Ayurvedic Food Patterns For Healthy Body

Introduction

According to Ayurvedic concepts, food is responsible for different aspects of an individual including physical, temperamental, and mental states. To stay healthy, maintaining a stable healthy diet routinely is essential. The Ayurvedic diet is an eating pattern that’s been around for thousands of years. It’s based on determining your dominant dosha and eating specific foods to promote balance between all three doshas. It also sets guidelines for when, how, and what you should eat based on your dosha or body type.

The Ayurvedic diet emphasizes eating whole foods, which can improve your overall health and boost weight loss. The diet also encourages mindful eating, a practice that may promote a healthy relationship with food.

For a healthy person, it is advised in Ayurveda not to fill the stomach full, while taking food. The stomach should be divided into three portions and one portion should be filled with food, the second by water, and the third should be kept vacant for movement of Doshas. The right quantity of food is decided upon by the nature of food substances such as heaviness or lightness and digestive power of the person. Food items like flour products, milk products, sugar cane products, pulses like Urad, meat, etc. are heavy whereas rice, wheat, pulses like green gram, etc. are light and easy to digest.

What Can You Eat

In Ayurveda, foods are categorized based on their physical qualities and this helps determine which ingredients work best for different doshas.

Below are some of the foods you should eat based on your specific dosha.

Food For Vata Dosha

For Vata Dosha follow these food patterns:

• Protein

  small amounts of poultry and seafood.

• Dairy

  milk, butter, yogurt, cheese, ghee.

• Fruits

  fully ripe, sweet, and heavy fruits, such as bananas, blueberries, strawberries, grapefruit, mangoes, peaches, and plums.

• Vegetables

  cooked vegetables, including beets, sweet potatoes, onions, radishes, turnips, carrots, and green beans.

• Legumes

  chickpeas, lentils, mung beans.

• Grains

  cooked oats, cooked rice.

• Nuts and seeds

  any, including almonds, walnuts, pistachios, chia seeds, flax seeds, and sunflower seeds.

• Herbs and spices

  cardamom, ginger, cumin, basil, cloves, oregano, thyme.

Foods For Pitta Dosha

As per Ayurveda some of the foods that are balancing our body due to pitta type dosha are:

• Protein

  poultry in small amounts, egg whites, tofu.

• Dairy

  milk, ghee, butter.

• Fruits

  sweet, fully ripe fruits like oranges, pears, pineapples, bananas, melons, and mangoes.

• Vegetables

  sweet and bitter veggies, including cabbage, cauliflower, celery, cucumber, zucchini, leafy greens, sweet potatoes, carrots, squash, and Brussels sprouts.

• Legumes

  chickpeas, lentils, mung beans, lima beans, black beans, kidney beans.

• Grains

  barley, oats, basmati rice, wheat.

• Nuts and seeds

  small amounts of pumpkin seeds, flax seeds, sunflower seeds, coconut.

• Herbs and spices

  small amounts of black pepper, cumin, cinnamon, cilantro, turmeric.

Food For Kapha

The main foods that are essential for the Kapha type dosha are

• Protein

  poultry in small amounts, 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, radishes, okra.

• Legumes

  any, including black beans, chickpeas, lentils, and navy beans.

• Grains

  oats, rye, buckwheat, barley, corn, millet.

• Nuts and seeds

  small amounts of pumpkin seeds, sunflower seeds, flax seeds.

• Herbs and spices

  any, including cumin, black pepper, turmeric, ginger, cinnamon, basil, oregano, and thyme.

Conclusion

The information related to Food Pattern as per Ayurveda is based on various Ayurvedic resources. Always seek the advice of an Ayurvedic practitioner before starting any diet for the betterment of your health.