In fact, cooking for our health is
not abou t creating the most co mplicated and exotic meals possible, it is
about us ing our  wisdom and ou r intelligence to create the dish es that will
nurture and nourish us. Peggy came to me due to many health issues, most of them  r elated to
chr onic pain and inflammation. She did not own a stove and lived primarily
on fr oze n meals . She had a micr owave and a r efrigerator . Sh e knew that
food would be o ne ar ea wher e s he could make an impr ovement in her life,
but s he d id not know how . She n ever bought normal gr oceries as she did not
have the  means to cook them, and she r eally did not know how to cook
anything. I suggested that she g et a slow cooker and that her shopping list
should c onsist o f buying good q uality canned soups and beans. I told her
that she must w alk out of her gr ocery stor e with at least two leafy gr een
vegetables of her choice. I made her a spice mix that she was to use in her cooking. She was able to
use the slow coo ker to sauté the  spice mix, then add canned soup or beans,
plus the leafy gr een vegetables she had bought. She felt like she was
cooking fr esh food each time she made a meal. She liked her meals so much
that she bought a small slow cooker for her work as well. She was no
longer e ating fr o zen meals. She incr eased the variety of the vegetables she
used; her menu expanded and she became cr eative. Using anti-inflammatory spices and foods r educed her pain. She felt mor e  ener gy and
she was  very happy with the pr ogr ess she was making; she also lost some
weight. It really can be this simple. W e can begin where we are and move towards
health one step at a time. It is never too late to be healthy . W e a re meant to
heal and live ou r best life. Start today! Figure out what your firs t step might
be, and begin. Making your own meals for the sake of your health will make you feel
engaged in your own life and when we are engaged we are present and
enjoy ou rselves; this makes us m ore ef fective, thus saving time. It is when
we d isengage that we feel anxious, bored, out of sorts, and un happy . Start
paying a ttention to this area of your life and it will change your health. The
solutions to our illnesses are in our kitchen, not in the doctor ’ s of fice. And
the mos t reliable  way to get the nutrition you need is to prepare your own
meals. W ith so many kitchen gadgets available to help us, cooking is now
far easier than it ever used to be. In fact, the act of preparing your own meal
is a digestive aid , as the anticip ation of eating a meal prepares our body to
digest it. Mental stress and anxiety about food also contribute to a weakened
digestive system. What we eat af fects our emotions, as we discussed
previously . Emotions af fect our ability to transform the food we eat into the
fuel we  need. Stress causes toxicity , even when we consum e the most
perfect food possible. On the other hand, food eaten with joy and happiness
is far more positioned to give us the ener gy we need, even if it is not the
most perfect food. When we are upset or angry , our digestion naturally
shuts do wn to allow us to spend  our ener gy digesting and meta bolizing our
emotions. It is best to delay eating if you find yourself upset because you
might be inclined to overeat in o rder to suppress unpleasant emotions. This
can start a cycle  of emotional e ating, which is not good for anybody . It’ s
better to just sip  some hot tea or sit quietly—your body needs ti me to digest
your emotions. Nothing happens if we skip a meal, and it actually might
give your body a much-needed break. One of the easiest and most pot ent ways to begin to improve our digestion
is to add ginger to our diet. It is a must-have staple in my kitche n and it sitsright in my fruit bowl. Ginger is Pungent, and it heats the diges tive system. More than a great digestive aid , it settles the stomach and, it’ s great for
colds and flu in  the W inter sea son, it’ s terrific for aller gies in any season
and it is a detoxifier in the Spring season. It is highly versatile and it will
serve yo u to make friends with  it. Ginger is a medicinal herb that can be
used fresh, dried, powdered or a s a juice. It has powerful anti-inflammatory
and antioxidant ef fects. It can also reduce muscle pain and soreness. Soaking your feet in water that has been boiled with a few slices of ginger
or even adding ginger to your bath, is a great way to get relief from achy
feet and an achy body . Include ginger powder in the s pices that you add to your meals. I have
added it to the suggested spice mix in this book (the recipe is  in Chapter
16 ). Fresh ginger r oot can be shred ded and sautéed in oil or ghee with your
vegetables, and added to soups and stews. Sipping on ginger tea (made with
three or four long slices of ginger root and hot water) is a wonderful
digestive aid before, during, an d after your meals. T o add variety to your
ginger te a, you can add some f ennel seeds (½ teaspoon per cup of water)
and/or a pinch of licorice root. Another great way to improve di gestion is to
eat a  couple of slices of ginger pickle before meals. This can be made by
just placing some slices of ginge r in apple cider vinegar and storing them in
a gl ass jar in the refrigerator . Or you can make fresh ginger pickle by
simply s licing a  few thin slices  of ginger , sprinkling some salt  and lemon
juice on  them, and enjoying them right before meals to stoke yo ur digestive
fire. T H E  A M A Z I N G  G I N G E RGinger T ea
Cut up fresh slices of ginger and add hot water . Steep for 5 minutes and enjoy . Ginger pickle
Cut thin slices of ginger and add to apple cider vinegar . Refrigerate and
have a couple of slices with meals. There ar e many factors that af fe ct our ability to digest. The choice of food,
the timin g of meals, the food combinations, and the environmen t where we
eat are all contributing factors. Let’ s discuss them in detail below . W H A T  T O  E A T ?When it comes to food, purity and freshness matter . Choosing fresh,
