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Ayurvedic Nutrition – An Introduction

Writer's picture: Ally MulliganAlly Mulligan

Updated: Jan 1, 2024


Ayurveda (pronounced aye-your-vay-duh), or Traditional Indian Medicine (TIM), is thought to be one of the world’s oldest health systems, originating in ancient India more than 5,000 years ago.


Similar to Traditional Chinese Medicine, which is the other oldest and more widely known system, Ayurveda is a holistic approach to health and healing, based on the concept of restoring balance in the body to achieve optimal health and mitigate disease. A central tenet is the concept that each individual’s unique constitutional make-up requires specific dietary and lifestyle behaviors to maintain physiological harmony.


When dysfunction or disease is present, the root cause is sought and methods are employed to disarm that state of imbalance and restore the body and mind to equilibrium. The focus is lifestyle-based and preventative, not merely treating symptoms after disease is already present.


Ayurveda is the sister science of yoga, based on the mind-body connection. It is this connection to yoga that shapes why I practice what I call Ayurvedic-Based Nutrition. Yoga stems from the Sanskrit root “Yuj,” meaning “to yoke” or “to unite.” According to Yogic scripture, the practice of yoga unites individual consciousness with Universal consciousness. All of this is achieved through unionizing mantra and prana (breath) by putting the body into a series of sacred geometrical shapes. The aim is self-realization.


The westernized version of yoga, however, is exercise.


And exercise is fantastic! But it’s not yoga.


I’m no sociologist, but I see a clear parallel trend with the recent adoption of Ayurveda in the U.S. Suddenly, it’s cropping up everywhere. And what are Americans doing? They are buying stuff—herbs, body care products, and weird foods that couldn’t possibly have been grown in the American climate.


Purchasing herbs and foods that travel several thousand miles to get to you inherently belies one of the basic tenets of Ayurvedic nutrition, which is to eat fresh food in season. It’s not fresh if it came by FedEx.


I don’t recommend the purchase of herbs to anyone without the guidance of a well-trained herbalist or Naturopathic Doctor, unless it is something that has easily-accessed mountains of research to back it (and many do.) But I see a lot of catch-all preparations out there for a variety of discomforts. Let’s take triphala, for example, which is widely tauted for relief of constipation.


Triphala is a combination of three herbs. And while all of them possess excellent health-promoting qualities, one of them, amla, can actually be too drying for some people and is not always recommended for constipation for all people.


I’ve seen a popular concoction recommended for daily use (and sold by monthly subscription) that includes more than twenty herbs, one of which is licorice. Licorice offers tremendous benefits, but unless it is in deglycyrrhizinated form, it also raises blood pressure in most individuals (https://www.nccih.nih.gov/health/licorice-root#). 


If you want to explore Ayurvedic-Based Nutrition, I offer a simple approach based on the philosophy of its practices rather than a specific prescription for certain foods and certainly not herbs. Ayurveda is actually a philosophical and spiritual approach to diet that was conceived through meditation. We can take this approach and apply it to foods that fit our lifestyle, palate, and geography. In other words, you won’t have to choke down traditional Ayurvedic foods like bitter gourd (I actually like it) or eat porridge (which I do NOT like) for breakfast.


Forcing yourself to eat food you find repulsive because of some doctrine is about the furthest thing from a body-mind approach that I can conceive.


There is a very popular online site that offered a free introductory course and private Facebook group. I found the dietary guidelines very strict, and in at least one case, a little off-base. The “typical” diet they recommend is limited, and in my opinion should only be used as a brief cleanse. The aforementioned porridge constitutes breakfast and kitchari (basically mung beans, vegetables, and basmati rice) or maybe a root vegetable soup constitute lunch and dinner.


I can’t get past the porridge without thinking of Oliver Twist. I simply cannot eat gruel. Moreover, I’d die of hunger. Nutritionally, this is too low in protein (although many of us get much more than we need) and, therefore, B12, calcium, and Vitamin D. I don’t think a person with insulin-resistance would do well transitioning quickly to this diet, even for a brief “cleanse,” and someone with hormonal imbalance, recovering from an illness or eating disorder, or diabetes would be unlikely to find this approach successful for them.


