AYURVEDIC FASTING
FAULTY EATING HABITS
- We eat
- Food packed with preservatives or which is chemically grown, thus increasing the chances of unnatural cell division within the body.
- More than necessary if the food is tasty, and less than our nutritional requirements if it is not.
- A wide variety of food confusing our limited number of digestive enzymes.
- We also have wrong food combinations like
- Non-vegetarian food with milk products
- Sour foods with milk products
- Heavy junk foods with cold beverages.
- We eat when we have time, although our digestive enzymes are released according to our body clock, making digestion difficult in the absence of these enzymes.
CONSEQUENCES
- When food is not digested properly, only some of it becomes rasa and gets absorbed by the body.
- The rest is either excreted, or it stagnates and starts rotting in the body after a certain time.
- It is this aamras that is responsible for diseases.
- It works as an antigen, triggering our auto immune system, leading to diseases with unknown etymology such as psoriasis, allergies, and rheumatoid arthritis.
AYURVEDIC TREATMENT
- Ayurveda prescribes langhan or fasting to get rid of this toxic aamras.
- You can fast once in 6 days by consuming only an eighth of your normal diet, or by going on a liquid diet for a day.
- During this time, your enzymes will be able to act on the food left stagnating in your body for the past five days.
- Breaking the fast is as important as keeping the fast.
- Your first meal should be chawal ka maand or rice water.
- The second meal should be watery kichhdi made with dal and very little rice.
- The third meal should be light kichhdi with equal amounts of dal and rice.
- The fourth meal should be a thicker version of the same.
- Your normal daily food should be your fifth meal.
ADVANTAGES
- Your energy does not depend on how much or what you eat, but on how you are digesting your food.
- Fasting is a good way to strengthen your sluggish digestive system and boost your metabolism.