DIET :
"Let your food be your medicine, and your medicine be your food"
- Hippocrates
The Ayurvedic physician usually begins the cure of disease by arranging the diet that is to be followed by the patient. So much do the Ayurvedic physicians rely on diet that they declare that all diseases can be cured by following dietetic rules carefully along with the proper herbal supplements; but if a patient does not attend to his diet, a hundred good medicines will not be cured.
- Charaka Samhita 1.41
According to Ayurveda, diet should be chosen according to the season, constitution of the individual and the specific doshic imbalances that are present.
The equilibrium between Man and Nature leads to perfect health. The five elements in nature ((ether, air, fire, water and earth) are present in every human being and govern every life on Earth. These five elements are in fact present in the naturally available food that we eat. Therefore any imbalance in the relation between man and nature is bought in equilibrium by the art of maintaining a proper diet.
The Benfits of a Personalized Ayurvedic Diet:
- Better health, youthfulness and better memory.
- More energy, endurance and strength.
- A gradual decrease in existing diseases.
- Prevention of colds, flu's and other diseases.
- Greater ability to handle stress and anxiety.
- saves you money in the long run.
- Improved sleep and concentration.
- Better digestion, metabolism and elimination.
- Healthier skin, complexion and slowed down aging.
- Increases intelligent.
- Healthier progeny.
- Stronger immune system.
- Weight loss or gain and better sense control.
Charaka prescribes the following principles for healthy eating:
- Food should be hot, tasty and easy to digest. Eat proper amount of food.
- Food eaten should not be too much or too little.
- Do not eat when you are not hungry and conversely do not fail to eat when you are hungry.
- Eat in congenial and pleasant surroundings with all accessories necessary for the enjoyment of food.
- Eating should neither be rushed nor too leisurely.
- Concentrate on your food while eating.
Our diet should be tailored to suit our prakriti. A vata individual should take warm and sweet food articles. A person with pitta prakriti should take cool, heavy, sweet, bitter and astringent food items. A person with kapha prakriti should take food, which is dry, warm, light, pungent, bitter and astringent.
LIFESTYLE:-
Life is God's precious gift to us and it is up to us to make the best of it. Health is the most basic and crucial requirement for a fulfilled life. Ayurveda prescribes a daily routine, 'dinacharya' and a seasonal routine 'ritucharya' for good health.
DINACHARYA
A new dawn :-
An individual should rise early in the morning before sunrise.
Clean habits :-
Physical and mental purity are pre-requisites for the day's activities. This is achieved through clean habits like brushing the teeth, scraping the tongue, gargling with water which has a pinch of turmeric added to it, bathing, trimming of beard, hair and nails and elimination of body wastes. Meditation enables elimination of mental wastes.
Massage :-
Daily oil massage strengthens the skin and improves its color and texture. It increases circulation, improves vision and resistance to disease. Massage of the head strengthens and calms sense organs.
Exercise :-
Exercise is best performed in the morning. Should depend on your age and prakriti. Only kapha persons should exercise vigorously. Other prakritis should exercise moderately. Exercise is not advisable for the very weak or for those with respiratory or cardiac disorders. Bathing Soap is not meant for use on the body except when it is really dirty.
Bathing :-
Bathing within one hour after eating is prohibited.
Purification of surroundings :-
Purification of our bodies and minds should be accompanied by purification of our houses and our surroundings.
RITUCHARYA
The change of seasons affects the state of our doshas considerably. Hence Ayurveda advocates a seasonal routine to ward off imbalances of the doshas.
Vata increases during winter and spring, pitta during summer and kapha during late winter and spring.
Exercise :-
Exercise :-
Exercise is best performed in the morning. Should depend on your age and prakriti. Only kapha persons should exercise vigorously. Other prakritis should exercise moderately. Exercise is not advisable for the very weak or for those with respiratory or cardiac disorders. Bathing Soap is not meant for use on the body except when it is really dirty.
Bathing :-
Bathing within one hour after eating is prohibited.
Purification of surroundings :-
Purification of our bodies and minds should be accompanied by purification of our houses and our surroundings.
DIET AND REGIME TO BE FOLLOWED DURING TREATMENT:-
- One week before the actual treatment begins the patient may be given a daily dose of the proper medicines to ensure easy evacuation of the bowels as a preparatory measure.
- All restrictions should be fully observed during the course of the treatment and for an equal number of days thereafter with regard to diet as well as physical and mental exertion.
- For drinking purposes water boiled with dry ginger and cumin seeds and cooled down may be used.
- For bathing purposes warm water alone should be used.
- The patient should abstain from sexual intercourse as well as from any deed that may excite sexual desire.
- Suppression of the urgings of nature, physical exertions, mental excitements such as anger, grief. Exposure to cold, dew, sun, wind, smoke or dust should be avoided. Walking, speaking too much or too loud and such other actions that may give strain to the system should be avoided.
- During the course of the treatment the patient should be cheerful and happy and should avoid wearisome exertions, distasteful diet or excessive indulgence in the tasty foods.
- Only half the capacity of the food is to be filled with solid food, one-fourth with liquid and remaining one fourth left empty.
- Foodstuffs that are either too spicy or too acidic should be avoided.
- Decently light clothing should be worn even in the coldest weather. This will permit the free entrance of fresh air to the skin cells and facilitate the liberation of the noxious gases thrown off by the skin.
- During the course of these treatments exercises of all forms are strictly forbidden, for the body is undergoing a transitional change and reconstruction. At that time the body is in a condition, as it cannot endure the slightest exertion both bodily and mental.
- Don’t read too much. If u read select some light subject and do not read continuously.
- There should be free circulation of air in the room at all times.
- A cheerful contended mind should asset in the ultimate success of any form of treatment.
- Uninterrupted sound sleep is essential- 6 to 8 hours sleep at night is necessary for complete rehabilitation of wasted energy and reconstruction of broken down tissues for most people.
- Warm water should be used for bathing at a temperature, which is a few degrees above body heat, or at the most a temperature not exceeding 110 degree Fahrenheit. It helps sooth the nerves, increase and equalise the circulation, promote free excretion through pores and causes general relaxation of all the tissues and organs of the body.
