BY PURVI RADIA | NT BUZZ
Ayurvedic cooking, health through food. Wondering what this is all about about? Well, a nutritionist from Mumbai, Ms Vaishali Ganorkar, is conducting a course in association with The Art of Living for the same in Goa.
Ayurvedic cooking is nothing but proper balanced diet that is found only in traditional Indian food as Ms Ganorkar opines. At the course, she will start off by giving information about Ayurveda then follow up with how to deal with health problems through food, practical demonstrations of correct food preparation techniques, diet plan according to body constitution, substitute for refined products, recipe book and lastly home remedies.
Ayurvedic style of cooking is a rational way to prepare food, keeping in mind the dietary need of an individual based on different body types. Ayurveda also gives importance to season-based eating. This means eating only those food items that are available for that particular season, which provides good health. “Health works well as per the kind of intake we maintain,” informs the faculty of The Art of Living foundation, Ms Ganorkar.
If good eating is what we call junk food like pastas, pizzas, etc, then as per Ms Ganorkar this is an inadequate diet. This is because this diet does not contain a balance of ingredients described as healthy food. In fact, Ms Ganorkar does not vouch for any western food as balanced food. She is in favour of Indian food.
She says, “All Indian food traditionally prepared is balanced with essential herbs. However, if they are eaten as per the availability of that season they are more effective.” The various tastes - sweet, salty, sour, bitter, astringent and pungent - each have their peculiar role to play in every season.
Then, the question is, what proper food according to Ayurveda. To which Ms Ganorkar replies, “This requires a constitution analysis to establish what kind food is good for you. However, for this, one has to consult an Ayurvedic doctor.”
She further adds, “Ayurveda has a technique on how to eat food and this has a science behind it.”
Never follow a diet plan, says Ms Ganorkar as these are temporary. “Don’t go by the chart, instead eat according to the season,” she advises.
As far as cooking goes, Ayurveda supports natural ways of cooking like sundried or solar cooked food.
So cook in the Ayurvedic style and be healthy.
