Ayurvedic Guide to Eating Food Properly

HOW TO EAT FOOD – AYURVEDIC VIEW

All living beings in the universe require food, which sustains the life. The food in the
form of diets and drinks whose colour, smell, taste arid touch are pleasing to the
senses and conducive to the health, if taken in accordance with the rules, in fact
represents the very life of living beings.

They promote

1. Mental as well as physical strength

2. Strength of tissue elements (dhatus)

3. Pleasure of the senses

4. Complexion

5. Good voice

6. Longevity

7. Happiness

8. Satisfaction

9. Intellect

10. Enthusiasm

11. Memory

The various articles of diets and drinks are classified according of the following
twelve groups:

1. Sukadhanya (corns with bristles): Sail, Sashtlka, Yava, Godhuma etc. belong
to this group.

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2. Samidhanya (pulses): Mudga, Masha, Adhaki, Charaka, Tila etc.

3. Mamsa (meat)

4. Saka (vegetables) consisting of leaves, tubers etc.

5. Phala (ripe fruits)

6. Harita (Salads)

7. Madya (wines).

8. Jala (water)

9. Gorasa (milk and milk products).

10. Ikshuvikara (products of sugar cant): jaggary, sugar etc.

11. Kritanna (food preparations): Peya (gruel), vilepi (thick gruel), manda, saktu
etc.

12. Aharayogi (assessary food articles): oils, condiments, spices, salts etc.

Proper time for taking food:

It is stated that one should take food twice a day (within 24 hours) i. e. beforenoon
and at night, and food should not be taken in between. This stipulation is only for
adults but children who are in the state of growth may take more than two times,
whenever they feel hungry.

1. The proper time for taking food is.

2. When there is normal movement of stool and urine.

3. The eructations are free of any taste.

4. When the body and sense organs are light and free.

5. When he is hungry.


6. When there is relish for food.

7. When the belly becomes light.

The digestion of the ingested food is considered to be completed by the following
symptoms:

1. Clarity of the belching (erection). It should not possess any particular taste
either acid or that of any component of the food taken.

2. Enthusiasm: The person should be active.

3. Normal regulation of natural urges.

4. Lightness of the body.

5. Proper hunger and thirst.

The food should not be taken within the yama (3 hours) after the previous meals,
because during this period, the rasa dhatu is still in the process of development. It
should not be taken after the second yama because it causes depletion of the strength.
Therefore food should be taken after 3 hours of the previous meals and before the
completion of 6 hours.

It is stated earlier that the previous meal should be completely digested before
another meal is taken. But according to charaka, taking the evening meal even
though the morning meal has not been completely digested is not injurious. The
hridaya is awakened (active) due to the sun in the daytime like a lotus and therefore
the srotases of the body are fully opened. The srotases are also open due to the
exertion, movement and mental activity of the daytime. Hence the dhatus in these
srotases do not get softened (kleda) in the day. When new food is mixed with the old,
which is not softened, it does not get spoilt. But in the night when the hridaya is in a


state of diminished action, the srotases including the koshtha are inactive and the
dhatus get softened. Therefore when the food consumed in the night is not fully
digested, the wise man, desiring to protect his strength and life, should not take any
food.

Other stipulations about time:

A meal should not be eaten before the appointed time, nor before the appetite has
fully developed. Similarly, over or insufficient eating should be equally refrained
from. Eating at an improper time and before the lightness of the body is felt, brings
on a large number of diseases and may ultimately lead to death. A meal eaten long
after appropriate time tends to aggravate Vata, which affects the digestive fire and
causes serious obstacles in the digestion. The food thus digested with difficulty
destroys all desire for a second meal.

Regimen before meals:

One should wash his feet and mouth before meals. One should sleep with dry feet.
Eating with wet feet increases longevity.

One who had his bath, worn soft, beautiful, clean and white dress and flowers and
just washed his feet, should enter the dining chamber with lucid mind along with his
dear children and friends with the intent of taking meals which is good for him.

Description of seat:

One should sit on a seat which is sufficiency high, beautiful, softly covered,
comfortable and wide. While taking meals he should face either east or north.

He should sit during his meal in an easy posture on a high seat and partake at the
right time, with his body erect and his mind engaged in the act of eating.


Vessels for cooking:

Earthern pots cleaned with water are good for cooking food. The food cooked in such
pots will be tasteful and of good qualities.

If pots are not available, iron vessels may be used. Vessels made of bronze or bell
metal are also good. But the food prepared in copper vessels cause anorexia and
gastritis.

The best are the vessels made of gold and silver because they remove all faults.

