Ayurveda, or traditional Indian medicine, takes a holistic approach to health that looks closely at the effects of diet and other lifestyle factors on your physical, mental and spiritual well-being. According to the Ayurvedic system, there is no single diet that is right for everyone. The food you eat has either a balancing or aggravating effect on your body, depending on your constitutional type, or "dosha." Ayurvedic cuisine is seasonal and composed of foods that balance your dosha. To follow an Ayurvedic diet, you must know if your main dosha is pitta, vata or kapha type. An Ayurvedic health practitioner can help you determine your type.
Doshas
Each of the three doshas is described by different elements and the physical traits associated with each. The pitta dosha represents a combination of fire and water and is believed to control the hormonal and digestive systems. Vata refers to air and controls the heart, mind, breathing and elimination of waste. A kapha dosha represents water and earth and controls strength, immunity and growth. In Ayurvedic cuisine, certain types of foods are recommended to maintain or correct the balance of each dosha type.
Tastes
In Ayurvedic cuisine, food is classified by the effect it has on your body. There are six primary tastes in Ayurvedic cuisine, each representing different types of foods that play individual roles in balancing your dosha. Sweet tastes have a strengthening effect, sour tastes stimulate the digestive system, salty tastes maintain your water and electrolyte balance, pungent tastes improve digestion and absorption of nutrients, astringent tastes also help with absorption and bitter taste stimulates all other tastes.
Effects
Different types of foods and beverages in Ayurvedic cuisine stimulate or hamper different emotions and different body processes, according to University of Connecticut School of Medicine. For example, foods that are overly spicy or hot arouse fantasy, jealousy and ego. Heavy, hard-to-digest foods evoke laziness and greed. Cow's milk and cow's milk yogurt promote strength. In small amounts, water promotes digestion but in excess will upset the digestive process and dilute nutrients. Eating food that is too hot or too cold will also upset digestion and other body processes, including regulation of body temperature.
Benefits
Ayurvedic practice is based on the belief that everything in the universe is interrelated and disease occurs when physical, emotional or spiritual disruptions throw your mind and body out of harmony with the natural universe. Balancing your dosha with Ayurvedic cuisine and other practices, such as breathing exercises and meditation, will help increase your resistance to disease. Medical conditions that may benefit from following the principles of Ayurvedic cuisine include asthma, irritable bowel syndrome, type 2 diabetes, symptoms of menopause, acid reflux and Parkinson's disease, according to The Ohio State University Medical Center.
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