Dietary therapy
By  AAPL Staff Writer

Diet is considered to be one of the most important tools that is used for achieving balance in the body. Keeping this in mind, ayurvedic healers usually design individual diets for people depending on the age, gender and doshic tendencies the person may be suffering from. With doshic tendencies of a person at a given time, concentration is placed on the strength of the body tissues of the person and the digestive fibers and the level of ama existing in the body. In addition to this, the place a person lives and the season the person experiences problems are additional factors that affect dietary dos and don’ts.

Besides following the individualized approach for choosing the right foods for balance in a body, there are some principles that are universally applicable, and have to be followed by the ayurvedic practitioner and you if you are living an ayurvedic lifestyle.

According to Ayurveda, the diet that we follow has a close influence on the mind and body. Ayurveda states that the mind has three states, called tri-gunas that are related to the three states of the physical constitution of the body. The physical constitutions of the body are the three dosha types which are connected to the three tendencies of the mind; sattya, rajas and tamas.

Sattya means peaceful equilibrium, rajas means excessive activity while tamas indicates inertia. These three tendencies or gunas of the mind all influence the imbalances of the three doshas in the body. With the right dietary adjustments, it is possible to maintain the balance of specific doshas in the body to ensure perfect health and to remove and neutralize toxins found in the body.

According to Ayurveda, it is better to eat food till your appetite is satisfied. However when ill, it is better to eat only light food and then normal food in small quantities till your appetite is fulfilled. However in Ayurveda it is not at all advised to combine contradictory foods; and this is why Ayurveda has some rules on food habits.

Ayurveda suggests that high protein and high fat foods be eaten in separate meals from lighter foods like starches and vegetables. It is not advised to mix milk with yoghurt or eat cooked and raw foods together. This is because these foods need different types of digestion.

Milk should not be drunk when eating radishes, meat, fish, eggs, citrus fruits and fish while fresh fruit has to be eaten separately from other meals. In addition to this, in Ayurveda, some vegetables and grains are forbidden on some days in the month while the diet tends to change according to the season. .

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