Three types of diet According to Indian philosophy.

Three types of diet

Sātwika, Rājas and Tāmas

          According to ancient Indian philosophy including ayurveda, diet is of three types i.e. satwik, Rajas and Tamas. Lets discuss its details as per bhagavadgita; one of the most trusted philosophical texts in India.

आयुःसत्त्वबलारोग्यसुखप्रीतिविवर्धनाः ।

रस्याः स्निग्धाः स्थिरा हृद्या आहाराः सात्त्विकप्रियाः॥

                                                                         श्रीमद्भगवद्गीता  17/8

                Sātwika diet is one, which is helpful for increasing life, good qualities of mind, body strength, happiness and health. And which is juicy, unctuous, stable  and pleasant in neture.

कट्वम्ललवणात्युष्णतीक्ष्णरूक्षविदाहिनः ।

आहारा राजसस्येष्टा दुःखशोकामयप्रदाः

                                                                                                                श्रीमद्भगवद्गीता ॥ १७-९ ॥

                Rājas type of diet include the one which is spicy, sore, saline, very much hot, pungent, astringent, rough and vidāhi in nature and one which increases miseries, sadness and diseases.

यातयामं गतरसं पूति पर्युषितं च यत्‌ ।

उच्छिष्टमपि चामेध्यं भोजनं तामसप्रियम्‌

                                                                                                                श्रीमद्भगवद्गीता ॥ १७-१० ॥

                Tāmas type of diet is one, which is not fresh or one which is prepared before more than three hours, dried, stale and eating the leavings of another man and also impure diet is considered in as tamas.

         

          Out of above three type of diet first one that is sātwika or satvik diet is Pathya i.e. good for continuous daily eating and remaining two i.e. tāmas and rāras are Apathya i.e. not to be eaten on daily.

Fast food

Fast Food

What is fast food?

Should we eat fast food daily?

Why?

What in case of unavoidable situation?

Fast food

          The word ‘fast’ itself indicates and accepts that the food which can be prepared fast i.e. in relatively short period or which can be eaten fast or in running may be called as fast food. Fasting is the concept somewhat contrary to fastness of fast food. In fasting wholesome food in less quantity or absolutely avoiding food is expected. The concept of fast food itself thus indicates shortcuts in its preparatory process and also speedily eating, both are types of apathya. Every food must be allowed to take its complete process of preparation. Instant food remedies are good examples for my statement. Making idali, dosa, Gulabjamun, upama using instant packages is quite time saving but it doesn’t undergo the complete required process for preparation of that food, which generates unwholesomeness in it. For instance in idali preparation with instant method, there is no process of leavening which is actually expected in routine process. The leavening enables fast digestion of idali which is lacking in instant process. Instead, people mix curd in it, which may increase pitta. In other types of fast food where pav, breads are used as a base like pav bhaji, sandwich, vada pav, dabeli etc,  according to rules these pav and breads are having staleness and these come under the concept of viruddha anna according to ayurveda. Thus these are not wholesome to be eaten on daily basis. The oils or masala and many other things which are being used in these fast food, also make somewhat unwholesomeness in this fast food. 

to be continued……..

Apathya : What is to be avoided ?

Apathya

         

          In today’s scenario of fast life style, it is becoming very difficult day by day to restrict the busy people about their diets.  Increasing development of false or partial true concepts under modern dietetics is another big problem in front of society, due to which ancient concepts, which are really complete and great are lagging in their application in day to day life. So, there is a big list according to our great science i.e. ayurveda, containing literally thousands of food remedies under the heading ‘Apathya’ i.e. the foods not to be taken as daily habit. But the scenario is that the common people are totally unaware of this apathya, as false concepts of calorie based system diet is only known to them and they are unaware of ayurvedic concepts of pathya and apathya that means what is to be consumed and what is to be avoided. The menu cards of maximum hotels and restaurants, are really apathya, the food items of which are highly preferred by our people. If we read the previous list of pathya given in this blog in older post, we can assume this truth. The raw material which is used for preparing this food is not of trustable quality. The raw material includes grains, cereals, oils, chilly, salt, sugar, masala, water, vegetables, fruits, milk products, food colors, preservatives, drying agents and hundreds of other items. For collecting and selecting each raw material mentioned above, there are specific rules. No one is obeying these rules, but just ignoring these as if a very simple negligible one. But, there is a very close and big relation among use of these materials and health. Rules have prepared for considering overall health. What are the rules ? It is very big list which is very difficult to share in single blog post. There are separate rules for each of the above though some common rules are there. But for sake of understanding, some of them will be discussed here. Grains like wheat, rice and cereals like mung, tur and others, there is a rule that these should be yielded in good land i.e. free from chemical prolusion. These should be used after one year of its production in farm. These should be well dried and well washed before current use. These should be processed according to ones constitution and disease. For example if we want to make some rice item, raw rice grains which are to be used, should be one year old at least. These should be well washed. These should be fried in pan for making them light and for removing extra water from grains. These should be well cooked by adding 14 times water in it. The extra water should be allowed to go and should be separated. Thus prepared rice should be used for preparing any rice item. Depending on process to which it undergoes, it becomes heavy and difficult to digest. These are some rules for just one grain i.e. rice. Considering contains like vitamins and minerals only, we are ignoring other these factors, which are important one. Just think, if anybody thinks about the washing out of vitamins only in above said method of rice preparation, and ignores other rules then he should ask a question to himself that does he eating a vitamin or he is eating rice. If rice means vitamins only and nothing more than that then it is better to eat a tablet containing specific vitamins. But, the case is that we have to think about rice as a whole and not about the separate constituents only. We must think the overall impact of any food material on overall body and not only on specific single organ or system. Apathya is very broad concept. Only certain food items could not be listed as apathya. Merely name of food item could not be titled as apathya. There are number of criterions on which it is decided that the food is pathaya or apathya. Type of raw food, from where it is collected, When  it is collected, how it is stored,  processes, time, methods of preparation, the co products along with it is to be consumed, the season in which we are eating, the time of day or night we are eating, The disease or constituent of consuming person, state of digestive system, state of mind  and so on.  A simple curd becomes apathy when we consume in night. Same is pathya of day time. Here time is the factor deciding the pathya or apathy. So, depending on food there are certain deciding rules. Thus it is not actually possible to give a specific list of apathya which is common to all. But for sake of understanding some examples will be quoted in future posts.