or ganic, non-GM O food and food in the purest form possible saves our
digestive system from being overloaded with foreign substances that it
can’ t recognize. Spending a little extra now to save your future health
is the greatest health insurance you can purchase. Food left over f rom a previous meal is okay once in a while but if
eaten regularly it can overwhelm your digestive system, as the food is
no longer fresh or pure and it accumulates toxins. Eat mos tly vegetarian and warm, cooked meals. Our bodies do not
have the enzymes necessary for breaking down cellulose, which is the
major constituent of the outside surfaces of most fruits and vegetables,
and cook ing makes them digestible. Raw food becomes roughage that
lines our intestinal walls, blocking the absorption of vital nutrients. Eat the foods that are most suitable for your dosha (constitution),
adjusting it according to the seasons and cycles of the day as discussed
previously . W H E N  T O  E A T
Eating somethin g light and warm in the morning wakes u p our
digestive system , warms it up and also helps with the elimination
process. Drinkin g hot water with a bit of lemon and raw honey is a
great w ay to awaken our dig estion and get our bowels m oving. Morning is the Kapha time and  eating something light and war m will
balance the Kapha qualities of heavy and cool. Eating y our bigg est meal of the  day during lunch time, the Pitta time,
is best for harnessing the digestive fire that is available to us during
that time and it can provide us with the fuel we need for the rest of the
day . Eating a lighter meal at dinner time is in alignment with Nature, as it
slows down during this time, a long with our digestion. In ad dition,
leaving a two-hour gap between our dinner and our bedtime is
recommended to ensure adequate digestion while we are still awake. Eating at approximately the same time regulates our digestive function
and trai ns our body to work w ith our natural rhythms and th ose ofNature. Regularity in meals will make you hungry around the same
time and is best for your digestion. T H E  E N V I R O N M E N T  M A T T E R S ! Eating in a settl ed environment is good for our digestion. Mini mizing
the distractions while eating will maximize the enjoyment and
satisfaction of the meal. Be present to the dif ferent tastes, textures, and
aromas, and truly enjoy your food. Allowing that experience to register
with all your se nses will go a long way towards helping you eat in
accordance with  your hunger so you do not overeat. Rememb er , the
banquet is in the  first bite. A happy and cozy place in our kitchen is an
important factor in helping us feel nurtured and nourished. Eating on-the-ru n and while engaged in other things takes awa y from
the enjo yment a nd satisfaction of a meal and we may turn to  other
things—or more eating—in order to get that feeling. Y our multi-
tasking abilities  are better serv ed in other areas of your life a nd not
while eating! A void stimulatin g conversations, news or phone calls so your ener gy
and atten tion can  go towards eat ing and digesting. It is okay to i ndulge
in ea ting in fron t of a good movie once in a while, but it is what we do
consistently that matters. A great way to f inish a meal, and to have the experience registe r , is to
sit f or five mi nutes after the meal instead of running of f to do
something else. W H O  I S  T H E  C O O K ? Food conveys ener gy to the body . The food will have the ener gy of the
person who cooked it. So, the level of Consciousness of the cook matters. Food cooked by a corporation—as is the case with frozen, prepared, or fast
food meals—is not the same as food cooked by a family member or
yourself. The ener gy of the cook plays a big part in the enjoyment of the
food, and it del ivers that same ener gy to us. Have you ever noticed that
even when you follow grandma’ s recipe to a “T ,” the dish still doesn’ t tasteas g ood as hers  did? Love is a potent ingredient in our meals  and that is
what’ s hugely missing in food prepared by corporations. One of my siste rs, who passed away a few years ago, had magic in her
hands and in her pr esence. I enjoyed my meals the most when she was in
the kitchen. She knew what I liked, and how I liked it, and she put extra love
into the food she pr epar ed for me. One particular time she pack ed my lunch
for a field trip and I could taste the love oozing out of the food she had
pr epar ed. A lot o f my friends ga ther ed ar ound me for a taste. Luckily , I can
say this about all of my sister s especially the oldest one: she not only
cr eates magic in the kitchen but  she has the unique gift of making everyone
happy with her cooking. M O R E  W A Y S  T O  I M P R O V E  D I G E S T I O N
Starting the day with stewed apples in the mornings is a great way to
kick-start our digestion. (Cut apple into small pieces, with or without
the peel, put in  a small saucep an and add ½ cup of water and 3-4
whole cl oves (n ot garlic); cover and cook on medium heat for a bout 7
minutes, checking in between to make sure that more water isn’ t
needed. Discard  the cloves, they  are added for flavor and to ad d some
heat to the digestion.) Sipping hot water throughout the day is a great way to detoxify and
help your digestive system stay strong and healthy . Eat a couple of pieces of ginger pickle, as discussed earlier . T op your food w ith a teaspoon of ghee (recipe in Chapter 16 ) and  eat  it
with the first bite to stoke your digestive fire. A void icy drinks or lar ge amounts of liquid with meals, as the
ef ficiency of our digestive syste m decreases with cold drinks, a nd too
much fluid tends to liquefy th e stomach enzymes and weaken our
digestion. Cooking with digestive spices (recipe in Chapter 16 ) h elps our body
digest and assimilate the food and also helps repair our gut. Di gestive
spices include ginger , black pepper , cumin, coriander , turmeric and
