Diet is divine

Contents

Section I: Fundamental principles of dietetics

• 1. Food itself is Brahma (annam Brahma)
  • 1.1 Lord Vishnu - the deity of food
  • 1.2 Importance of food as a vehicle for the subtle body (linga deha)
  • 1.3 Food provides the structural components and energy
  • 1.4 The body is derived from food
  • 1.5 Definition of food
  • 1.6 Properties of food
  • 1.7 Importance of a beneficial diet
  
  
• 2. Constituents and classification of food
  • 2.1 What is the composition of the human body ?
  • 2.2 What are the functions of these basic elements ?
  • 2.3 How are these basic elements available ?
  • 2.4 What are the basic elements and the biological elements of the human body according to Ayurveda ?
  • 2.5 How are the constituents of food classified ?
  • 2.6 How is food available in Nature
  • 2.7 What are the basic constituents of the human body ?
  • 2.8 What are the differences in the nutritive value of vegetarian and non-vegetarian food ?
  • 2.9 Best food items from various categories
  • 2.10 Important functions and effect of various food items commonly used in our diet
  
  
• 3. Food processing
  • 3.1 What are the various methods of processing food ?
  • 3.2 What is the effect of cooking on the nutritive value of food ?
  • 3.3 How can one preserve food ?
  
  
• 4. Meals
  • 4.1 Kitchen
  • 4.2 Dining room
  • 4.3 Place for eating
  • 4.4 Vastushastra and the arrangement in the kitchen
  • 4.5 Utensils used for serving food
  • 4.6 Arrangement of food items in a plate
  • 4.7 When should a person dine ?
  • 4.8 Before meals
  • 4.9 Is it advisable to take an appetiser before meals ?
  • 4.10 Is it advisable to have an alcoholic drink as an appetiser before meals
  • 4.11 Selection of food
  • 4.12 How should one serve the courses of food ?
  • 4.13 When should one drink water during a meal ?
  • 4.14 Qualities of food and its effect on the body
  • 4.15 Eating slowly or eating fast
  • 4.16 Avoid the following types of food items
  • 4.17 Dinner
  • 4.18 Quantity of food
  • 4.19 Anupana
  • 4.20 Should one eat meals in solitude or in the company of family or friends ?
  
  
• 5. Diet and the mind
  • 5.1 Concept of food according to the Vedas
  • 5.2 Diet of the sense organs, mind and intellect
  • 5.3 Factors affecting the purity of food
  • 5.4 Activation of the Sun channel (Surya nadi) after meals
  • 5.5 Diet and the mind
  • 5.6 Classification of diet in relation with the mind
  • 5.7 Examples of sattvik, rajasik and tamasik food items
  • 5.8 Effect of the state of mind on digestion
  • 5.9 Non-vegetarian diet
  • 5.10 Respect for food
  • 5.11 Diet with sanskars
  • 5.12 Effect of an evil eye being cast by animals and people on the food served as a meal
  
  
• 6. Qualities of food
  • 6.1 The twenty biological qualities of food
  • 6.2 What is the scientific meaning of the words ‘hot’ and ‘cold’ with respect to food items and medicines ?
  • 6.3 Hot and cold food items
  • 6.4 Who should eat hot food items and who should avoid them ?
  • 6.5 Who should eat cold food items and who should avoid them ?
  • 6.6 Heavy and light food items
  • 6.7 Heavy food items
  • 6.8 Light food items
  • 6.9 What is meant by oily and dry food items ?
  • 6.10 Oily food items
  • 6.11 Dry food items
  • 6.12 Who should eat dry food items and who should avoid them ?
  
  
• 7. Taste
  • 7.1 Six tastes
  • 7.2 functions of sweet taste
  • 7.3 Side-effects of eating sweet food items in excess
  • 7.4 Functions of sour taste
  • 7.5 Side-effects of eating sour food items in excess
  • 7.6 Functions of salty taste
  • 7.7 Side-effects of excessive salt intake
  • 7.8 Functions of pungent taste
  • 7.9 Side-effects of eating pungent food items in excess
  • 7.10 Functions of bitter tast
  • 7.11 Side-effects of consuming bitter food items in excess
  • 7.12 Functions of astringent taste
  • 7.11 Side-effects of excessive intake of food with an astringent tast
  
