The preservation of health is easier than the cure of disease. The objective of Ayurveda is to protect the health of the healthy and to alleviate disorders in the diseased. To fulfil the first objective i.e., to keep the body away from the disease, Ayurveda has described three pillars of life; Ahara (Food), Nidra (Sleep) and Brahmacharya (Celibacy). These three well-regulated factors of life give immunity, strength, complexion and growth of the body.
In Ayurveda, diet forms the major component of life. Ayurveda describes specific diet in terms of quality, quantity, and time which differs with body constitution, age, season, digestive power, disease and also from person to person. Diet is medicine in itself. The effect of food not only reflect on the body but also it affects the mind; “The food you eat reflects your state of mind”. The father of western medicine, Hippocrates stated, “Let food be thy medicine and medicine be thy food”, he advocated the healing effects of food. By the knowledge of Ayurvedic Dietetics, we can prevent many diseases before it occurs and we can treat the diseases after it’s occurrence as well.
Rules of Consuming the Food
• The food should be fresh, warm and easily digestible.
• Food should be consumed only when a person feels hunger and it should be eaten after the last meal has been digested.
• One should eat food in a comfortable sitting posture, it should be eaten neither too fast nor too slow.
• Proper chewing of food is necessary for the proper digestion of food.
• Water should be taken half hour before meal, one hour after meal and if needed than only sip of water can be taken in mid of the meals.
• One should not eat food while watching tv, phones or laptop or when emotionally upset.
Properties of food according to tastes
• Sweet– Moist, cold, heavy, expectorant.
• Salty-Laxative, digestive, appetiser.
• Sour-Carminative, appetiser.
• Pungent-Bronchodilator, anti-helminthic, carminative.
• Bitter-Anti-helminthic, purgative.
• Astringent-Anti-diarrhoeal, styptic
Naturally Best Food according to Ayurveda
• Rice– Red rice, old rice.
• Cereals– Barley and wheat.
• Pulses– Green gram, red gram.
• Salt– Rock salt
• Fruits– Pomegranate, Gooseberry (Amla), Palm dates, Grapes.
• Vegetables– Snake gourd (Parval)
• Water– Rain water (minerals rich).
• Fish– Rohu
• Milk– Cow milk
• Ghee– Cow ghee
• Oil– Sesame oil
Quantity of food
One of a difficult question to answer is, “how much a person should eat?” The quantity of food varies person to person, based on level of hunger, digestive power, what is the nature of the food to be eaten, what a person had eaten on the last meal and whether the previously taken meal digested completely or not.
In Ayurvedic texts it has been clearly described that if a person divides one’s stomach into four parts, two parts should be filled with solid food, one part with liquid food and leave one part empty. Practically it means that, one should stop at that point when one gets the feeling that only a couple of more morsels can be taken.
In general, a person should have a good amount of breakfast, a moderate amount of lunch and a minimal amount of dinner.
A quantity of food should be such that it gets digested before taking the next meal. So, if a person is taking only two meals per day, then comparatively the quantity of food can be more so that it keeps energized throughout the day, till the second meal is taken. If a person is taking 3-4 meals per day, then the quantity of food in each meal can be reduced.
Suitable food types in different seasons
• Winter– Sweet, sour, salty and unctuous & hot foods.
• Spring– Foods with bitter, pungent and astringent taste. Dry and hot foods.
• Summer– Sweet, light, easily digestible and cool foods and drinks.
• Monsoon– Sweet, sour and salty foods. Light, fresh and easily digestible.
• Autumn– Foods with sweet, pungent and astringent taste; dry and cools foods and drinks.
Conclusion
Ayurvedic texts explains the properties of food in relation to seasons, time and places and to their specific function both on physiological and pathological states. A healthy diet is necessary for good health, which protects the body against many chronic non-communicable diseases, such as cardiac diseases, cancer, diabetes etc. So, one should know the compatible and incompatible foods according to their health condition.
“Your diet is a bank account, good food choices are good investments”.
A person should know the basic rules of consuming food and the quantity of food. There are so many cases where one can see that after using so many medications also the ailments are not responding to the medicines, the reason is intake of improper diets. And one can also notice that some ailments don’t even need medication, it simply gets corrected by taking proper diet.
“When diet is wrong, medicine is of no use & When diet is correct, medicine is of no need”
It can be stated that when the individuals pay attention towards diet, they will be able to enhance health and well-being in an efficient manner.