The golden guidelines

Since every person is uniquely different, as well as ever-changing, Ayurveda is all about natural guidelines, which soon become ‘second nature’. Helpfully there are also universal rules: the dos and don’ts of food combining, which we can apply wherever possible to protect our digestive fire, rather than having to be fully in tune with what’s going on with you today.

GOLDEN GUIDELINES

How much I’m able to apply these principles to my life varies. When I’m at home and in a routine I’m pretty good at applying them because I’ve built my home around them; I’ve organised my life to include them. When I’m travelling, it totally depends on the structure of my days and where I am, so at these times I draw on many other sources of nourishment to keep me balanced, such as meditation, affirmations or positive thinking, or I just enjoy some wild abandonment and go with the flow for a week or two!

The details below will help you to reconnect to your own intuition at your own pace, so that you can eventually be guided by what works for you. That may mean remaining strict on certain points or in certain situations because it makes all the difference to how you feel – for example, caffeine really affects me when I’m working because my job is already very stimulating, but a coffee on holiday leaves me totally chilled. Or it may mean you use the principles more loosely to keep you feeling good in general; for example, every time a healthy choice is available, you take it. Deciding what works for you is just one of the joys of this philosophy.

– Fresh is best – if you have to eat leftovers, make sure they are no older than a day or two and sauté with ginger and black pepper first.

– Avoid caffeine after lunch and avoid it full stop if you’re feeling wired.

– Enjoy a balance of Tamasic and Rajasic foods around a central diet of Sattvic foods.

– Don’t eat the same foods for more than two meals in a row.

– Don’t make a meal out of a meal!

– Reduce the amount of packaged, processed, canned and frozen food in your diet.

– Be moderate and avoid extremes – for instance, too much or too little food.

– Eat the six Tastes in every meal for a well-balanced plate (see here).

– Choose foods and lifestyle practices with opposite Qualities to your dominant Dosha (see here) to bring or maintain balance.

– Choose organic and local wherever possible, especially for animal products.

– Water quality – go for filtered, distilled or spring water.

– Say yes to real fats and natural sweeteners, according to how you feel on a daily basis.

– Respect the food, the time of day, the seasons and your digestive capability.

– Let vegetables and fruit make up 50 to 60 per cent of your daily food intake.

– You can eat all kinds of foods but minimise those that are not helpful for your constitution (for example, eat such foods only every 5–7 days or every 2 weeks if your digestion is weak).

– Stay present with your food.

– Cooked foods are easier to digest.

– Stick to warm or hot drinks (‘room-temperature’ water is too variable, depending on where you live!) – similarly with food, although occasional ‘cool’ food is okay if it is warmed thoroughly in the mouth.

– Drink milk after simmering it for 15 minutes with water (and spices, if desired) to make it more digestible.

– Stick to freshly made yoghurt and cheese rather than shop-bought yoghurt and mature cheeses.

– Eat legumes, pseudocereals or grains with one of the following spices: ginger, cinnamon, black pepper or turmeric.

FOOD-COMBINING RULES

Exploring the concept of food-combining can be a little daunting at first! When you look at what doesn’t go together in Ayurveda it can feel as if you’re left with a limited number of options, especially if these combinations have made up your staple diet until now. This is quite typical of a Western diet, but it is only when these incompatabilities are practised together and on a regular basis that you will experience ill-health, so you don’t have to be exhaustive with this approach unless your health really needs addressing. There are, of course, times when you have to or want to eat such food combinations, and if your digestive fire is strong you won’t feel any immediate ill-effects. In general, if you follow these guidelines you will experience benefits both in the long and short term. This detailed list is also very useful for people who suffer from digestive discomfort sporadically after eating a meal and can’t put their finger on what the trigger might be.

WHAT TO AVOID, AT A GLANCE

– Milk and yoghurt in excess. Be sure to prepare milk first by cooking it.

– Wet, green, leafy veggies (like spinach) or salads in excess.

– Pickled or fermented foods in excess.

– Heating honey (always use raw).

– Drinking more than three cups of tea – herbs and spices are powerful!

– Eating more than one source of protein per meal.

– Mixing salt with dairy milk or sour foods (it curdles) – except for ricotta or paneer.

– Mixing equal weights of ghee with honey.

– Mixing milk with fish.

– Eating ice cream, yoghurt or cheese at night.

– Eating sweets and oily food at night.

– Eating heavy sweets and foods early in the morning.

– Eating very sour, salty and pungent things in the afternoon.

So bang goes the cheese plate for dessert, yoghurt with fruit for breakfast, surf ‘n’ turf, chicken with rice, and sipping on those giant iced fizzy drinks, right? Not so fast... A good digestive fire can handle these incompatabilities, day in and day out; however, it can eventually weaken. Having said that, the body works hard to find balance and we get used to certain food combinations and eating patterns, especially where it has been part of our culture for thousands of years.

But if you suffer digestive discomfort and feel less than your best, Ayurveda could be your saving grace.

You have choices and chances, so take them where possible. As one of my teachers, Gary Gorrow, reminded me:

‘The thing to note is that Ayurveda is a very compassionate and accommodating science. It doesn’t set out to impose itself upon others but rather prefers to foster innate wisdom, and that is the source of one’s guidance along the path of life. Ayurveda will simply seek to harmonise the influence of things – such as if you want to eat cheese, sprinkle black pepper on it, and so on and so forth.’

		DIFFICULT TO DIGEST WITH ...		WORKS WELL WITH ...
BEANS		Fruit, milk, cheese, yoghurt, eggs, meat, fish		Grains, vegetables, other beans, nuts, seeds
BUTTER + GHEE		Ghee is a better option for most foods		Grains, vegetables, beans, nuts, seeds, meat, fish, eggs, cooked fruit
CHEESE + YOGHURT		Incompatible with each other, as well as with fruit, beans, meat, fish, eggs, milk, hot drinks and nightshades (potato, pepper, tomato, aubergine, cayenne pepper and paprika)		Grains, vegetables
MILK		Salt, or any other food, especially fish.		Milk is best enjoyed alone... except to make rice pudding or porridge, or with dates or almonds
EGGS		Milk, cheese, yoghurt, fruit (especially melons), beans, Kitchari, potatoes, meat, fish		Grains, non-starchy vegetables
FRUITS		Any other food (aside from other fruit). Exceptions: dates with milk, some cooked/dried fruit combinations Melon is best eaten on its own. Banana is best eaten in the afternoon after lunch		Other fruits with similar qualities (such as citrus together, apples with pears, a berry medley, etc.). Choose limes over lemons, especially with tomatoes and cucumber
GRAINS		Fruit		Beans, vegetables, other grains, eggs, meat, fish, nuts, seeds, cheese, yoghurt
VEG		Fruit, milk		Grains, beans, other vegetables, meat, fish, nuts, seeds, eggs. Also with cheese and yoghurt (except nightshade vegetables: pepper, aubergine, potato, tomato)
LEFT­OVERS		Freshly cooked foods		Other leftovers from the same meal, but only on occasion, preferably not more than 24 hours old and first sautéed throughly with ghee and black pepper
RAW FOODS		Cooked foods (especially in large quantities)		Other raw foods, ideally in small quantities. Avoid raw after four, best at lunchtime and in warmer weather