fennel.Eating u ntil only  75% full ensures there is some room left in our body
for the digestive process to take place. A void snacking between meals so your body has time to fully  digest
your me al before it has to digest the snacks. Eating a handful of nuts or
a little fruit is okay , however , if necessary . Pay attention to how you feel after you eat certain foods. This will help
guide you in ca se there are certain foods that do not agree wi th you. Notice also the ef fect of the food on your sleep, mood, and
elimination. Our body has its o wn intelligence and a little awareness
can help us tap into it. What is the one  thing you can  do to better your digestion? Many times,
it is  that single  step that cr ea tes a chain r eaction in an upward and
positive way .C H A P T E R  1 2W h a t  M a k e s  F o o d  A y u r v e d i c ? The purpose of this chapter is to pull all the information together for a
practical understanding of A yurv edic nutrition and also to discuss what may
have be en left out of the previous chapters. Some A yurvedic information
does not fall into any one category but needs to be discussed. A nother key
focus of  this chapter is to talk about Ama (toxins) in terms o f how it is
created and how we can clear it up. What m akes food A yurvedic? A yurvedic food is not Indian food; however ,
the terms are commonly used interchangeably because A yurveda originated
in India . This way of cooking and living is common and pred ominant in
India; it’ s in the culture. But A yurvedic food is not limited to I ndian food. A yurvedic principles are inheren t in Nature and when we respond to Nature
in ou r co oking a nd eating, it bec omes A yurvedic. Also, food is A yurvedic if
we unde rstand its properties and function and use it to create a specific
result. F ood is preventive medicine. By paying attention to how we cook
and eat,  we are preventing future illness. Below are some reminders that
may seem obvious, but it is the obvious things that we often mi ss, and they
are pivotal in creating a sustainable change. F O O D  N E E D S  T O  B E  H O T ,  F R E S H L Y
C O O K E D ,  N O U R I S H I N G ,  O R G A N I C  A N D
N O N - G M O . A w ord on why fresh is important: what we eat needs to be available to our
body fo r ener gy . Y ou may be familiar with the word bio-avail able, which
means our body is able to identify it, therefore making it usable and
available for ener gy . Process ed food is laden with add itives and
preservatives and our body does not recognize them. It therefo re does not
know w hat to do with them. F ood transforms into ener gy and waste, and
our digestive system must be working well to carry out this process fully . Additives and preservatives can not be cycled into either ener g y or waste. Overconsumption of processed food will undermine our body’ s intelligenceand ability to get rid of these ch emicals, so they linger in our body adding
to the existing accumulation of toxins—or , what A yurveda calls Ama. The
longer A ma remains in the body , the deeper into the tissue layers it travels;
ultimately it manifests as disease. Ama is disease waiting to manifest. Ama bl ocks the proper functioning of our body; it is like dust on the
window which blocks the sunny view outside. Ama blocks our body’ s
innate ability to heal. The same is true of leftover foods. Cooking for the whole week may be
good planning and may save ti me, but our purpose is to save our health. Although it’ s better than a drive -thru meal, leftover or old food is not only
devoid of Prana (ener gy), but the food is no longer edible, as it has changed,
chemically , from the time it was cooked. Just as with additives, the body
can’ t do  much with what it does not recognize as food, and l eftovers, in
turn, become Ama. Microwaving food distorts it, so, ener getically , it becomes chaotic. Not to
mention that leftover foods that have been reheated are devoi d of Prana. Consuming these foods also creates Ama. Genetically mod ified food is on e of the biggest contributors to Ama as our
bodies cannot recognize it. What the body does not recognize, it can’ t
metabolize. And what can’ t be metabolized becomes Ama. It m ay appear in  our modern cul ture that most of our eating practices create
Ama and hence this is why mos t people have weakened digestive systems. How do  we change that? If we practice living and eating more in line with
Nature a nd our body’ s intellige nce, then we can support what  is ideal for
our body . W e don’ t get far when we go against Nature, but wh en we align
with it the resul ts extend far be yond what we may have imagined. So, any
ef forts to create positive changes are worthwhile. Why mu st food  be hot? Cookin g makes food easier to digest. Cooking is
also nee ded to ward of f bacterial growth. Hot food stimulates our digestion
and wak es it up. Cold food makes our digestion work harder and, over time,
makes i t sluggis h; in that sense  it reduces the ef ficiency of our digestive
system.Cold meals are v ery common in our culture, especially cold lunches. Those
of us working in the corporate  world may find the idea of h aving a hot
lunch quite foreign. Chomping on a cold sandwich while working is more
the norm. This is where I tell my clients to at least sip some hot water or
ginger tea with t heir sandwich instead of a cold drink. Poor lunches may be
one of the reasons people feel extra exhausted from their work day when
they get home. Then they eat a  long, drawn-out dinner to make up for the
lack of proper lunch. Fatigue makes us eat more, and eating wh ile working
is fa tiguing, rather than as resto rative as it should be. A quick w ay to solve
the cold lunch i ssue is to use a thermos. Y ou can prepare you r lunch half
way and , while it is still cooking, transfer it to a thermos where  it can cook
fully and  be ready for you at lunch time. Many of my clients do this and
love it. Soups and stews turn out great when cooked this way . S K I P  T H E  C O L D  D R I N K S
