Ayurveda or Ayurvedic medicine has a healing quality and promotes a healthy lifestyle and has been doing it for the past 5000 years. This stream of treatment has the quality of curing certain diseases and naturally preventing the diseases. Ayurveda does not cure or prevent diseases. However, you can improve your well-being through various healthy practices and activities like yoga, meditation, body massage, and a diet plan. The branch of Ayurveda promotes a healthier lifestyle that helps people live an uninterrupted and peaceful life. Ayurvedic treatment not only focuses on physical treatment but also mental and spiritual treatment.
Ayurvedic Philosophy
According to Ayurvedic philosophy, the human body is divided into 5 parts like the 5 elements of nature – space, air, water, fire, and earth. These 5 elements are present in 3 parts or “doshas” known as “Vata,” “Pitta,” and “Kapha.”
Air and space compose the Vata. This dosha controls the movement of the body. It controls the muscular and joint movement, respiration, cardiovascular activities in the physical part, and anxiety, pain, and fear in the mental portion.
Fire and water make up the Pitta. It controls digestion, metabolism, skin complexion or texture physically and anger, jealousy, and hatred mentally.
Earth and water compose the Kapha. This dosha controls the body’s physical structure and immune system and the feeling of calmness, love, forgiveness, and greed in mind.
All three doshas both balance the mind and body and keep a person physically and mentally healthy. Imbalance in any of the three doshas indicates illness. Ayurvedic treatment procedures can bring balance to your body and mind.
Ayurveda-approved Healthy Lifestyle Choices
If you want to live healthily, Ayurveda suggests including the following habits in your diet plan. The reason is that it would help to keep your body in a balanced state both mentally and physically.
Eating mindfully
It is a habit that helps you take charge of your eating habits. The concept of mindful eating is to give complete attention to your food while eating. Use all your senses to feel the food, i.e., its colors, texture, flavor, smell, and sound. Eat slowly and only until you are full. Appreciate your food and notice its effect on your body and your mind. Consume nutritious food that is essential for your overall health and well-being.
Different food tastes and their functions
As we mentioned earlier, mindful eating involves using your senses while consuming food. An essential sense to completely experience the food you consume is flavor or taste. As per Ayurveda, you should include sweet, sour, salt, spicy, bitter, and astringent tasted food in your diet. Let’s learn more about these tastes.
- Sweet Taste – It is made up of the universal elements earth and water. The sweetness balances the Vatta and Pitta dosha and helps to increase the Kapha dosha. Thus, it provides the human body with strength and longevity and generates healthy body fluids. However, excess sweetness in the food can cause obesity, unnecessary weight gain, and diabetes. You can experience this taste in fresh fruits and some vegetables, honey, etc.
- Sour Taste – It is made up of the elements of water and fire. Sourness stimulates Pitta dosha and Kapha dosha and helps to decrease the Vata dosha. It helps to increase appetite and salivary fluids production. In addition, it also affects mental conditions as it helps awaken thoughts and emotions that improve digestion. Excess of sourness can increase aggressive conditions in the human body. You can experience this taste in citrus fruits, pickles, tamarind, etc.
- Salty Taste – It is made up of the natural elements of earth and fire. Saltiness increases the Pitta and Kapha doshas and helps to decrease Vata dosha. It helps in better digestion and cleanses body tissues. However, excess saltiness leads to a rapid increase in blood pressure and affects the skin and blood. Consuming sea vegetables, black olives, etc, can help you experience this taste.
- Spicy Taste – It is made up of the universal elements fire and air. Spiciness functions in improving digestion, increasing appetite, cleaning body tissues, and improving blood circulation. As a result, it balances Kapha dosha, and its excess instigates the Pitta dosha and leads to other serious health problems. To experience this taste, consume chilies, ginger, garlic, onion, and hot pepper.
