According to the Charaka samhita Ayurveda evolved out of a need to address the acute and chronic disease that emerged when humans first began to live together in settled communities. This suggests that the basic structure of Ayurveda could be as old as the Neolithic in India, some 10,000 years ago. By any measure Ayurveda is an ancient and venerable healing tradition, and has an enormous amount of empirical weight behind its practices, including diet. While I tend to recommend a strict Paleolithic diet in autoimmune disorders, obesity, diabetes and cardiovascular disease, the Ayurveda diet is suitable in many other conditions and as a general diet to promote good health.
Ayurveda recognizes two basic diets: vegetarian and non-vegetarian. Each is chosen on the basis of a number of different factors including constitution, ancestry, climate, geography, season, age, gender and disease. Secondary factors include personal habits, aesthetics, religion and culture, although strictly speaking, these aren’t within the scope of Ayurveda and in some cases may interfere with treatment. According to the late Dr. Mana Bajra Bajracharya of Kathmandu, a traditional Ayurvedic physician whose practice represented over 700 years of hereditary knowledge, there are prescribed ratios for each type of diet, whether vegetarian or non-vegetarian.
According to Dr. Mana, the general composition of a non-vegetarian diet should be:
- three parts starchy foods (e.g. whole grains, starchy vegetables)
- one part meat, poultry, fish, or egg
- one part green vegetables and seasonal fruits
- one part liquids, such as herbal tea, water, etc.
Please refer to Appendix III (p. 300, Food As Medicine) to review a non-vegetarian meal plan.
According to Dr. Mana, the general composition of a vegetarian diet should be:
- four parts starchy foods (e.g. cereals, starchy vegetables)
- one part legumes (e.g. dahl, beans, lentils) prepared as a soup
- one part dairy (e.g. milk, butter, ghee, curd)
- one part green vegetables and seasonal fruits
- one part liquids, such as herbal tea, water, etc.
Please refer to Appendix III (p. 300, Food As Medicine) to review a vegetarian meal plan.
The Ayurveda diet can also be modified on the basis of each dosha, emphasizing flavors and qualities in the diet that balance it (see Six Flavors, p. 26, Food As Medicine). Specific diets that relate to the doshas are only used on a therapeutic basis, to reduce and balance the aggravated qualities. In contrast, diets used to balance the constitution have a greater degree of flexibility.