Ayurvedic Nutrition: the golden rules
By Françoise Barrios
«Prana pranabhrtamannam tadayuktya nihantyasan visam pranaharam tacca yuktiyuktam rasayanam»
"Food is life. Taken correctly, it brings youth and longevity. Taken incorrectly, it creates toxins and ends up taking life away " – Caraka Sutra Sthana 27:3
According to Ayurveda, food, called Ahara, is the first preventive measure for health.
Indeed, it is important to distinguish between nutrition, the science of feeding oneself, which is concerned above all with the body's needs, and dietetics, the art of feeding oneself to achieve overall physical and psychological health.
For thousands of years, Ayurveda has recognised the direct influence of the way we eat on our health, and explains that good eating habits are the source of overall health.
"You are what you eat"!
Ayurveda, the Science of life, describes in the finest detail how to nourish ourselves, what to eat according to our constitution, the quantities, the good and bad combinations, the basic principles of good digestion, the effects of each food on our body, and so on…
It also explains that each person should eat differently according to their constitution, where they live, their activity and their digestive capacity (agni).
Ayurveda is based on observation and self-knowledge.
So it is interesting to understand that the same food can be divine nectar for one person and poison for another!
More subtly still, it is not only what we eat that matters, but how we digest it… or not.
Take the cabbage family, for example: even if it is home-grown and organic, this vegetable may be quite indigestible for a Vata type and cause digestive discomfort.
It is easy to see that all the great principles of nutrition and the various diets applied to everyone without distinction make no sense according to Ayurveda.
According to this medicine, every individual is unique and the way they eat must be individualised.
How are foods classified according to Ayurveda?
Taste (rasa)
There are 6 of them: sweet, sour, salty, bitter, pungent, astringent.
A balanced Ayurvedic meal contains all 6 tastes so as to balance the 3 doshas, Vata, Pitta and Kapha.
The qualities (gunas)
There are 20, among the most common: heavy / light, hot / cold, moist / dry
Energetic potency (virya)
This is the effect produced, which can be warming or cooling
The post-digestive effect (vipaka)
A food may have one taste in the mouth (e.g. sweet), while the taste that results in the body after the metabolic action of digestion will be different.
The unique action (prabhava)
This is an effect specific to a plant or food that cannot be explained by Ayurvedic logic — in a way, an effect peculiar to that food
Ayurveda also gives us advice on eating habits to improve our digestion and help us assimilate food better.
Food eaten according to these rules will bring energy and good health.
What are the main golden rules of Ayurvedic nutrition?
1/ *Appropriate quantity*
Eating too much or too little is harmful to health.
The right quantity for each person keeps the digestive fire (agni) at its best.
Ayurveda explains that the stomach is divided into 3 equal parts.
During a meal, one part should be filled with solids (rice, vegetables, bread…), one part with liquid (juice, soup…), and the third part should stay empty to allow the circulation and exchanges of the digestive process.
This means never eating until you are full.
2/* Digestive capacity*
Everything we eat must be able to be fully digested, otherwise ama (toxins) will form
Each individual has their own digestive capacity; it can vary with illness, age, the time of day the meal is taken…
It is important to respect your digestive capacity by eating only when you feel hungry, and only once the previous meal has been digested and you feel that lightness and hunger again.
3/ *Eat sattvic food*
Sattvic food is fresh, pure and vegetarian.
It includes fresh, seasonal and local produce. It excludes industrial and processed products.
It consists mainly of fruit, vegetables, fresh milk, herbal teas, quality grains and honey
However, Ayurveda does not advocate an exclusively vegetarian diet.
Meat is indicated in certain cases, prepared in certain ways and when the animal has been raised in certain conditions.
Also, favour warm and rather liquid meals, as they make digestion easier
- Eat cooked rather than raw food
- Eat sitting down, in a comfortable and pleasant place
- Concentrate on your meal
- Preferably eat in silence
- Do not eat too fast or too slowly, as this harms digestion
- Avoid contradictory foods and bad combinations: e.g. raw and cooked food in the same meal, 2 proteins from different sources, dairy products and fruit…
- Do not eat too many different foods at the same meal: each food has a different digestion time, so this avoids stagnation.
- Favour cooking over a flame or gentle steaming
- Avoid reheating leftovers and try to cook fresh food at every meal
- Avoid eating when your emotions are disturbed (fear, anger…)
Better a simple, light meal in good company than a feast shared with your worst enemies!
In conclusion, bring Awareness to the act of nourishing yourself and remember once again: *you become what you eat*!
Would you like to adapt your diet to your Ayurvedic constitution?
Book an Ayurvedic nutrition consultation →
Namaste!
