In modern life we encounter high levels of stress and are constantly encouraged to eat various types food (particularly fast food). As part of your Ayurvedic consultancy we will identify the diet that is most beneficial to your particular constitution (dosha). Also we will be able to help you identify the causes in your life that place you out of balance from your true self and help you with ways in which these can be addressed.

Ayurveda sees food and spices as medicinal substances. Food should be as fresh and organic as possible and, if available, locally grown. Preparation of food with love and gratitude will pervade it with a healing energy.

The concept of shad rasa (six tastes) is a central point in Ayurvedic cuisine. These six tastes —sweet, sour, salty, pungent, bitter and astringent— should be present in balanced proportions. Through the use of culinary medicinal spices, food is made more digestible and easier to assimilate. The most common spices used in Ayurvedic cuisine are cumin, coriander (cilantro), ginger, garam masala, hing (asafoetida), ajwan, turmeric, and fenugreek.

All of these aromatic, stimulating and carminative spices are also used in traditional herbal medicine. Ingesting small quantities of them on a daily basis helps maintain the health of the digestive fire (agni) and the entire GI tract. Toxins that accumulate from improperly digested food can be greatly reduced by slowly introducing these spices into the diet.

Ayurveda offers some basic dietary guidelines that can benefit everyone’s health. For instance, it is important to eat at the appropriate times of the day and in accordance with the body’s natural rhythm.

Drinking too much water while eating can wash away digestive enzymes and weaken the digestive fire (agni). However, sipping on a half cup of water at room temperature while eating benefits the break down of food and aids the digestive process.