David Frawley Ayurvedic Healing - A Comprehensive Guide

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Ayurvedic Healing - A Comprehensive Guide of David Frawley Publisher: Motilal Banarsidass Publishers

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am food, I am the eater of food, and I eat the eater of food. I Iconsume the entire universe. My light is like the Sun.

Taittiriya Upanishad 11.9.6PRIVATE

1.6 AYURVEDIC
DIET Personalizing Your Dietary Regimen
Dietary Therapy Right diet is the main factor in the treatment of the physical body that is built up by food. Without changing our diet we cannot expect the body, which is its product, to change fundamentally whatever else we may attempt.Wrong diet is the main physical cause of disease. By correcting the diet, we eliminate the fundamental causes of disease. In its constitutional approach, Ayurveda emphasizes the correct diet for the individual as the basis for health. Herbs and foods follow the same energetics and can be looked at according to the same principles. Both involve taste, energy, elements and doshas. Herbs provide subtle nutrition while foods provide more gross or substantial nourishment. Herbal therapy also requires the support of the proper diet to be effective. Diet can enhance, or counter, the effect of healing herbs. Generally, an inharmonious diet will either neutralize or greatly limit the effect of the right herbs and render them ultimately ineffective. Diet can be an effective treatment in itself. Though dietary results are slower to manifest, over a period of time they are as certain as herbs. Dietary treatment is usually the safest therapy. It can be used by itself when herbal knowledge may not be adequate for a proper prescription. Diet is the essence of effective self-care. Ayurveda is concerned primarily with the energetics of food as a means of balancing the doshas. It is not as concerned with the specific nutritional requirements, the actual mineral, vitamin and chemical content of food. From its view there is no standard diet for everyone, or any minimum daily requirements. Its concern is that the food we take in, and the manner in which we take it, is hi harmony with our nature. Its primary classification of food is according to the doshas. This affords us a simple yet comprehensive understanding of what is good for us and why. 79

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Ayurvedic Healing
DIET AND THE MIND

In Vedantic philosophy the mind is considered to be the essence of food. The Upanishads state, "The food that is eaten is divided threefold. The gross part becomes excrement. The middle part becomes flesh. The subtle part becomes the mind." (Chandogya Upanishad VI.4.1.) According to the common adage, "We are what we eat." What we eat affects our emotions and can create a predisposition for both psychological and physical disorders. Just as wrong emotions can upset our digestion, so wrong digestion can upset our emotions. We should consider also the spiritual qualities of the food we take in. Does it enhance our mental processes and peace of mind? Or is it disturbing? It is for this reason that meat, however nourishing, is not a good food. It has the energy of death and brings the forces of violence and decay, and the negative emotions of fear and hatred along with it The Upanishads also tell us, "The water that is drunk is divided threefold. The gross part becomes urine. The middle part becomes blood. The subtle part becomes the life-force." (Chandogya Upanishad VI.4.2.) What we drink nourishes our life-force. Drinking stale water, such as tap water or distilled water, and drinking alcohol, coffee or other stimulating beverages, will disturb our prana and 'derange our emotions and thoughts.
AYURVEDIC PRINCIPLES OF DIETETICS

While care should be taken about the nature of food, other factors of food intake should be considered as well. These include right preparation of food, right combination of foods, right amount of food, right frequency of meals and right times and places for eating. Right emotional or mental state is necessary; good food taken in a bad mood or ill dosha can cause disease. Also important is right attitude in the person preparing the food, which should be done with care and good feelings.
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1.6 Ayurvedic Diet

SEASONS

The diet should be adjustable for climate and seasonal variations. An anti-Vata diet should be given emphasis in the fall. An anti-Pitta diet should be followed more in the summer and late spring. An anti-Kapha diet should be followed more in the winter and hi early spring. Individuals whose constitutions are equal in two of the doshas, what we call dual types, should vary their diet by season. Vata-Pitta types should follow an anti-Vata diet more in the fall and winter and anti-Pitta in the spring and summer. Vata-Kapha types should follow an anti-Vata diet in the summer and fall and anti-Kapha in the winter and spring. Pitta-Kapha types should follow an anti-Pitta diet in summer and fall and anti-Kapha hi winter and spring.
CLIMATE