Serving different dishes

The mode of serving out the different dishes should be as follows:

1. Ghrita should be served in a vessel of steel (kantaloha).

2. Peya in a silver bowl.

3. Fruit and confectionary on leaves and baskets.

4. Different preparations which are dry and fried in golden plates.

5. Fluid edibles and meat essences in silver bowls.

6. Preserved chutnies in stone utensils.

7. Cool boiled milk in copper vessels.

8. Other drinks, wines and cordials in earthern pots.

9. Raga-shadavas and sattakas in cool, pure glass bowls or in vessels made of
crystals.

Qualities of different vessels

1. Gold vessels/plates are auspicious and alleviate all doshas, good for the
eyesight, stimulate the digestive fire, alleviates pitta and cordial.


2. Silver vessels: alleviate anorexia, according to Bhoja aggravate vata and pitta,
and according to Bhavamisra aggravate vatha and kapha; good for the
eyesight.

3. Bronze vessels: cordial, alleviate eye diseases and raktapitta. Food will be
tasteful and increase intellect.

4. Brass vessels: cause aggravation of vata, heat and roughness but alleviate
kapha and destroy krimi.

5. Iron or glass vessel: improve strength, alleviate oedema and anemia and
jaundice.

6. Vessels made of stone or earth should not be used because they are
inauspicious.

7. Vessel made of wody alleviate kapha, and increase relish.

8. Plantain leaf: alleviates vata and kapha; best for meals because of cleanliness;
bestows strength, health, complexion, sexual desire, hunger

9. Plate made of palasa leaves: destroys gulma, vata diseases, colic, diseases due
to aggravation, of kapha and pitta.

10. Plate made of banyan leaves: heals ulcers and alleviates pitta.

11. Lotus leaf; acts as vishahara.

Congenial food

The food containing clean and pleasant dishes, served neither hot nor cold, and
cooked and seasoned in the desired method and possessed of their specific tastes is
congenial to a person.


Varieties of food:

According to Charaka, food is 4 varieties

1. Asitam - wholesome eatables

2. Peetam - beverages

3. Leedham - linctus

4. Khaditam - masticables

Bhavamisra divided into six varieties

1. Chooshyam - Any article of food to be sucked like sugar cane,
pomagranate etc.
2. Peyem - Beverage, fit to be drunk.

3. Lehyam - Articles to be eaten by licking a lambative.

4. Bhojyam - Wholesome eatables.

5. Bhakshyam - Anything eatable, confectionaries etc.

6. Oharvyam - Masticable articles.

Regimen while eating

At the time of eating, one should look at auspicious things; such act increases
longevity.

Abuse of food is prohibited at the time of eating but should be praised. One should
pleasantly describe the food after looking at it, tasting and eating.


Practice regarding taking diet

One should not take food:

1. Without reciting mantras.

2. Without offering oblations to the God.

3. Without making offerings to the departed ancestors, teachers, guests and
dependents.

4. Without wearing precious atones in hand.

5. Without taking bath.

6. Wearing a torn apparel.

7. Without applying sacred scents or garlands.

8. Without washing hands, feet and face.

9. Without cleaning the mouth.

10. With face turned towards the north.

11. With disturbed mind, or contemptuous disposition towards food.

12. Surrounded by the insincere, uncultured, dirty or hungry persons.

13. In unclean dishes.

14. At improper place and time, or in a place surrounded by many persons.

15. Which is dirty.

16. Served by the opponents.

Except in the case of meat, rhizomes, dry vegetables, fruits and sweets, one should
not take stale food. One should not consume the entire food except in the cases of
curd, honey, salt, Saktu and ghee. One should not take curd at night. One should not


take Saktu without mixing it up with ghee and sugar or in the night or after meals or
in large quantity or twice daily or "interrupted with water intake, nor one should eat
by tearing with teeth.

Aharavidhi Vishesha:

There are eight factors of diet and dietetics

1. Prakriti (Natural qualities).

2. Karana (Samskara, preparation).

3. Samyoga (combination).

4. Rasi (Quantum).

5. Desa (Habitat).

6. Kala (Time).

7. Upayoga samstha (Rules of use).

8. Upayokta (user).

1. Prakriti:

Natural qualities are the innate properties of substances. The presence of qualities
like heaviness etc., if the natural property of substances used as diet or drug. Thus
heaviness is the nature of black gram and pork and lightness of green gram and
venison.

2. Karana:

Preparation is the process performed to modify the natural properties of substances.
That which modifies radically the properties of substances is transformation. This
modification is brought about by application of water or heat, cleaning, churning,


storing, maturing, flavouring, impregnation, preservation and the material of
receptacle.

Examples:

1. The property of rice is heaviness. This property is lost by washing with water
and cooking and the rice acquires the property of lightness.

2. Curd causes sopha. -But after churning, buttermilk destroys sopha.

3. Samyoga:

Combination is the combining together of two or more substances. This
combination exhibits special properties which none of the constituents ever
possessed separately.

Example:

The combination of honey and ghee. Honey and ghee taken alone is wholesome to
the body but combined in equal quantities, they become toxic.

Similarly the combination of honey, fish and milk has a toxic effect.

