In order to live a life of vibrant health, you need to follow a few simple rules. According to Ayurveda, not only is food selection important, but the right state of awareness during meals improves health.
Every choice we make either increases ojas (vitality) or ama (toxicity). The following rules will serve as a quick start guide to eating for energy.
Learn your Body Type or Dosha.
Each person has a unique mind-body constitution, known as a dosha. Foods can increase harmony and balance or become toxic.
- Vata Dosha (air and space elements) is cool, dry, light, and rough. Eating foods that counteract those characteristics will create balance. Persons with excess Vata energy will be restored into balance through foods that are warm, spicy and hydrating, full of healthy fats (like olive oil, ghee, organic cream, and avocados). The foods should be grounding (think dense, healthy comfort foods).
- Pitta Dosha (fire and water elements) is hot, oily, light, and sharp. Foods that are cool such as peppermint, cucumber, cilantro, and parsley), astringent (beans, legumes, pomegranate, and green tea) will tone down the intensity of the Pitta.
- Kapha Dosha (earth and water elements) is heavy, cool, oily, and smooth. Foods that are light, warm, dry (like beans and popcorn) and rough (think “fibrous” vegetables) will stimulate Kapha and create balance.
Consume Whole, Fresh Foods
Food is an energetic powerhouse, loaded with Prana or life force which nourishes the body at a fundamental level, creating health, vitality, and energy. Vitamins, mineral, and phytonutrient contents are merely reflections of the energetic, or pranic, imprint.
To increase ojas or vitality, you must increase prana. Foods with abundant prana come straight from the Earth. Their prana has been derived through the mingling of sunshine, water, and earth energies. The fresher the food, the more prana.
Eliminate Snacks
According to Ayurvedic principles, the doshas rule the three stages of digestion. In the first hour after a meal, the Kapha energies make the body heavy, and sedate. Two to four hours later, Pitta fires up the digestion, hydrochloric acid increases, and internal heat rises. (The meal is transformed into sustenance for the body.) Four to five hours later, Vata energies rise, lightness and space return and appetite arouses.
Interruption of the digestive cycle leads to incomplete digestion. Over time, incomplete digestion results in the accumulation of ama or toxins, which may present as a plethora of mild to moderate symptoms. For this reason, Ayurveda recommends three meals each day, with no snacks in between to keep your stomach in optimum condition.
Eat Until Satisfied, Not Full
Overeating increases free radical production in the body and speeds up the aging process. Avoid overeating and the body receives the nourishment without the added burden of digestion and storage of too many calories.