Another norm in our culture is drinking lar ge volumes of icy cold liquids
during meals. If grease from the dishes clogs our kitchen sink, pouring cold
water in to the drain will solidify the grease along the pipe and  eventually
plug our  sink. Drinking icy cold liquids does the same thing: it plugs the
digestive track—in other words, it creates Ama. On top of that, if we drink
a l ot of cold water , it will lique fy the stomach enzymes that are needed to
break down our food. So, it is a double whammy to have a lar ge icy cold
beverage. I recommend my clients sip a cup of hot water o r tea and it
immediately improves how they feel after meals. Symptoms of Ama include feeing sluggish, heavy , and lethar gic, and having
dif ficulty waking up in the morning. Ama impedes the flow and movement
in the body resulting in pain and a host of illnesses. In the same way , our
negative emotio ns, and holding on to past grudges, create emo tional Ama
that get in the w ay of our heali ng and happiness. According to A yurveda,
our decl ining he alth has more to do with the accumulation of Ama, and
blockages in the transfer of ener gy , than with age alone. Ama can be
eliminated from our bodies through purification methods such as
Panchkarma (a five-step A yurvedic mind and body purification process)
and meditation (to purify emotional Ama)There are a few additional ways to reduce Ama in your body , apart from all
that has  already been discussed. Here is a simple list of actio ns you may
wish to take:
Dairy: Low fat milk, lassi made very thin (1 tablespoon yogurt in a cup
of ro om temperature water), ghee (recipe in Chapter 16 ) and other oils
in small amounts, avoiding coco nut oil as it tends to be cooling  to the
digestion. Fruits: Grapes, pomegranate, figs, and apples are okay . A void sweet
fruits such as pineapple, mango, and banana. Grains: Barley , rye, millet, semolina, couscous, crackers, rice
Legumes: Y ellow and green mung beans cooked with pungent spices
(recipe in Chapter 16 ) a nd extra ging er are great. It’ s  also a good idea
to make the finished dish a little more watery so it is easy to digest. Sweeteners: Honey in small quantities. All spices are good except salt,
as it increases water retention and water tends to hold Ama. V egetables: Favor leafy green vegetables and cook them until slightly
juicy . Astringen t, bitter and pungent vegetables like asp aragus,
artichokes, radish, celery , zucchini, cabbage, and spinach are good
choices. Since your digestion may be weak due to Ama, think about
including foods and vegetables that are easy to digest, and leaving out
those that are not. F O O D  N E E D S  T O  B E  T A S T Y  A N D
D I G E S T I B L E . Strong d igestion is the key to better health. All of the eating practices and
recommendations I’m including here have that goal in mind. W e discussed
digestion in some detail in the la st chapter . As a reminder , it is i mportant to
point ou t that the practices that will stimulate digestion are the ones that
turn our food into medicine. Why must food be tasty? T ast y food stimulates digestion. W e begin to
salivate just by smelling it and  the spices aid greatly in the aroma, taste,
texture and digestibility of food. Spices also help bring out the nutritivevalue of food a nd help repair and maintain the health of ou r digestive
system. If we don’ t like the taste of a fo od, we are not likely to eat it. Or , if we eat
it, we won’ t enjoy it and it won’ t benefit us, not to mention that eating
something we don’ t like causes stress. There is so much food av ailable to us
that we can all f ind healthy ways to enjoy food without having to be forced
into eati ng som ething we don’ t like. Every now and then, there may be
something you may need to do to develop a habit that is going  to help you
in th e long run. Drinking hot w ater is something some of my clients feel
averse to  doing,  especially if the y really enjoy cold beverages, b ut they feel
better w ith the hot water and this experience reinforces their  new habit. More of ten than not, the results we experience when we make a change in
our food -related habits can help us change our likes and dislikes. It also
helps m y clients when I educa te them on the reasons for the changes I
suggest. F O O D S  N E E D  T O  B E  C O M B I N E D  S O  T H E
W H O L E  M E A L  P O I N T S  I N  T H E  S A M E
D I R E C T I O N . The example I u sed earlier of p utting grease and cold water in a sink fits
here. But, most importantly , we want to avoid combining foods that will
hamper our digestion and create Ama. Combining meat and dairy ,
combining dairy and fruit, combining meals with milk, combining too many
ingredients that  don’ t work well together (as in the case of smoothies,
discussed in Chapter 3 )—all of that will overtax your digestive system and
eventually create Ama. Meat is better c ombined with green vegetables; yogurt is better consumed
without fruits or , even better , taken as a drink with meals (for lassi, mix 2
tablespoons of yogurt with one cup of water). Y ogurt is better left out of the
meal at dinner time as our dig estion slows down in the eve nings; milk
should a lways b e boiled and dr unk away from food, and neve r with salty
meals (i t curdles the milk and produces Ama in the body); milk should not
be whipped into your eggs to make them fluf fy .As I write this, cheese and mea t lover ’ s pizza comes to mind. How about
hambur gers, sandwiches made with cold cuts and cheese, and milk with
meals? I f you are consuming those foods and reading this, don’ t worry . As
horrendous and impossible as i t may seem, it is not a big undertaking to
take che ese or meat out of your  sandwiches or take meat out of your pizza. Start wit h the idea in your mind and it may not be as dif ficult as you feel it
might be  in this moment. Let the idea take seed in your mind. There is a
reason why you are still readin g about it. Give yourself a chance to shift;
