The basic Ayurvedic dietary principles

Now, that you found what type of dosha predominates in your body we can discuss the basic dietary principles of Ayurveda. Your diet and nutrition should be based upon your individual dosha.

According to Ayurveda there are several types of nutritional disorders:

1. Quantitative deficiency: caused by insufficient food. It can lead to under-nutrition or even starvation.
2. Qualitative deficiency: wrong food combinations resulting in malnutrition, insufficient esssential nutrients and even toxic conditions.
3. Qualitative and quantitative over-nutrition: overeating resulting in obesity, hipertension, heart disease, high cholesterol.
4. Toxins in food: certain food or food combinations lead to toxemia and digestive disorders.
5. Foods that are not suitable to your constitution: can cause immune deficiency and disease.

The above mentioned nutritional disorders are connected to the stranght of agni (or gastric fire). There are three types of agni:

1. VISHAMA AGNI - due to vata dosha the gastric fire becomes ineffective causing irregular appetite, indigestion and gases. Emotionally this can lead to anxiety, fear and even mental problems.
2. TIKSHNA AGNI - pitta dosha is responsible for this type of agni disorder, resulting in hyperacidity, heartburn, hyper-metabolism and hypoglycemia. All this can cause inflammatory diseases.
3. MANDI AGNI - due to an excess of kapha Dosha, leading to slow metabolism, allergies and overweight.
4. SAMA AGNI - the ideal agni. Is a result of balanced tri-doshas. A person with this type of agni can eat almost any type of food. Digestion, absorption and elimination are normal.

The individual agni determines how well food is digested. But there is another important factor in food digestion and that is food combination. According to Ayurveda every food has its own taste, healing or cooling energy and post-digestive effect. So mixing different types of food tastes, energies and post-digestive effects can result in bad digestion and production of toxins.

You should eat fruits, vegetables, starches, proteins and fats separately or in the proper combinations, taking in consideration your own constitution and time of the day.

As for the influence of foods on the three doshas the principles are as follows:
- pitta increases with foods that are sour and pungent,
- kapha aggravates with dairy products,
- vata is over-stimulated by beans, dry fruit, astringent and bitter substances.

Here is a Ayurvedic tip to stimulate your appetite and digestion. Chew 1/2 teaspoon of fresh ginger before each meal. Avoid drinking cold or icy water during and after the meals because this slows the agni.

When eating you should follow this principle: one third of your stomach shoul be filled with food, one third with liquid and one third should stay empty, in order to allow the mixture of food in the stomach and to allow proper digestion.

In my next post I will be talking about incompatible food combinations!