Ayurvedic Perspective On Modern Diet Trends
Self-study is an important component of Yoga & Ayurveda. What goes on in our inner world can be a direct reflection of what is going on in our outer world. That being said, if we want to have a healthy relationship with ourselves we need to consider how we relate to our food. Why you might ask? Well, food is our greatest source of nourishment. After all, Socrates did say we are what we eat. In this way, the first place to start the repair work for ourselves and the planet starts here! Nevertheless, our modern society seems to have a love/hate relationship. For example, we promote the high calcium levels in milk (actually lower than most leafy greens), but quickly turn on it when it appears to cause allergies. We talk about the need for more fibre in our diets but blame grains for allegedly making us gain weight and causing inflammation.
Ayurveda, a science that spans more than 5,000 years, has been around as many diet trends have come and gone. As people continuously look for health by restricting or over-analyzing their diets in new ways, Ayurveda remains an infinitely simpler way to build a positive relationship with food – by treating ourselves as individuals composed of the same five elements as everything in nature and approaching eating as a sacred act.
Upon training with Hale Pule, I learned about the 60:40 balance bowl to not only heal digestion and experience balance, clarity and vitality but to create a more easeful and less convoluted understanding of how to eat and nourish oneself without getting swept away by food trends and the like.
Here’s how it works:
YOU CAN PREVENT ILLNESS AND PROMOTE VIBRANT HEALTH BY NOURISHING YOURSELF WITH THE RIGHT BALANCE OF AUGMENTING AND EXTRACTIVE FOODS.
Your body needs more augmenting foods than extractive foods to maintain the tissues and balance the doshas. Generally speaking, have 60% augmenting and 40% extractive food on your plate at a meal. Consuming meals in this 60:40 proportion will help maintain a calm, balanced state of body and mind and support Agni. When food is thoughtfully prepared with nourishing oils and moderate amounts of spices it will include a proper proportion of the rasa (6 tastes) so that the body is maintained with strength and vitality.
Augmenting foods are those that nourish and ground your body and mind. They build tissue and replenish what is lost. These foods are generally sweeter in taste – things like rice, carrots, pumpkin and avocado. Eating augmenting foods gives us vitality and energy.
Extractive foods are those that are cleansing in nature. They ask your body to give something up to digest them and are essential in breaking down healthy fats. They are often bitter or astringent in taste – foods like kale, collards, legumes and nuts. To function at our best levels to fight illness and promote health, we need slightly more augmenting foods than extractive. I recommend a 60:40 ratio. This is an easy guideline to follow – just eat slightly more grains and sweeter vegetables than legumes and bitter or astringent vegetables in your bowl to have a meal that will be more easily digested and support the balance of your doshas.
Give this recipe a try!
The 60:40 ratio is the foundation of the Hale Pule Balance Bowl. There are four base components to the bowl: grains, legumes, an augmenting vegetable and an extractive vegetable. By rotating through a broad list of sattvic foods, herbs and spices, and including additions such as avocado, buttermilk, chutneys, baking or chapati, there is plenty of variety to keep your senses engaged.
Augmenting & Extractive
Serves 4
Preparation time 45 mins - 1 hour
WHOLE MUNG BEANS (EXTRACTIVE)
You'll need
1 cup whole mung beans, soaked overnight in plenty of water
2 Tbsp. ghee
¼ cup fresh herbs (we used Thai basil)
2 tsp. fennel powder
⅛ tsp. black pepper
½ tsp. mineral salt
1 tsp. chopped kombu (optional)
2 tsp. fresh squeezed lime juice
Here's how
Drain the soak water from the beans. Warm the oil in a pressure cooker over medium heat and add the spices, cooking 1 to 2 minutes until the aroma comes up. Add the whole mung beans, salt and kombu (if using) and add water to cover the beans by ½ inch. Close the lid on the pressure cooker and bring to pressure. Turn the heat to low and cook for 24 minutes. Allow the pressure to come down naturally and add lime juice five minutes before serving.
