| Table Of Contents |
|---|
| CONSUMPTION OF FOOD. |
| FOODS FROM THE AYURVEDIC SYSTEM. |
| Ayurvedic Categories Of Food. |
| Dietary Balance in Ayurveda. |
| CLASSIFICATIONS OF EACH AYURVEDIC FOOD TYPE. |
CONSUMPTION OF FOOD.
Food should be consumed in a comfortable environment and with a positive mental attitude.
- When you're upset, annoyed, or coping with another emotion, don't eat.
- While watching violent or other thrilling events on television, do not eat.
- Bring yourself psychologically to the activity and attempt to achieve a calm mental state before starting to eat.
- Before you begin, say a prayer to mentally prepare yourself for this action.
Take a look at your meal and imagine something like this "May this food function as nectar in my body, replenishing my strength and vigor.
- May this meal sustain me and keep me well.
- Nature is to be praised for supplying me with this nourishment.
- In the workplace, you may be required to travel or have lunch with colleagues. Before you start eating, take a few moments to bless your meal.
Appropriate accessories and a pleasant eating environment enhance the flavor of your meal and its beneficial impact on you.
- Don't eat standing up or gulp down your meal.
- Food should be chewed thoroughly before being consumed, and it should not be consumed too slowly or too quickly.
- Both of these activities help to increase vata.
FOODS FROM THE AYURVEDIC SYSTEM.
Many people mix up Ayurvedic and Indian cuisine.
"Ayurvedic cookery" does not apply to Indian cuisine.
Many books labeled Ayurvedic cooking include solely Indian recipes, yet all Indian cuisine is not Ayurvedic cooking, and Ayurvedic cooking does not have to be Indian!
As a science of life, Ayurveda explains the idea of balanced diet, but as you may have guessed, this equilibrium is very complex.
- It's about what we eat in connection to who we are, where we live, how we eat, and other factors.
- It may not be a smart idea to start eating Indian cuisine in a chilly American or European environment.
As a result, I'll offer you some recipes so you may understand the fundamental concepts and put them to good use in your cooking.
A well-balanced, health-promoting diet keeps the humors in check and boosts the ojas (vitality and immunity).
- If you live in the mountains or by the sea, the idea of balance may be different.
- If you relocate, make sure you adjust your diet to fit your new surroundings.
- Don't force yourself to eat the fruits and veggies you're accustomed to.
What do the locals eat and how do they live?
- Try to sense how the new location affects you and think about it in terms of Ayurvedic knowledge.
- Observe and study your environment and the prevailing diet, as it will help you apply your Ayurvedic knowledge and principles appropriately to that context.
- There is no single universal diet that Ayurveda recommends. As many Yogis havedone so in the past, you too would do well to tailor your diet and lifestyle incorporating the system and principles of Ayurveda along with the philosophy of Yoga.
Many individuals in the West, as well as certain people in India's major cities, do not associate nutrition with time.
- They eat almonds in the summer, ice cream in the winter, yogurt when they have a fever, consume the same diet in their youth as they do in their senior years, and so on.
- Strange antagonistic food pairings are also eaten, such as hot tea or coffee with yogurt, ice cream and beer, and so on.
- I've attempted to highlight the main factors that contribute to unbalance and eventually make us ill.
- Foods with antagonistic effects should be avoided since they may make you ill. They should be avoided.
In addition to being balanced and revitalizing, the meal you prepare should taste delicious.
Ayurveda does not advocate for health care via pain, since a lack of enjoyment in life may lead to illness.
- That is why the culinary arts, as well as sexual satisfaction, have received particular emphasis in Ayurveda.
- Many Indian households have adopted the Ayurvedic culinary heritage, and my view is that Ayurvedic cooking should be taught in a straightforward manner, as it is done on a daily basis in these homes.
- It should not be taught as though the reader must pass an exam utilizing old Ayurvedic literature.
- I've described the technical elements in layman's terms, and I'll attempt to make this part as practical as possible so you can really cook the Ayurvedic way without getting bogged down in the technicalities.