Pathya - II Part

पथ्यम् अपथ्यं च – द्वितीयो भागः। (२)

पथ्यम् ।

                                                                ओदनम्                 -              शालितण्डुलाः

                                                                पोलिका /रोटिका  -              गोधूमः, यवः।

                                                                शाकम्                   -              बालमूलकम्, पटोलिः।

                                                                यूषार्थम्                 -              मुद्गः।

                                                                मधुरम्                    -              सितशर्करा।

                                                                स्नेहः                       -              घृतम्।

                                                                द्रवम्                      -              क्षीरम् , दिव्योदकम्

                                                                फलम्                     -              दाडिमः, द्राक्षा।

                                                                लवणम्                  -              सैन्धवम्।

                                                                औषधिः                 -              हरीतकिः, आमलकिः, ।

                                 शालितण्डुलाः नाम किम् इत्यस्य विवरणं शरद् –ऋतुः। -२ (September 30th post) इत्याख्ये शीर्षके पूर्वमेव कृतम् । तत्तत्रैव द्रष्टव्यम्। पोलिकानां कृते गोधूमानां (गेहूँ, Wheat) यवानां (जौं, Barley) वा पिष्टस्य पृथक् मिलित्वा वा उपयोगः कर्तव्यः। शाकार्थं बालमूलकस्य (हिन्द्यां छोटी मूली इति), पटोलस्य (हिन्द्यां परवल् इति) तथा च अन्येषां तत्तप्रदेशोपलब्धानां फलशाकानां प्रयोगः कर्तव्यः। यूषनिर्माणार्थं प्राधान्येन मुद्गानाम् एव उपयोगः विधेयः। मधुरम् यदि भोक्तव्य तर्हि सितशर्करोपेतमेव। गोघृतस्य मात्रायाम् उपयोगः अवश्यमेव कार्यः प्रत्यह्नमेव। गोघृते भक्षिते सति कोलेस्टेरॉल् इत्यस्य वर्धनं कदापि न भवति इति संशोधनम्। तस्मात् भयं मास्तु। आहारे गोक्षीरस्य तदनुपलब्धौ माहीषक्षीरस्य अजाक्षारस्य वा उपयोगः। दाडिमानां द्राक्षाणां भक्षणार्थम् उपयोगः फलेषु कर्तव्यः। लवणार्थं सैन्धवम् एव उपयोक्तव्यम्। एतद्धि नेत्रहितं, शीतं पथ्यं विद्यते। अन्यद् नेत्राहितं, उष्णम्, अपथ्यम्। औषधीनां प्रयोगः यद्यपि प्रतिदिनं नैव कर्तव्यः तर्हि अपि हरीतकीआमलकीनां प्रयोगः रसायनगुणत्वात् प्रतिदिनं कर्तव्यः । येषां पित्तप्रकृतिः, याश्च गर्भिण्यः तैः हरीतक्याः सेवनं )न कर्तव्यम्। आमलकीनां तु सर्वैः एव प्रयोगेण सेवनं कर्तव्यमेव। एतेषां पदार्थानाम् एव प्रतिदिनं सेवनं शास्त्रे उपदिष्टम्। अतः एते एव पदार्थविशेषाः भोक्तव्याः।  एतदेव पथ्यम्। श्वः अपथ्यं कथयिष्यामः।

Pathya

Rice                 -           Shali

Roti/Chpati     -           Wheat or barley

Vegetables      -           Smaller Radish,  variety of small cucumber (Trichosanthes Dioeca)

Dal                  -           Green gram

Sweet              -           made up of rock candy.

