Food for Wellness
In my previous article, I introduced you to Jivananda—a lifestyle regimen based on the principles of Ayurveda to bring in eternal bliss into our lives. Today I would like to discuss one of the most important aspects of Ayurveda—food.

According to Ayurveda, food is not only a mixture of all the basic ingredients like proteins, vitamins, fats and carbohydrates, but it is also something, which serves as a source of energy for the mind and the soul as well. After digestion, food is either converted into Ojas or Ama, depending whether the food consumed is pro-Ayurvedic or ante-Ayurvedic. Ojas is the most refined product of the digestive process—the biochemical essence that sustains life and health. Ama is the toxin formed from improper metabolism of the food. Therefore, the food chosen, cooked and consumed in accordance with the Ayurvedic principles is finally converted to Ojas which provides vigour, strength, and vitality to all tissues (dhatus).

According to Ayurveda, your dietary needs are as unique as you. An ideal diet is determined after considering your body constitution (Vata, Pitta or Kapha doshas), age and gender, environment, and your needs for balancing the doshic tendencies at any given time. This can be best assessed and decided by an Ayurvedic doctor. Ayurvedic healers generally design individualised diets for people they treat, based on the above factors as well as the strength of the body tissues and the digestive fires, the level of Ama (toxins) in the body, place of living, and the season. Moreover, besides choosing the right kind of food, it is also important that you must adopt an Ayurvedic style of cooking and consuming food for your digestion to work efficiently.

But there are some diet and digestion principles that are universally applicable and can be easily put into practice by everybody for healing diseases, prolonging the life span and welcoming happiness. Below, I shall discuss the kind of food and suggested methods of food consumption that are generally healthy for people with any dosha type.

What to Eat
Ayurveda classifies different varieties of food according to the characteristics such as taste, physical attributes, effect on the non-physical aspects of the physiology, etc. People desiring to follow an Ayurvedic lifestyle should include some elements from each of these categories.

The Six Tastes
In Ayurveda, food is classified into six tastes—sweet, sour, salty, bitter, pungent and astringent. Ayurveda recommends that you include all the six tastes at each main meal you eat. Each taste has a balancing capacity in addition to the ability to aid digestion and minimise craving. The general trend in our diet tends to have too much of the sweet, sour and salty aspects of taste but not enough of the bitter, pungent and astringent tastes.

A fruit-spice chutney or a spice-mix can provide a little of each of the six tastes if you are in a hurry, but it is ideal to choose food items from each category for a complete and balanced nutrition. In the category of fresh vegetables and herbs, for example, you can choose fennel bulb or carrot for the sweet taste, fresh lemons for sour, arugula or endive for bitter, radish, white daikon or ginger root for pungent and cabbage, broccoli or cilantro for astringent tastes.

The Amalaki Rasayana, made from the Amla (gooseberries) fruit, offers five of the six Ayurvedic tastes—all but salty.

Balancing Doshas with Different Physical Attributes of Food
In Ayurveda, foods are also categorised according to their physical properties such as heavy or light, dry or unctuous/liquid and warm or cool (temperature). These different qualities balance different doshas. A balanced main meal should contain some food items of each physical type. Remaining within this overall principle, you can vary the proportions of each type based on your constitution and need for balance, the season of the year and the place you
live in.

For example, to keep Vata dosha in balance, choose more heavy, unctuous/liquid, and warm foods, and fewer dry, light or cool foods. To help balance Pitta, focus more on cool, dry and heavy foods, and to balance Kapha, try more of light, dry and warm foods.

If you live in cooler climes, you will want to gravitate towards warm comfort foods, and vice versa. Similarly, in winter, when Vata dosha tends to increase in most people's constitutions, almost everyone can benefit from including warm soups and nourishing dals, fresh paneer or cottage cheese and whole milk in the diet. In the summer, try to eat more cool, soothing food items to help keep Pitta dosha in balance.

