Food is for living, for relishing, and for healing....just don't consider one dimension of it and feel either depressed or euphoric about it.
- Local fruits and vegetables, i.e. anything that grows within 50 km, are suitable for our bodies. Nature decides what is good for our bodies based on the climate and the same is grown in that climate. For example, wheat is grown in Northern India, which is relatively colder than Central or Southern India, where Jawar is popular. Wheat keeps the body warm while Jawar keeps the body cool.
Or anything your family is used to for years. For example, an Indian eating Indian food/spices in North America is perfectly fine, as their genes are used to digesting the food. But local food must be used as a part of the diet to balance the body with the local climate.
Only fresh fruits (after cleaning and removing the pesticide residues, if any) are suitable for consumption.
Vegetables must be consumed in semi-cooked or fully cooked form. Raw vegetable are difficult to digest. However, vegetable juice is good enough to consume during mid-morning or late evening. But avoid fruits juice, as it is loaded with calories.
Body Constitution - Eat what suits your body, depending on your body frame (small, medium, or large) and the genes that you carry. If you are from Kerala, you can easily digest coconut oil, as your body is carrying a gene that is used to it for generations. That should be fine. Individuals may have different body types (vata, kapha, pitta) and they can select food depending on what suits the body.
Profession: Eat food based on your profession or daily activity, as every profession has different calorie need, depending on the physical or mental activities they are involved in their daily professional life. Foods such as okra and ghee are suitable for intellectual work and foods such as chana, lentils, and other form of protein are more for menial jobs. However, all the food grown locally must be consumed in moderate form as every body needs all types of food/nutrition, and the quantity of a particular nutrition may change based one their body needs or the body will have a deficiency of particular nutrition.
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| Eating light |
Combination of Foods - Every food has unique properties and Ph value. Eat what is compatible with other food in the plate; for example, avoid milk and sour food or fruits.
When you should eat?
Quality and quantity are both important in deciding what to eat. Decide how much quantity you need depending on your lifestyle and body.
The right quantity of food is considered what keeps you full for 3-4 hours. If you are hungry within 3 hours, you have eaten less than required. If you are NOT hungry after 4 hours of eating your meal, you have overeaten. Light food such as juice, fruits, or snacks may make you feel hungry faster in comparison to dal/lentils or veggies or meat with rice/chapatti. This will tell you exactly how much your body needs, as everybody has different needs.
To increase your metabolism, you can increase the frequency of food and reduce the quality of the food. for example, you can eat every 2 hours and half the quantity could be half or one third of one small meal. This could be half mid-size apple or banana, one slice of bread/chapati, a handful of roasted chana (chick peas), handful of rice with lentil soup or dal or one cup(small) of cooked vegetables. Your feast is one of good ways to measure as right portion for you because the feast is proportionate to your body frame.
However, ensure you are hungry and that is a sign that your previous meal has been digested. Do not mistake thirst for hunger. Therefore, take a glass of water 30 minutes before your meal to activate your digestive juices and to determine if you are hungry.
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| Light Dinner at Wild Fire, Hong Kong |
Set a Routine - Create a schedule for your meal, so that your body gets used to expecting food at that time. It is healthy and healing when you eat at fixed timings. Lunch could be an exception once in a while, but breakfast and dinner must have fixed times. It should become a natural cycle. You can start with 8 a.m. and end with 8 p.m. If you feel hungry after 8 p.m., you may take a light snack, such as yogurt or milk or fruits after 8 p.m.
Food Type: Every food, such as oil, sweets, spices, carbohydrates, protein and savory is necessary for the body in moderate quantity. Everybody must eat all these tastes - it makes you feel satisfied and content. Any types of oils (except the double refined ones) in moderate form are good for health.
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| Chakali - Homemade snack in moderate quantity |
When: After sunset, avoid solid food except fruits.
If possible, office-going people can try to take a light dinner at 5 before leaving the office and eat light snacks or fruits or milk after 7 anytime.
How to eat food?
Follow the 5 Ps rule.
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| Food with nature at Taipei |
Positive: Prayers are a good way to start the meal, as they generate positive thoughts and environment for the meal. They also convey the gratitude of having food and good life.
Peace: Eat peacefully, staying away from the negative thoughts (generated from heated discussion, TV, phone, or any other form) that may impact on digestion and absorption of the nutrition.
Pace: Eat slow and steady. The average meal should take 20-30 minutes. The brain take 15-20 minutes to register the food in the stomach in terms of quantity - full or not full.
Prepare your 5 senses: When you spend a few seconds around your food, you will enjoy the aroma and sight that activates your hunger pangs. Spend those precious seconds before you eat your food. Eat with your hand (touching the food) and it also tells you the temperature of the food, connects your mind, body and soul to the 'present state' for better coordination, and gives you a sense of happiness before you consume it.
Position: Please sit down on the mat on the floor or at chair in comfortable position. Please avoid eating any food while standing or walking.
Importance of Water: At the end, we will understand the most important factor - when and how to drink water.
Morning: 2-3 glass of water is good for hydrating your internal organs. One of the main reasons for acidity is, having a cup of tea (milk tea) on empty stomach and this way you ensure that the tea gets into internal system. Obviously your body will react and you will have acidity.
Lunch: We must avoid drinking water during the meal. You can take water 30 minutes before the meal as it may help either creating enough gastric juices that is required for digestion or differentiate between a message of thirsty or hungry (sometime we mistake thirst with hunger and eventually add unnecessary calories), and this way you can avoid eating unnecessary. You must take water 30-40 minutes after the meal, else it will slow/kill the digesting process.
Night: a glass or two water if fine depending on your need. sometime too much water force you to go to bathroom and disturb the sleep. You can keep a glass of water at bedside and drink it whenever you get up to keep your body hydrated.
Some of the meals options (vegetarian) for you. You can decide the quantity based on number of meal you wish to have not exceeding the total 1200 calories intake. Ensure that you eat everything to fit into this routine and you will not have any food craving or depression.
1. chapati or wheat/jawar/millet bread (homemade would be better).
2. rice,
3. beaten rice / poha
4. seasonable fruits in right proportion. Mangos, banana, grapes in small quantity compare to mellon or apple. I take half banana or half mango at a time... :)
5. cooked vegetable in double the portion of rice/bread (less oil and spices as per the taste)
6. Lentil soup/dal - small bowl
7. Upma
8. Idli / Dosa
9. Dalia or broken wheat
so on....
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