  
• 8. Constitution (prakruti) and the diet
  • 8.1 Vata, pitta, kapha and balanced constitution (sama prakruti)
  • 8.2 Taste of food items and the humours (doshas)
  • 8.3 Beneficial and harmful diet and activity for vata constitution and vataja (vata induced) diseases
  • 8.4 Tonics for vata constitution and vataja (vata induced) diseases
  • 8.5 Beneficial and harmful diet and activity for pitta constitution and pittaja (pitta induced) diseases
  • 8.6 Tonics for pitta constitution and pittaja (pitta induced) diseases
  • 8.7 Beneficial and harmful diet and activity for kapha constitution and kaphaja (pitta induced) diseases
  • 8.8 Tonics for kapha constitution and kaphaja (kapha induced) diseases
  
  
• 9. Season and the diet
  • 9.1 Seasons in North and South India
  • 9.2 Effect of seasons on man
  • 9.3 Seasons and the three humours (doshas)
  • 9.4 Seasons and vata
  • 9.5 Seasons and pitta
  • 9.6 Seasons and kapha
  • 9.7 Modification of diet in different seasons
  • 9.8 Spring season (vasant rhutu)
  • 9.9 Summer season (grishma rhutu)
  • 9.10 Pre-monsoon season (pravrut rhutu)
  • 9.11 Monsoon season (varsha rhutu)
  • 9.12 Autumn season (sharad rhutu)
  • 9.13 Early winter season (hemant rhutu)
  • 9.14 Late winter season (shishir rhutu)
  • 9.15 Diet and activity in different seasons
  • 9.16 Panchakarma treatment
  • 9.17 Exercise
  • 9.18 Afternoon nap
  
  
• 10. Digestion
  • 10.1 Digestion of food
  • 10.2 Digestion in the stomach and the intestines
  • 10.3 Digestive power
  • 10.4 Factors affecting the digestive power
  • 10.5 What is the effect of diet on the qualities of the mind ?
  • 10.6 Guidelines to maintain the digestive organs healthy
  
  
• 11. Dietetic incompatibility (viruddha anna)
  • 11.1 Incompatibility of food items with one another
  • 11.2 Incompatibility due to various conditioning factors
    • Nisargattaha viruddha (naturally incompatible)
    • Desh viruddha (regionwise incompatibility)
    • Kala viruddha (timewise incompatibility)
    • Agni viruddha (digestion power incompatibility)
    • Koshtha viruddha (digestive capacity incompatibility)
    • Parimana viruddha (fixed proportion of two food items)
    • Satmaya viruddha (habituation incompatibility)
    • Dosha viruddha (constitution incompatibility)
    • Increase in the same humour (dosha) caused by two or more food items
    • Sanskar viruddha (mode of preparation)
    • Incompatibility between a food item and the cooking utensil
    • Virya viruddha (combination of food items with opposing action)
    • Avastha viruddha (mental state of an individual
    • Krama viruddha (prescribed course
    • Paka viruddha (degree of cooking)
    • Sampat viruddha (quality of food)
    • Sanyoga viruddha (way of combination of food items)
    • Vidhi viruddha (breaking of dietetic rules)
    • Parikar viruddha (order of food)
    • Mana viruddha (against one’s liking)
  • 11.3 Diseases resulting from dietetic incompatibilities
  • 11.4 Treatment
  
  
• 12. Place and food
  • 12.1 Effect of place on the quality and digestibility of food
    • Place where the food is grown
    • Place where a person has spent his childhood
    • Place where the food is eaten
  • 12.2 Time (kal)
    • Effect of time on food
    • Natural time for eating food
    • Time of the day for eating food
    • Season and food
    • Stage of a disease and food
    • Effects of food eaten at an inappropriate time
    • Upayukta
  
  
• 13. Tolerance and intolerance (satmya and asatmya)
  • 13.1 Tolerance (satmya)
    • Pravara satmya (good tolerance
    • Avara satmya (poor tolerance
    • Madhyama satmya (moderate tolerance)
    • Oakasatmya (tolerance after constant use)
    • Jatisatmya (tolerance in a species)
    • Deshasatmya (tolerance according to the place or region)
    • Rhutusatmya (tolerance according to the season)
    • Prakrutisatmya (tolerance according to the constitution)
    • Vayasatmya (tolerance according to the age)
    • Vyadhisatmya (tolerance in a disease)
  • 13.2 Intolerance (asatmya)

Section II: Dietary Components and Their Functions

• 14. Calories
  • 14.1 How does food supply energy ?
  • 14.2 What is a calorie in the context of food ? How does food supply energy to sustain all the body activities ?
  • 14.3 How many calories are supplied by common food items ?
  • 14.4 Which factors affect one’s food requirements ?
  • 14.5 How many calories and proteins do children and adults normally require?
  • 14.6 How does one’s activity affect the caloric and protein requirements of one’s body ?
  • 14.7 What are the manifestations of deficiency in calories ?
  • 14.8 What are the manifestations of taking food, i.e. calories in excess ?
  • 14.9 How is it that some people eat a lot and yet are thin whereas others may eat very little and yet gain weight ?
  • 14.10 What is the percentage of fat in the human body ?
  