4. Rasi:

The quantum is 2 varieties:

1. Sarvagraha—total measurement of the entire meal as a whole i. e. the
combined quantity of the rice, meat, pulse, condiments etc.

2. Parigraha—detailed measurement of each article of diet separately.

This determines the effects of the right and wrong doses.

5. Desha:

Habitat is a geographic region. It indicates variations in the qualities of substances,
due to difference in soil, use and climate.


Substance grown in the region of Himalayas are heavy in property while those grown
in desert or sandy region are light. Similarly the living beings who consume light
articles of food, or live in desert or sandy regions or indulge in many activities are
also light in nature.

Deshasatmya is that having opposite qualities to those of the region. Substances
having the qualities of ushna, rooksha etc. are homologous to the watery or marshy
region, and the substances having the qualities of seeta, snigdha etc. for the desert or
sandy regions.

6. Kala:

Time is used in two senses, time in the general sense i.e. NiTYAGA and time in the
sense of a stage i.e. AVASTHIKA.

Time in the general sense is used in relation to seasonal wholesomeness. The stage is
used in relation to disease.

7. Upayoga Samstha :

The procedure in diet consists of the dietetic rules. They are determined by the
strength of digestion.

8. Upayokta:

The user is he who makes use of food.

These eight different factors give rise to good and evil effects and are helpful fco one
another. The physician should try to know them, and having known them he should
make use of the wholesome only. Either out of ignorance or negligence he should not
make use of any article of diet or any other thing which is pleasant but unwholesome
and fraught with unhappy consequences.


Most wholesome dietetic regulations:

These are the dietetic rules and procedure for the healthy as well as for'certain types
of patients, concerning the intake of food that is most wholesome.

One should eat food which is:

1. Hot

2. Unctuous

3. In due measure

4. After full digestion of the previous meal

5. Non-antagonistic in potency

6. In the congenial place

7. Provided with all the favourite accessories

8. Neither too hurriedly not too leisurely

9. Without talking or laughing

10. With full concentration

11. Having proper regard to oneself

1. One should eat hot. The food eaten hot is relished and on being consumed excites
the gastric fire, digested soon, and stimulates the peristaltic movement. It alleviates
the kapha. Therefore one should eat food that is hot.

2. One should eat unctuous food. This gives relish and on being consumed excites the
inactive gastric fire, is rapidly digested, stimulates the peristaltic movement, makes
the body plump, strengthens the sense organs, increases the vigor and brightens the
complexion. Therefore one should eat unctuous food.


3. One should eat in requisite measure. The food eaten in requisite measure does not
disturb the balance of the doshas, but exclusively promotes life, is easily assimilated.
Therefore one must eat in measure.

Quantity of food and digestion:

The amount of food which, without disturbing the equilibrium of dhatus and doshas
of .the body, gets digested as well as metabolished in proper time, is to be regarded
as the proper quantity.

This measurement with certainly vary from individual to individual. No standard
measurement can be prescribed for all Individuals.

In fact, the power of digestion even of a single individual varies from time to time
and so there is bound to be some variation in the standard measurement of food to be
taken by him.

Quantity of food relation with Quality of food:

The light food articles are predominant in the qualities of vayu and agni and heavy
one in Prithvi and Ap mahabhutas. Therefore according to their qualities, the light
articles of food, being stimulants of appetite and by nature are considered to be less
harmful even if taken in excess of the prescribed quantity. On the other hand, heavy
articles of food, being by nature, suppressors of appetite are extremely harmful if
taken in excess unless there is a strong power of digestion and

metabolism achieved by physical exercise.

If the food article is heavy only three—fourth or half of the stomach capacity is to be
filled up. Even in the case of light food arricles, excessive intake is not conducive to
the maintenance of the power of digestion and metabolism. The stipulation is meant
to maintain the equilibrium, of the power of digestion.


The lightness or heaviness of a food affects the idle, the unhealthy, the luxurious and
men of delicate constitution and impaired appetite. Such discernment of the
properties of food is not obligatory on strong, healthy men of active habits and good
healthy digestion, who are habituated to hard and solid foods.

Three divisions of the stomach capacity:

One, about to eat a meal, ought to dispose the stomach capacity into three parts. He
should use one

third for solid food, one third for liquids and the remaining one third for the free
movement of the three doshas. Eating in confirmity to this rule, one is not liable to
any of the ill-effects resulting from eating without measure.