your own power may amaze you. F O O D  N E E D S  T O  B E  B A L A N C I N G . Using the principle of balance will go a long way towards stopping us from
yo-yoing between diets and fad foods. Balancing meals are created by
paying attention to your imbalance, the seasons, the time of day , and eating
enough, not too much or too little. It is important to take the time to eat but
also not  to make it a long, drawn-out af fair . Including variou s tastes and
textures will go a long way in satisfying your nutritional needs. Optimally , 50%  of our meal should be comprised of fres hly cooked
vegetables, including leafy green vegetables. This is easier accomplished if
we p lan our meals around the vegetables, rather than thinking o f vegetables
as the side dish. About 25% or  1/4 of the plate, should be w hole grains. Many grains are a great source of protein and fiber , they are easy to cook,
and very  versatile. For non-vegetarians, if you’d rather add animal based
protein, then just keeping it to 2 5% of your meal will reduce the quantity . Adding something sour , e.g. lemon, on your vegetables or soup, or pickles,
olives, s auerkraut or a digestive chutney such as mint chutne y (recipe in
Chapter 19 ), to a dish is a good way to complete the meal. F O O D  N E E D S  T O  B E  E A T E N  W H E N  Y O U
F E E L  H U N G R Y . Food sh ould be  eaten on an empty stomach after the last meal has been
digested and not before. Snackin g between meals should be min imized and
you should only do this if you are really hungry . If you a re prone tosnacking, it is always better to add a little more to your meals (unless you
have blood sugar or other medical issues). Constant snacking often leads to overconsumption and it gets in the way of
fully digesting the previous meal. It is important to mark the end of a meal
by washing the dishes and putting them away , cleaning the table, and
putting t he food away . Leaving food on the kitchen table not on ly tempts us
to snack on it, but it also makes eating a drawn out af fair . F O O D  S H O U L D  B E  E A T E N  I N  P L E A S A N T
S U R R O U N D I N G S ,  W I T H O U T  D I S T R A C T I O N S
O R  S T I M U L A T I O N . As m entioned earlier in this book, it’ s important to delay eating if you are
upset. This allows complete satisfaction with the meal a nd curtails
overeating. F O O D  N E E D S  T O  B E  B A L A N C I N G  F O R
Y O U R  P A R T I C U L A R  C O N S T I T U T I O N . Food is a big way to change yo ur health. What goes into your body af fects
your life. An understanding of your constitution and current imbalances
provides a deeper understanding of your food choices. This is w here it pays
to work  with an expert instead  of risking the errors that may come from
using fragmented information or becoming overwhelmed. Ama res ults fro m the poor dige stion of food or experiences an d it blocks
our conn ection w ith our body’ s underlying intelligence in the same way our
negative emotions may get in the way of our happiness. When digestion is
not working ef ficiently , food is not properly digested. What is not digested
becomes Ama that builds up in our body and our tissues,  eventually
blocking the channels through which nutrients are delivered. What is the on e thing you ca n do to move in the dir ection of eating
A yurvedic meals?C H A P T E R  1 3I t  T a k e s  a  V i l l a g e
D own the  str eet fr om the house I gr ew up in lived a family whose little hut
was mad e of mud and straw . M y mom knew the family and often talked to
the moth er when  she was out walking. One day my mom came home fr om
her walk and to ld us that the woman was in labor and neede d help. She
went into the ki tchen to make s ome special foods for her . I r emember my
mom ma king ma ny trips back an d forth to this lady’ s house, delivering food
that would help her r ecover and heal fr om childbirth. Thi s was very
common wher e I gr ew up. I r e member many other times when my mom
would take food to anyone she had hear d needed help. Ther e was always a
community ar ound us, someone  was always coming or going, sharing, and
checking up on one another . Neighbors would often shar e th e food they
cooked, and we looked out for o ne another . No appointments wer e needed;
we fr ee ly went into each ot her ’ s homes and kitchens. This type of
envir onment holds the power to heal in a way that no herb or drug can. I am  hopeful t hat these types of practices are present today in many
communities ar ound the world, regardless of how advanced we have
become. The need for connectio n is as basic as the need for air . Love is our
true nature and, ultimately , it is love that heals. It is the subtlest yet the most
potent fo rce that  drives our most  desirable behaviour , actions and life, and it
needs to  be upheld and rememb ered as if our life depended on it. The truth
is, o ur li fe and our liveliness does depend on the love in our h earts and in
our live s, henc e the need to  cultivate and foster it in our homes,
neighborhoods a nd communitie s. Regardless of how much w e evolve or
prosper , the deep desire for the human heart to connect with another
remains. Many of  us struggle with our ch allenges silently for the fear of shame, or to
maintain an image that we have  constructed about ourselves. W e hesitate to
speak up  and reach out, especial ly in the case of mental illness. The truth is
that the physical  illness only pro vides a mask for what’ s going on internally
within u s. Ther e really isn’ t a physical illness that is not rooted in our
mental a nd emo tional health. W e need to be able to converse about ouremotional challenges as easily as we talk about our blood pressure or a knee
pain. Giving words to what we feel is the first step in getting clear on
what’ s h appening internally . Sh aring our challenges lessens them; we feel
we can breathe again, and find a way to a solution. W e are not our challenges, our illnesses or our struggles. Our human life is