Ayurvedic Categories Of Food
Rather than the three humors, foods are classified into hot and cold categories.
- Pitta is aided by heat, whereas kapha and vata are aided by cold.
- Summer and winter meals are obviously more prevalent in cold and hot dishes, respectively.
- If a vegetable (or meat) has hot characteristics, it must be prepared in the summer using "cool" herbs and spices.
- Urad beans have extremely spicy characteristics, and its flour is used in many South Indian dishes, along with rice flour, which is cold in nature.
- Similarly, cold-natured meals should be balanced with hot-natured foods or spices.
The balancing items do not have to be mixed in the same dish; they may appear in a different form throughout the meal.
For example, if you're having rice for dinner on a cold winter evening, you might also have a tomato salad with garlic.
Dietary Balance in Ayurveda
Balance is another element of Ayurvedic nutrition.
- When you have difficult-to-digest meals, you add herbs and spices that aid digestion, or create combinations with them.
- Fried foods, for example, are difficult to digest and should be avoided at all costs.
- However, depending on the recipe, you should add ajwain, cumin, kalonji, or ginger (see page 124 for specifics).
Foods that take a long time to digest should be consumed in smaller amounts.
- Let me expand on the hot and cold characteristics of meals that are widely consumed across the globe.
- If you want to learn more about goods that aren't listed here, try using rasas' basic knowledge.
- Examine the flavors that the substance gives your tongue, then glance at the rasa table to see what humoral impact it may have.
- The dominating flavor, and therefore the components from which this taste comes, will decide whether it is hot or cold.
CLASSIFICATIONS OF EACH AYURVEDIC FOOD TYPE.
Food products are divided into three groups: cold, hot, and balanced.
- I've included "vata" in parenthesis in the category of cold foods when the meals accentuate this humor in particular.
- Spice mixes should be used to balance them off. (Eg. 2 to 3 garlic cloves, dill seeds, or fenugreek seeds)
- What you use as a spice to balance the vata effect is determined on what you're cooking.
1. NATURE'S COLD FOODS.
Wheat, rice, maize (promotes vata),
barley (increases vata),
common millet and Italian millet (promotes vata),
masoor beans (promotes vata),
young green peas,
mature green peas (highly vata-promoting),
chick peas (promotes vata)
Spinach, cabbage, and Brussels sprouts (vata),
okra, green beans, bitter gourd, endives, fennel, aubergine, onion, celery, cucumber, and beetroot are just a few examples of vegetables.
Apples (sweet), bananas, pears, apricots, guava, musk melon, watermelon, and figs are some of the fruits available.
Milk and ghee are examples of dairy products.
Frog, shellfish, sea fish, and mutton are examples of meat.
Cloves, coriander, anise, licorice, and other herbs and spices Other Ingredients: Sugar
2. NATURALLY HOT FOODS.
Grains: Urad beans, soya beans
Salad with cress, potatoes, cauliflower, and tomatoes
Oranges, grapefruit, lemons, grapes (not completely sweet), peaches, plums, kiwi (particularly the black seeds in kiwi), nuts (almonds, peanuts, hazelnuts and others)
Yogurt and cheese are examples of dairy products.
Pork, horse, cow, and freshwater fish are some of the meats available.
Greater cardamom, cumin, cinnamon, black pepper, fenugreek, kalonji, garlic, basil, dill seeds, ajwain, mustard seeds are some of the herbs and spices used.
Other ingredients include honey, vegetable oils, and eggs (hen, fish)
3. FOODS FOR HUMORAL EQUALIZATION.
Finger millet, mung beans, chickpeas germinated (sprouts)
Carrots, tiny radishes (not overripe), turnips, zucchini, and pumpkin are examples of vegetables (just ripened)
Sweet mangoes, papaya, pomegranate, and grapes are some of the fruits available (sweet)
Deer, goat, and chicken meats Small cardamom, ginger, and curcuma are some of the herbs and spices used.