The more time I spend in this country, the greater my appreciation for traditional Indian cooking is. There is such a lot of wisdom integrated into Indian cooking, as it has existed since thousands of years. Follow these basic guidelines and you can never go wrong. As I look around, I see such awful eating habits in this country. Kids brought up on soda and chips, addiction to caffeine, excess of sugar – do you need anything else to push obesity to the level of the number one killer? Most certainly not. There are very good and strong reasons Indian cooking is the way it is.
As strange as it sounds, the digestive fire is strongly linked to the sun. Which is why, lunch should be eaten at 12 pm. Simply because it will digest the best at that time. Similarly dinner should be eaten before sunset. Try eating late and going to bed. Rest assured you will wake up feeling awful. Dal is generally cooked with ginger because inherently dal has a quality to generate gas. Ginger neutralises this particular quality. Similarly, hing is always added while cooking beans or cabbage. Cooling foods are not cold foods. In summer, it is beneficial to eat cooling foods like cucumber, watermelon, yogurt etc. Not so for ice-creams, ice-cold water or soft drinks. These are cold foods and all they serve to do is to kill the digestive fire, besides causing cold and congestion. While binging on mangoes, it is advisable to have yogurt or buttermilk. Mangoes are full of heat and if not balanced with something cooling, can cause havoc with your digestion. In many traditional fish-eating households, fish is never served with any diary products. According to Ayurveda, these two foods have inherent qualities that when combined, can cause indigestion and discomfort. Many Indian sweets are cooked with jaggery and not sugar. If you suffer from constant colds and congestion, banana milkshake is not such a great thing.
Bananas and milk both have cooling qualities and when taken together can only worsen your condition.
There are so many more of these *smart tips* and it never ceases to amaze me how advanced Indians have been when it comes to complete understanding of the human body.
x-posted to desifood
murthys_r_us says:
Hear Hear!!
The details of these good vs bad combinations are so nicely worked into our dishes that we don’t have to stop and do any thinking/analysis before settling on a healthy meal.
Another thing I learnt (the hard way) was that the cuisine of a particular region is based on things like the climate of the area. My Ayurvedic doctor told me that while in ‘cool’ Bangalore, if I ate Kerala style food (puttum pazhavum, chakka puzhukku, kappayum cheeniyum etc.) I was asking for major indigestion, because such food is best eaten in the warmer, more humid climate of Kerala.
Though an early dinner is always advised to be best for one, can one practically get dinner done before sunset? With folks having to come home from work and start cooking, dinner gets pushed out to 9pm or sometimes even 10pm. No wonder many of us suffer from poor digestion.
– M.
August 19, 2005 — 4:24 pm
Lakshmi says:
Re: Hear Hear!!
That’s true. The weather of a particular place plays a big part in knowing what’s right to eat and what’s to be avoided. My husband was told by his Ayurvedic physician that it’s best to avoid yogurt in very humid places.
August 22, 2005 — 2:13 pm
sthira says:
Hey,
I have had banana and milk together for years, it used to be one of my favourite things after a puja was held with the banana mashed and tulsi leaves I guess put in it.
August 20, 2005 — 1:06 am
nithya says:
i guess the savior then is the tulsi leaf part of it.. with great properties… tulsi in anything is good for you…
August 20, 2005 — 7:26 pm
jayasankarvs says:
I’m sure every civilsation has understood human body well.
August 21, 2005 — 3:42 am
Lakshmi says:
Probably.
August 22, 2005 — 2:14 pm
jwadia says:
time is not far when we will reverse the clock in favor of traditions
August 21, 2005 — 1:25 pm
Lakshmi says:
I am totally tending in that direction.
August 22, 2005 — 2:14 pm
sat_chit_anand says:
Personal Prakriti
Another dimension to Indian cooking is the ability of traditionally cooked food to address dosha imbalances. Ginger is best to alleviate vata (gas/air) imbalance. Cooler foods like yoghurt for pitta(heat) imbalance. I am just amazed at the wisdom of ancient India. Sadly in today’s world technological advancement doesnt always bring wisdom. But as long as we partake of practical wisdom from our tradition, we should do just fine.
August 22, 2005 — 6:49 am
on9thheaven says:
well said ! i agree completely – even the traditional food at religious function was not just because… we eat til and gul ( jaggery ) at holi in january – both foods generate heat in january ( cold season ). i could go on and on… but indian food and indian combinations rock ! 🙂
August 22, 2005 — 10:39 am
Lakshmi says:
You’re so right. Like all the members of the melon family are available in summer and that’s the time they should be eaten too.
August 22, 2005 — 2:16 pm
arunshanbhag says:
this is so interesting! It would be most helpful then to discuss such combinations in the context of the recipes. thanks for sharing!
… so I guess homemade mango lassi would be just perfect!
:-))
August 24, 2005 — 7:15 am
Lakshmi says:
Guess our Moms and Grandmoms will be the most active contributors to this discussion.
August 24, 2005 — 11:49 am