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Ayurveda
Eating
for Balance
According to
Ayurveda, every individual has unique needs for balance. Since diet is one
of the most important Ayurvedic tools for achieving balance, Ayurvedic
healers generally design individualized diets for people they see, based
on various factors such as age and gender, the doshic tendencies that need
to be balanced at a given time, the strength of the body tissues and the
digestive fires, and the level of ama (toxins) in the body. The place
where a person lives and the season are also factors that affect dietary
dos and don'ts.
Notwithstanding the individualized approach to choosing foods for balance,
there are some universally applicable principles that are important to
follow if you are living an
Ayurvedic lifestyle:
Include the six tastes at every main
meal
In Ayurveda, foods are classified into six tastes – sweet, sour, salty,
bitter, pungent and astringent. Ayurvedic healers recommend that you
include all of these six tastes at each main meal you eat. Each taste has
a balancing ability, and including some of each minimizes cravings and
balances the appetite and digestion. The general North American diet tends
to have too much of the sweet, sour and salty, and 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 foods from
each category for complete, balanced nutrition. Just in the category of
fresh vegetables and herbs, for example, you could choose fennel bulb or
carrot for the sweet taste, fresh lemons for sour, arugula or endive for
bitter, radish or white daikon or ginger root for pungent and cabbage or
broccoli or cilantro for astringent.
The Amalaki Rasayana, made from the Amla fruit, offers five of the six
Ayurvedic tastes – all except salty.
Choose foods by balancing physical
attributes
In Ayurveda, foods are also categorized as heavy or light, dry or
unctuous/liquid and warm or cool (temperature), and different qualities
balance different doshas. A balanced main meal should contain some foods
of each physical type. Within this overall principle, you can vary the
proportions of each type based on your constitution and needs for balance,
the season of the year and the place you live.
To keep Vata dosha in balance, choose more heavy, unctuous or 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'll 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 dhals, fresh paneer cheese and
whole milk in the diet. In the summer, plan on eating more cool, soothing
foods to help keep Pitta dosha in balance.
Choose foods that are Sattvic
A third Ayurvedic classification of foods is by the effect they have on
the non-physical aspects of the physiology--mind, heart, senses and
spirit. Sattvic foods have an uplifting yet stabilizing influence, Rajasic
foods stimulate and can aggravate some aspects of the mind, heart or
senses, and Tamasic foods breed lethargy and are considered a deterrent to
spiritual growth.
Everyone, whether actively seeking spiritual growth or not, can benefit by
including some Sattvic foods at every meal because they help promote
mental clarity, emotional serenity and sensual balance and aid in the
coordinated functioning of the body, mind, heart, senses and spirit.
Almonds, rice, honey, fresh sweet fruits, mung 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.
Opt for whole, fresh, in-season, local
foods
Authentic Ayurvedic herbal preparations are made by processing the whole
plant or the whole plant part, not by extracting active substances from
the plant. Similarly, from the Ayurvedic perspective, the most healthful
diet consists of whole foods, eaten in as natural a state as possible, the
only exception being when removing a peel or cooking helps increase
digestibility and assimilation for certain types of constitutions. If the
digestive fire is not strong enough, even wholesome foods can turn into
ama (toxic matter) in the body.
Foods that are frozen, canned, refined so as to denude the food of its
nutritive value, processed with artificial colors, flavorings, additives
or preservatives, genetically altered, or grown with chemical pesticides
or fertilizers are not recommended by Ayurvedic healers, because 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's best to choose foods and produce that is
locally grown or produced, foods that are in-season, and foods that are
organic, natural and whole.
Rotate menus and experiment with a
variety of foods
The sages that wrote the ancient Ayurvedic texts would be horrified by our
current fascination with the low-carb diet or the no-fat diet or the juice
diet – 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 pure water all have their roles in
the balancing process.
If you find yourself eating the same dishes several times a week, or 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 foods 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 colors, textures, flavors
and aromas, your digestive juices start freely flowing in anticipation and
your body, mind and heart are all fulfilled by the eating experience.
Include spices and herbs in your daily
diet
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, help cleanse ama (toxins) from the body and
their yogavahi property – their 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. Sauté spices in a little
olive oil or ghee (clarified butter) and pour the mixture over cooked
foods, or 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 a meal helps digestion and freshens the breath naturally as well.
Ayurvedic rasayanas such as Amalaki and Triphala offer additional ways to
help nourish and cleanse the digestive system. Amalaki Rasayana helps
enhance digestion, helps balance the production of stomach acid and
nourishes the body tissues. Triphala Rasayana helps tone and cleanse the
digestive tract and helps nourish the different tissues.
– Shreelata Suresh
February 22, 2004
Disclaimer: The above article is educational in nature, and is not
intended to diagnose, treat, cure or prevent any disease. If you have a
medical condition, please consult your physician.
Shreelata Suresh is a yoga
instructor from the Bay Area, and she writes on yoga and Ayurveda for
different publications. To subscribe to free newsletters on Ayurveda, or
for more information, please visit
http://www.ayurbalance.com.
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