Effects of measured diet:

The following are the signs of food eaten in measure:

1. Freedom from distress in the stomach as the result of the quantity taken.

2. Freedom from the excessive heaviness of the stomach.

3. Absence of any cardiac discomfort.

4. The non-distension of the sides.

5. Gratification of the senses.

6. Subsidence of hunger and thirst.

7. Sense of each in standing, sitting, lying down, walking exhaling and inhaling,
repartee and conservation.

8. Easeful digestion and assimilation of food in the evening and morning.

9. Imparting of strength, complexion and plumpness.


Evils of inadequate diet:

The diet which is deficient measure is seen to result in:

1. The impairment of strength, complexion and plumpness.

2. Want of satisfaction.

3. Misperistalsis causing Udavarta.

4. Impairment of the functions of life, virility and vitality.

5. Impairment of the functions of the body, mind understanding and five senses.

6. Disturbance of the eight saras.

7. Induction of inauspicious conditions.

8. Incidence of the eighty kinds of vata disorders.

Evils of excessive diet:

The diet which is excessive in measure causes the following

1. Provocation of the morbidity of all the 3 doshas.

2. These vitiated doshas lay hold of the indigested food mass and getting
localised in the stomach of man who has over-eaten and make their resort in
thefood-mass.

3. They either obstruct or dispose of the stomach contents violently' through the
upper or lower routes of the alimentary tract giving rise to many disorders.

4. One should eat after the digestion of the previous meal. The food that is 'eaten
while the previous meal islying undigested, getting mixed with the
semidigestedahararasa of the previous meal, immediately provokes the three
doshas.


The food taken when the previous meal has bees fully digested is the cause of the
following:

1. Doshas return to their normal places.

2. Gastric fire is kindled.

3. Hunger is stimulated.

4. Srotases are clear and open.

5. Clear eructations.

6. Stomach is clear.

7. The peristaltic movement is normal.

8. Natural urges are normal.

9. Does not vitiate dhatus.

10. Promotes life.

Therefore one should eat on an empty stomach after the digestion of the previous
meal.

5. One should not eat what is antagonistic inpotency. By eating the food that is
not antagonistic in potency, one is not afflicted with disorders born of
incompatible dietary (like impotency blindness, kushtha (skin diseases) etc.
(The food which are antagonistic to the body are many varieties.

6. One should eat in a congenial place provided with all the necessary
appurtenances, and then one does not get depressed in the mind by the
emotions produced in unpleasant environment; similarly with the
appurtenances. Therefore one should eat in a congenial place and circumstance


7. One should not eat hurriedly. By eating hurriedly, the food is likely to pass in
the wrong way, or injure the health or it is not properly placed.There is no
appreciation of either the good or bad qualities of the food taken .

8. One should not eat very leisurely. By eating too leisurely, one is not satisfied
even if he eats much. The food gets cold and is digested irregularly .

9. One should not talk or laugh while eating. One who talks and laughs and is
preoccupied while eating, is liable to suffer the same disorders as the one who
eats too hastily. Therefore one should not talk or laugh while eating, but
should eat with due attention to one self.

10. One should eat rightly considering one's constitution. "This food will agree
with me, this will not agree", such knowledge makes for the determination of
what is wholesome for each individual. This knowledge is known as
'Atmasatmya'.

Method of taking meals:

One first should pertake of the madhura dravya of the meals, then of the Amla and
lavana dravyas and of the katu and other dravyas at the close of the meals. The taste
of the madhura dravyas eaten at the outset subdue the vata located in the stomach,
amia and lavana dravyas partaken of at the middle of the meal would rouse up the
digestive fire located in the Agnashaya, while the katu taste enjoyed at its close tend
to subdue the kapha.

At the beginning of the meal, one should eat a mixture of saindhava lavana and
ginger. This mixture stimulates the digestive fire, taste, and appetite and clears the
tongue and throat .It is also stated that at the end of the meal, articles of sweet taste
have to be eaten, to counteract the evil


effects of the consumption of saltish, sour (acid), pungent and hot articles of food.
Therefore curd which is sweet or sweetened by sugar only has to be consumed at the
end of the meal, or if such curd is not available milk has to be taken.

Evil effects of insufficient and excessive food :

The digestive fire is always kindled by the sufficient food (fuel). Therefore both
insufficient and excessive intake of food destroy the digestive fire Insufficient food
gives inadequate satisfaction, and causes weakness, emaciation and vata disorders.
Over eating, on the contrary, produces laziness, heaviness of ,the body, distension of
the abdomen accompanied by rumbling in the intestines and indigestion .

A judicious mixture of wholesome and unwholesome diet is known as samasana. A
diet which is taken either excessive or scanty or eaten either too late is known as,
Vishamasana (irregular diet). The Adhyasana is a meal taken before the previous
meal has been digested .

The irregular meal is the main cause of indigestion and cause of all diseases.
Therefore destruction of the irregular habit of meals destroys the diseases.

Food to be discarded :

The following varieties of food was to be discarded

1. Which is impure and dirty.

2. Infested with insects, poison, pebbles, dust, weeds etc

3. Out of which another has eaten a portion.

4. Which instinctively repels the mind.

5. Cooked on a previous day or long ago, or kept standing overnight.

6. Which is insipid.


7. Emits fetid smell.

8. Cold and hard.

9. Which is rewarmed, imperfectly strained or burnt.

10. Food prepared out of articles which are incompatible to each other
(virudhahara)

11. Foods containing excessive leaf vegetables, black gram etc., or salk or very
hot .

Only a single taste should not be enjoyed in the course of a meal. Cooked pot
herbs, boiled rice of inferior quality and a diet with excessive Amia taste should be
avoided.

