“You Are What You Eat” means that eating the right food is essential to good health. What you eat directly affects your body and mind. The right food increases lifespan, willpower, physical strength, disease resistance, and happiness.

Ayurveda, an ancient system of healing, emphasizes balanced, nourishing food for the body. One of Ayurveda’s key principles is that a well-balanced diet should include all six tastes – sweet, sour, salty, bitter, pungent, and astringent – in every meal.

1. Sweet taste includes milk, milk products like butter, ghee (clarified butter), grains (wheat, rice, corn, barley), fruits (bananas, fig, date, melon, mangos), sweet vegetables (carrots, sweet potatoes, beets), sweet nuts (coconut, pumpkin seed, almond, cashew), honey, and sugar. A sweet taste is known to provide energy and build tissues.

2. Sour taste includes limes, lemons, oranges, grapefruit, yogurt, tamarind, limes, sour cream, and vinegar. A sour taste is known to stimulate appetite and detoxify the body.

3. Salty taste includes sea salt, rock salt, black salt, and black olive. A salty taste is known to help promote hydration.

4. Bitter taste includes bitter gourd, fenugreek, ivy gourd, gooseberry, and blackberry. The bitter taste is cleansing and detoxifying.

5. Pungent taste includes garlic, onion, ginger, chili peppers, black pepper, clove, and mustard seeds. A pungent taste is known to improve circulation and reduce congestion in the respiratory system.

6. Astringent taste includes tea, coffee, okra, cranberries, pomegranate, apple, avocado, cabbage, cauliflower, cilantro, saffron, turmeric, and legumes (beans, black gram, green gram, lentils). An astringent taste is known to help reduce mucus production in the body and aid in digestion.

So as you can see, each of the six tastes has its own unique benefits for the body. You can receive all the nutrients your body needs by regularly eating all six tastes.

The right way of eating is as important as eating the right food.  Don’t just gulp down your food; chew it thoroughly. Only then is food digested, absorbed, and assimilated. Also, complete silence while eating can make a world of difference to the body.  This is practical knowledge, not a sermon.