September 2024

Ayurveda is a holistic science which is based on concepts like Panchamahabhutha(5 basic elements- Space, Air, Fire, Water, Earth/Land), Tridosha(Vata, Pitta, Kapha), Triguna(Sattva, Rajas, Tamas)- 3 mindsets, Shadrithu(6 seasons), Shat rasa(6 tastes), 7 Body types(Vata-pitta-kapha, vata-pitta, pitta-kapha, vata-kapha, vata, pitta, kapha) hence the subject which is standard and does not change through time. Ayurveda though old, always says, “swasthasya swaasthya rakshanam, aturasya vikara prasamanam” which means to protect a healthy one and to cure a diseased one. AYURVEDIC DIET & WONDERFUL BENEFITS Ayurvedic diet is not any simple medicinal diet that works for specific diseases but is a way of life everyone need to incorporate in their lives which not only help to protect health and prevent diseases but also excellently help heal person from diseases. Ayurvedic diet works on the principle of balancing doshas (vital energies- vata, pitta, kapha) in the body. It corrects even minimal doshic imbalances by incorporating foods that have qualities opposite to imbalanced doshas in our body and our unique body type, help us to live a quality life and disease free active lifestyle. This diet not only corrects life style changes but also provide enough strength to face seasonal changes by eliminating timely wastes from body and help faster healing and relieving symptoms of diseases. BENEFITS DOSHAS AND IT’S ROLE Vata, Pitta, Kapha are the three doshas in the body. They are basic units for survival and maintainence of body. They constantly change depending upon eating habits, lifestyle, mental health and seasonal changes. It is unique to each inividual and depends on body strength and inheritence. The combination of doshas in two and three add up four more body types i.e., Vata-Pitta, Pitta-Kapha, Vata-Kapha, Vata-Pitta-Kapha. Most of the people, ~60-70% are predominantly combined of two doshas. Single dosha predominant persons are rare ~5-10%. Equal predominance of three doshas is considered best prakruthi and occurs when your body is maintained with healthy lifestyle and eating habits since beginning. Identification of our body type helps to choose a diet and lifestyle suitable and homologous to our body constituent dosha. Mild disturbance in doshas either increase, decrease or misplacement from local site lead to disturbance in health and can lead to diseases in future. How to identify your Normal Dosha Predominance(Body Type): Choose the characters which define you from the following: VATA BODY TYPE PITTA BODY TYPE KAPHA BODY TYPE You’re Lean/ very thin, you have difficulty in gaining weight. You have moderate body i.e., not too thin or obese, you gain/ lose weight easily. You’re mildly obese and has tendency to gain weight slowly and lose weight with little difficulty. You are more wakeful i.e., you sleep less, you are physically active all day. You sweat greatly, your body has strong odor. You are predominant of good traits like respecting elders and friends. You are talkative, speak more, more explanative and extroverts in expression but you are not courageous. You defeat others in Talk and Courageous. You speak well selected words, often speak less. You are Courageous, intelligent but to some extent You have very unstable mind, you constantly search for solutions, overthink past and future, mostly stressed. You are intelligent and clever among others, brilliant in your works. You have pleasant mind and you are strong, slow in understanding but memorize for a long time. You hate cold things, always in search of warm & hot foods. You are pleased with warm and nourishing foods. You hate cold things, you always search for foods that are cooling, sweet and pacifying to your body. You like sweets the most and you often try different kinds of foods, not restricting yourselves to specific routine food. You have dry body, especially dry feet and palms. You have rough hair, nails and moustache. You have slightly coppery red palms, soles, lips, eyes, nails, tongue. You have slightly whitish greasy skin complexion, whitish eyes with reddish ends, curly thick black hair. You walk fast, grind teeth, move your legs often, wander places too much and you vision is not steady. You have wrinkled skin, may have slightly grey hairs and baldness. Your voice is pleasant, husky and attractive voice. Your voice described similarly as it is like thunder and lion’s roar. You have very prominent, bulgy veins and well seen joints. You have flabby(loose) organs, slightly yellowish in colour. You have well demarcated organs and beautifully structured and you are born beautiful. You eat a little quantity of food, many times. You have great eating capacity and like to more amount of food. You eat in moderation and not very easily tempted to foods even if you like them the most. You often suffer with problems such as cracking sounds in joints, frequent headaches, constipation & weak immunity. You often suffer with problems such as ulceration in mouth, nose bleeds and other heat issues in the body. You sleep more, you have difficulty waking up early mornings and gain weight slowly and also lose weight slowly. You can’t withstand hardships i.e., you are not easily adapted to new situations and suffer adjusting. You are short tempered, i.e., you have anger issues, you get irritated quickly and relieved quickly. You can withstand hardships and not sensuous i.e., you can adapt to new situations and adjust anywhere to any situations. You are ungrateful and unsteady in friendship. You have less friends and poor collection of wealth. You are like conquerors and possess leadership qualities, you do not easily give up easily and are not soft towards one’s who cheated on you and it’s more like a tit for tat reaction, but you are compassionate to ones who are obedient towards you. You have good friends and you are good at collecting wealth, you are grateful to one’s who help you and you show gratitude towards them for a long time but you also do not forget your enmity for long time. You will have some traits from vata, some from pitta, some from kapha. ASSESSMENT OF YOU BODY TYPE Identify your