the caus e of these struggles; they are here to heal us, if we let them. The
human l ife does  not dif ferentiate between rich and poor , fat and thin, high
or low status. These are man-made concepts or beliefs that have no bearing
on our T ruth. W e must understand that. There isn’ t anything to  hide, as we
are all the same in our experiences and challenges. T H E  C R Y  F O R  C O N N E C T I O N
Our stories may be dif ferent but our struggles aren’ t really that dif ferent. If
we can understa nd our own str uggles, we can understand the struggles of
others. This connection provides support like nothing else can. Even in our
spiritual journey , we connect with like-minded individuals who support our
growth, underst and our challenges and keep us on track. So cial media
addiction, food addiction, or any other addiction for that matter is a cry for
connection. It is a quest for validation and acceptance. “Every man for
himself” may be needed somet imes in our lives, but this type of thinking
does not really w ork in the long  run if what we are seeking is healing and
connection with others. Our desires are not separate from our spirituality;
the desires that unravel our human potential are borne of our Spirit. This is
our ultimate T ruth. W e are alone in our spiritual journey in the sense that we have our own
lessons to learn and our own unique path and process to follow , but
connection, collaboration and cooperation go a long way towards easing our
path and  suf fering. W e don’ t heal in isolation. W e can easily mistake
loneliness for independence, iso lation for privacy , and create a wall around
ourselves. There is a need for deep connection with our heart an d its needs;
a need to let go of the ego and become real and transparent. W e can no
longer prohibit real deep con versations and hide behind masks. Our
ultimate freedom lies in living our truth. The truth will set you free! Y es,
indeed! It is our ultimate shield and defense.H E A L I N G  A S  A  C O L L E C T I V E  C O N C E P T
As we heal, we heal the world around us. Healing is a collecti ve concept;
individualism an d division does not lead to healing, as our human hearts
yearn to  connect. W e can’ t limi t our thinking to only ourselve s, as we are
powerful in the way that we af fect others, and we are equally  af fected by
others. As we di scussed previou sly , we are part and parcel of the whole of a
Creation that includes each of us. Y es, we are responsible for o urselves but
we are also responsible to this  world that we are a part of. And that is
where, as individuals, we can make a shift. What would it be like if the food
corporations and the pharmaceutical companies took this to heart and put
that kind of thinking behind their products and drugs? Healing can become an uphill battle when we are dealing with food
corporations, school cafeterias, vending machines, fast food restaurants,
convenience sto res or anything that sells us junk. When the main objective
is mone y and personal gain, regardless of how it is achieved, then global
health becomes a challenging goal. When m y son was little, he aske d me why cigarettes were sold if they were
bad for people. Children have such innocence and wisdom! That is the same
question I have. Why would someone sell me something and at the same
time tell me it will ruin my hea lth? What if we simply asked that question
of th e food corp orations, who sell us disease-causing products  made with
questionable ingredients? When people’ s intentions are to fulfill their
personal agenda s with a short-te rm vision, no healing at the global level can
really take place. For all the d isease-making products and fo od products
that are sold, the re is Karma bei ng created and that does not help anyone. I
think ou r world is in dire need of some good Karma. The first owner of the
Marlboro Comp any , Phillip Morris, died of lung cancer . I doubt this was
coincidental. I am fascinated b y our obsession with money . How much will be enough? It
is this obsession that keeps us all poor in more ways than one, and it keeps
us sick, as a nation. Money can be made when you are selling something of
value. Why not make money by selling something that promotes health?The hum an min d is fickle; it can easily be persuaded or manipulated. It is
hard to walk by the racks of colorful, sugary cookies just when you enter a
grocery store and even if you do simply walk right on by , there is more
persuasion at the checkout line, right in front of you. These subtle
suggestions are laid out everyw here in a store, enticing you to bite. This is
where o ur strong  connection to our deeply-held desires will come in handy . W e can simply smile and walk away . It can’ t hurt pointing that out to the
store ma nagers, if you see them . But as long as we buy thes e disastrous
products, we are helping create a market for them. So, the ultimate
responsibility for what’ s available to us lies with each one of us. If a
product is not so ld, it does not get made. So, thinking beyond ou rselves can
fuel our own ef forts for healthy eating and living. Instead of being af fected
or manipulated, we can ef fect change. It is  not enough to know what challenges there are. It is not en ough to be
handed s olutions, either . One of the obstacles to doing what we know to do
is a lack of inspiration and motivation and we need each other for that. Not
all of us are self-motivated; som e of us need an extra nudge, a reminder , or
a l ittle kick, onc e in a while. Meeting someone at the gym, wa lking with a
partner , and having a pot luck m eal are some of the ways that can keep us
motivated. Sharing and connecting is how we create a healing community . There is  power and inspiration in numbers. However small, we can begin to
create our own l ittle village of h ealing. W e must keep moving in an upward
direction, as those ef forts will be supported by our Higher Self. “If you want to go quickly , go alone; if you want to go far , go together .”
