Ayurvedic Food and its healing properties

Every person is intrinsically aware of what is right and what is wrong and his body is the best guide to give him symptoms of food suitability for a particular season which primarily depends upon his body type. As fall approaches it’s a good time to think about strengthening your immunity. According to Ayurveda, cold weather doesn’t have to bring on the cold and flu. The key is to start now with immunity-enhancing meals.

A brief insight into what constitutes the immunity enhancing foods will give a fair idea in this respect. Any food which transforms into ‘’ojas’’ after undergoing proper assimilation is good for immunity and the food which creates ‘’ama’’ is bad for immunity.

Ojas is the end product after digestion and assimilation is completed which creates good health, vitality and immunity. On the other hand ama is the digestive impurities caused by consumption of wrong food which results in deterioration of strength and induces lethargy and fatigue.

If you feel less hungry at mealtimes than usual, or if you feel heavy and dull in the two hours immediately after a meal, these are indications that your digestive fire is burning low. To help enhance your agni, add Pomegranate Chutney as a condiment for your meal.

Cooking your food with immune-enhancing spices such as cumin, fennel, coriander, turmeric, ginger and black pepper is also an important way to enhance agni and reduce ama

Winter is actually the season to enhance the immune system, and support and nurture your body. Eat nourishing, warm food, and avoid any fasting in winter. This is the most effective time to take Amrit (nectar) to nourish and rejuvenate your mind and body. The important thing is to eat light, warm foods, cooked with the immune-enhancing spices already mentioned. Avoid eating or drinking anything cold, because cold foods and drinks will enhance the impact of cold weather and reduce the digestive fire, leading to more ama. You’ll also want to avoid heavy sweets, as these are difficult to digest. Start your day with a stewed apple for breakfast, cooked with spices such as cardamom.

Ayurvedic diet creates balance/ harmony in the body

A balanced diet does not revolve around calories, vitamins, carbohydrates, and proteins. These nutrients are known to us intellectually but the tastes are a direct experience and give enormous and useful information directly to the tissues in the body. Ayurveda allows us to eat a balanced diet naturally, guided by our own instincts, without turning nutrition into a complicated intellectual exercise Tastes should be balanced in the diet for optimum nutrition and health..

There are six tastes described in Ayurveda. The term taste not only applies to the perception of taste buds located on the tongue, but to the final reaction of food in the acid medium of the stomach. These tastes are sweet, sour, salty, astringent, bitter and pungent. Vata dosha is balanced by sweet, sour, and salty. Pitta dosha is balanced by bitter, astringent and sweet, and Kapha dosha is balanced by pungent, bitter, and astringent.

Benefits of following an Ayurvedic diet.

Benefits of eating Ayurvedic food is different for each person depending upon his body type. The first benefit is definitely the harmony and balance obtained through eating right which not only results in

proper flow of energy, vitality, vigour and mental stability.

Food that should be avoided during the cold season.

Choose foods for your body type and for the season. It’s not correct that you can eat anything you want, as long as it’s good food. If you want to stay healthy, you need to choose foods that will bring balance to your body type and for the particular season. Whatever influences from the weather and climate is causing an imbalance, you need to counteract them with the food you eat.

Eating cold salads in winter (Vata season), for instance, is not a good idea, because raw salads only increase the cold, dry, light qualities of Vata, when what is needed is a warming, grounding, nourishing diet.

Avoid eating or drinking anything cold, because cold foods and drinks will enhance the impact of cold weather and reduce the digestive fire, leading to more ama. You’ll also want to avoid heavy sweets, as these are difficult to digest.

In the following blogs I will try to include some easy to replicate recipes which can give you better insight into the home preparation of Ayurvedic food.

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