- Bitter Taste – It is made up of the elements of air and space. Bitterness acts as a detoxifying agent that purifies the body and removes toxic materials. It helps balance Pitta and Kapha dosha. Consume bitter melon, green vegetables, etc., to experience this taste.
- Astringent taste – Tit is made up of the natural elements of air and earth. It helps in the better functioning of Pitta dosha and can be problematic for Vata dosha if it is consumed in excess. The excess of this taste will lead to digestion problems like gas. You can experience astringent taste in cranberries, unripe bananas, and green beans.
Balanced Diet:
Ayurveda also suggests consuming a balanced diet for a healthier life. For proper digestion and maintenance of a sound digestive system, including all six types of taste in a meal is essential. Therefore, you should plan your diet according to the 3 doshas of the body. Though it seems impossible to include all of them in a single meal, people should at least try to include all the tastes in a single day’s meal. It will promote good digestion and an overall healthy immune system.
Diet Plan according to the body Doshas:
According to the Ayurvedic philosophy, all human bodies consist of 3 doshas, among which one dosha is considered dominant while the other two doshas support the dominant one. These 3 doshas altogether maintain a perfect balance of the human body and mind. Therefore, if there is an imbalance among the doshas, then it affects them. Therefore, people should consult their health care provider and plan their regular diet according to their dominant doshas.
Vata Dosha
Since Vata is a cold and dry dosha, it needs warm and moist food. Preferable tastes for Vata are salty, sour, and sweet. They should include spices like cinnamon, cardamom, clove, ginger, and garlic. They must eat beetroots, carrots, asparagus, beans, onions, garlic, turnips, and radishes in vegetables. All the vegetables should be cooked, not raw. Best fruits must be apricots, bananas, berries, avocadoes, figs (fresh), coconuts, cherries, lemons, grapefruits, mangoes, grapes, papayas, and sweet potatoes, melon, sour oranges, pineapple, and peaches. Dry fruits are strictly prohibited. Among the granular foods, they can include oats and cooked rice.
Vata dosha body types are allowed to have dairy and meats like chicken, seafood, and turkey. Further, it would help if you consumed chickpeas, moong beans, tofu, and pink lentil. In addition, include sesame oil, ghee, and olive oil in your day-to-day usage.
This type of diet in the Vata dosha body type will help to stay balanced. However, the Vata dosha imbalance leads to physical discomforts like fatigue, dry skin, cold hands and feet, unusual weight loss, arthritis, constipation, restlessness, weakness, and aches. In addition, it may cause mental problems such as insomnia, nervousness, and anxiousness.
Pitta Dosha
Pitta dosha body types have a robust digestive system; they can eat almost everything. Preferable tastes in this dosha include bitter, sweet and astringent. Among vegetables, they must include asparagus, broccoli, cabbages, radishes, celery, cauliflower, beans, cucumber, capsicum, okra, mushroom, peas, parsley, lettuce, squash, sprouts, potatoes, carrot, spinach, and zucchini. Ideal fruits are bananas, cherries, avocadoes, cherries, coconuts, mangoes, figs, melons, pears, plums, pineapples, and raisins. The fruits must be sweet and ripe. Grains like oats, wheat, barley, and basmati rice are ideal.
They must include dairy products like egg whites, butter, milk, and ghee. Meats should consist of shrimp, chicken, fish, and turkey. This body type must include beans like soya beans, chickpeas, moong beans, red lentils, and tofu. Olive oil, soya oil, sunflower oil, and grape seed oil are preferable. Nuts and seeds must include coconut, pumpkin seeds, flax seeds, and sunflower seeds. Honey and molasses should be consumed as sweeteners. Ideal herbs and spices are coriander, cardamom, cinnamon, coriander seed, mint, saffron, turmeric, cumin, and black pepper.
These foods and ingredients mentioned above are ideal for a balanced diet for this dosha. This diet will keep this body type balanced. Imbalance here leads to skin rashes, peptic ulcers, excess body heat, heartburn, and indigestion.
