by Sheela Rani Chunkath
Friends are always asking me as to what one should do to prevent disease or perhaps prevent cancer and generally live a long healthy life. Ayurveda seems to have the answers and surprisingly the remedies are quite simple. It all revolves around your Aaharam, Viharam and your Manas. In this article we will look at Aaharam.
The Ashtanga Hridyam deals with this aspect in detail. The Acharya has really spelt out the various aspects of eating food starting with the quantity of food one should eat. According to him the quantity of food you eat determines the digestion of your food. If the food you eat is heavy you should only eat to half your capacity but if it is light you can eat more but even then not to saturation but only just below your satiety level. Ayurveda also classifies food according to its gurutva (heaviness) or laghutva (lightness) so that one knows what is heavy and what is not for example, buttermilk, kanji, tender coconut water or steamed rice idiappam (stringhoppers) are light but ghee, idli, vada, dosa and parathas are heavy. So when eating foods which are heavy in nature, one should eat only to half ones capacity. A quarter of the stomach is to be left for fluids and another quarter for the doshas.
Acharya has also said that if one eats too little that is 'hina matra' one will not have proper strength, nourishment or ojas and he will be prey to all sorts of vata diseases. We find so many girls starving themselves in the name of fashion who could become victims of various diseases because their immune systems are unable to function for lack of proper nutrition.
Acharya however warns that if one eats too much, one will vitiate all the doshas. The ama (undigested food) further intermingles with the doshas and vitiates the doshas. The vitiated doshas and undigested food further vitiate all excess food which comes in and in a vicious cycle and the undigested food gets obstructed and stagnated in the gastrointestinal tract. This kind of problem is called alasaka. Sometimes the vitiation of doshas and undigested food combine together to cause food to come out through the lower and upper orifices suddenly. In pitta vishuchika, the person suffers from giddiness, confusion and thirst.
Acharya sounds a warning here and says that those suffering from ama dosha (indigestion of food) and who are habituated to eating before their previous meal is digested, who eat incompatible foods and who have frequent bouts of indigestion lay themselves open to converting their ama or undigested food into a poisonous toxin. In fact he says that physicians should be careful when attending on these persons because they are sure to die. Such is the malfeasance of indigestion. It is incredible that it is all caused by simple things like eating too much, eating before your previous meal has completely digested or eating foods which are not compatible with each other like some fruits and yoghurt or milkshakes made from fruits.
So to be healthy and happy you don’t need to try anything fancy. Eat moderately keeping an eye on how your stomach feels and behaves and you should be well on your way to a healthier future.
--- The writer is retired Additional Chief Secretary, Government of Tamil Nadu. She can be reached at Sheelarani.arogyamantra@gmail. com. Earlier articles can be accessed at http://arogyamantra.blogspot.com/