What an enthusiatic group of participants for my seasonal brunch workshop on Ayurvedic nutrition today, the last day of Swiss Taste Week!
After covering the basic principles of Ayurvedic nutrition, the participants enjoyed a brunch of 8 dishes to illustrate the theoretical points raised and had a chance to get their questions answered. Among others I had questions about the merits of eating particular foods including garlic & onions, wine, milk.
In Ayurveda, foods can be considered as a medicine, as nourishment or as poison. It depends how they are used. The action of particular foods within your body is very important. That’s why it’s important to be conscious of what you eat, how you eat and how you feel after eating it.
I was fortunate to have a concrete case to deal with during the workshop. The oldest participant, a lady of eighty, commented, while partaking of dishes 6 & 7 (kitcherie and cucumber raita) that she felt that one of these dishes was too acidic for her since she was feeling the effects in her body. She felt that the raita was to blame since there had been other dishes with an acidic taste that she had eaten without problem.
The acidity she felt could have been a result of eating too much of the sour taste from various dishes. It could also have been that she was particularly sensitive to natural shop-bought yogurt (I suggested that freshly made home made yogurt could be an alternative since it would be less acidic). However, after further enquiry it, it turned out that she didn’t normally eat dairy but was enjoying herself so much that she had eaten the raita anyway.
I had a quick think, looked at what I had accesible and, since, cucumber is sweet and cooling, offered her a little cucumber juice to neutralise the acidity. A short time after she reported that she felt much better. By her immediate awareness of the effect of the food on her body, this lady was able to get help in a simple natural way.
How often do we ignore “alarm bells” from our digestive systems only to find them ringing even more loudly a few hours, days, weeks, months or years later?
Share your comments below!
Leave a Comment