The Naturopathy Diet has been renowned since Vedic era for treating ailments and diseases. It has a medicinal role to play due to its nurturing, purifying and eliminative attributes. The core fundamentals of Naturopathy lie in the belief that the diseases are a leading cause of violation of laws of nature. Due to changing lifestyles in these modern times, our body is adapting to a detrimental way of living. This is resulting in us falling prey to lifestyle diseases such as cancer and metabolic syndrome. To get rid of such diseases and to improve the vitality, one should follow the laws of nature in terms of exercising, nourishing diet, calming meditation etc and imbibe the yogic way of living to manage the lifestyle related disorders.
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In terms of dietary nourishment, quality of food should be sattvik in nature while sustaining its natural form. Half of the stomach should be filled with food, one fourth should be filled with liquid and the rest one fourth should be empty for the free flow of air. While eating one should relish their food at a calm and peaceful state of being, ignoring any sort of intensive thinking activity.
Classification of Food –
1- Sattvik Food –
Fresh, Wholesome, Organic, mildly or slow cooked foods are providers of a calm soothing and healing energy that is vital for a balanced state of being. These foods are referred to as Sattvik. They are responsible for nurturing your body with lightness, alertness and a complete conscious state of being wherein you don’t feel low, irritated, stressed and depressed.
2- Rajasik Food –
Foods that are too bitter, too sour, too salty and spicy causing dryness and a sensation of burning in your digestive system fall into this category. Rajasik food basically refers to meals that are overcooked in heavy spices to increase its taste resulting in speeding up of metabolism and stimulation of the nervous system. However they might cater to quick and easy energy needs, but they negatively impact causing unclear and disbalanced state of being promoting needs for physical activity and sensual pleasure. Such foods are responsible for distress, misery and diseases of all kinds.
3- Tamasik food –
Those foods which are partly dead and spoiled since they have been kept overnight and have been processed to a great deal. Such foods are responsible for creating a feeling of heaviness and lethargy impacting the energy, vitality and consciousness of the person.
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Types of diet –
1- Raw Diet –
This consists of foods in its natural form such as raw fruits and vegetables. They are considered ideal for a diet receptive to healing due to its nourishing properties full of vital Vitamins and Minerals while low in calories and other toxic agents. It consists of fresh and dry fruits, vegetables, nuts, vegetables, sprouts and other legumes etc.
2- Mono Diet –
It means using only one kind of food at a meal and not the same one regularly.
3- Detoxifying Diet –
The nourishing dietary elements with detoxification attributes that cater to cleansing of our system. With its eliminative properties, this type of food activates our eliminative organs such as intestines and kidneys. Food items such as citric juices, lemon water, tender coconut water etc fall into this category.
4- Soothing Diet –
Once the body is almost detoxified and purified, the second stage of Naturopathy incorporates a soothing diet which is slightly more filling and does feel like a fasting diet such as eliminative one. Food items in this phase include fruits, vegetables, sprouts, vegetable soups, buttermilk, wheat grass juice etc.
5- Constructive Diet –
Third phase of Naturopathy treatment is a Constructive Diet where the body is completely detoxified and the patient is free of any diseases and ailments. During the stage the body has started building new healthy cells and lymphs flowing in blood. Foods as a part of this diet are responsible for boosting immunity such as wholesome flour, unpolished rice, pulses, sprouts, curd etc.
Enlisting foods to be avoided and taken –
Foods to be considered –
- All seasonal fresh green vegetables such as Lauki, Torai, Parval, Tinda, Cabbage, Turnip, Beetroot, Carrot, Cucumber, Spinach, Radish, Tomato, Methi, Dhaniya etc.
- Sweets like Honey and Jaggery.
- Juices like fresh juice of Pineapple, Orange, Carrot etc.
- Sprouts and Legumes like Moong, Moth, Gram, Methi, Wheat, Alfalfa, Ground Nut etc.
- Cereals like unpolished rice, Wheat flour with bran, Ragi.
- Dry fruits like Figs, Date, Raisins and currants.
- All seasonal fruits like Guava, Pear, Apple, Orange, Bananas, Papaya, Kiwi etc.
- Soups like vegetable soups
- Hydrating liquids for a nutritional detox such as lemon or coconut water, buttermilk, Mattha etc.
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Foods to be avoided –
- All garden and farm products with pesticides and disinfectants.
- Tobacco products like Zarda, Khaini, Bidi, Cigarette, Cigar and Pan Masala.
- Coffee, Tea, Chocolate and Cold Drinks.
- Excessive usage of salt and other sodium based products.
- Alcohol and Drugs
- White sugar, all purpose flour(Maida) and its products like bread, biscuits, sweets, namkeen, puri and ice cream etc.
- Egg, meat, fish, fried food, polished rice, condiments, pickles etc.
- All processed, refined, tinned, preserved and chemically processed factory food.
- Food stored for longer periods of time and overnight stored food.
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