This meal may taste great and satisfy you, but it will destroy your yoga practice.
Bob is on his way to yoga class when suddenly he realizes that he is starving. He is driving by a fast food restaurant and his mouth is watering with the thought of a burger. He can’t wait any longer. He stops at the restaurant and gets a big meal of a double cheese burger, fries and a milk shake.
Bob feels so much better now. The hunger pangs are gone. The meal tasted great as well. But, he is feeling very full.
Now it is time to get to yoga class or he is going to be late.
Bob is in for a lot of trouble at yoga class after eating that big meal just before the start of class.
How is Bob in trouble
Eating a big meal really close to the start of class will have a big impact on Bob’s yoga practice.
There are three main areas that Bob’s practice will be impacted:
- Bob’s energy level
- His enjoyment of the class
- Bob’s health and wellness
There are a lot of problems for Bob when he shows up for yoga class after eating that big meal. Let’s have a look at the first area – Bob’s energy level.
Is it time for a nap yet
After eating a big meal, the stomach gets busy digesting it. Depending on the size of the meal and what the meal consisted of it can take several hours to digest.
The digestion process takes a lot of energy. Digestive juices are being created. The blood is moving to the stomach and intestines to help out with the digestion as well.
Right about now Bob will be feeling quite lethargic and he would rather take a nap than be doing a yoga class.
But this is not all of Bob’s worries. There are even more problems with eating a big meal. Not only is Bob low on energy, he is going to quickly find out that something else is going to get in the way of him enjoying his class.
What, you want me to twist and bind
Eating a big meal just before class can literally get in the way of how well you can do your yoga poses.
Having a full stomach can be a real challenge when you try to do one of the many twisting yoga poses.
Twisting the body to the side and trying to bind behind your leg and your back will be even more uncomfortable with a full stomach. There is going to be a lot more in the way of getting the pose accomplished than when the stomach is empty. In this type of twist Bob’s leg will be pressing into his stomach and chest causing a great deal of compression to his stomach and the meal that is still in there.
Not only will twists be more of a challenge, so will the various forward folds. Legs together or legs spread apart Bob’s full stomach is going to be uncomfortable when it starts to get compressed in a forward fold.
Not only is Bob feeling tired and uncomfortable there is one more problem that he is about to encounter that could be a risk to his health and the well being of the people around him.
Oh no, I feel like I am going to throw up
There are many poses as we have talked about earlier that will result in compressing the stomach. Both twists and forward folds will result in compressing the belly.
When Bob compresses his belly he is at risk of having that burger and fries coming back up and landing on the floor. Bob will not be very happy when that happens. In fact that will probably cause quite a disruption to the class.
In addition to the twists, and forward folds that we have already talked about there is another group of poses that increase this risk of throwing up.
This other group of poses is the standing forward folds. In these poses you have your head below your hips. And in some of these poses you are folding in such a way that you are compressing your stomach as well. All of these actions are increasing the risk that Bob’s burger and fries is going to come back out to visit with him.
So far we have covered several points about doing a yoga practice after a big meal. You will have less energy to devote to your yoga practice; you will be uncomfortable because you are compressing your stomach and finally you are at risk of throwing up.
This is not a pretty situation. Bob should wait a while after he has eaten that big meal before he does his yoga practice.
How long should Bob wait after eating
Once Bob has that big meal, he should wait for 90 minutes to 2 hours. He needs to give the meal time to get digested.
There are two factors that will affect how long Bob has to wait
- How big is the meal. The Christmas feast will take a very long time to digest.
- What kind of food. Salads are easy to digest while heavy foods like meat, cheese and cakes will take much longer to digest.
But I am hungry what should I do
So what should Bob have done when he suddenly became hungry just before class?
First of all, he should not do yoga if he is hungry. Not only will his stomach be growling and distracting others, he will find his energy levels are low as well.
Bob will be out of fuel and he needs to do something about it.
The best thing Bob can do is have a light snack. Have an apple or banana. Keep it small. It should be no more than a small handful.
This small light snack will take away the hunger pangs and give Bob some much needed energy for his yoga class.
To Eat or not to Eat that is the Question
Eating a big meal before a yoga class will cause you all kinds of grief.
- You will be lacking in energy
- You will be uncomfortable
- You might embarrass yourself by suddenly losing your meal
Wait between 90 minutes and 2 hours after a big meal before you do a yoga practice.
However you should not come to yoga class hungry either. Having a small snack to take away the hunger pangs is the best approach if you are really hungry.
Next steps
The next time you are hungry just before yoga class remember Bob’s problem and have a small light snack to take away the hunger pangs.
Additional Reading
To learn more about eating before your practice read Why you should avoid hunger when you do yoga.
