Ayurvedic Nutrition

Ayurvedic Nutrition Tips

Eat your way to health

Food's purpose is to supply our body with building blocks and essential substances like vitamins, minerals, and trace elements, and to meet our energy needs. However, the Ayurvedic understanding of nutrition goes much further, describing holistic approaches and principles that are not even known in modern nutritional science. According to Ayurveda, to best nourish the body, not only the quality of food is important, but also the way it is prepared and the functioning of our digestive system. The basis of good health begins with digestion, it is said in Ayurvedic texts. It is therefore important that our food is well metabolized. In Ayurvedic health teachings, food is even described as being as significant as medicine; Ayurveda uses nutrition as a therapeutic approach for treatment and prevention and as a valuable means to bring the Doshas back into balance.

Individual nutrition suggestions

Ayurvedic nutrition science therefore always recommends individual nutrition in addition to general dietary rules, taking into account the Dosha type, age, digestive strength, season and time of day, environment, and current state of health. Food and flavors are also classified according to their effect on the three Doshas, making it possible to specifically use foods for a health-promoting Dosha balance and to ensure that mind and body are optimally nourished. According to Ayurveda, eating the right things in the right amounts at the right time and in a good way can greatly contribute to preventing diseases and slowing down the aging process. We have therefore compiled some Ayurvedic tips for you on this page that are sure to be beneficial to your health and help you prevent diseases.

10 Tips for Ayurvedic Nutrition

If you want to do something good for yourself and change your diet, it's best to proceed step by step. Start with one or two points that can be easily integrated into your life. Only when these have proven effective should you address further points.

1. Only eat when you are hungry Trust your hunger. Only eat when you genuinely feel hungry and when the previous meal has been fully digested (approx. 3-5 hours after a main meal). Do not overeat. Your stomach should only be about 3/4 full after eating.
2. Maintain regular meal times Always eat at approximately the same time of day. Lunch should be the main meal, breakfast and dinner should be light. It is ideal to eat lunch around 12:00 PM, because the digestive fire ("Agni") is particularly strong at this time. Also eat dinner early (6:00 PM, no later than 7:00 PM) and avoid heavy foods in the evening such as meat, sausage, fish, yogurt, cheese, buttermilk, quark, or similar protein-rich dishes. These burden the organism and your sleep may be disturbed. Avoid snacks if you are not hungry.
3. Eat in a relaxed atmosphere Eat in a quiet and relaxed atmosphere. You should not read, work, or watch television while eating. Always sit down to eat. After eating, you should allow yourself 5-10 minutes of quiet sitting or even rest lying down for a short time so that your body can fully dedicate itself to the upcoming digestion.
4. Pay attention to the right pace Don't eat too fast or too slow. Chew thoroughly.
5. Prepare your food fresh The food should be freshly prepared, tasty, digestible, and warm. Avoid reheated or stale food. Prefer fresh, whole, organic foods.
6. Primarily consume cooked foods Most of the food should be cooked, as the body can absorb cooked food more easily. Raw food should rather be a side dish (salad). Honey should not be heated or used for cooking or baking.
7. More than an "extra": Refine your dishes with the right seasoning Use appropriate spices, as the taste of food is important and health-promoting. Spices often also support the digestive process. They can be used specifically to improve the Dosha balance. Vata, Pitta, or Kapha Churnas are particularly recommended for this. To maintain our Dosha balance, every meal should ideally contain all six tastes. Spices can provide valuable services here.
8. Drink mainly warm beverages and not too much with a meal Liquids such as water, juice, or lassi can be drunk in small sips during the meal. If you want to drink more, you should keep an hour's distance from meals. Hot/warm drinks are preferable, ice-cold ones should be avoided. Milk should not be drunk with meals. However, it combines well with toast, grain products, and sweet-tasting foods.
9. Eat according to your Dosha type In addition to these general dietary recommendations, type-specific nutrition plays a central role in Ayurveda. This is individually tailored taking into account the personal Dosha balance and digestive strength (Agni).
10. Use Ayurvedic food supplements Supplement your diet with food supplements. Depending on their composition, you can also use them specifically to better balance your Dosha equilibrium.