Use of certain dietary articles:

Choice of grains :

Corns and grains, one year after their harvesting, are wholesome, old corns and
grains are mostly ununctuous <ruksha) and fresh ones heavy. Corns and grains which
take a shorter time for cultivation as well as harvesting are lighter than those taking
longer time. .

Rice, will cleaned, washed and cooked with filtering of excess water is light when
taken hot . After cooking, rice should be taken when it is still hot. Heating it for the
second time is not considered

wholesome. Food prepared out of fried rice is also very light. Rice cooked with milk
or meat etc., is heavy.

Choice of animal food :


The meat of the animals which are in prime youth and killed and cleaned afresh is the
best.

The meat of the following- type is unwholecome :

1. Of animals died a natural death

2. Emaciated (or dried up after death)

3. Fatty

4. Old or too young

5. Killed by poisonous arrows

6. Of animals who graze in a land not commensurate with their natural habitat.

7. bitten by snakes, tigers etc.

The meat which is otherwise, is wholesome, nourishing and strength promoting.
Meat soup is refreshing for all living beings.

If those who habitually indulge in exercise, sex and wine take meat soup regularly,
they neither succumb to disease not lose their strength ,No other food excels meat in
producing nourishing effect.

Milk:

The milk, milched in the morning, is heavy, cold and takes a long time to be
digested. Woman's milk is wholesome in its natural or un-boiled state. Freshly
milked warm milk should be regarded as extremely wholesome, which, being cooled
down, loses its efficacious virtues and becomes unwholesome.

Milk acts as nectar for the following:

1. emaciated due to -a) disease b) drug c) travel d) speaking e) sex indulgence f)
fasting g) exposure of sun h) physical exertion


2. Old

3. Children

The following varieties of milk is unwholesome and injurious

1. Emiting fetid smell

2. Discoloured and insipid

3. Acquired an acid taste

4. Looks shreddy and curdled

5. Tastes saline.

Evil effects of consuming unwholesome milk :

The following diseases are caused :

1. Indigestion

2. Diarrhoea

3. Vomiting

4. Flatulance

5. Stomatitis and

6. The contagious disease like cholera, yakshma, fever etc.

Curd:

Curd should not be consumed at night. It should not to be taken

1. Heated state

2. During vasanta, Greeshma and Sarat rifcus


3. Without combining with Mudga, honey, ghee, sugar or Amalaka

4. Every day

5. Which has not solidified properly.

If the above rules are contravened, one may suffer from

1. Jwara 2. Raktapitta 3. Visarpa 4. Kushtha 5. Pandu 6. Kamala 7. Bhrama

Curd may be taken in Hemanta, Sisira and Varsha ritus.

Butter Milk:

One who regularly takes butter milk never suffers from any disease and the diseases
subdued by the use of butter milk, will never recur. .

Use of butter milk according to the dosha
Dosha Variety of buttermilk
Vata Sour buttermilk with ginger and
Pitta Sweet buttermilk with sugar
Kapha Buttermilk with-Trikatu and

Butter:

Fresh butter is digestive, stimulant and cardiotonic. It is useful in grahani, arsas,
ardita and arochaka. It is very good to children and old people.

Ghee:

It is the best of all unctuous substances. It is cooling; prevents old age. When
administered according to theprescribed procedure, it increases thousand times in
potency and develops manifold utilities.


Unwholesome vegetable preparations:

Vegetables infested with insects, exposed to wind, the sun for a long time, dried up,
old and unseasonal are unwholesome.

Fruits, which are old, unripe, afflicted by insects and serpents, exposed to snow or
sun for long, growing in the land and season other than the normal habitat and time
and put rifled, are unwholesome.

Accessory food articles:

For the maintenance of health one should use pepper, cumin seed, asafoetida,
mustard seeds, oils etc., in the small requisite quantities to enhance the taste and
flavor.

Honey:

Honey should be taken in small quantity because it is heavy,- ununctous, astringent
in taste and cold in potency. Honey should be used in heated condition, by person
suffering from heat, in hot

region or season or with hot foods.

Liquors:

Liquor is taken observing all the rules, acts as an elixin; otherwise as a poison. Fresh
wine is heavy, and aggravates all doshas. Old wine alleviates three doshas clarifies
channels of the body; it is digestive, light and palatable.

The following kinds of wine should always be rejected.

1. Thick

2. Bad smelling

3. Insipid


4. Full of worms

5. Heavy and acid in digestion

6. Unpleasant, new and strong

7. Hot in potency

8. Preserved in an improper vessel

9. Prepared with a comparatively lesser number of ingredients

10. Decanted over night or left unused

11. Extremely slimy or transparent

The following should not indulge in liquors

1. Who consumed hot foods or hot treatments

2. Who had purgation

3. Hungry

Anupanam:

Generally anupana should have the properties opposite to those of the food taken.
But at the same time, it should not be harmful to the dhatus of the body.