An anti-Vata diet is more appropriate to cold, dry, windy cli mates, like the high desert or high plains regions. An anti-Pitta diet is more suitable for hot climates including the southern United States and the lower desert of the south west. An anti-Kapha diet is more appropriate in damp and cold regions like the Midwest, most of the east and northeast, and the Pacific northwest. Just like dual constitutions, dual climates also exist. The hot desert is a Pitta-Vata climate, while the southeast is largely a Pitta-Kapha climate.
AGE AND SEX

In old age an anti-Vata diet is more appropriate. In middle age an anti-Pitta diet is better. In childhood an anti-Kapha diet should be given special consideration. Men should consider a more anti-Pitta diet because male energy is more Pitta (fiery). Women should consider a more anti-Kapha diet because female energy is

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Ayurvedic Healing
more Kapha (water). Such general factors, however, should enhance, not replace, the basic diet for balancing one's dosha.
QUALITIES OF FOOD

Food is usually neutral, neither too hot nor too cold in energy. For this reason the heating or cooling effects of foods are mild. For heating or cooling to manifest, either large quantities or long-term consumption is necessary. Foods can be made hot by cooking and by the addition of spices; colder by taking them cold or raw. Anything very hot, like pepper, or very cold, like bitter herbs, cannot have much food value. Foods are primarily heavy or light, though most tend to be heavy. It can be made lighter through the use of spices or by consuming less. Foods also are drying or moistening; most often they are moistening. They can be made drier by evaporation or drypreparing them. They can be made moister by cooking or by the addition of liquids or oils.
DIETS FOR THE THREE DOSHAS For the treatment of most diseases the diet prescribed will be opposite in nature to the dosha causing the disease. It will generally be the same diet as that for one's constitutional dosha; the diseases we get are usually caused by it. These diets should be applied considering the variations mentioned above and according to the proper dietetics. It is not only the types of foods we have to watch, but also our manner of eating. Nor is it just a simple matter of avoiding the food that is bad for us. We must also improve our digestion through the use of spices, herbs and other regimens. Without these aids even the food that is good for us may not be digestible. It should be noted that the quality of foods varies according to freshness, preparation and combination, as well as other factors already mentioned. The system presented here is only a general guideline. Some difference of opinion as to food quality may exist among different practitioners (even more so than about the quality of herbs). 82

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1.6 Ayurvedic Diet Classification is also according to food categories. Each food type has its general degree of increasing or decreasing the dosha. When both the category and the specific food are high for increasing a dosha, the effect is greater. Foods not listed can generally be judged by category or by comparing them to related foods. Foods are classified according to different degrees of increasing or reducing the doshas: * low degree, ** high degree.
Therefore, under the YES column: * low degree for reducing the dosha ** high degree for reducing the dosha Under the NO column, a food marked: * low degree for increasing the dosha ** high degree for increasing the dosha

The best foods for each dosha are marked ** in the yes column. The worst foods are marked ** in the no column. A food that is * on the no column, for example, may be taken occasionally, or easily antidoted. On the other hand, a food marked ** on the no column should be generally avoided. Our predominant diet is what matters; we have some latitude within that field, except when we are very ill. Often the qualities of foods can be balanced by using the appropriate spices and condiments, particularly when their dosha aggravating affects are low. ANTI-VATA DIET Diet for Decreasing the Biological Air Humor
GENERAL CONSIDERATIONS

Vata types are most likely to suffer from emaciation, malnourishment or wasting away of tissues. Therefore dietary therapy, improving food quality and quantity, is one of the most important treatments for all Vata disorders. Vata types should generally try to eat more food and eat more frequently. They require a calming, grounding, nourishing diet. Food should be warm, heavy, moistening and strengthening.
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David Frawley

Ayurvedic Healing - A Comprehensive Guide

458 pages, publication 1992

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