Oct 31, 20238 min read

What Is Ama in Ayurveda? And 7 Home Remedies to Clear Ama and Improve Your Life

Updated: Sep 22

What is Ama in Ayurveda?

Ama is defined as food particles that have not been properly digested by the digestive fire (agni) in the gut.

This undigested food stuff putrefies and spreads through the body's channels to the tissues as subpar nutrition.

This Ama, a cloudy, sticky substance, will then lodge in weak spots in the body (khavaigunya), creating havoc and disease.

We all have weak spots, which show up in different locations in the body for each of us.

Examples of Ama would be arthritis in the joints, plaque in the arteries, cholesterol in the blood and cells of your body, etc.

Clearing Ama from the body's tissues will help prevent diseases from manifesting.

The Learn Sanskrit Dictionary defines Ama as undigested, raw, immature, unripe, or grain not yet free of chaff (I love this poetic description of Ama which shows how Sanskrit words may have multiple meanings that are all related).

We could also translate Ama as toxins.

Ama can also come from external toxins that the body cannot digest.

These will also lodge in the body's tissues and create havoc and disease.

In this post:

What is Ama in Ayurveda: Ama Symptoms in the Body
What is Ama in Ayurveda: 7 Home Remedies to Clear Ama and Improve Your Life
What is Ama in Ayurveda: 7 Ways to Prevent the Formation of Ama in the Future

what is ama in Ayurveda: undigested food particles that putrefy and spread out to the tissues as subpar nutrition

What Is Ama in Ayurveda: Ama Symptoms in the Body

Dr. Lad in his Textbook of Ayurveda tells us that some symptoms of Ama in the body are:

fatigue
a feeling of heaviness
constipation
indigestion
gas
diarrhea
bad breath
perverted taste
mental confusion
body aches and stiffness
a thick coating on the tongue1

What is ama in Ayurveda? Indigestion is a sign

Ama can be combined with the doshas (read more about the doshas), which will change how it manifests in the body, giving more specific Ama symptoms.

Sebastian Pole in his book Ayurvedic Medicine tells us that Ama combined with doshas looks a little different depending on the dosha:

Ama mixed with kapha

congestion
thick, sticky white phlegm
indigestion
tongue coating that is white and thick
blocked sinuses
tight and congested chest
mucus in bowel movements, urine, or menstrual flow
salty or sour taste in the mouth

Ama mixed with pitta

hyperacidity
diarrhea
indigestion
fever
skin rashes
toxins in the blood
loss of appetite and/or thirst
tongue coating that is greasy and yellow
bad breath
bitter or sour taste in the mouth
mild burning in the body
tight abdomen
yellow stool and urine

What is Ama in Ayurveda? Hyperacidity as a sign of ama

Ama mixed with vata

bad breath
irregular appetite
a brown coating on the tongue (some would say grey coating)
gas
constipation
abdominal pain
abdominal bloating
flaky, dry skin
joints that crack and have pain2

Sebastian Pole goes on to tell us that the above Ama symptoms manifest as common diseases when not cleared out of the body:

late-onset diabetes or even high blood sugar levels
high triglycerides (raises the risk of heart disease and stroke)
atherosclerosis (a hardening or thickening of the arteries caused by plaque build-up)
rheumatoid factor (proteins made by the immune system that attack the body internally)
deficient or excess white blood cells
Candida albicans--yeast in the gut or uterus
gallstones (pebble-like pieces of material that form in the gallbladder)
kidney stones (pebble-like pieces of material that form in the kidneys)
excess liver enzymes (possibly showing hepatitis or liver disease)
glaucoma (excess fluid in the eye that damages the optic nerve)
bacterial infections
fevers
tumors
some forms of depression3

What Is Ama in Ayurveda: 7 Home Remedies to Clear Ama and Improve Your Life

Now that you know what Ama is in Ayurveda, here is a list of 7 home remedies to clear Ama and improve your life.

Most of this list of home remedies is from the manual by the Kripalu School of Ayurveda.4

1. Skip a meal or eat fruit

Because Ama is created by undigested food particles in the gut, taking a break from food is a great way to begin to clear Ama.

If you over-indulge one day and wake up without hunger the next morning, it's better to skip breakfast to allow your digestion to catch up and clear any undigested food matter in the gut so that it doesn't become Ama.

If you have a lot of pitta in your constitution, you may need to eat fruit rather than skip breakfast altogether.

And if you have a lot of vata in your constitution, you may want to eat a simple mono-diet of kitchari for a day to help clear the undigested food matter.

What is Ama in Ayurveda: kitchari in a bowl with cilantro garnish will help clear ama — Click the image to view the recipe

2. Use herbs that support digestion

Ginger, black pepper, pippali, and cumin are a few culinary herbs that help stimulate digestion.

You can make tea out of these herbs or add them to your food while cooking.

Two recipes for herbal tea blends that are excellent for burning Ama are Digestive Tea: Cumin Coriander Fennel and Anti-Ama Formula.

What is ama in ayurveda? Clear ama with digestive tea--Cumin Coriander Fennel Tea — Click the image to view the recipe

What is Ama in Ayurveda? Clear it with this recipe forAnti-Ama Formula — Click the image to view the recipe

3. Drink warm water

Warm water helps clear Ama from the gut and the body's channels.

The heat of the water helps to liquefy Ama. According to Ayurveda there are 20 Gunas (Qualities) that come in 10 pairs.

One of the pairs is clear vs cloudy, sticky.

