Follow a Healing Diet

"You are what we eat" is a well-used catchphrase in nutrition but today people only take it to mean the carbohydrates, proteins, vitamins and mineral combination required by the body to stay healthy.

This phrase actually originated from Ayurvedic medicine, the 5000-year old traditional medicine of India. In Ayurveda, "You are what we eat" has a more powerful meaning. It means that your dietary needs are a unique product of your genetic history, your environment, the seasons, your age, body constitution and your body's need for balance at any given time.

Modern science has finally caught up and recognised that each one of us has a unique body type and hence, unique nutritional needs. That we are products of our genetic history and the environment we live in. The earliest proponent of modern body typing is Ernst Kretschmer, who in the first half of the 20th century came up with the idea of constitutional body typing. Today there are several body typing systems, such as metabolic typing and the glandular types system.

Going back to the Ayurvedic meaning of body typing, here are some universally applicable diet and digestion principles that can help you get started in creating a unique diet plan for yourself.

Digestion Principles

• Have a positive attitude towards food. Get rid of negative emotions when it comes to eating, weight and body image. 
• Prepare food in a happy frame of mind and cook with your senses. Give yourself time to enjoy the simple act of smelling the spices and the colours and textures of the ingredients you are using. 
• Eat for pleasure and create a pleasant atmosphere for dining. Savour your food slowly and chew it well. Fifty percent of our digestion takes place in the mouth.
• Eat six small meals a day to ensure a constant supply of nutrients to your body. Overeating strains your digestive system. 
• During each meal, eat only as much as would fit into your two hands cupped togeter.

Food Selection Principles

• Always use the freshest ingredients. Buy produce in season that are grown locally.  This is when they have the highest levels of nutrients and look their best.
• Use more fresh herbs and spices and lesser salt to add flavour to dishes. When we eat, all of our senses participate. So using herbs and spices make our food taste, smell and look good. 
• Eat whole foods. These are food that have undergone no or little processing.
• Eat more colourful foods. The pigments that give vegetables and fruits their natural colour contain antioxidants that help us maintain our growth, and protects our cells from damage.
• Regulate your body's acid-alkali balance by eating a nutrient-rich, varied diet. This is important because certain functions of the body occur only at a certain level of acidity or alkalinity. 
• This means eating foods from each food group each day. These include fruits, vegetables, whole grains, nuts and seeds, fish, olive oil, herbs and spices.