Getting going

I finally have something to record here. Lately I have been preparing food more often than I did previously. Also, with an eye to the subject of enlightenment, I have been studying some healthy living philosophies. This is not a new thing, but something that has been going on for some time.

Among other sources I have found the literary works of Sanderson Beck to be quite helpful. His work includes translations of many of the classical works from Asia, India, Greece, and other cultures.

His Web address : www.san.beck.org/

Other influences include Alan Watts, and of late, Deepak Chopra.

What I am going to talk about in this post is based mostly on information found at the Chopra Center website: www.chopra.com/

Ayurvedic Sense In Living - a diet primer

By far one of the most important things that we can do is eat in a way that is supportive of our living being. Also, in my opinion, eating flavorful and nourishing foods is one of the most enjoyable parts of life. With all of the cooking I've been doing lately and all of the variety of food I have been preparing and with the purpose of meeting those two needs I am looking to the way food is prepared in an ayurvedic way.

I don't know how it is for other people, but when I eat Indian food I feel better than what I eat some other foods. Perhaps it is because much of that food is prepared in a way that is sensitive to our body needs are from our food. Like many other things in the Hindi culture balance is a very important aspect. Any preparing food, it is important to balance the different kinds of nutrients so that we are fully nourished. One of the ways we can assure this is by paying attention to the six tastes.

By satisfying these tastes, we essentially provide for all of the necessary fats, carbohydrates, and proteins in a way which results similar to the food pyramid that is widely used to gauge diet.

The different tastes are: Sweet, Sour, Salty, Pungent, Bitter, and Astringent.

Sweet Tasting Food

This category includes carbohydrates such as rice, bread, pasta, potatoes, sugars. It also includes meat, fish, dairy, and chicken. The reason these food sources are considered sweet relies on the fact that they contain carbohydrates, protein, and fat.

Eating this taste of food is very satisfying, and is soothing -- comfort food.

Sour Tasting Food

This category consists of citrus fruits, tomatoes, berries, pickled foods (vinegar), and alcohol. This type of food is sour because of the acids -- ascorbic acid, citric acid, and acetic acid. They stimulate the appetite and assists in the digestive process.

Salty Tasting Food

this type of food includes soy sauce, and any food which has been salted with sodium chloride, or sea salt. The addition of this type of feature our diet enhances the flavor of other foods and stimulates the appetite.

Pungent Tasting Foods

this is the type of food that puts the spice in life. To me this category makes food worth eating. It includes the flavor of chilies, onions, garlic, peppers of all type (cayenne, black pepper, green pepper), other spices such as clove, ginger, mustard have the same effect. It is the essential oils contained in these foods that have the desired effect of promoting sweating, clearing the sinuses, and other stimulation.

Bitter Tasting Foods

Green leafy vegetables, celery, broccoli, yellow vegetables, beets, and sprouts are some of the bitter tasting foods. They contain alkaloids and glycosides. Very helpful in removing toxins from the system.

Astringent Tasting Foods

astringent foods contain tannins. This would include lentils, grapes, cauliflower, dried beans, lentils, pomegranates, tea, and green apples.

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The best diet would include each of these tastes at every meal. My goal is to at least have them all every day. My progress towards this goal will be recorded here.