Whenever we are not well and visit a doctor, he generally suggests a blood check-up and if someone is diagnosed with some deficiency related to protein, vitamin, minerals etc our entire focus shifts on having that food which are rich in those particular nutrients, we feel that by having these food in large quantity we will be able to replenish nutritional deficiency in body but have you ever thought that in the same family of yours other adult person who is having same food as you but not suffering from deficiency of the same nutrients.
The reason can be our own metabolism which is not able to extract the vital nutrients from your daily food . Unlike modern understanding of nutritional aspect of food, Ayurveda follows a slightly different approach in which having food is not enough, one has to know the below mentioned factors in order to understand the nutritional aspect of the food.
1. Prakriti (Nature)- Every food has some basic nature which may be heavy, light, cold, hot, etc and generally we link this nature of theirs with their nutritional value but below mentioned factors can completely change their nature.
2. Karan ( Processing) – This factor can entirely change the property of food, like simply adding some water into curd followed by churning and making buttermilk entirely changes property of curd. As curd is known for causing obstruction of channels, water retention in the body where as buttermilk is known for removing blockage and water retention from the body.
3. Samyoga(Combination) – This can be explained by a simple example of Honey and Ghee, both are excellent for body but in Ayurveda it is clearly mentioned that when taken together in equal proportion it proves toxic for the body. This shows the combination of two good foods can prove harmful for the body, so knowledge regarding the combination of food is essential.
4. Rashi (Quantity) – One should eat until the feeling of satiety arrives, which can be easily understood if one eats with full attention towards the food.
5 & 6. Desh & Kaal (Place & time) – both these factors can be understood by taking into the fact that nature gives everything as per location and season. One should eat what is available in a particular season in that particular place rather than having something which is exotic.
7. Upoyog Samantha ( dietetic rules ) – One should follow this simple rule which says eat when hungry and drink when thirsty. One should understand that no matter how good food you are eating, but if you are eating it without feeling hunger then it won’t serve any purpose.
8. Upayukta (person consuming food) – The same food can have an entirely different effect on two different individuals. For, eg, if someone is habitual of spicy food he won’t be facing any problems with that whereas for someone it might cause high discomfort. So we can clearly understand that it’s not only food which matters but these 8 factors are very much important in deciding the nutritional aspect of the food