How to choose your food when you have a health problem?

This post is inspired by one of most repeated and dreaded question asked by our patients. The question is about following pathya. Why is pathya so important?

• Ayurveda, is a life science , not just a medical system owing to the fact that it deals with every part of our lives, not only diseases. Even when it comes to disease, Ayurveda talks about prevention and cure. Ayurveda views the body as a whole, not in parts. As a result, when we are talking about health or disease, what we eat and what we do cannot be different from how we feel and how we heal.

• The line of treatment for any disease is Ahara(food), Vihara (lifestyle) and Oushadha (medicine) in that order.

• “Naasthi Moolamanoushadham”

There is no plant/herb/root which is not a medicine, says our classics. So, when we choose the right kind of food, the food itself is the medicine. When the right kind of diet is adopted along with the medicines advised, it adds and accelerates the healing process.

• The agni/digestive power in a diseased person is usually low. The indigestion (the ama produced due to it) probably, is the reason behind the diseased condition or could be the root cause. So, a good pathya will have food items which are easy to digest and does not burden the body’s digestive process.

• The body is busy fighting the illness which should be supported with rest, medicines and the right kind of diet which is wholesome, but light. When we consume some food items which are heavy, spicy, salty the enzymes are used up to digest these, not leaving much for the body to synthesize the medicines and concentrate on the healing process.

• Some of the food items can interfere with the healing process because of the opposite qualities of the medicines. It may these kinds of food items which may have contributed to the disease in the first place.

• There is also this fear among some, that when we avoid some food items we will become weak. We all need to remember: We are not we eat, we are what we digest. The diseased body will not have the capacity to make use of the most nutritious food/ supplement in its weak condition.

Here is a broad list of food recommendations suitable to be taken during most illness. These are based on the above principles. This is just an indicative list and is not exhaustive. And remember to listen to your body.

Avoid the following during illness

• Tubers like potatoes, sweet potato, colo