested food does not become completely converted into rasa(chyle). In consequence, the partically digested food gradully decomposes inside the duodenum and thereby partially blocks the intestine. This spoiled food creates a poisonous gas in the body which the respiratory system fails to purify. It also increases the acidic contents of the blood to an excessive degree. This state of health is called 'indigestion' or 'dyspepsia'.

Alghough dyspepsia is not itself fatal, it can be the cause of severalfatal diseases. And in social life, dyspepsia aggravates peoples acimonious tendencies and makes them extremely irritable. Stomach, intestinal and rectal ulcers, constipation, and serious dysentery may arise from dyspepsia.

Boiled old rice (grains a few years oId), soup of green vegetables; in case of loose motion, curd (yogurt); in case of constipation, curd made from buffalo's milk, mixed in water and taken with a little sugar. Remember that curd-water is particularly beneficial for dyspepsia patients.

Dinante ca pivet dugdham
Nishante ca pivet payah
Bhojonante pivet takram
Kim vaedyasya prayojanam
[Drink milk at the end of the day,
Drink water at dawn,
Drink curd-water after tlie noon meal,
Then what need for a doctor?]

Dyspepsia onginates from unbalanced food habits. Eating when one is not hungry or oaly half-hungry is very harmful in this disease. So is eating rich faod for days together, using intoxicants, eatiag tasty food out of greed alone, not taking rest after the meal before running olf to the office, or taking a bellyful of food (according to the scriptures, it is desirable to fill the stomach half-way with food, one-quarter with water, and to keep one quarter empty for free movement of air): refraining from doing physical labour and over and above this, doing strenuous mental work or indulging in sex, is also harmful in this disease.

It is better not to eat breakfast or any afternoon snack till the disease is fully cured. However, if one feels hungry, one can have some sweet or sour juicy fruit, particularly of sub-acid type, such as mango, pineapple, jam, any kind of citrus fruit (though citrus fruits belong to the acidic group, their action on the body is alkaline), or, in case of constipation, papaya. It is rmportant to remember that acidic foods such as lemon and curd (yogurt) should be taken with a little water and salt.

All non-vegetarian types of food except for small fish, are harmful for dyspepsia patients. Meat and eggs are poison. All intoxicants aggravate constipation, hence they are not to be taken either.

With dyspepsia it is very essential to take a walk in the fresh air and to do a little physical labour every day. Slecping in the day-time and staying awake at night are forbidden. It is better to take the evening meal before 8 PM, and a short walk thereafter is very helpful.

Pulses are alkaline food but rich, so they are not to be caten in cases of dyspepsia.

It is desirable to take food or to defecate when the main flow of breath is through the right nostril. Even after food, it is desirable if the flow of breath mainly through the right nostril continues for some time. Because that is the time when the digestive glands start secreting a sufficient quantity of fluids to help digestion.

Observing fast on EKadashii and regulation of the diet at night on Purnima and Amavasya(i.e. taking just a little milk, fruit and dry things on those two nights) is desirable.