African Proverb
It does take a vil lage. W e don’ t live on an island. W e are interdependent and
interconnected. W e are here for ourselves and for each other . I hope that
sharing my thoughts might stir something big inside of you. How ca n you cr eate a support system for yourself and perhaps be one
for someone else?C H A P T E R  1 4I  D r e a m  o f  a  D i f f e r e n t  W o r l d
A famou s quote from prosperity expert Napoleon Hill says, “Wh at the mind
of man  can  conc eive and  believe, the mind of man  can achieve .” The point
is that all changes begin with a t hought or a dream. In that sense, no dreams
are too lofty! As I come close to finishing this book, I realize it’ s more than a book. There
is a dream stirring in my heart. I dream of a dif ferent world; a world that
allows h ealing b ecause it understands that to be the purpose of our human
life. Pur e Consc iousness, the stuf f of our making, seeks to express itself in
every aspect of our living. And  it sees you and me through o ur pain and
suf fering. It is beckoning us to grow , to prosper and to shine. Pai n is beyond
our control, but suf fering is something we choose. W e can choose
Consciousness instead; we can choose to shine like the sun. W e can choose
to d well in ou r own infinite potential regardless of our sm all-minded
agendas and goals. When we can allow Consciousness to simply  have us, it
will work its ma gic through us. What if we all understood this? What if we
knew that we were more than just our physical body? Real me dicine i s that which he als. T o divide or to separate medicine into
conventional or alternative is to  see human beings in a divided, fragmented
way . When we do that, it beco mes a matter of belief, hence the common
resistance to alternative medicin e, which gets expressed as “I don’ t believe
in it.” I have als o come across clients who don’ t “believe” in prescription
medications even when they may need one temporarily . W e can choose to overlook the  real root causes of our illnesses, but they
remain, whether  we believe in them or not. If we believe we are separate
from our spirit or our soul, then we do feel separate and fragmented, and are
forever missing the deep connection with ourselves, seeking it everywhere,
in fact, but in ourselves. When we are fixated on our sympto ms, we are
viewing ourselves in a rather s uperficial way , bypassing and missing the
opportunities to  really become whole. This is what I drea m: that we
understand who we are, regardless of color , age, sex or creed. Healinghappens when we look at the bi gger , whole picture, it rarely happens when
we think we are just a physical body . S T A N D  U P  F O R  Y O U R  H E A L T H ! When we become the authority on our own health and healing,  we can use
the reso urces available to us i n the most ef ficient and appropriate way . Many times, we must address our physical symptoms to get relief from
them, so we can think straight and function, but our focus on health can’ t
end ther e. When  we can step up to what we expect of ourselves,  we can use
the med ical system, both conventional and alternative, in the most informed
and ef fe ctive wa y . When we stand up for our own health, we won’ t buy into
a pre determined  medical system that is laid out before us to blindly follow . W e w ill no long er be lulled into  the concepts of health-related c omforts and
conveniences, but rather rise up to the challenge of facing our fears and
becoming whole. Steve, a 40-year -old man, came to see me. He had had learning disabilities
all his life due to an injury durin g his birth. He managed his daily functions
very car efully an d methodically . It worked for him. He lived with  his mother
but had a job, and he was doing his best. Although he did not completely
understand healing, he was drawn to it and that is one of the r easons he
came to see me. He also wanted to learn about how to liv e a healthy
lifestyle. Upon meeting with him, I r ealized that he was actually mor e
functional than he thought. He had a job, he cleaned his home, he did the
best he could do every day . What wa s gettin g him down was that he would never be like other 40-year -
old men who wer e married with their own homes and c hildr en. In
comparison, he felt small and h ighly inadequate, but otherwis e okay with
his l ife. I asked him what it wo uld be like if he lived somewher e wher e all
the 40-y ear -olds wer e exactly like him. His eyes lit up and he  smiled. By
himself and with himself, he was actually quite content. The thought that he
was actually okay , or good enough, lit him up. His struggle was not his
disability; his struggle was the meaning he gave his disability by comparing
himself with others. The r evela tion that he actually was okay struck him
deeply and he looked like a differ ent person. His body perked up, his eyesshone an d ther e  was a smile on his face. At the end of his appo intment, as
he w as leaving, he nodded his head and kept r epeating to himself, “I am
okay! I can do this! This is good!”
