What is the Ayurvedic Diet and is it Right for You?

 

 

In today’s fast-paced society, it can be hard to cut through all the product packaging and get to the real heart of healthy eating. Ayurveda – a traditional Indian medicine, is based on the manipulation of three main energies: Vata, Pittha, and Kapha, which (as Indians still believe) together form the Universe. Since I really do believe that previous generations were much healthier than the current one is, I did a bit of research on the topic. What is the Ayurvedic diet? Here are some general recommendations on food consumption described in the Ayurvedic literature.

• Cooked vegetables (steamed, boiled or baked). And while cooking, try to spice things up with Ayurvedic spices.
• Green salads made of lettuce, spinach, sorrel, coriander, fennel, onion, mustard, celery, mint, should be dressed with oil. The best time for them is in the early afternoon.
• Grain, including rice (red, brown or white), oats (porridge), rye, corn, millet, buckwheat, millet (everything except wheat). Bread should be eaten right after baking or toasted and dried as croutons because heat and dryness stop further fermentation. Oatmeal cooked with water (not milk) with cinnamon and cardamom, coconut flakes, soaked raisins and baked fruits (like apples) can be considered an ideal breakfast because it gives energy, warms up and it’s easy to digest.
• Seeds and nuts are heavy for digestion and increase the air in the body (Vata). Peanuts and cashews should be avoided completely.
• Sweet fruits and berries are a great option. Fresh bananas, though, should be avoided during the flu, colds, coughs, and other accumulation of mucus in the respiratory system. And of course, dried fruits and berries are better to soak before eating.
• Cow’s milk is better to drink spiced and warm (perfect solution is ginger, cardamom, cinnamon, and turmeric). A good alternative to cow’s milk is rice and soybean milk. Also try fresh soft cheeses like cottage cheese, feta, and tofu. They are easy to digest and create a much smaller amount of mucus than hard (extruded) cheeses.
• Best of all is to refrain from eating meat. But if you are a heavy meat eater, then just try to stick to white meat and eat eggs in moderation.

Ayurvedic Diet General Recommendations

The way you cook or process your foods is also important. Consider these guidelines while preparing your food:

• Freshly cooked food is way better than processed. Warm, moist, liquid food is preferred to heavy, dry and solid.
• Never eat fresh fruits, milk, and meat (or fish) at the same time.
• Never heat honey above 104 °! Honey digests very slowly, and if it’s heated its molecules become a glue that sticks to cells` membranes, patches their pores, creating toxins. Remember: raw honey is nectar, cooked honey is poison. Eat only when you are hungry but not less than 3-4 hours after the previous meal.
• Eat only when you are hungry but not less than 3-4 hours after the previous meal.
• Do not eat right before going to bed. The last meal should be at least 2 hours before bedtime
• Do not use a microwave to warm up or cook food

 

Learn more about Ayurvedic mind-body types and find out how to identify your own individual type here. There are many other aspects to the Ayurvedic diet that I have not covered here. There are also many lifestyle changes as well as certain types of beauty products and health aids that are recommended. One of those is a fascinating healing tool called the Kansa Wand, which is made with the healing metal of India- Kansa. The Kansa Wand is designed to give you a youthful face, stress-relief and total skin and mind-body rejuvenation!