Norms of eating and Anupana (food-supplements) as per state of health, it’s Contraindications, taking meals in company, and chant after eating.
Ayurveda for a healthy life ! – 6/2023
Norms of eating
1A . How much to eat : One should eat half a stomachful of food, drink one quarter of a stomachful of water and leave the remaining quarter for air. One should have respect for food and should never criticize it.
If one consumes excess of hard and dry food, one should drink a lot of water. Heavy substances such as poha (Flattened rice is a breakfast staple in South Asia) and sattu (Flour consists of a mixture of roasted ground pulses and cereals[Barley]), starchy food items such as rice and tubers should not be taken towards the end of a meal or after a meal. Amalaki should be taken in all the three courses. If one takes excess of sour, salty and pungent food, one should drink milk at the end of a meal. Similarly, weak people and people with hyperacidity should take milk at the end of a meal.
A person, who has no control over his tongue, should eat his favourite food item at the end of his meal.
1B . How should one eat ? : One should not eat too fast or too slow. One should avoid talking or laughing too much, while eating. If one talks or laughs too much or eats food very fast, the food is not chewed properly. Hence, it is not digested well and one does not enjoy its taste. In addition, one may not notice foreign bodies in the food such as stones, hair, flies and the food may get aspirated. If one eats very slowly, one tends to eat more. The food becomes cold and is not easily digested. One is not satiated after eating food too slowly.
1C . Warm meal : A warm meal is tastier. It antagonises Kapha, promotes expulsion of flatus, stimulates the digestive power and is easily digestible. It does not disturb the doshas (Humours) and is nourishing.
1D . Oily food : Oily food is tasty and slowly stimulates the digestive power. A person who is habituated to eating oily food such as ghee, oil and animal fat, slowly develops a good digestive power so that he can digest even heavy food items. Oily food promotes peristalsis and expulsion of flatus.
It improves the complexion, strength and is good for the sense organs. It prevents the process of ageing. As fat is an essential constituent of the body tissues, one should always eat oily food. As digestive power is good in winter, one can eat as much as oily food as one likes, in this season. In other seasons however, one should eat oily food in a limited quantity as it is difficult to digest.
1E. Dinner : One should have dinner within three hours after sunset. The food should not be heavy to digest and one should eat slightly less. One should avoid curd and preparations of til (sesame seeds) at night.
1F. Quantity of food : Food when eaten in an adequate amount is digested within proper time and makes one happy, healthy and bestows a long life.
When food is taken in less quantity, one does not get a feeling of satisfaction. One feels hungry earlier and adequate energy is not supplied. The strength of the body, sense organs, mind and intellect decreases and the person becomes weak. Generally, in diseased states, a person is advised to take a light diet in less quantity, because initially the digestive juices from the intestines and the tissues will digest the food. Later on as there is no food, they will digest the increased Vata, Pitta and Kapha doshas. But if one continues to eat very little, the digestive juices will first digest the food, then the tissues and organs of the body and the person may die.
When one takes food in a greater quantity than required, the stomach becomes heavy and one feels discomfort in the stomach. One suffers from distension of the abdomen & rumbling noises are produced in the stomach due to formation of flatus.
It promotes lethargy and increases all the doshas.
When a greater quantity of food is taken for several days, one gains weight and it leads to obesity.
On taking an adequate diet, the weight is maintained in adults, while there is an adequate increase in weight in children.
2. Anupana (Food-supplements)
Anupana is a food item which is given along with food or immediately after food or medicines, and which enhances the beneficial effects and decreases the harmful effects of food or medicines.
Water is a universal anupana as it is the base of all drinks or fluids and is essential to sustain life.
Cold and hot water, wine, fruit juices, kanji, slightly fermented cereal preparations, mutton soup, milk, buttermilk, honey with water and various asavas (medicinal alcoholic preparations) are used as anupana. The type of anupana varies with the constitution, season, state of health and the food consumed.
On eating a particular food item in excess, one should take an appropriate Anupana as given in the table ahead. This prevents indigestion.
| State of health | Anupana |
| Cereals | |
| Rice | Milk, mutton soup and fermented drink prepared from berries |
| Wheat | Cold water, fermented drink prepared from berries |
| Carbohydrates : For e.g. arrowroot, shingada (Water chestnut) | Cold water |
| Barley | Cold water |
| Pulses | |
| Mung (Green gram) | Milk or mutton soup & hot water |
| Udid and other pulses | Sour kanji prepared from cereals and whey |
| Milk | |
| Khir | Cold water |
| Curd | Cold water |
| Basundi (sweetened condensed milk) | Cold water |
| Fatty substances | Hot water |
| Oil | Mung dal, kadhan or Sour kanji (It is a cereals or pulses water based dish, eaten as a porridge, soup). |
| Meat | Wine, sour fruit juices or drakshasava (Grape wine) |
| Meat of animals that live in the forest | Pippali asava |
| Meat of peacock and cock | Badara asava and honey |
| Meat of animals that procure food by digging the earth, e.g., a cock | Badara asava |
| Meat of birds | Pippali asava |
| Meat of animals that live in caves | Asava of dates |
| State of health | Anupana |
| Meat of animals that eat flesh by killing other animals | Ashvagandha asava |
| Meat of a monkey | Ashvagandharishta |
| Meat of animals that bore holes | Drakshasava or asava of medicines belonging to the Salasara group |
| Meat of animals that have a single hoof, e.g., horse | Asava of fruits |
| Meat of animals that have many humps | Khadirasava |
| Meat of animals that live around lakes | Asava of shingada (Water chestnut) or kasheruk |
| Meat of birds that live in nests (Kosha) | Asava of shingada or kasheruk |
| Meat of aquatic animals | Asava of sugarcane |
| River fish | Asava prepared from the pollen of lotus |
| Sea fish | Matulunga asava |
| Vegetables | |
| Vegetables such as kohala, jivanti, kusumbha, etc. | Triphala asava or daruharidra asava |
| Leafy vegetables such as mandukaparni (A type of brahmi) | Bruhatpanchamula asava |
| Fruits | |
| Sour fruits | Asava of padma and / or utpala (Types of lotus) |
| Fruits with an astringent taste | Asava of pomegranate |
| Sweet fruits | Asava of trikatu (i.e., ginger, pepper and pippali with sugar) |
| Coconut | Tadphala : Rice kanji |
| Pungent fruits | Vetra asava |
| State of health | Anupana |
| Miscellaneous | |
| Honey and starchy food | Cold water |
| Toxic or poisonous substances | Starchy food & hot water or milk or arka asava or shirisha asava or mutton soup |
| Saindhav salt | Rice kanji |
| Salt | Urasava, rice kanji |
| Sour and salty food items | Cow’s milk |
| Pickles & pungent food items | Cow’s milk |
| Jalebi | Buttermilk |
The Anupana for various state of health is given ahead.