Ama is exceptionally cloudy and sticky, so doing anything, like drinking warm water, that is clear or clearing will help to melt Ama.

4. Drink clear, liquid soups

Clear, liquid soups will also help to liquefy the Ama and remove it from your system.

Miso soup or a thin soup of greens (add a little extra water to this recipe to make it thinner) will help to clear Ama.

What is Ama in Ayurveda? Clear Ama with this Recipe: Soup of Greens — Click the image to view the recipe

5. Exercise

Exercise that makes you sweat is an excellent way to clear Ama from your body.

Here again, you will be liquefying the toxins from your body through the exercise.

Ayurveda says to exercise to 1/2 of your capacity during cold seasons and spring if you are strong, and exercise less if you are weak.

There should be sweat on your forehead, nose, armpits, and joints of the limbs, if you sweat more than that you may be exercising too much.5

What is Ama in Ayurveda? Exercising can liquefy ama

6. Dry, hot sauna

While a dry, hot sauna can be aggravating to vata normally, it is beneficial when Ama is present because it helps to liquefy Ama and clear it from the body.

Spend 5-15 minutes in the sauna depending on your level of sweat.

What is Ama in Ayurveda? Sitting in a sauna melts away ama

7. Take Triphala

Triphala is a combination of three dried and powdered fruits that help to clear Ama.

Triphala gently and gradually works to remove Ama from the tissues of the body.5

The dosage for each person is slightly different, but you can experiment with 1/4 to 1 teaspoon of triphaladi powder in warm water before bed.

Two companies that I highly recommend for Triphala Powder are Athreya Herbs and Kottakkal Ayurveda.

What is Ama in Ayurveda? Triphalaldi powder can help clear ama — Click the image to purchase

Or take 1-2 Triphala tablets before bed with warm water, like these from Kottakkal Ayurveda.

What is Ama in Ayurveda? Triphala tablets can help clear Ama — Click the image to purchase

What is Ama in Ayurveda: 7 Ways to Prevent the Formation of Ama in the Future

Now that it is clear what Ama is in Ayurveda, here are 7 ways to prevent ama from forming in the first place.

Use these recommendations to reduce the accumulation of Ama in your body.

This list of preventative measures is from the manual by the Kripalu School of Ayurveda.6

1. Avoid overeating

The general rule in Ayurveda is that the food you consume at each meal should be no larger than the amount of space in your hands when they are cupped and open in front of you.

Another rule of thumb in Ayurveda is that your stomach should be filled a third with food, a third with liquid, and a third with space so that the stomach can churn the food properly.

You may also hear people say to fill the stomach half with food, a quarter with liquid, and a quarter with space.

What is Ama in Ayurveda? Eating just enough food to fill your open hands will help prevent Ama from accumulating

2. Avoid eating large quantities of heavy food

Try to balance eating foods that are lighter with foods that are heavier rather than eating a completely heavy meal.

For example, if you're having meat, have some lighter, cooked veggies like greens or asparagus to accompany the meat.

What is Ama in Ayurveda? Eat lighter foods, like asparagus, with heavier foods

3. Eat three meals per day without snacking in between meals

Leave 4-6 hours between meals without snacking.

When food is in the process of digesting, and other foods (like snacks) are added in on top of that food, Ama can be formed.

The analogy that I like to use is cooking rice.

When rice is already cooking on the stove and additional rice is added, you end up with rice that is overcooked and undercooked, but none of it is perfectly cooked.

This same thing happens in the gut when we eat snacks before the previous meal is digested.

The food will turn into Ama because it doesn't digest properly.

What is Ama in Ayurveda? Ayurveda tells us that adding uncooked rice to rice that is already cooking is similar to eating between meals

4. Avoid fast foods, processed foods, leftovers, canned foods, foods with additives and coloring and instead eat freshly cooked whole foods

Foods that are fast foods, processed foods, leftovers, canned foods, and foods with additives and coloring added can create Ama in the system.

If you eat these foods on occasion, it is less problematic than if they are a staple in your life.

The body can usually easily recover from one bad meal, but several in a day or in a week can cause issues for us.

Leftover foods are discouraged, but eating something that you made with love the day before is much better than eating something from a fast-food restaurant.

Try to avoid leftover foods that are more than two days old.

What is Ama in Ayurveda? Eat freshly cooked whole foods to help prevent ama

5. Avoid drinking cold beverages and eating cold foods

Cold drinks and foods can create Ama and clog the channels of the body.

Drink warm, or at least room temperature, water and other beverages and eat warm, cooked foods to prevent the buildup of Ama.

What is Ama in Ayurveda? Avoid Ama by drinking warm water and beverages

6. Make the noon meal the largest meal

Eat a larger lunch and a smaller breakfast and dinner.

The digestive strength is stronger during the pitta time of day from 10 am to 2 pm, and Ayurveda says this is when we should eat larger, heavier meals.

Breakfast should be enough to sustain you until lunch when your hunger should be present just before eating lunch.

Dinner should be enough food to get you through the night, but it should be mostly digested before you go to bed to promote good sleep and allow the body time to naturally detox overnight.

7. Calm the mind before eating

Eating while stressed can prevent your body from digesting your food properly which will lead to the accumulation of Ama.

During times of stress, the fight or flight, or sympathetic nervous system turns on which shuts down your digestive system, sending the energy to your limbs instead.

Taking time to meditate before eating and eating in a calm environment can completely change the way your body digests your food and prevent Ama from being produced.