Food Glorious Food - where do I start.

"Food glorious food!!!"  If you are new to the principles of Shaka Vansiya Ayurveda (SVA) and you want to "Clean up" your food act. Where do you start?  Lets start by introducing "Dhinachariya" or circadian rhythm.  The power of the sun on our earth and us is deeply understood in SVA.  Without the sun there is no life on this planet.  So eating our biggest most difficult to digest meal at high noon is recommended, when the sun is highest in the sky.  The heavy proteins: chicken turkey duck fish - need to be eaten at noon so that their benefit is assimilated.  Then it follows that we start the morning with a food that increase digestive fire (AGNI) and that is easy to digest.  Highly recommended to start our day with stewed apples or pears with about 6 cloves.  Then follow with a cooked grain once we are hungry.  The morning time is a time when the body is needing to increase movement. A good time for exercise - yoga or a walk or workout.  This helps to open the channels.  This simple routine of eating apples stewed with cloves is a wonderful way to start the day as the apples and pears contain malic acid that is beneficial for the liver and cloves have many benefit - see the next post.

1. Another important principles is "DO NOT SKIP OR DELAY MEALS"  Your body loves routine.  I would also add that we do not eat when are not hungry.  If you find that meal time has arrived and you are not hungry try stimulating your pallet with a bit of ginger and lime.  I once went to a very fancy Ayurvedic Spa run by Deepak Chopra where they served ginger/lime juice in a tiny shot glass before meals.  They sweetened it with a bit of honey. Delicious!  But even having a nibble of a ginger root and sprinkle some lime juice on your food helps.  Lime also helps to digest fats.

2. Include the 6 tastes - different areas of the tongue taste differently. The six tastes are SWEET, SOUR SALTY AND PUNGENT BITTER AND ASTRINGENT.   Sweet, sour and salty are the predominant tastes in our western diets. Pungent - from black pepper is also well known. But there are also pungent tastes from other herbs and spices. This taste is important for stocking digestion and opening channels so food can get in and toxins can get out.  Then the last two - bitter and astringent are what needs the most attention to be present.

3. When cooking oats or other grains for breakfast its best to add cardamom and cinnamon. Most people are aware of the benefits of cinnamon in diabetes as it helps to digest sugars and carbohydrates but not many now that cardamom helps to digest protein and assimilate it.