Ayurveda teaches that diet is one of the most important tools to achieve Health by balancing the Dosha. Hence ayurveda doctors design individualized diets for people, based on various factors such as age and gender, their tendencies, the strength of the body tissues and the digestive fires, and the level of toxins in the body. The place where a person lives and the season are also factors that affect dietary dos and don'ts.

Get all the six tastes at every main meal

According to ayurveda there are six types of tastes : sweet, sour, salty, bitter, pungent and astringent. Ayurveda recommends including all of these six tastes at each main meal you eat. Each taste has a balancing ability and balances the appetite and digestion.

Choose foods as per physical attributes

In ayurveda, foods are also categorized as heavy or light, dry or liquid and warm or cool and these help to balance different doshas. A balanced main meal should contain all these attributes. Within this overall principle, you can vary the attributes based on your constitution and needs for balance.

To balance Vata , choose more heavy, unctuous or liquid, and warm foods and avoid dry light or cool foods. To help balance Pitta, focus take cool, dry and heavy foods, and to balance Kapha, take light, dry and warm foods.

If you live in cool areas you want to take warm foods, and vice versa. Similarly, in winter, when Vata tends to increase you can benefit from warm soups fresh paneer cheese and whole milk in the diet. In summer, plan to eat more cool, soothing foods to keep Pitta dosha in balance

Include Sattvic foods

A third ayurveda classification of foods that effect non-physical aspects of mind, heart, senses and spirit are called Sattvic foods. These have an uplifting yet stabilizing influence and can aggravate some aspects of the mind, heart or senses and are considered a deterrent to spiritual growth.

Everyone can benefit by including some sattvic foods at every meal because they help promote mental clarity, emotional serenity and sensual balance and aid in the coordinated functioning of the body, mind, heart, senses and spirit. Almonds, rice, honey, fresh sweet fruits, easily digestible fresh seasonal vegetables and leafy greens are examples of sattvic foods.

Local foods - whole, fresh, in-season

Ayurveda herbal preparations are made by processing the part or whole plant and not by extracting substances from the plant. Similarly the most healthful diet consists of whole foods, eaten in as natural a state as possible. If the digestive fire is not strong enough, even wholesome foods can turn into toxic matter in the body.

Ayurveda does not recommend food that are frozen, canned, refined, processed with artificial colors, flavours, additives or preservatives, genetically altered, or grown with chemical pesticides or fertilizers as they do more harm. Hence it is better to choose foods and produce that is locally grown or produced.

Change menus and experiment with a variety of foods

Ayurveda recommend to eat a wide variety of foods for balanced nutrition, hole grains, pulses, vegetables, fruits, dairy, nuts, healthy oil or ghee, spices and pure water all have their roles in the balancing process.

Ayurveda recommends not taking the same food every time. If you find yourself eating the same dishes several times a week you should try some other food. Each meal should be a feast for all of your senses. When your plate reflects an appealing variety of foods with various textures, flavors and aromas, your digestive juices start flowing in and your body, mind and heart are all fulfilled by the eating experience.

Add Spices and herbs to Food

Spices and herbs are concentrated forms of Nature's healing intelligence. They are particularly used in ayurveda for their ability to enhance digestion and assimilation, help cleanse toxins from the body and their ability to transport the healing and nutritive value of other components of the diet to the cells, tissues and organs.

Spices, in ayurveda, are generally eaten cooked. Spices in a little olive oil or ghee freid and poured or mixed with cooked foods will enhance the digestion and make the food tasty. Ayurveda recommends spices/herbs to stimulate the digestion before, during and after a meal. A fresh ginger or lemon 30 minutes before a main meal improves the digestion. Eating food cooked with several spices help digestion, absorption, assimilation and elimination.

Vata Pacifying foods

Vata pacifying foods include ghee, soft dairy products, wheat, rice, corn and bananas. It is recommended that a person with vata constitution consume foods like hot cereal with ghee, soups, vegetables, cooked grains, chapattis etc. Unlike other body constitution persons vata persons can consume spicy foods as well. Vegetables: Asparagus, carrots, cucumber, green beans, onions, garlic, turnips, radish, sweet potatoes etc Fruits Mangoes, melons, peaches, bananas and all sweet fruits Grains Rice, wheat and oats.

Pita Pacifying Foods

For people with pita constitution, milk, rice, beans and fruits as also spices such as cumin, coriander are recommended. Vegetables: There are no restrictions on the consumption of vegetables by the pita constitution persons. They can generally consume all types of vegetables. Fruits: There are also no restrictions on the type of fruits that they consume. All fruits are generally good for them.

Kapha Pacifying Foods

And for kapha dosha persons, foods with bitter, pungent and astringent tastes are beneficial. Foods such as puffed rice, millets, and leafy vegetables as also spices such as ginger, turmeric, and chili are good for kapha constitution persons.

Vegetables: All vegetables are god for these persons. But if some of these kapha persons suffer from diseases such as asthma, lung congestion, heart disease, obesity etc then, it would be best to avoid sweet juicy vegetables like cucumbers , sweet potatoes etc Grains: Rice, wheat, millets etc are recommended.In the Ayurveda system of medicine, apart from consuming the type of food suitable for each dosha type, the seasons and the place where one lives are also taken in to consideration. Ayurveda diet, stresses the importance of consuming whole foods, eaten in as natural a state as possible. And it is also to be noted that if the digestive fire is not strong enough, then, even wholesome foods can turn into toxic matter in the body.