Indigestion is indecision
What your gut is telling you about the decisions you're not making.
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For years, I had an unwelcome winter tradition.
Like clockwork, November brought a nagging dry tickle in my throat, and by January, I’d lose my voice completely. The solution was always the same: a trip to the doctor, antibiotics, and a brief, temporary quiet.
I wasn’t solving the problem; I was treating the fire alarm. I simply thought this pattern was “normal,” a part of my life, until I realized my life was literally making me sick.
The voice that healed my body
My breakthrough didn’t come when I was seeking help for myself, but for my daughter. After months of her being cycled through antibiotics with no lasting change, I found a holistic doctor. Her prescription for my daughter was simple yet radical, (especially in 2002): eliminate wheat, sugar, and dairy.
I followed the protocol alongside her to offer support, expecting nothing for myself. The revolution was swift and profound. The chronic, low-grade symptoms I had internalized as just me—the morning brain fog, the environmental allergies (and the daily Claritin), the low energy—all vanished. The physical act of stopping certain foods healed a life I didn’t even know was unwell.
This is when I first understood the true, visceral power of food as medicine.
But the most pivotal lesson came the next time my annual sore throat flared up.
Instead of offering a holistic supplement, the doctor looked past my inflamed tonsils and asked the question that changed my life:
“What are you holding back that you need to say?”
It took me months to answer honestly, to integrate that my digestion and my expression were two parts of the same system.
That winter, for the first time in a decade, the annual sickness never arrived. The physical symptom vanished when I finally digested and expressed what was stuck.
The Ayurvedic bridge: from gut stuckness to throat tickle
In Ayurveda, the body’s wisdom is clear: The root of all disease is Mandagni (low digestive fire) which creates Ama (toxins).
Indigestion: When our Agni (the fire of physical transformation) is weak, food isn’t fully digested. It becomes heavy, sticky Ama in the gut.
Indecision: When we avoid a necessary decision or suppress a truth, we create emotional Ama—undigested, stagnant, heavy feelings.
The Tickle: The body always seeks to clear these toxins. Vata (the principle of movement and air, often agitated by anxiety or conflict) begins to push this heavy Ama upward. The throat is the intersection of air and expression. The tickle—or the need to cough—is often the sound of the Ama, the undigested, unspoken truth, scratching to get out.
What we cannot digest in our belly, we cannot express through our voice.
The conflict that brought back the cough
I’ve been well for over twenty years, yet last year, after navigating the most intense period of change in my adult life—selling my parents’ house, dissolving a business, moving, and remodeling—my voice left me again. I was so busy doing and deciding for everyone else, I forgot to digest my own life.
Today, the dry tickle is back, and I know exactly why. I am standing at a fork in the road: The immense drive to go “monk mode” and monetize this platform versus the committed desire to be fully present with my family and partner.
My passion is ready to be spoken, but the path forward is still internally debated. The tickle is the sound of the words I am refusing to commit to.
Start with the plate: the practice of commitment
We don’t need another complex diet plan; we need a committed daily practice of self-referral. We start with the place we have the most control: Lunch.
The commitment to One Warm, On-Time, Simple Lunch is practice for making and keeping bigger life decisions.
Prep before you’re hungry: decide before the body panics.
Sit and Chew: no scrolling, no multitasking—just you and your meal.
Walk afterward: help your body move what you’ve processed.
This daily rhythm of honoring your body clears the energetic space needed to honor yourself. Royalty doesn’t rush. Start with your digestion; the decision will follow.
I teach people how to self-refer, using the body as the ultimate guide. This week, start noticing the relationship between your digestion (or your indecision) and your throat.
On Wednesday’s paid post—”From tickle to truth: the 3-step self-referral guide to clearing your voice and committing to your path”—I’ll walk you through:
How to use One Warm, On-Time, Simple Lunch to clear physical Ama.
How to spot the three places indecision is clogging your time and energy.
How to practice saying what’s true so your throat doesn’t have to do it for you.
Upgrade to paid to get the full 3-step guide and work this through in your own life.
— Savitree
Your guide to Food as Medicine—warm meals, calmer gut, clearer days.