Traditional Indian cuisine is primarily known for being healthy. It cuts across all aspects of taste and is centered around catering to the body first. Apart from being well-balanced, nutritious (and delicious too), it is full of ingredients with vital antioxidants and rich in minerals and vitamins.
It provides a range of benefits like catering to holistic health, aiding digestion, improving metabolism, and maintaining healthy sugar and cholesterol levels. To add to that, a person’s immunity is boosted, and indigestion, inflammation, and blood pressure issues are taken care of just by this cuisine.
And apart from delivering excellent taste, flavor, and aroma, Indian spices and herbs offer medicinal and therapeutic properties. All this is made possible because of an Indian diet that is rooted in the principles of Ayurveda!
Listed below are some eating etiquettes and healthy foods according to Ayurveda:
Eating Etiquettes In Ayurveda
Ayurveda recommends eating according to one’s constitutional type: the three Doshas, collectively known as one’s Prakriti – which are Vata, Pitta, and Kapha, respectively, signifying the qualities of Space and Air, Fire and Water, Earth and Water.
When preparing, serving, and eating food, the mood, manner, and timing are crucial. Cooking and consuming food in a pleasant and tranquil environment regularly is known to nourish and boost an individual’s overall well-being.
Ayurveda further stresses the importance of consuming meals at the former half of the day, preferably morning to afternoon. At that time of day, the digestive system functions at its peak, and the metabolism subsequently decreases in the latter half.
As a result, breakfast and lunch must be your primary meals, while dinner should be light. The core cause of many illnesses is digestive toxins, which are prevalent because of poor digestion. Another important etiquette to keep in mind is that food must be consumed warm and when freshly prepared. And overeating is a big NO!
Holistic Foods According To Ayurveda
In Ayurveda, much attention is given to consuming raw foods. Some prominent examples of this would be green leafy vegetables, seasonal fruits, pickles and brines, and some fresh herbs. Also, spices must be present in the food while cooking as they are loaded with plenty of valuable properties.
There is also considerable importance on the consumption of dry fruits, nuts, and seeds. Walnuts, almonds, cashews, dried plums (aloo bukhara), dried apricot (khubani), lotus seeds (makhana), flax seeds, chia seeds, and sunflower seeds are some examples.
And finally, lemon, ginger, turmeric, and honey are widely considered a hit for every season and almost any cure in Ayurveda.
Summing Up: Human physiology, according to Ayurveda, is a reflection of the principles of nature. It implies that every individual comprises the five elements – water, fire, air, earth, and sky – it is critical to stay in tune with the natural elements to be healthy in the truest sense.
Its goal is to eliminate all diseases by addressing the underlying cause and delivering holistic health. For this, it considers all elements of the individual, including dietary habits. According to Ayurveda, the proper meal, appropriately consumed, nurtures the body, mind, and spirit.
It is enough to indicate that Ayurveda is not only a manual for food but science catering to the human body and mind by itself! Therefore it is the need of this hour to go back to this rich and proven science.