Kapha Dosha
Kapha dosha body types are heavier and earthier. Preferable tastes include spicy. Vegetables must include asparagus, beetroot, broccoli, cabbage, carrot, cauliflower, celery, eggplant, garlic, leafy vegetables, mushrooms, okra, onions, peas, peppers, potatoes, radishes, spinach, and sprouts. The best fruits are apples, apricots, cherries, berries, papaya, cranberries, pomegranates, and grapefruits. Suitable grains include corn, barley, oats, millet, rye, and basmati rice. Ideal dairy products include warm skimmed milk, eggs, goat milk, and soya milk. Consumable meats are turkey, chicken, and lean fish. Among beans, legumes are preferred. Suitable oils are sunflower oil, almond oil, olive oil, and grape seed oil. Among nuts and seeds, pumpkin seeds, sunflower seeds, and flax seeds are good. Herbs and spices must include fenugreek, ginger, cumin, and sesame.
These food items will help a Kapha dosha body type to maintain a perfect balance. However, the imbalance of this dosha will lead to lethargy, asthma, diabetes, depression, and being overweight.
Consume Seasonal Fruits and Vegetables:
According to Ayurveda, the consumption of seasonal fruits and vegetables is a healthy practice. Since our body is getting exposed to the environment, it is essential to strengthening the body systems. This process of syncing with the environment with the consumption of the available seasonal fruits will help the human body to adapt according to the different seasons. In Ayurveda, this consumption of seasonal food is termed as “Ritucharya” – “ritu” means season, and “charya” means guidelines; that means a proper guideline for the consumption of foods.
Seasonal fruits and vegetables are readily available since they grow in abundance in the respective seasons. For this reason, different fruits and vegetables in different seasons will be able to fulfill the proper nutritional requirement in every season and maintain an excellent immune system throughout the year.
- Summer: This season is ideal for fruits like jackfruit, mango, litchi, melons, Indian blackberry, palm fruit, and cashew. Vegetables like gourds, okra, pumpkin, cucumber, and eggplant are essential. It is the season where people need to keep the body cool and hydrated externally and more internally.
- Monsoon: Fruits like apple, custard apple, and stone fruits are available. Ideal vegetables include gourds, okra, and colocasia leaves. In monsoon, the environment cools down due to the downpour of the rain, but this season also carries excess germs and viruses that lead to trivial health conditions like cold, cough, and viral fever. Therefore, consuming these fruits and vegetables will help build a stronger immunity that might help resist these health conditions in the body.
- Autumn: This season is full of fruits like figs, plums, and pomegranates. The most suitable vegetables for this season are beetroot, spring onion, cabbage, cauliflower, carrot, and cress. It is the season of drastic weather change as the hot and humid weather changes into a slight cold and dry ambiance. In this season, people with weak immunity suffer from seasonal fever along with cold and cough. To keep themselves fit, they should consume these seasonal fruits and vegetables.
- Winter: This season provides fruits like orange, guava, grapes, and apples. It also provides mustard, spinach, fenugreek, beans, radish, carrots, yam, and cauliflower. During this season people should eat such foods that help to keep their bodies warm.
- Spring: This season contains fruits like bananas, melons, papaya, berries, and pineapple. It includes zucchini, tomatoes, cucumber, chilies, spinach, asparagus, peas, and broccoli. This season is the time when people are likely to succumb to diseases like measles and pox. These seasonal fruits and vegetables will help to develop immunity that will be able to resist these diseases.
End Notes
Ayurveda guides people with a suitable diet according to their dominant doshas and body types. It also guides the people with the importance of consuming seasonal fruits and vegetables. This guidance may not be able to cure any particular disease. Still, it will, in general, promote a healthier lifestyle where people might suffer from fewer diseases or combat such diseases by suffering from minimum symptoms. In short, Ayurveda might help in leading a healthy life.