| State of health | Anupana |
| Vataja diseases | Hot milk, hot meat soup and lukewarm water |
| Pittaja diseases | Cold milk, sugarcane juice and cold water |
| Kaphaja diseases | Hot water and honey |
| Wasting of tissues | Mutton soup |
| After exertion, fasting, talking, indulging in sex or working in a hot environment | Milk |
| Thin and lean people with a weak digestive power |
Wine |
| Obese people | Honey with water |
| People suffering from insomnia, having fear, sorrow or mental exhaustion and those habituated to drinking wine | Wine |
| Bleeding disorders | Milk and sugarcane juice |
| Diseases of the eyes and the neck | Triphala and honey with water |
| Infants | Milk |
3. Contraindications for taking Anupana
Anupana is contraindicated in singers, orators and individuals suffering from common cold, diseases of the nose, eyes, ears, mouth, head, cough, breathlessness, excessive salivation, hiccoughs and hoarseness of voice, skin diseases, diabetes and ulcers. In these diseases, fluids taken in the form of anupana increase the local secretions. One should avoid talking, delivering lectures, singing, walking, exertion and sleeping after taking anupana.
4. Should one eat meals in solitude or in the company of family or friends ?
Nowadays people host parties during the weekends and invite guests and friends and have meals together, while chatting with one another. This increases friendship, there is sharing of happiness and sorrow and the time is spent happily. But at a party there is no concentration on food. Businessmen throw a party at a five-star hotel and invite their renowned counterparts in view of expanding their business. Here too, no one concentrates on food. According to Ayurveda, one should concentrate on food while eating and enjoy its taste and aroma. One should not discuss serious topics while eating. One should eat food in a quiet and happy environment. Sages would eat food (Bhiksha) on the bank of a river or in a temple, in solitude. The family should have meals together. There is no objection to hosting parties, but the aim should be to enjoy food. Light and pleasant discussions are advisable.
5. After meals
At the end of the meal, one should pray as follows – ‘May the food which I have eaten be digested and assimilated well, and may it impart health and happiness to me.’
One should wash one’s hands and rinse as well as gargle one’s mouth. One should eat a betel leaf with clove, jaipal, chuna, katha, etc. that is substances having pungent, bitter and astringent taste. One should remove the food particles stuck in between teeth with silver or a copper toothpick, to avoid putrefaction of food which gives rise to foul odour of the mouth. Then the teeth should be brushed. One should smoke a medicinal cigarette to subdue the increased Kapha, following meals.
After meals, one should relax in a chair for about 5 to 10 minutes, in a room with a soothing and comfortable environment. While relaxing, one should move one’s hand in a circular fashion, gently over the tummy and simultaneously enjoy fragrance of perfume and pleasant music. After a leisurely walk of about a 100 steps, one should lie down on the left side and take a nap or relax, for about half an hour. By practising this, the Sun channel (Suryanadi) gets activated and increases the secretion of digestive enzymes, so that the food is easily digested. After lunch one should not relax or take a nap for more than an hour, as it increases Kapha in the body and weakens the digestive power, leading to laziness.
After meals one should avoid the taste, odour, sound, sight and touch of dirty and unpleasant substances, as they may induce nausea and vomiting. One should avoid singing, chanting mantras aloud, laughing, walking briskly, running, jumping, lifting heavy weights, exercise, swimming, wrestling, travelling, exposure to a hot environment, indulging in an intercourse and mental work involving psychological tension, for a period of about an hour after meals. It is better to avoid any physical or mental exertion after meals, as this diverts the blood from the intestines to the muscles and the brain, which in turn impairs digestion.
6. Mantra to chant after eating food, so as to facilitate digestion
The following mantra should be chanted after eating food, so as to facilitate digestion.
अंगारकं अगास्तिं च पावकं सूर्यमश्चिनौ ।
यश्च एतान् स्मरोनित्यं भुत्त तस्याशु जीर्यते ॥
Meaning : If one remembers Mangal (Mars), Sage Agasta, Agni (Deity of fire), Sun and Ashwinikumars (Physicians of Deities) after consuming food, one’s food is digested easily and early.