Even if it was more nutritionally sound, what I found striking was participation in the Facebook group. Members consistently deferred to the organizers as if they were gurus, frequently asking if thus and such a food was allowed—like they’d get in trouble if it wasn’t. As if an emotion could be gleaned from a computer screen, I felt a pervasive sense of anxiety and constant lack of self-assurance and autonomy.


Sometimes the advice was a little…um, wrong. One participant asked if fermented foods like kimchi were permitted. In case you haven’t been paying attention, the microbiome loves it some kimchi! Most of us know that foods like yogurt contain these cool things called probiotics, but the problem with probiotics is that they are susceptible to the acidic environment of the stomach and don’t stick around in the gut. There are thousands of strains of these probiotics, and those in kimchi, lactobacillus plantarum and Leuconostoc mesenteroides, are pH resistant and “sticky.” They cling to the walls of your intestinal track to create a nice defense against the icky creepy crawlies that get in there.


There are some people who may need to avoid fermented foods for a while, but for most people, the addition of naturally occurring probiotics to our diet is a good step toward intestinal health and overall immunity (Mazziotta, et al, 2023).


The group organizers responded that fermented foods are not permitted in Ayurveda because they are not fresh. Ayurveda has used fermented foods for centuries. Some familiar examples include takra (buttermilk) and lassi (a yogurt or buttermilk-based drink recommended for digestion).


But what struck me the most was a man in the group who posted a bit of a rant about how limited, boring, and unpleasant the diet was. Moreover, he cited the arduous complexity and time-consuming nature of the morning practices which included not only making the gruel from scratch, but meditation, yoga, chanting, tongue-scraping, oil-pulling, dry-brushing, and abhyanga (self-massage.)


Self-punishment is also not a body-mind practice I recommend.


Wellness practices fail when people employ them improperly and/or inconsistently. I don’t know anyone who has the time in their morning to engage in hours of routine. It sets you up for failure, frustration, and probably a bout of yo-yo dieting.


Ayurvedic-Based Nutrition


One of the problems with Ayurveda is that it can be hard for a westerner to understand. Portions of the approach like flavors and food combining (a very controversial topic, by the way) are wholly unfamiliar.


This is an attempt to disentangle the principles from what has become dogma (like eating bitter gourd and gruel), and apply those principles in a way that is practically reasonable. It starts were you’re at: if that’s pizza or Friday night margueritas and nachos, we start there and move forward in increments. We don’t douse you in mung beans and cumin seeds and expect you to be successful. Sometimes the body responds poorly to abrupt change and your brain always does (for the subject of your subconscious mind, read my blog on The Real Power of Tarot here).   


An Ayurvedic nutrition plan begins by determining your dosha. This is your unique energy, kind of like your model number. There are three and each possesses a combination of the five elements of earth, air, fire, water, and ether. The percentages that compose this elemental perfume determine whether you are considered a vata (airy), pitta (fiery), or kapha (earthy). Often people are combinations such as vata-pitta.


Your dosha provides the blueprint for your optimal dietary and lifestyle suggestions. Keeping it simple, a fiery pitta should probably lay off the jalapeños on nacho night, while a vata person, who is airy and easily distracted, would benefit from foods rich in omega-3s that help the brain focus, like wild salmon.


I do not offer a dosha quiz here; there are tons already out there. I recommend you take several, because some of them ask poorly-worded questions that give you an off-base answer. If you keep getting generally the same dosha, and most importantly, the answer resonates with you, that is your dosha! Just remember that it shifts with life stages, illness, and even your moods. While you generally are what you are, you are also a completely fluid being!


From here we can go on to formulate a plan that works for you. I firmly believe that health starts on the plate, that what we consume literally becomes the fabric of our thoughts and cells in our body. Every meal is an opportunity for emotional and cellular renewal.


Some basic principles follow:


1.Eat as regularly as possible


In Ayurveda you are not “what you eat” but rather “what you digest.” The field of gastroenterology supports the idea of scheduled meal times. Flexibility is a reality, but try to stick to reasonable windows.


