Arpita Sarkar, Mumbai Uncensored, 24th February, 2023:
Ayurvedic way of consuming food is a holistic approach of eating to balance the physical and mental health of a person. It takes into account, the 5 elements that make up the universe, that is, vayu (air), jala (water), akash (space), teja ( fire) and prithvi (earth). Accordingly, these elements form 3 doshas, that is, vata, pitta and kapha. So according to the physiological functions of a human body, it has laid down some rules to consume fruits.
According to ayurveda, the best way to choose a fruit to consume is in the season it gets ripe. The best considered example is of ripe mango in proper summer season that balances vata and pitta and increases kapha unlike an unripe mango that imbalance the pitta and vata dosha.
A common mistake that people often do is combination of fruits with other food group like legumes, milk, yoghurt, grains, meat or other meals. Ayurveda say that such combinations turns them into undigested metabolic waste or toxic that can affect your gut and ultimately cause indigestion, gas or lead to some serious health issues.
Besides, cutting fruits in advance causes to lose their nutrients.
Ayurveda prohibits consuming fruits after sunset. It says to consume fruits in the morning after breakfast or in the evening before sunset as the digestive enzymes present in fruits may affect your sleep patterns. This is because eating fruits just before going to bed can cause a sugar spike, making that person overactive and unable to fall asleep.
An interesting mistake as per Ayurveda is to combine fruits of different fruit groups. According to Ayurveda, fruits are divided into three broad categories based on the functions they perform, that is, sweet fruits( like pineapples, mangoes), Sour fruits( like oranges, tangerines) and astringent fruits (like apples, pears) . Though, normally eating 2 or 3 fruits of different group does not cause much harm. No doubt, consuming fruits daily keeps you safe and can prevent to some extent diseases like risk of heart disease, stroke, blood pressure, cancer and many more. However, the potential benefits of eating as per Ayurveda are immense and anybody can follow the diet and live a healthy and happy life.