The digestive fire Agni in Ayurveda

How well our body utilizes the nutrients contained in food thus largely depends on our digestion. In Ayurveda, we use the much broader term Agni, which can be translated as digestive fire or digestive strength and acts throughout our mind-body system. According to Ayurveda, Agni not only controls digestive activity in the gastrointestinal tract but also regulates the entire metabolism and the utilization of food components down to every single body cell. The stronger the individual digestive power, the better the utilization of food and the fewer waste products are produced in the metabolism. To prevent diseases and enable a long life in health, Ayurveda experts recommend always adapting the diet to the personal digestive power. While people with strong, powerful Agni can certainly tolerate heavier foods, these can lead to a feeling of fullness and other complaints in people with weaker Agni. The strength of Agni also largely depends on the balance of the three Doshas.

Doshas as a guide to type-specific Ayurvedic nutrition

A balanced equilibrium of the three Doshas Vata, Pitta, and Kapha is, according to Ayurveda, the best basis for a life of health and well-being. Depending on which Dosha dominates, we distinguish between Vata-, Pitta-, and Kapha types in Ayurveda.

An initial orientation on the proportion of the three Doshas in your constitution is provided by our Dosha test. The different manifestations of the various Doshas are also reflected in a person's Agni and digestion. While people with a Pitta-dominated Dosha usually enjoy strong Agni, Kapha types tend to have weaker Agni. Fluctuations in Agni and digestion are typical for a Vata dominance. You can support your Dosha balance by choosing and preparing your food according to your Dosha type and the season. If you are a mixed type of two or three Dosha types, you should primarily orient yourself to the dominant Dosha. Type-specific nutrition means:

• the right amount
• the right selection and combination of foods
• suitable spices
• the optimal preparation

As a Vata type, you should eat regularly. To compensate for the cold and dryness of the Vata Dosha, warm, not too dry foods that are well-cooked and to which you can gladly add some ghee or oil are recommended. Drinks should also be warm. Sweet, sour, and salty foods have a balancing effect. Vata-calming are all sweet and warming spices: anise, fennel, cumin, fresh ginger, mustard seeds, fenugreek, cinnamon, cardamom, licorice, asafoetida, cloves, black pepper (in small quantities), basil, and salt. Other spices in small quantities. Pungent, bitter, and astringent foods should only be consumed in moderation.

As a Pitta type, you should not consume your food and drinks too hot. Cook your food well. People with a Pitta-dominated Dosha should pay attention to fixed meal times and adhere to them promptly. Pitta types should rather avoid fasting for weight loss and raw vegetables. Sweet, bitter, and astringent foods and spices have a balancing effect on the fiery Pitta Dosha. These include, for example, artichokes, asparagus, spinach, broccoli, and zucchini. For seasoning, coriander, cumin, turmeric, saffron, fennel, cinnamon, cloves, cardamom, and small amounts of ginger are suitable, among others. For fruit, you can also gladly choose sweet fruits like grapes, bananas, figs, and apricots.

As a Kapha type, you should prefer light, warm dishes and not eat too much, especially not in the evening. In general, use little salt. Warm and dry, i.e., low-fat, foods are particularly recommended. Pungent, bitter, and astringent foods and spices have a balancing effect on the Kapha Dosha. Pepper and ginger, for example, provide good seasoning. For dairy products, you should choose light options like lassi and buttermilk. Please use heavy dairy products like ghee and whole milk sparingly.

Foods that are particularly recommended:

Foods you should rather avoid

Would you like to learn more about how to achieve a better Dosha balance with the right diet and thus prevent diseases in the long term? Then we recommend our article "Diet tips for your Dosha type" as well as the recording of our webinar "The right diet for every Dosha type", in which our Indian experts Dr. Richa Shrivastava and Vaidya Saurabh Sharma have compiled the most important tips for you.

Hot Water in Ayurveda

Water holds a special place in Ayurveda. For thousands of years, it has been considered an important building block for a healthy life. However, it should not be drunk cold, as this would weaken our Agni. Therefore, it should be drunk warm or hot.

According to Ayurvedic understanding, hot water can

• improve Dosha balance
• strengthen Agni
• improve the transport of nutrients in the body
• promote cleansing processes in the body
• accelerate the elimination of waste products
• prevent false hunger pangs
• strengthen energy levels

To enhance the quality of the water, change its structure, make it softer, and enable it to flush water-soluble pollutants from the body, it is first boiled vigorously for ten minutes in an open pot. How, our article "What you should know about hot water" tells you. How much water you should drink depending on your Dosha type and what else hot water can do is also shown in the recording of our webinar

"Ayurveda and hot water"

Book recommendation

Guide by Dr. med. Ernst Schrott with many recommendations for food choices for each Dosha type: "Ayurveda for Every Day"