By anupana is meant by the drinks which are taken during meals or after meals. Of
all kinds of anupanas, clear heavenly water, kept in a pure vessel should be deemed
the best, in as much as such water contributes in every way to the welfare of a person
throughout his life and all the six different tastes are inherent in that heavenly fluid.
During the meal and after finishing a meal water should be drunk in a quantity which
would be beneficial.

Anupana drinks in general bring about refreshment, pleasure, energy, nourishment,
satisfaction and steediness in the food eaten. It helps in breakdown, softening,


digesting, proper assimilation and instant diffusion of the food taken. An excessively
heavy meal and the one which usually tends to derange the doshas, may be easily and
speedily digested with the help of a suitable after drink.

A proper after-drink brings on:

1. A fresh relish for food.

2. Increases the bulk of the body

3. Acts as a spermatopoietic beverage

4. Disintegrates the combination or. Accumulation of the dranged doshas

5. Subdues or pacifies the deranged doshas

6. Soothes the organism

7. Increases the softness of the body

8. Removes the sense of fatigue and exhaustion

9. Brings on pleasurable sensations

10. Stimulates the appetite

11. Allays the thirst

12. Improves the complexion

13. Imparts tone and vigor to the system

Water:

Water is the life of all animals, and the life is dependent on water. Therefore water
should not be prohibited. A thirsty man becomes unconscious leading to death. So a
thirsty man should be supplied with water.


Since it is stated that water is the best anupana, one should take water during meals.
Intake of water before meals destroys the digestive fire and leads to emaciation and
derangement of doshas. Intake of water during a meal stimulates the digestion and it
is the best habit. Intake of water after meals causes aggravation of kapha and obesity.
Hence drinking at meals should be most judiciously determined and taken with great
forethought and discretion. A hungry person should not drink water, because such act
causes jalogens (Ascitis). A thristy person should not take meal, because such act
causes Gulmaroga.

Both excessive intake of water or obstaining from it prevents the proper digestion of
food. Therefore for the kindling of the digestive fire, one should take small quantities
of water during meal.

Evils of excessive intake of water

A person who is excessively thirsty should not drink too much of cool water; such
act aggravates pitta and kapha. It may cause :

1. Amavastha 2. Thirst 3. Sleep 4. Drowsiness 5. flatulence 6. heaviness of the body
7. indigestion 8. Cough 9. Nausea 10. dyspnoea 11. coryza.

Contraindications of anupana:

Persons suffering from the following diseases should avoid anupana

1. Dyspnoea

2. Cough

3. Diseases of the part above the clavicles

4. Ptyalism

5. Urahkshata

6. Swarabhang


Regimen after food:

After taking food, one should thoroughly wash his mouth and hands. He should take
water into the mouth and gargle vigorously to remove/dislodge the particles stuck
between the teeth, or may be gently drawn out by means of a tooth-pick, in as much
as if not removed a kind of fetor is produced in the mouth If such particles could not
be removed with gentle picking, they should left above, to prevent the diseases of
teeth The eyes are to be wiped with wet hands. After eating, one should enjoy soft
sounds pleasant sig-hts and tastes, sweet perfumes, soft and velvety touch, in short
anything that ravishes the oul and enwraps the mind with raptures of joy, since uch
pleasurable sensation greatly help the process of igestion

After taking a meal, one should not sleep or Indulge on exertion, but should
comfortably sit. If a person sleeps after food, the kapha and pitta getting aggravated
depress the power of digestion.

Restrictions after food:

One should not indulge in the following after food

1. Lying for a long time

2. Sitting for a long time

3. Excessive take of fluids

4. Exposure to sun or fire

5. Swimming

6. Travel

7. Riding

8. Exercise


9. Sex

Indulgence in the following after a meal causes vomiting

1. Sounds which are harsh and garting

2. Sights which abominable

3. Touches that are hard and unpleasant

4. Smells which are fetid and disaggreeable

5. Eating of impure and execrable boiled rice

6. Loud side-splitting laugh

Tamboola sevana (use of betel combination):

The vata is increased after the completion ofdigestion, the pitta during the process,
while the kapha is increased Immediately after the act of eating. Hence he kapha is to
be subdued after the close of a meal and he intelligent eater should attain that end by
partaking ruit of an astringent, pungent or itter taste or by hewing a betel leaf
prepared with broken arecanut, camphor, nutmeg, clove etc., or by smoking or by
means of anything that instantaneously removes the vicidity in the mouth and
permeates it with its own essence.

The betel leaves are chewed in combination with arecanut, flaked camphor, nutmeg,
cloves, cinnamon, bark cardamum, musk, seeds of latakasturi (Hibiscus
abelmoschus) lime etc. All these constituents are used in requisite quantity only.
Chewing of such combination removes Tastelessness and bestows good flavour to
mouth.


