A balanced diet according to Ayurveda has much nuance based on your own personal constitution, but a good starting point is knowing about the Sat Rasa, the six tastes.
“Our tastebuds do much more than simply identify tastes; they unlock the nutritive value of foods and provide the initial spark to the entire digestive process.” [Eat, Taste, Heal, Thomas Yarema et al, p.43] As they say in Ayurveda, you are what you digest.
The starting point of the six tastes is the Ayurvedic paradigm of the world being composed of five basic elements — earth, water, fire, air, and space. Each taste is a combination of two of these five and therefore have corresponding qualities to match:
1. Sweet – earth and water; heavy, moist, cooling
2. Sour – earth and fire; light, moist, heating
3. Salty – water and fire; heavy, moist, heating
4. Pungent – air and fire; light, dry, heating
5. Bitter – space and air; light, dry, cooling
6. Astringent – air and earth; heavy, dry, cooling
To be completely satisfied, one should include all six tastes during every meal. Practically speaking, for me personally this is often a challenge, so I make myself content attempting to get all six tastes in any particular day. Some days are better than others, and some tastes are easier to come by then others.
Sweet is the first, and the most abundant. This does not mean simply sugar. Other “sweet” foods are most grains like wheat and rice, milk, butter, and cream, some beans like limas, sweet fruits, and some vegetables like carrots, sweet potatoes, and beets.
Sour foods include citrus fruits like lemon, lime and grapefruit, yogurt, cheeses, sour cream, and fermented products like wine, vinegar, sauerkraut, and soy sauce.
Salty foods might be more obvious, anything that you add salt to, like nuts, chips, or pickles, sea vegetables like kelp or nori, and even celery is considered salty. (Sometimes the taste is very subtle.)
These three tastes are considered building tastes. If you eat a lot of them, you will build tissue in your body — all kinds of tissue, including muscle and fat.
The second set of three tastes are considered reducing tastes. If you eat more of these, there is a cleansing effect that helps your body reduce stored energy, generally in the form of adipose tissue.
Pungent foods are spicy, think chili peppers, garlic, onions, and spices themselves, black pepper, ginger, cumin.
Bitter foods include leafy green veggies such as spinach, kale, green cabbage, chard, zucchini, eggplant, as well as turmeric, fenugreek, and dandelion roots and leaves. Cate Stillman of yogahealer.com says that wild foods like dandelion are superfoods that can replace long lost minerals from your body and also detox your liver, blood, and fat.
Astringent foods generally are harder to name because astringent taste is harder to identify. You know how after you eat cranberries or pomegranates your mouth tends to pucker a little and feel dry? That helps to identify astringent taste. Other examples would be certain beans again like lentils and chickpeas, and also pears, dried fruits, broccoli, cauliflower, artichoke, asparagus, turnip, rye, buckwheat, quinoa, coffee and tea.
Many foods are a combination of tastes. I’m thinking of coffee here, it is astringent but it is also bitter. Beans are sweet and astringent. Oranges are sour and sweet.
Yoga practice including asana and meditation helps one tune in to the wisdom of the body. This takes time and dedication, but it is possible to attune yourself to your health needs. When you slow down and listen to your body, appetite and cravings mellow to the point where they do not dominate your life and you can make proper choices based on desire rather than denying yourself the pleasure of taste.
“If you observe no other guidelines, at least do not eat too fast or too often.” [Prakriti, Robert Svoboda, p.87] They say your stomach should be full with 1/2 food, 1/4 water, and 1/4 air. Slow down and TASTE your food.
Next up: The Depth of Great Taste.
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