The Ayurvedic diet is an eating pattern that’s been around for thousands of years and can be useful for doctors in their medical practice too. Vedic nutrition is based on the principles of Ayurvedic medicine and focuses on balancing the doshas within your body, which is said to improve health.
What is the Vedic diet?
Ayurveda aims to promote balance between your body and mind. According to Ayurveda, five elements make up the universe — vayu (air), jala (water), akash (space), teja (fire), and prithvi (earth). These elements are formed by three different doshas, which are defined as types of energy that circulate within your body. Each dosha is responsible for specific physiological functions. For example, the vata dosha maintains electrolyte balance and movement, pitta dosha controls hunger, thirst, and body temperature and kapha dosha promotes joint function.
Symptoms of aggravation of Vata are:-
The roughness of skin, irregularity in the power of digestion, tremors, an abnormal pulse, emaciation, hyperpigmentation of the skin, fainting, insomnia, pain over multiple joints, constipation, flatulence, loss of concentration, fear, etc
Symptoms of aggravated Pitta are:-
Yellow coloration of the skin, giddiness, weakness, hyperacidity, acne, burning sensations, herpes, jaundice, bitter taste in the mouth, Metallic odor from the mouth excessive thirst, fainting, reduced sleep, and anger.
Symptoms of aggravated Kapha are:-
Pallor, coldness, obesity, laziness, heaviness, obstruction of channels, excess sleep, drowsiness, dyspnoea, coughing, excessive salivation, abnormal function of the joints, etc.
BENEFITS OF VEDIC DIETS
According to Vedic nutrition, foods are categorized based on their qualities and the way they are said to affect your body. This helps determine which food combinations will be suitable for balancing the doshas and treating our health naturally.
Learn Vedic Nutrition with Dr. Shikha Sharma.
Following are some of the foods that you should eat based on the doshas.
Vata
- Diets which are sweet, sour, and salty in taste & hot in potency.
- Protein: poultry, seafood, tofu
- Dairy: milk, butter, yogurt, cheese, ghee
- Fruits: fully ripe, sweet, and heavy fruits such as bananas, strawberries, grapefruit, mangoes, peaches, and plums
- Vegetables: cooked vegetables, sweet potatoes, onions, turnips, carrots, and green beans
- Legumes: chickpeas, lentils
- Grains: oats, rice
- Nuts and seeds: Almonds, walnuts, pistachios, chia seeds, flax seeds, and sunflower seeds
- Herbs and spices: cardamom, ginger, cumin, basil, cloves, thyme, black pepper
Pitta
- Medicines and diets should be sweet, bitter, and pungent in taste.
- Protein: poultry, egg whites, tofu
- Dairy: milk, ghee, butter
- Fruits: Pears, pineapples, bananas, melons, and mangoes
- Vegetables: Cabbage, cauliflower, cucumber, zucchini, leafy greens, sweet potatoes, carrots, and sprouts
- Legumes: chickpeas, lentils, kidney beans
- Grains: barley, oats, wheat
- Nuts and seeds: Pumpkin seeds, flax seeds, sunflower seeds
- Herbs and spices: cumin, cinnamon, turmeric
Kapha
- Protein: poultry, seafood, egg whites
- Dairy: skim milk, goat milk, soy milk
- Fruits: apples, blueberries, pears, pomegranates, cherries, and dried fruit like raisins, figs, and prunes
- Vegetables: asparagus, leafy greens, onions, potatoes, mushrooms.
- Legumes: Black beans, chickpeas, lentils.
- Grains: oats, rye, buckwheat, barley, corn, millet
- Nuts and seeds: Pumpkin seeds, sunflower seeds, flax seeds
- Herbs and spices: Cumin, black pepper, turmeric, ginger, cinnamon.
So while treating our patients when we can work on these natural modalities for curing them naturally and avoiding the side effects of the medications.