Suitable time for such use:

The betel combination should be chewed in the follow ing times

1. After waking from sleeping

2. Early in the morning

3. After bath

4. After meals

5. After vomiting

6. At the time of sexual union

7. During travel

8. During war

9. In conferences with scholars and kings

10. In marriages

11. During sacrifices, auspicious times etc.

One should wait a while for chewing the betel combination after waking from sleep,
drinking water, sexual union, partaking fruits and meals.

Excessive use of betel combination causes the Following

1. Anemia

2. Loss of strength to teeth

3. Eye diseases

4. Diseases of mouth

5. Causes vatarakta and raktapitta

6. Loss of strength of hair and ears


7. Loss of complexion

Contraindications:

The following should not use betel combinations

1. Who has taken a purgative.

2. Who is hungry and thirsty and very weak.

3. Suffering from the diseases of teeth and eyea.

4. Injured; exhausted.

5. Suffering from mental disorders, anaemia, prameha, oedema of the whole
body, diarrhoea, mootrakriccra, vomiting, raktapitta, kshaya, aggravation of
pitta and rakta, skin diseases and poisoning, vertigo, dyspnoea, heart diseases.

6. Who are parched (Atiruksha).

7. Obese persons.

8. .8. Who had eaten rice and milk.

9. 9. Immediately after eating mango, plantain, sugarcane, wood apple, jack
fruit, liquor, milk, honey, ghee, coconut water.

Homologation (Satmya)

Homologation or habituation is that which agrees with one's system. It is of three
kinds: Pravara (best), Avara (poor), and Madhya (moderate). It is again of seven
kinds: agreeability to each or one of the six tastes and seventh by agreeability to all
of them combined. Among these the last is the best type of homologation. The
poorest type is the agreeability only to a single taste, while the medium type of
agreeability is the mean between the best and the poorest. So, from the poorest and


the medium agreeability’s one should develop the homologation of the best type that
is agreeability to all the tastes.

After acquiring homologation to all the tastes, one should resort to what is
wholesome.

Most unwholesome articles

Categories Most unwholesome ones
Paddy having bristles Yavaka (wild barley)
Pulses Black gram
Various types of drinking water River water in rainy season
Salts Salt collected/Prepared from saline soil
Pot herbs Mustard
Meat of animals Beef
Meat of birds Young dove
Meat of animals living in holes Frog
Fish Chilichima fish
Ghee Ghee of sheep milk
Milk Sheep milk
Vegetable fats Safflower oil
Fats of marshy animals Fat of buffalo
Fats of aquatic animals Fat of shark/crocodile
Fats of aquatic birds Fat of water fowl
Fats of gallinaceous types of Fat of sparrow birds
Fats of branch eating animals Fat of elephant
Fruits Wild jack fruit
Rhizomes and roots Aluka
Preparations of sugarcane Treacle (Phanita)


Schedule for giving up the addictions

A wise person should give up by and by unwholesome practices to which he is
addicted and he should correspondingly adopt ones which are wholesome

The schedule for the same is given below:

On the first day one should give up a quarter of the unwholesome practice (still
maintaining 3/4 of it) and correspondingly adopt a quarter of wholesome. On the
second day half of the unwholesome practice is to be given up and half of the
wholesome one is to be adopted; This is to be continued for the third day also. On the
fourth day ¾ of the unwholesome practice is to be given up and ¾ of the wholesome
one is to be adopted. This process is to be continued on the 5th and 6th day also. The
process of giving up of the unwholesome practice and adoption of the wholesome
practice is completed fully on the seventh day

By slowly and gradually giving up the unwholesome practices and by increasing the
wholesome practices correspondingly, the unwholesome practices are eradicated for
ever and the wholesome practices are fully adopted). One should not be in a hurry to
give up and to adopt the unwholesome and wholesome practices respectively. A
sudden change in habits is likely to cause immense harm to the body. Only a slow
and steady process as indicated above can absolutely eradicate the effects of
unwholesome practices and stabilize the effects of wholesome ones.

Incompatibility in articles of food (Viruddhahara):

Such of the drugs and diets as are unwholesome or incompatible for the normal
dhatus and doshas of the body (viruddhahara), are in fact opposed to the proper
growth of such dhatus and doshas

1. Some act due to their mutually contradictory qualities (Gunaviruddha).

2. Some by combination (Samyoga Viruddha).


3. Some by the method of preparation (Samskara Viruddha).

4. Some by virtue of the place, time and dose (Deshakalamatra Viruddha).

5. Some others by their inherent nature (Swabhava viruddha).

I. Examples of mutually contradictory qualities:

Fish should not be taken together with milk, both of them have sweet taste, but due to
the contradiction in their potency (fish is hot and milk is cool), they vitiate the blood
and obstruct the srotases.