Sattvic, Rajasic and Tamasic Food
A third Ayurvedic classification of foods is by their intrinsic properties. The intrinsic properties of food have an effect on the non-physical aspects of the physiology—mind, heart, senses and spirit. Sattvic food has an uplifting yet stabilising influence, Rajasic food stimulates and can aggravate some aspects of the mind, heart or senses, and Tamasic food breeds lethargy and are considered a deterrent to spiritual growth.

Everyone, whether actively seeking spiritual growth or not, can benefit by including some Sattvic food items at every meal. Sattvic food helps to promote mental clarity, emotional serenity and sensual balance. They aid in the coordinated functioning of the body, mind, heart, senses and the spirit. Almonds, rice, honey, fresh sweet fruits, moong beans and easy-to-digest, fresh seasonal vegetables and leafy greens are examples of Sattvic foods. To get the full Sattwa from Sattvic foods, prepare and eat them whole and fresh.

Food without Chetna or Prana
Authentic Ayurvedic herbal preparations are made by processing the whole plant or the whole plant part, and not by extracting active substances from the plant. Similarly, from the Ayurvedic perspective, the most healthy diet consists of whole foods, eaten in as natural a state as possible. Removing a peel or cooking is the only exception as this helps increase digestibility and assimilation.

Foods that are frozen, canned, refined (so as to denude the food of its nutritive value), genetically altered, grown with chemical pesticides or fertilisers or that are processed with artificial colours, flavours, additives or preservatives, are not recommended by Ayurvedic healers. Such foods are lacking in Chetana (living intelligence) and Prana (vital life-energy) and will do more harm than good in the physiology.

For the above reasons, it is best to choose foods and products that are locally grown or produced, foods that are in-season, and foods that are organic, natural and whole.

Adding Ayurvedic Variety to Nutrition
The hurried life of the 21st century has pushed people away from nature and made them try diets such as low-carb or no-fat foods. From the Ayurvedic perspective, any diet that is exclusive in nature is by definition incomplete in its nutritive value and ability to balance all aspects of the physiology.

Eat a wide variety of foods for balanced nutrition—whole grains, lentils and pulses, vegetables, fruits, dairy, nuts, healthy oil or ghee, spices and drink plenty of pure water.

If you find yourself eating the same dishes several times a week, or if you gravitate towards the same produce or foods every time you shop, resolve now to start making your meals an adventure. Every week, try at least a few new food items or fix familiar foods in new ways, so that your taste buds and your digestion are constantly exposed to some new stimuli in addition to the familiar.

According to Ayurveda, each meal should be a feast for all of your senses. When your plate reflects an appealing variety of colours, textures, flavours and aromas, your digestive juices start freely flowing in anticipation and your body, mind and heart are all fulfilled by the eating experience.

Enhancing Digestion and Assimilation with Spices
Spices and herbs are concentrated forms of Nature's healing intelligence. They are particularly revered in Ayurveda for their ability to enhance digestion and assimilation and to help cleanse ama (toxins) from the body. They possess Yogavahi property that is the ability to transport the healing and nutritive value of other components of the diet to the cells, tissues and organs.

Spices, in Ayurveda, are generally eaten cooked. You can sauté spices in a little olive oil or ghee (clarified butter) and pour the mixture over cooked food for taste. Alternately you can simmer spices with foods like beans or grains as they cook. Fresh herbs such as cilantro or mint are generally added at the end of the cooking process, just before serving.

Ayurveda recommends spices/herbs to stimulate the digestion before a meal, during a meal and after a meal. Eating a bit of fresh ginger and lemon, about 30 minutes before a main meal, helps kick-start the digestion. Eating dishes cooked with a variety of spices and herbs helps the process of digestion—absorption, assimilation and elimination. Chewing fennel seeds after meals helps digestion and freshens up the breath.

Ayurvedic rasayanas such as Amalaki and Triphala offer additional ways to help nourish and cleanse the digestive system. Amalaki Rasayana nourishes the body tissues, helps enhance digestion and balances the production of stomach acid. Triphala Rasayana helps in toning and cleansing the digestive tract and in nourishing the different tissues.

 

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