Since thousands of years, Ayurveda has put the food diet at the basis of a person’s health.
The ancient ayurvedic writings highlight that the food taken in daily must be a function of the constitution of the person, of the Rasa (Flavours) and the Guna (quality) of the food, of the times at which meals are taken, of the season and latitude where the individual is, of the sex, of the work, of the age on the basis of which we choose food combinations, spices and herbs that are also adopting a medicinal value.
Charaka, the founder of Ayurveda, writes that the person cooking in the family is responsible for the health of all!
What shall we say, then, of the fast-paced modern society in which we find ourselves living on fast food, eating standing or even walking indifferently to the time of day, on the use of microwave ovens, and on the use of processed foods! According to Ayurveda this is a diet that only leads to diseases! And it is paradoxical that our modern health care system neglects the food diet and, only in some cases considers food, but only as kcal !!! units of measure, to be verified as correct nutritional value!
In ayurvedic treatises all types of foods are described: animal, vegetable and mineral food and Ayurveda makes no moral distinction by saying that a food is good or bad, to prefer one and to avoid another, but indicates the most suitable food according to the type of person consuming it. What is good for one, does not mean that it works for everyone indiscriminately! Farewell standardised diets!
Now let’s take an example to clarify these basic ayurvedic principles. We are in December, in Italy it’s winter, it’s cold. Therefore, for Ayurveda, you have to eat cooked and hot food, and not eat ice cream, cold and refreshing foods such as raw vegetables, or drink water from the fridge! Especially in this season Ayurveda recommends to use herbs and spices of a spicy, acid flavour, which are hot, such as ginger, horseradish, thyme, cinnamon, pepper, or mixtures such as Trikatu Virya®, the Appeto Virya®. Ayurveda suggests drinking hot herbal teas that fluidify the mucus in the body such as the herbal tea Kapha Samya Virya®. However we must remember that if your Doshas (energy fields) are unbalanced and if you have organic disorders, proper nutrition remains an important cornerstone to begin to restore health, but it is not enough to restore health in sufficiently short times. At this point you will need to add nutritional supplements to ensure that, for example, digestion (Agni) is efficient and can transform food into energy without creating AMA, toxins, non or partially digested food, source of disease; or to balance the Vata Dosha (air) with the tablets Gam or GrahahVirya® as Vata Dosha has the cold and non-greasy quality, which are exacerbated by the winter season.