Diet article Incompatible Effect
combination

1. Fish particularly Obstruction to srotases,

chilichima Milk Diseases of blood,
Amavisha or evendeath.

2.Meat of domestic Honey, milk, sesamum Deafness, blindness,
marshy and acquatic seeds, jaggery, black gram, trembling,
animals radish, loss of intelligence, loss of
lotus stalk or germinated voiceor causing nasal
grains voice, evendeath

3.Leaves of pushkara Honey or milk Obstruction to srotases,
moola or katurohini or dilata-
meat of dovefried in tion of blood vessels,
mustard oil epilepsy,

acute pain in temporal


region

scrofula, rohiniroga
diphtheria)

or death

4. After intake of raddish, milk Skin diseases including
garlic,leaves of leprosy
drumstickvarieties of
Tulasi

5.Leaves of bamboo wild Loss of strength,
jack fruit Honey/milk complexion,and semen;
sterility and other serious
types of diseases leading
to death.

Contradictory combinations (Samyoga Vimddha)

Diet article Contradictory combination Effect

1. Ripe wild jack fruit Soup of black gram, ghee and
jaggery

2. Solid or liquid materials Milk

which are sour in taste

like mango, tamarind,

lemon, jujube fruit,


jamun, wood apple,

jack fruit, pomegranate,

gooseberry etc. and

coconut, blackgram,

horsegram etc.

3. Safflower, sugarwine Honey Aggravation of vatha

(sarkaramadya) Maireya

4. Pushkara seeds Honey

5. Bhallataka Hot water

6. Honey Hot water

III. Contradictory methods of preparation (Samkara viruddha):

Diet article Contradictory Effect
preparation

Flesh of parakeet Fried in mustard oil Aggravation of pitta

Payasa (Milk preparation) with manta (thin gruel) Aggravation of doshas
specially kapha

Upodika Paste of tila, or fried in til Diarrhoea
oil

Meat of crane with Varuni wine or instantaneous death
kulmasa


Meat of peacock with castor oil death

Meat of Haridraka contact with turmeric Death
wood

Long pepper with fish oil or vessel in Death
which

fish is fried

Kakamachi Honey Death

Honey Heating or used by one Death
affected with heat

Kampillaka cooked with butter milk

Meat of bear roasting on open fire

Evils of incompatible diet (Viruddhahara):

Intake of incompatible diet is responsible for the causation of:

1. Sterility/impotency

2. Blindness

3. Visarpa

4. Ascitis

5. Eruptions

6. Insanity

7. Fistula

8. Fainting


9. Intoxication

10. Tympanitis

11. Spasmodic obstruction in throat

12. Anemia

13. Poisoning due to Ama

14. Kilasa type of skin disease

15. Obstinate skin diseases including leprosy

16. Sprue

17. Edema

18. Acid dyspepsia

19. Fever

20. Rhinitis

21. Fetal diseases

22. Death

Treatment of such evils:

Diseases caused by the intake of viruddhahara can be cured by emesis, purgation or
administration of antidotes and by taking prophylactic measures or by rasayana
chikitsa.

The viruddhahara and dravya do not have any effect in the following

1. Who is habituated to the intake of viruddbahara.

2. If they are taken in smaller quantity

3. If the digestive power is very strong


4. Taken by a youthful person

5. Who has undergone oleation therapy

6. Who is of strong physique due to physical exercise.

Upavasa (fasting):

Upavasa belongs to the Samana group of Langhana treatment (Reducing therapy)

The following are the benefits of fasting:

1. Stimulation/kindling of digestive fire

2. Digestion of Ama

3. Lightness of the body

4. Normal functioning of sense organs

A youthful person desirous of maintaining the health should indulge in fasting
according to the laid down rules.

Varieties of fasting:

Fasting is of two varieties:

1. Nirahara (without diet) and

2. Phalahara (with intake of fruits).

The former is the best and it is of two varieties.

1. Sajala (with intake of water) and

2. Nirjala (abstaining from intake of water)

Sajala variety is recommended to the persons with vata and pitta temparaments and
Nirjala for persons of kapha temparament.


In phalahara variety, the person should eat the fruits which do not cause constipation,
only once in a day. A person intending to go on fasting a day, should eat a very light
meal on the previous night and go on fasting for 24 hours. On the fasting day he
should not indulge in day-sleep and sexual union. On the next morning, after
completing the requisite ablutions, he should eat a meal which is well cooked, light,
unctuous, soft and sweet in taste.

Contraindications of fasting:

One who regularly offers oblations to the fire (Ahitagni), wrestler and bachelor
should not go on fast.

Prohibition of addictions:

One should not get addicted to different varieties of alcoholic drinks, opium, tobacco,
Datura seeds, cannabis, nux-vomica, cocaine, aconite, arecanuts etc. These are
intoxicants; destroy the functions of the brain and heart. Therefore one who wishes to
live healthfully should not use these either as drinks, smoking or eating.


Ayurvedic Guide to Eating Food Properly

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