5000+ years old Ayurveda says our overall health is determined by what we eat. Ayurveda is a science in -life that signifies health as a balance of dhatus (tissues), doshas, agni (eliminating toxins), and a pleased mind. Food is the prime ingredient to keep all these health indicators balanced.
How are dhatus, agni, and digestion connected?
The digestion process in Ayurveda comprises assimilation, absorption, and elimination. These all revolve around Agni which transforms food into energy, provides nourishment to the dhatus, and works as a support system for the body. If Agni gets diturbed, it starts imbalancing energies and leads to diseases.
There are seven dhatus (tissues) including Rakta (blood), Rasa (plasma), Meda (fat), Mamsa (muscle), Asthi (bone), Majja (bone-marrow) and Shukra (reproductive fluid).
The food we eat first converts into rasa and in the descending order shukra. Everything goes right but it turns wrong when incompatible food (viruddha anna) is consumed. Wrong diet interrupts our metabolism and subsequent tissues do not get ample nourishment.
Which food combinations are bad that we should avoid?
Bad food combinations or viruddha ahara (mismatch of Vipaka, Guna, Virya, Prabhava) may lead to disturbance of agni, poor digestion, ama accumulation, vitiation of dhatus, and channels obstruction. This does not allow you to gain adequate nourishment.
Avoid food combinations, including:
- Milk is not compatible with fruits, melons, sour fruits, and bananas. It should not be consumed with salty items such as samosa/paratha/khichadi. Don’t boil it with tea.
- Grains should not be consumed with Tapioca and Fruits.
- One should not consume fruits and milk with vegetables.
- Beans are the wrong combination with eggs, milk, fish, fruits, yogurt, and meat.
- Yogurt is to be avoided with cheese, hot drinks, sour fruits, milk, mangoes, nightshades, beans, eggs, fish.
- Fat and proteins are mismatched foods as they need different digestive juices.
- Cheese cannot be paired with eggs, fruits, hot drinks, milk, beans, yogurt.
- Proteins are not compatible with starches and their collective consumption may result in delayed digestion.
- Nightshades (tomato, potato, etc) are not compatible with fruits like cucumber, melon, and dairy products.
- Milk, yogurt, tomatoes, and cucumber are incompatible with lemons.
Ayurveda suggests a long list of wrong food combinations. The list can guide you towards bad choices of food. By abandoning these bad combinations, you can avoid fermentation, indigestion, and putrefaction. For more guidance, you can consult a registered Ayurvedic practitioner.
Eat right to live healthy!
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