Ayurveda Series Part 10

In part part 9 of this Ayurveda series I have mentioned about doshas undergoing changes, as part of natural phenomena.. Now lets see how we could take care in terms of food and lifestyle, to keep doshas under check.

” Rogastu doshavaishamyam” Means- Doshavaishamya(  vaishamya means vitiation) is the reason for the Roga(diseases).

Lets first take a look at general guidelines, that holds good for everyone. Here we go, 

• Food- Wrong combination of foods- Milk with fruits, Fish with curds, Ghee and honey in equal quantities, Milk with spicy food, Cooked food and raw food together, milk soon after eating radish(in any form)/greens, milk with horse gram.
• Wrong food habits- Eating fruits soon after food/with food, Eating when not hungry and vice versa, Untimely food habits, late dinner(after 8pm), Taking curds at night.
• Lifestyle- Alcohol, smoking, tobacco chewing, sleeping in the afternoon, excess consumption of tea and coffee, Night shifts(I know this is unavoidable), Sleeping late at night, Lack of physical activity, Stress, Excess physical activity/exercise( What is the amount of physical activity one should do? Well, it is as much as our body can tolerate. Say, if I have the capacity to lift 5kgs of weight, I should stick to lifting only 2.5kgs), Exercising at night.

All the above mentioned, are just few of the examples for better understanding. There are plenty of combinations that our classics specify but it is not feasible to include all of it here, since it is a very vast topic. Anyone who wishes to read more on this can refer to any of books available on the same, in the market. 

Now let me talk about another important question that I have been always asked, as to when to drink water(esp with regards to food) and how much water to be taken?

Well, there is no hard and fast rule to indicate how much water one has to take. It depends on the place where we stay, climatic conditions, kind of food we eat, our prakriti and the amount of physical activity one has. Ayurveda says drink water when thirsty.

When is one suppose to drink water? with/before/after food?

The shloka says” Samasthoolakrusha bhuktamadhyantapratamambhupaH”

Ill first take each word to explain the meaning followed by summary of the shloka. 

Sama- Medium/right/equal

Sthoola- Bulky

Krusha- Thin

Bhukta- eating the food

Madhya-in the middle

Anta- at the end

Pratama- In the beginning

Summary- Drinking water while having food keeps one fit with normal weight, drinking water before food makes one lose weight/they become thin, and drinking water after the food/at the end of the meals, makes one overweight/obese.

Why so?

Because when you drink water before the food, the water puts of the Jatarangi( Jatara means-stomach, Agni-fire, digestive fire), leading to poor digestion, drinking water with food(sipping in between), aids proper moistening of food, leading to proper digestion and absorption. At the end of the meal when you drink water, it leads to improper digestion again due to improper mixing of food and water causing indigestion/sluggish digestion. 

Ill end this topic here for today. When I started writing, I thought I would be able to cover the dosha balancing aspects in one post with just few points of each, but it doesn’t seem that easy because when I started writing, with the flow of my thoughts, every thought/topic I choose to explain, gets connected to another aspect of the same topic, and felt it is necessary enough to mention that too, to give proper understanding about the subject. So, the explanation of balancing the doshas will further continue in the next post too{hopefully will finish it in the next post;)}

Too much of info?? confusing?? Am sorry if it turned out to be boring! Next post i’ll keep it short, possibly;) ..hahahaha..