Balanced nutrition is essential to maintaining overall good health, but it also can affect your capacity to cope with stress. When you are going through a period of stress, you need more of all nutrients, particularly the B vitamins, which affect the nervous system, and calcium, which is needed to counteract the lactic acid your tense muscles produce. Likewise, if you are lacking nutrients, your body will not be equipped to handle stress effectively.

Eat a variety of foods to ensure that you consume all of the forty to sixty nutrients you need to stay healthy. These include vitamins, minerals, amino acids (from proteins), essential fatty acids (from vegetable oil and animal fat), and energy from carbohydrates, protein, and fat. While most foods contain more than one nutrient, no single food provides adequate amounts of all nutrients. More information on your daily vitamin and mineral requirements can be found here.

Ayurvedic nutrition is a vast topic that includes the various aspects like, individual constitution, diet, food substances and their properties, cooking, use of spices, the theory of shad rasa (six tastes), and many more. It is a complete science that deals with the foods and the use of foods to establish balance and health in the body and mind. Ayurveda believes that the proper use of food leads to establishing optimum digestion, the formation of healthy tissues in the body and a clear and pure mind and poor nutrition is the root cause of diseases.

Unlike the other modern theories, Ayurveda nutritional approach is individual oriented. It believes no one diet is suitable for all as every individual is unique in his/her body constitution (dosha). The individual’s body metabolism is different and accordingly his/her way of assimilating and digesting food differs. It is essential for an individual to choose the foods that have the opposite qualities to those that are already predominant in the constitution. In Ayurveda food, drinks, and spices are classified according to their taste, the gunas, the energetic effect they have on the doshas, as well as their post-digestive effect on the tissues. All the foods are included in individual’s diet according to the dosha. Dosha is also closely inter-linked with season as every season has it correspondence dosha.

Simply put diet is sum of substances we intake to energize our body or to make it work. According to Ayurveda, there is not one diet suitable for everyone as every individual has unique body constitution. Different food substances hold different properties that may be useful for one but can cause harm to other. If we know the properties of foods, we can use them as a powerful mean to bring about balance, health and happiness in our life. Hence, Ayurvedic diet is uniquely designed for every individual considering his/her specific needs.

• The natural properties of food substance and how they can be altered
• The effects of combining foods or the compatibility of different foods.
• The quantity of food intake.
• The places and climate where the food is grown, prepared and consumed.
• Seasons and time of day when food is consumed.
• Avoid the use of artificial flavors, chemicals, preservatives and colours.

1. Eat in accordance with your hunger level. Avoid eating when not feel hungry, similarly do not delay or skip meals.
2. Try to have your meal at approximately the same time every day.
3. Breakfast is important meal of the day so do not skip it. But it should be light, just enough to make you charged till lunch. Fresh fruits, sprouts, milk, whole grain cereals etc serve excellently as breakfast. Lunch, which is the most important meal of the day, should be the largest. According to Ayurveda, our digestive fire or Agni works best during this period of day hence food is easily digested. It should include lentils, whole wheat breads, grains, vegetables and other food items that provide protein, and fuel your activities throughout the day. The ideal time for lunch is from 12 Noon to 2:00 p.m.
4. Eat in accordance with your hunger level. Avoid eating when not feel hungry, similarly do not delay or skip meals.
5. Try to have your meal at approximately the same time every day.

6. Breakfast is important meal of the day so do not skip it. But it should be light, just enough to make you charged till lunch. Fresh fruits, sprouts, milk, whole grain cereals etc serve excellently as breakfast.
7. Lunch, which is the most important meal of the day, should be the largest. According to Ayurveda, our digestive fire or Agni works best during this period of day hence food is easily digested. It should include lentils, whole wheat breads, grains, vegetables and other food items that provide protein, and fuel your activities throughout the day. The ideal time for lunch is from 12 Noon to 2:00 p.m.
8. Dinner the last meal of the day should be light and must consumed at least three hours before bed. It should be preferably relaxing without too heavy curries or gravies.
9. Do not try to gulp your food, eat at a moderate pace and chew the food thoroughly. It is important to remember that digestion begins in the mouth, and the stomach has no teeth.
10. Do not over or under eat, as both are harmful for your health. Overeating cause heaviness, lethargy and obesity while under eating lack you from requisite nutrition and cause many health problems.

