The
Ayurvedic Wellness Guide
Ayurvedic
Foods
Some
foods are considered especially healing in ayurveda.
Since
a central dietary teaching of ayurveda is to eat to provide adequate
nutrition for mind and body without overtaxing the digestive system
or your body's ability to fully absorb and utilize those nutrients,
easy-to-digest foods that are wholesome and provide multiple health
benefits are prized in ayurveda.
Ayurveda
categorizes foods by rasa (taste) as sweet, sour, salty, bitter,
pungent and astringent. The typical North American diet includes
plenty of the first three tastes and not enough of the last three,
and ideally all six tastes should be included at each main meal.
Ayurveda also classifies foods according to their quality--foods
are considered dry or unctuous, heavy or light, warm or cool according
to their physical nature. Ayurvedic healers recommend including
more of those tastes and qualities that pacify the dosha(s) you
are trying to balance at a given time, and less of others.
Vegetables
and herbs or spices that contribute the bitter or astringent tastes,
whole milk, lassi (a drink made by blending together fresh yogurt
and water), cooked fruit, chutneys, whole grains, unleavened fresh
breads made with flour that has not been refined, and mung beans
are examples of particularly nourishing and healing foods that
are recommended in ayurveda.
Foods
are also classified as sattvic, rajasic and tamasic according
to the quality of the impact they have on the heart, mind and
spirit. Foods that are particularly nourishing for not just physical,
but mental, emotional and spiritual health, are called sattvic--foods
that impart sattva (purity)--in ayurveda. Rice, milk, ghee and
almonds are examples of sattvic foods.