This also means coming to terms with snacking. There is a big movement in nutrition now to demonize snacking. In fact, snacking behavior is one of the true identifiable reasons behind our obesity epidemic (Aljefree, et al, 2022). That said, some of us (by some of us, I mean me!) get positively inhuman by 5 pm if we haven’t had an afternoon snack. Again, a scheduled, healthy snack is fine. Do what works for you!


2.Ditch the calorie counting


Food quality, a balanced plate, and portion control are all in, but calories are out. If you learn how to build a balanced plate (or bowl) with healthful, quality food, you don’t need to count calories. It’s very last year.


3.There are no bad foods


That said, I will challenge you to consider what real food is. Arguably real food is not Cool Whip or gas station frozen pizza, but have you considered your store-bought bread? Your chicken breast? Impossible burgers? I’m not advocating that you eat only organic, free-range foods that were raised or grown in a manger, but I do want you to really examine your choices when it is feasible.


4.Try to Eat in Peace


There is something to be said for candlelight and attractive place mats. There is also something to be said for the concept of saying grace—whatever that means to you. A brief moment of gratitude sets a true meal apart from a mere instance of feeding. You’re not a veal being fattened; take a pause and create mindfulness around the act of nourishing yourself.


5.Consider Flavors


This gets complex because it’s so different from how we understand eating and cooking in the west. Our taste buds are wired to respond to five flavors:  sweet, sour, salty, bitter or umami (which is savory and pungent, like parmesan cheese or anchovies.) Some scientists have argued that fat itself is a taste, which has only strengthened the processed food industry’s determination to poison us with more varied sources of it. The first ingredient in an Impossible Burger is fat in the forms of coconut and canola oils, for example.


Indeed, our food industry has capitalized on our human wiring’s affinity for fat, salt, and sugar. Our foods contain hyper-concentrated amounts of manufactured flavors specifically designed to create addiction.


In Ayurveda, the intent is to turn down the dial on the intensity. Hyperpalatable (or, what we perceive to be palatable at first or if we become addicted to it) food is not healthy. Ayurveda attempts to combat this by balancing all favors in a meal so that no one flavor dominates. Taste is prioritized as a means to conferring physiological effects on the body, so achieving a balance of tastes in important.


In addition to sweet, sour, salty, and bitter, Ayurveda replaces umami with astringent (pomegranate, cilantro) and pungent (onions, chiles). Sweet foods include foods we don’t, in western culture, consider sweet. Rice is an example. Every taste has a list of foods, its benefits, and problems associated with excess.


Without delving into the nuances of this here, the point is to use flavor to build a balanced plate that doesn’t trick us into dependency on any one food group. This method also contributes to healthy digestion.

6.Eat the Right Combination of Foods


Food combining is a central theme in Ayurveda. Many holistic practitioners recommend food combining to people with digestive issues. A licensed dietician or doctor is most likely going to tell you that there is no scientific basis to support this practice. Biochemically, your body is designed to process food in any combination. Whether this is compromised in an individual with a digestive disorder, and whether or not that individual could be helped with food combining, simply has no research to back it.


That said, lots of things that have no research because no one wanted to fund a study are actually good for you. This is a complex issue I’m still examining and will write more on later. But there is another essential dogma in Ayurveda known as “It Depends,” meaning, simply, that everyone is different.


Bio-individual nutrition is the wave of the future in nutrition science. Whether or not food combining is for you, then, simply depends on whether or not it makes you feel better.  


Ayurvedic food combining will be discussed in a future post.

 

You have the power to make a new choice every time you eat—one that is truly nourishing, pleasurable, and supportive of harmony and balance for your body and mind.

 

Sources:


Aljefree NM, Shatwan IM, Almoraie NM. Impact of the Intake of Snacks and Lifestyle Behaviors on Obesity among University Students Living in Jeddah, Saudi Arabia. Healthcare (Basel). 2022 Feb 21;10(2):400. doi: 10.3390/healthcare10020400. PMID: 35207013; PMCID: PMC8872185.


Mazziotta C, Tognon M, Martini F, Torreggiani E, Rotondo JC. Probiotics Mechanism of Action on Immune Cells and Beneficial Effects on Human Health. Cells. 2023 Jan 2;12(1):184. doi: 10.3390/cells12010184. PMID: 36611977; PMCID: PMC9818925.

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