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Ten ayurvedic commandments for Food

  1. Eat when the food is fresh & warm
    Benefits: Warm food gets digested easily, reduces kapha, tastes good, helps to maintain digestion

  2. Eat with appropriate quantity of fats like ghee/oil
    Benefits : Tastes good, helps to maintain good agni, gets digested properly, balances vata, helps hourishment of 7 tissues (dhatus), increases strength, maintains better skin colour.

  3. Eat in the right quantity
    Benefit: If we fill our stomach 50% with solid food, 25% with liquids, and leave 25% empty for the flow of vata, it balances all 3 doshas (vata, pitta, kapha), increases lifespan, helps for better formation and elimination of waste products, do not bring down digestion, easily gets digested and assimilated.

  4. Eat when you are really hungry
    Benefit: By eating when we are hungry (i.e. when the prior meal is completely digested), we help the body to produce the final product of digestion- Rasa and nourish the 7 tissues. This also balances the doshas, prevents the production of ama (toxic waste) and increases lifespan.

  5. Eat only compatible food. Avoid incompatible food.
    Benefit: Prevents indigestion & ama, prevents many GIT disorders like hyperacidity, irritable bowel syndrome.

  6. Eat at the place of your liking / favorite place
    Benefit: If we eat the food we like at a place we like, it produces wholesome effect on our body.

  7. Eat not hastily
    Benefit: By taking our own time to properly mix and chew the food, it becomes wholesome and gets properly digested. We do not feel tired after eating.

  8. Eat not very slowly
    Reason: If we eat very slowly we do not feel satisfied, hence we may eat more than required. The food may get cold and causes indigestion.

  9. Do not talk long or laugh
    Reason: Concentration over the food while eating helps us to choose the right quantity, and proper speed. It helps to enjoy the food better.

  10. Eat only after understanding the wholesome food
    Reason: By deciding what type of food is wholesome to our body, we help the body to digest better. By taking newer combination or foreign food. The body may not accept it well, hence produces allergic reactions or indigestion.