Yogi Baba Prem

Ayurvedic Eating and Food Combining Philosophy

By Yogi Baba Prem Yogacharya, Vedavisharada

This educational sheet is not intended to be used to diagnose or prescribe. It is intended to educate about the traditional and historical views of Ayurveda. Consult with a doctor before implementing any of these philosophies. These are tri-doshic combinations and do not address specific problems that might appear with each dosha.

In the quest for improved health, we have engaged modern technology to address our dietary needs with mechanisms such as juicers and other technologically advanced machines. While these machines are beneficial, in reality, these systems are attempting to reproduce elements of the ancient Ayurvedic philosophy. As an example, many people have a juicer (I have one); they were the rage in the late 80’s and 90’s. But for many people, they became little more than an expensive dust collector. This was often due to the time required to cleanse the juicer after using it. While it only takes a few minutes to clean the juicer, this has become a time consuming process in our mobile society; resulting often in merely ‘shelving’ the juicer. But what most people don’t realize is that the juicer was just an attempt to recreate our own personal juicer—chewing. Granted the modern juicer is in many ways more effective at juicing than chewing; likewise, it is important to note that chewing provides some important additional elements to the digestive process that the juicer simply cannot. In the juicers defense one might argue that liquids are more easily digested than plant cellulose, which would be true, but the actual plant material provides important nutrients that are lost in juicing such as different types of fiber. Additionally, our saliva provides important enzymes to begin the digestion process. So even with juicing, it would be beneficial to chew the juice or hold it in the mouth a few seconds to allow saliva to mix with the juice.

Ayurvedic teachings view chewing as very important to the digestive process and consider chewing an important first step in reducing potential ama production. Ama is a toxin produced by poor or inadequate digestion. In Ayurveda, it is believed that the disease process begins with ama accumulation. In Ayurvedic philosophy, each bite we take should be chewed approximately 32 times. If one were to take the time to chew one bite 32 times, they would quickly observe that the food is almost in a liquid state. Better mastication allows for better digestion of the food, and should improve absorption of nutrients, barring any additional digestive disorders; as well as reducing potential ama buildup in the digestive tract. Taking the time to chew each bite allows the digestive process to begin with the saturation of food with saliva; this begins the digestive process before the food has moved into the main digestive tract. Proper mastication is critical for the digestive process, as the most common foods consumed are extremely hard to digest—vegetables and meats; as many people are surprised to learn that plant cellulose is almost as difficult to digest as meat. Therefore, a key component to our digestion is not just making food small enough to swallow, but involves reducing it to almost a liquid form.

Ayurveda also recognizes a connection between emotions and digestion, as ayurveda recommends that no one should eat while angry or upset as this deranges the digestive tract, as well as potentially leading to ama formation within the digestive tract. Emotional states tend to stimulate a faster eating response, and even stimulate some people to make poor food choices. Modern society has recognized the link between emotions and eating with terms such as “emotional eater” and “foodaholic”. Ideally our emotions when eating should be calm, relaxed and focused on the sacredness of the food, as food is a gift from nature. Allowing our eyes to digest the beauty of meal signals the body to prepare for digestion. The aroma of the food stimulates the brain and continues to prepare the body for digestion. Likewise, recognizing that the food we are about to eat is a literal offering to the digestive fire for the health of the mind and body. This mentality eventually returns us to an awareness of the sacredness of meals. Each meal is time set aside to nourish and nurture a healthy mind and body, which is the vehicle of the soul.

Within the Ayurvedic teachings there are specific foods that are balancing and unbalancing to each body and mind type. While this is too complex an issue for examination here, it would be advantageous for each person to obtain a minimum Ayurvedic dosha evaluation and counseling on the most balancing foods and lifestyle routines for themselves, but until one can make an appointment with an Ayurvedic practitioner, they can follow some general food combining philosophies. These are only general guidelines that consider what may be viewed as more toxic or ama producing combinations:

Fruit: Fruit is best eaten alone. It can be combined with whole grains, such as wheat or rice. It can be used with several cereals. It does not combine well with vegetables. Sweet fruit can be combined with milk and yogurt.

Vegetables: Vegetables combine well with most foods, exceptions being fruit. Cabbage family vegetables combine well with grains such pasta and rice.

Grains: Grains combine well with most foods. They combine well in small portions with milk, vegetables, nuts, fruits, and animal proteins. Milk, nuts and grains do not combine well when all three are used at the same time.

Legumes: Beans combine poorly with dairy, fruit and sugary foods. Generally, legumes can be combined with grains or vegetables. Please note: within Ayurveda peanuts are considered to be legumes and not a nut.

Nuts & Seeds: Nuts and seeds do not combine well with fruits, or dairy products such as milk, yogurt, and cheese. They also do not combine well with beans or potatoes or other starchy vegetables. They should be limited with sugar or sweet foods also.

Dairy: As a general rule it does combine well with whole grains or unprocessed sugars. Salt does not combine well with butter, purchase butter that does not have salt added. Milk does not combine well with nuts, yeast containing breads, fruit especially sour types of fruit, meat, fish, leafy vegetables, or fermented foods including pickles and pickled foods. Yogurt in particular does not combine well with nuts, meat/fish, and sour fruits. Ghee combines better with vegetables and legumes and breads.

Meat: Meat combined with milk is considered too toxic for spiritual growth and to foster growth of toxins in the body. Meat is not believed to mix with bread or potatoes, which sheds light on the western diet of meat and potatoes. It is best to try and antidote meat with vegetables, especially leafy green ones. Spices can help also.

Sugars: Sugars are difficult to combine. Sweet and salty taste should not be combined together. Sweet taste should be taken first. Sugars do combine well with milk. Note: this is not to imply that natural sugars that occur within vegetables are a problem. This is more with in reference to refined sugars.

The previous list may lead to some confusion, as Ayurveda does teach that we need all six tastes (sweet, sour, pungent, astringent, salty, and bitter) within a meal. It is important to note that tastes and food combinations are two different issues. As an example a food item may contain several different tastes or flavors within it such as an apple maybe sweet but the peel may be slightly astringent. So it is important to make sure that all six tastes are present within our meals. Ironically in the west, we favor eating foods in the opposite order that Ayurveda would favor; Ayurveda teaches that the sweet taste would be better at the beginning of the meal as sweet stimulates digestion, and bitter tastes would be better at the end of the meal, as the bitter taste signals to the body the end of the eating process. So a small dessert at the beginning and salad at the end of a meal would be more beneficial.

Even a brief examination reveals that the common western diet is filled with them unbalanced combinations, especially the common “meat and potatoes” meal. In some areas of India, mono-diets are recommended to improve digestive health. A mono-diet is eating only one food for a period of time. This should not be undertaken without consulting with an appropriate Ayurveda counselor or doctor. A traditional and nutritional food for weak digestion is ‘mung beans and rice’. A variety of recipes can be found on the Internet for mung beans and rice. If the digestive system is weak, it is wise to consult with an Ayurvedic practitioner as to which recipe would be best. It may not be possible for the novice to eliminate all contraindicated food combinations; to start one can examine their diet making a list of all the foods they have in a meal and reduce the most profound combinations, or ones that occur most frequently. Small steps can make a big difference over time.