For processing -           Ghee

Liquids            -           Milks and pure water

Fruits               -           Pomegranate, Grapes

Salt                  -           Rock salt (Sendha Namak)

Medicines        -           Chebulic Myrobalan, Indian goosebery         

            Description regarding shali has been made previously in the post naming “Sharad: October heat 2. For preparing roti or chapatti flours of wheat and barley should be used. For making vegetables, one should use smaller variety of radish and that of cucumber along with other locally available fruit vegetables. Dal should be prepared from mung i..e green gram. For preparing sweet, rock candy sugar should be used. Ghee should be used for processing the vegetables and dal. Ghee of Indian cow which is originally known as gau or go or gay, should be used along with roti and rice. According to researches, it doesn’t increase bad cholesterol. Use of milk and milk products like buttermilk is also recommended. Milk of Indian cow which is light to digest and having other hundreds of properties in it, should be preferred. Milks of buffalo or goat could be used in case of unavailability of cows milk. Among fruits pomegranate and grapes are good. Rock salt should be preferred instead of common salt.  Rock salt is cold in nature and beneficial for eyes on contrary to common salt which is hot in nature and harmful to eyes when consumed in large quantity. Medicines should not be indicated for daily use. But however these two medicinal herbs viz chebulic myrobalan i.e. harad and Indian gooseberry i.e. aamla, could be used on daily basis. These two herbs maintain health of all tissues and cells and all the systems including digestive one. This function of harad and aamla is named as rasayana. Chebulic myrobalan is contraindicated in pregnancy and in pitta prakriti (Constitution of body having influence of piita.). All this is about pathya, which should be practiced daily. Later posts will describe about apathya. To be continued…..

What is Pathya and Apathya ?

Pathya and Apathya

          Suitable, fit, proper, wholesome, salutary are some literal meanings of the sanskrit word pathya.  In short, The one which is good for maintaining health or for reducing particular diseased condition is termed as pathya. The exact opposite to it is ‘apathya’. Thus, apathya is the one which disturbs health and which further increases the particular disease or illness. So one food atom which is pathya to any one or which is pathya in particular diseased condition, may not be pathya to other also. Although this is classically true, there are some food atoms which are good for all. And on the contrary there are some food atoms which are mostly bad for all and can be named as apathy for all. So let us discuss in more detail from tomorrow what is pathya and what is apathy for all.

 

पथ्य एवं अपथ्य

      उपयुक्त, उचित, योग्य, हितकर, लाभदायक, कल्याणप्रद ऐसे ही कुछ अर्थ वाल यह संस्कृत शब्द है जिसे ‘पथ्य’ कहते हैं। संक्षेप में कहे तो जो आरोग्य। को बनाए रखने मे समर्थ हो एवं जो किसी विशिष्ट रोग को कम करने मे भी लाभदायक हो, उसे पथ्य कहते है। इससे ठीक उल्टा अपथ्य कहा जाता है, जो कि आरोग्य की हानि करे एवं किसी विशिष्ट रोग को और बढाएँ। अतः एक आहार पदार्थ जो किसी एक व्यक्ति को या किसी एक रोग मे पथ्य है, हो सकता है कि वह दुसरे को या किसी दूसरे रोग में अपथ्य हो। यद्यपि शास्त्रीय दृष्टि से ऐसा होता है, फिर भी ऐसे कतिपय पदार्थ है जो सबको पथ्यकर कहे जा सकते हैं एवं कतिपय अन्य सब के लिए अपथ्य कहे जा सकते हैं। तो चले, पथ्य क्या है एवं अपथ्य क्या हैं इसकी विस्तारसे चर्चा करें। क्रमशः…।

 

पथ्यम् अपथ्यं च।

                पथ्यं नाम योग्यं, हितकृत्, लाभप्रदम्, उपयुक्तम्। संक्षेपतः पथ्यं नाम तद् यद् आरोग्याय हितं रोगक्षयकरं च। अतो विपरीतं अपथ्यम्। आरोग्याय अहितं रोगवर्धकं यद् तद् अपथ्यम्। कश्चन आहारविशेषः यः एकस्मै एकस्मिन् वा रोगे पथ्यः स एव अन्यस्मै अन्यस्मिन् रोगे वा अपथ्यः भवितुम् अर्हति। शास्त्रदृशा यद्यपि एवं सत्यं तथापि, सन्ति एतादृशाः केचन पदार्थविशेषाः ये सर्वेषां कृते एव पथ्याः, अपरे च केचन तथाविधाः सन्ति ये सर्वेषां कृते एव अपथ्याः। तर्हि प्रचलतु, पथ्यापथ्यमनुसृत्य काचन चर्चा अत्रतः आरभामहे। श्वः अग्रिमा चर्चा अत्रैव पश्यतु।