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Author: Admin | 2025-04-28
Tastes. In a state of health, we should favor all six tastes to avoid imbalances or deficiencies, while being mindful to consume more of the tastes that balance our innate constitution.Shadrasa (the six tastes) and their significance in balancing the doshasMy friend loves kidney beans while they make me feel terribly bloated. I do great with rice pudding (kheer), which she cannot stomach!Just as everything in the universe is composed of the five basic elements (panchamahabhutas) prithvi (earth), apa (water), tejas (fire), vayu (air), and akash (ether); this is true of our bodies and food! Of the three doshas (energy principles), vata, the energy of movement, is composed of ether and air; pitta, the energy of metabolism and transformation, is primarily composed of fire and water; and kapha, the energy of cohesion, structure, and stability, is composed of earth and water. Each of the six tastes comprises a preponderance of certain elements that exert an effect on the doshas and dhatus—pacifying some and aggravating others, according to the principle of “like increases like” and “opposites balance each other!”This concept can be intuitive. If vata is out of balance with sandhigata vata (osteoarthritis) and particularly with the ruksha guna (dry quality) present, then we know the counterbalance of unctuousness (snigdha guna) is needed to balance those qualities as part of the dietary recommendations or overall chikitsa. To recap, the six tastes with dominating elements are Madhura (sweet: earth and water), pacifies vata and pittaAmla (sour: earth and fire), pacifies vataLavana (salty: water and fire), pacifies vataKatu (pungent: fire and air), pacifies kaphaKashaya (astringent: air and earth), pacifies kapha and pittaTikta (bitter: air and ether), pacifies kapha and pittaSo, what makes a diet pathya, or wholesome? A lady with GERD and migraines adds a lot of ginger, garlic, and tomatoes to her food, believing them to have terrific nutritional value. In the summer, she constantly snacks on nuts, has highly aggravated pitta, develops pittaja vidhradhi (boils), and seeks an Ayurvedic consultation. The apathya is very clear. A pathya (wholesome and beneficial) diet is tasty, healthy, congenial to the dhatus, srotas, doshas, manas, and chitta and helps prevent vikruti. According to the Boston Medical Center, although 45 million Americans are on a diet annually and 50% on crash or fad diets, we are still plagued by an obesity epidemic.My friend, a dermatologist, is very healthy and pleasant, has wonderful skin and lustrous hair,
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