  
• 15. Proteins
  • 15.1 What are proteins ?
  • 15.2 What are the functions of proteins ?
  • 15.3 Why do children require more proteins?
  • 15.4 What are the sources of proteins ?
  • 15.5 Why are animal proteins rated as first class proteins and vegetable proteins as second class proteins ?
  • 15.6 Can vegetable proteins replace animal proteins ?
  • 15.7 What are the symptoms of protein deficiency ?
  • 15.8 Is it risky to consume proteins in excess ?
  
  
• 16. Fats
  • 16.1 Components of fats
  • 16.2 Circulating lipoproteins
  • 16.3 What are the functions of fat ?
  • 16.4 What are the dietary sources of fat ?
  • 16.5 What are the differences between fat from animal source and that from vegetable source ?
  • 16.6 What are essential fatty acids ?
  • 16.7 What are the symptoms of fat deficiency ?
  • 16.8 What are the symptoms of excessive intake of fat ?
  
  
• 17. Carbohydrates
  • 17.1 What are carbohydrates ?
  • 17.2 What are the sources of carbohydrates ?
  • 17.3 What are the functions of carbohydrates ?
  • 17.4 Types of carbohydrates
  • 17.5 What are the symptoms of deficiency of carbohydrates ?
  • 17.6 What are the symptoms of consuming carbohydrates in excess ?
  
  
• 18. Minerals
  • 18.1 What are the functions of minerals in general ?
  • 18.2 Iron
    • What are the dietary sources of iron ?
    • What are the functions of iron in our body ?
    • How can one recognise iron deficiency ?
    • What are the daily requirements of iron and calcium in children and adults ?
  • 18.3 Calcium
    • What are the functions of calcium in the body ?
    • What are the sources of calcium in our diet ?
    • What are the symptoms of calcium deficiency ?
  • 18.4 What are the sources and functions of other minerals in the body ?
  • 18.5 Harmful effects of some minerals when absorbed into the body in excess
  • 18.6 Salt (lavan)
    • Saindhav
    • Sauvarchala (sanchala or padelona)
    • Bidalavan (bida salt)
    • Samudra lavan [common salt (salt from the sea)]
    • Oudbhida salt
    • Krushna lavan (black salt)
    • Romak
  • 18.7 Caustic salts (ksharas)
    • Yavakshara
    • Svarjikakshara or sajjikshara
    • Tankanakshara (borax)
  
  
• 19. Vitamins
  • 19.1 What are vitamins ?
  • 19.2 What are the daily requirements of various vitamins ?
  • 19.3 Can vitamins be stored in the body ?
  • 19.4 Vitamin A
  • 19.5 B-Complex
  • 19.6 Vitamin C
  • 19.7 Vitamin D
  • 19.8 Vitamin E
  • 19.9 Vitamin K
  
  
• 20. Water
  • 20.1 What are the functions of water ?
  • 20.2 How much water should one drink daily ?
  • 20.3 When should one drink water ?
  • 20.4 Rain water (divya jal)
  • 20.5 Properties of water according to the soil
  • 20.6 Sources of water
  • 20.7 Water during the day and night
  • 20.8 Testing water
  • 20.9 Purification of water
  • 20.10 Boiling of water
  • 20.11 Who should drink water which is cooled after boiling ?
  • 20.12 What are the indications to drink less water ?
  • 20.13 What are the symptoms of drinking excessive water ?
  • 20.14 What are the symptoms of deficiency of water in the body ?
  • 20.15 What are the indications to drink warm water ?
  • 20.16 What are the indications to drink cold water ?
  
  
• 21. Balanced diet
  • 21.1 What is good nutrition ?
  • 21.2 How much food should one eat ?
  • 21.3 Food exchanges
  • 21.4 Principles for calculating calories in the diet
  • 21.5 Principles for selection of diet
  • 21.6 Outline of food exchanges
  • 21.7 What are the differences in the nutritive value of vegetarian and non-vegetarian food ?
  • 21.8 Is it possible for poor families to have a well balanced and nutritious diet ?