11. Keep a healthy gap between two meals. Eat when the previous meal is digested. This usually takes 3-6 hours.
12. Ayurveda explains 6 tastes of foods: sweet, sour, salty, pungent, bitter, and astringent. It recommends the use of all tastes in a meal as each taste nourish the body, mind, senses, and spirit in its own unique way.
13. Eat in a settled, calm atmosphere and avoid reading, T.V., or driving while eating. Let your mind and body enjoy the flavors, textures, and aromas of food.
14. Try to avoid consuming liquids with your meal. If you want to have, then take warm or room temperature liquids only. The chilled, cold liquids suppress your digestive fire and disturb the digestion process.
15. After finishing your meal, sit comfortably for some time. It ensures the uninterrupted digestive process.
16. Take a short walk after a meal helps your body to digest the meal more efficiently. There should be ten minutes gap between meal and walk. Traditionally it is recommended to take at least 100 steps.
17. Milk is important part of a healthy diet. It should be taken either alone or with other sweet tastes. Boiling milk with a pinch of spice, such as cinnamon, ginger, or turmeric, add extra taste and values to it. Milk should be consumed warm. Never take milk with meat, fish, sour foods, vegetables, salt, or eggs.
18. Include freshly prepared fruit and vegetable juices in your daily diet. While raw vegetables can aggravate Vata, juices are an excellent source of nutrition for all doshas, and Prana (vital life energy) as well.
19. Ayurveda generally recommends a lacto-vegetarian diet for most people, which include dairy products but not eggs. However, modifications can be made according to your personal desire. You can choose completely vegetarian diet.
20. To get rid of those heavy fatty snacks switch to sweet juicy fruits such as pears, plums, or grapes for snacks. You can also have some dry fruits to suppress that in meal hunger.
21. Avoid using refined white sugar. Instead, use other natural sweeteners such as, Agave (from cactus), Rapadura, Sucanet, Date sugar, Pure Maple sugar, etc.
22. Avoid cold foods, drinks as they suppress digestive fire, and disturb digestion and increase toxins in the physiology.
23. Avoid the consumption of carbonated beverages as they aggravate Vata and diminish “Ojas” (the basis of immunity).
24. Caffeine should also used restrictively as it considerably aggravates both Vata and Pitta. The overuse of caffeine can significantly imbalances the physiology. Coffee contains highest caffeine, followed by black tea. Coffee and black tea can be replaced by Green tea or white tea that are lower in caffeine and provides the other health benefits of tea in general.

It is quite interesting to note that most of the Indian spices have a medicinal value. The most commonly used spices and herbs in Indian cooking are asafoetida, cardamom, clove, cinnamon, coriander, garlic, ginger, turmeric and aniseed. Turmeric, Ginger and Cardamom are the most commonly used herbs as they have digestive properties. Turmeric gives the dish a pleasant yellow natural colour and helps to preserve the food. Coriander seeds are supposed to have a cooling effect on the body of a person. Saffron, the most expensive spice, creates a nice flavour and fragrance with just a little quantity. Mustard, cinnamon, nutmeg, pepper, cloves, poppy and caraway seeds are some other spices used in Indian dishes. In India, Masala is commonly used which is a blend of various spices and it is either in a dry or a liquid paste. Garam Masala is a blend of fragrant spices which include cinnamon, cloves, cumin seeds, mace, coriander seeds, nutmeg, and black pepper. It can stored and kept for future use. Nowadays, Garam Masalas are conveniently available in packets in any grocery.

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