Ayurvedic Diet and Eating Habits
Ayurvedic Diet and Eating habits
Ayurveda teaches that food is medicine when used correctly. If you eat right, you won’t need medicine, if not then no medicine can help you.
All foods and beverages are imprinted with a vital memory. They remember their whole life and pass that knowledge to us when we eat it. Food that is grown and prepared with love carries more positive energy than food raised with chemicals and impersonally grown on factory farms.
Here are the general diet recommendations. See more specific guidelines under your dosha type. See Food list for Vata, Pitta, and Kapha.
Eat pure, fresh, local, unprocessed foods during their natural season of growth.
Ayurveda considers meat, poultry, and fish as undesirable, since they contain negative emotions of pain and hatred towards the one who kills them, which are passed on to us when we eat. The fact that meat, fish and eggs are on Food lists for different doshas simply means that Ayurveda seeks to help everybody, including meat eaters, to live as healthy a life as possible. All the proteins and amino acids we need can be received from dairy. See Dairy and A-da. and Non animal protein.
Foods from the night shade family (white potatoes, tomatoes, eggplant and peppers) contain solanines, which dehydrate the joints.
Ayurveda insists that iced water slows agni and digestion. Small sips of warm water taken during the meal serves to aid digestion.
While eating one should properly masticate the food in order to soften it and ensure that it is thoroughly mixed with saliva.
In order to stimulate appetite one can chew and eat 1/2 teaspoon fresh grated ginger with a pinch of rock salt and some fresh lime juice before each meal.
If desired, one can finish a meal by drinking a cup of lassi (or takram). This can be made by blending four teaspoons of plain yogurt with two pinches of ginger and cumin powder in one cup of water. See Lassi recipe.
When eating, only one third of the capacity of the stomach should be filled with food, one third with liquid and one third should be left empty. This will aid in proper digestion and also promotes mental clarity.
See also: Cook your food with love; Six tastes; Ayurvedic food combinations; We are what we eat; and Raw or cooked? Ritucharya-seasonal routine; and Dinacharya-daily routine).
TODAY’S TIP : No food is absolutely forbidden. You can eat anything occasionally.
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Yes, it’s really sad to know all that stressful conditions under which the animal food is produced.But I have to eat proteins, don’t I ?
You can get your proteins from beans, rice, organic milk and eggs.