CARDAMOM RICE (AUGMENTING)
You'll need
1 cup white basmati rice
2 cups water
2 tsp. ghee
¼ tsp. salt
4 cardamom pods
Here's how
Add all ingredients into a rice cooker and press start. If you are using a pot, bring all ingredients to a boil and turn to very low for 15 minutes. Allow the rice to rest for five minutes before serving. You can remove the pods, or chew the seeds inside for a lovely cooling experience.
SPICED CARROTS (AUGMENTING)
You'll need
2 cups chopped carrots
1 Tbsp. ghee
½ tsp. cumin seed
1 tsp. fresh grated ginger
¼ tsp. cinnamon
¼ tsp. mineral salt
Here's how
Warm the ghee in a saucepan. Add the spices and cook until the aroma comes up. Add salt and carrots and stir to coat well. Add water to ¼ of the height of the carrots. Cover and cook until a knife pierces them easily (about 5 to 7 minutes, depending on your cooktop and pan).
COOLING BABY BOK CHOY (EXTRACTIVE)
You'll need
2 cups chopped baby bok choy
1 ½ Tbsp. coconut oil
2 tsp. dried mint (or ½ Tbsp. fresh)
2 tsp. freshly grated turmeric or ½ tsp. powder
¼ tsp. mineral salt
Here's how
Warm the coconut oil in a shallow pan. Add the mint and turmeric and cook until the aroma comes up (about 1 minute). Add the salt and bok choy and stir well. Add water to ¼ the height of the greens. Cover and cook until bok choy is bright green and tender (about 5 minutes).
Serve all components together to create your Balance Bowl.
Key points to consider on modern diet trends:
One size can’t fit all
The most important thing that Ayurveda teaches us is that each one of us has a unique constitution. This means we digest different foods in different ways, depending on our state of balance, where we live and the way we approach eating. Some Ayurvedic concepts apply to almost everyone, such as eating fruit as a separate meal because fruit digests much faster than other foods, but taken as a whole, the guidelines Ayurveda offers are just that – guidelines. While some online dosha quizzes will have you believe that you are a dosha and should follow one food list for life, a true Ayurvedic approach is to become a student of your own body. With that understanding, you can make conscious decisions about how and what you eat and track how you feel so that you can have vibrant health throughout your life.
Most modern diet trends offer rules that apply to every person, regardless of your constitution, environment or lifestyle. Most of these rules are passed down through the Internet or books, few come from a practitioner who spends the time to understand you as the whole, complex being you are. Give yourself the gift of understanding your body on every level by working with a practitioner or in close self-study, as opposed to finding a category in a book that is “close enough.”
The initial feel-good effect
When many people take on a diet, such as gluten-free or paleo, they often see a positive initial response. Skin issues clear up, digestion seems easier – even their mental outlook improves. But over time, health effects usually dwindle and people are left with a diet that is restrictive and unsatisfying to their body and spirit.
The reason for this initial improvement can usually be traced back to a poor diet before starting the diet. If you eat a lot of fast food or junk food, just eliminating those will significantly improve how you feel. You might stop eating as many prepared foods and add more vegetables, fruits and whole foods to your plate, which will always bring a positive effect. But diets that mask or create a greater imbalance in your body instead of addressing the underlying issues will catch up, sometimes quickly, sometimes in a few years, depending on your unique constitution. The initial boost will eventually go bust.
The root of food allergies and indigestion
Food allergies and inflammatory conditions are often what drive people to diets. This is for good reason – the modern diet and lifestyle have wreaked havoc on our digestive tracts. Eating processed food, not chewing adequately and ignoring digestive ailments at the first sign all contribute to indigestion and related food allergies and illnesses. Food that is undigested from lack of chewing – or is indigestible from chemicals or processing – remains in your small intestine until it has fermented (rotted) enough to pass through to the large intestine. This prevents the proper absorption of nutrients, depletes your body from its full health and causes gas, bloating and other symptoms. If your digestion has been in this state for a while, some foods, such as wheat or dairy, may seem to blame, when, in fact, the issue is the lack of proper digestion itself.
References:
Inspired by my teachers Myran Lewin & Sunil V.Joshi M.D.
Lesson manual from Hale Pule training