Isn’ t that what we all want? T o know , that we are going to be okay
regardless of our challenges and our struggles? The struggles don’ t need to
go a way for us to be okay , we have to tap into something bigger  in us that is
far m ore powerful and potent than our struggles. When we limit a person to
their dia gnosis, we limit their view of themselves. They becom e the illness
and can’ t get be yond it. The thi nking that we are just our body is limiting
and gets in the way of our healing. When we look at illness from the
viewpoint of what caused it, r ather than how it has shown up, we are
creating space to work at its root cause, instead of masking it. T o know  that we have cr eated something gives us the power to un-
cr eate it. This motivates us to look deeper , to heal, rather than to give in and succumb
to our misfortune. Connecting to our own power is the most healing thing
we can do for ourselves. No one is broken, nobody! No ne of us are victims! Life is no thing but a
series of  opportunities for Self-realization. It is up to us to cho ose to view
our cha llenges as opportunitie s. How long can we keep running and
repeating the same old patterns? Sooner or later , we must step up! I
recommend sooner! The Universe will always suppo rt our higher intentions and asp irations, our
higher purpose of serving others and spreading goodness in the world. Y ou
have the ultimate responsibility for your health. Don’ t reduce your life to a
script an d a pill. Y our struggles won’ t lessen with that. Sedating or numbing
our min ds to the pain will only  prolong the suf fering. A wakening to our
struggles not only lessens them, but will also awaken us to our T ruth. Allow yourself to come alive and to feel deeply , instead or rushing to block
your pat h with a pill. Feeling deeply is your ultimate strength; it is what you
can af ford to do. Let fear be a catalyst instead of an obstacle. Don’ t
normalize pain and suf fering, it isn’ t why you are here, you are here to heal.There is a yearning in all of us, a fire to awaken to that part of ourselves
which is  much lar ger than we can imagine. Connect with tha t yearning. Nothing creates a bigger burden for our souls than not showing up for
ourselves. Expect more! If you expect to w alk away with a script, then that’ s what you
will get. Don’ t be taken in by dumb and embarrassing marketing. “W e call
our patie nts by their first name,” the hospital ad says. Seriously? W e should
drool ov er that? I like to know what they were calling their patients before. By their  disease ? The standards have become so low that we actually are
impressed if we are called by own first names. The same g oes for the
standards for early detection, so- called “prevention.” If it is detected, it isn’ t
prevented. W e must raise the bar as to what prevention is. Prev ention is in
your kitchen, in how you live. It isn’ t in a blood test. A blood test is a
warning. Why must you need a warning? It is your health, your life, isn’ t it? Bigger a nd filled -to-capacity ho spitals are signs of a sick nation and it isn’ t
anything to boast about or to be proud of. I dream of a world where the
hospitals becom e the healing and health education centers. State-of-the art
medical equipment, a new wing, and expensive artwork in the  lobby isn’ t
my visio n. I will applaud when the medical world is concerned more with
creating goodwi ll than collecting patients; where instead of bo osting their
egos, they are boosting our con fidence in creating our own he alth; where
they view the opportunities to m ake a lasting dif ference in the lives of those
who cross their path, instead of maintaining a limited fixati on on their
bottom l ine. The  Universe never supports greed or personal nar row-minded
agendas; it will always support our big visions and higher purpose. W e can,
at our individual levels, have a big vision for our health and our life. I dream of a wor ld where old age is not equated with disease. D isease is not
a fu nction of ag e. W e can’ t ha ve a mindset of being disease-ridden at a
certain age. W e can’ t hold on to the cause of death of our parents and their
parents. Keep your mind young  and keep your beliefs young. Age matters
but how you age matters more. Y our mindset, and your beliefs, are
everything when it comes to your health. Aging is not a dise ase. If you
believe that you are doomed because you are old, then you ARE doomed.W e can run, but we can’ t hide f rom our higher calling. When we don’ t do
all that we can do, our soul will seek us out and confront us and we’d better
have an answer for it. Live today according to your bigger purpose and
calling, and your last day will be a quiet celebration of knowi ng that you
have done all that you could do. Y ou can be the source of guidance and
healing. Ultimately , we have to answer to our soul alone, and not to our
boss, our CFO or our insurance companies. I want a world where the healing heart of the physician is more valued than
the medical equipment he or sh e uses. A world where compassion, time,
connection and Consciousness are a norm, and not an uphill bat tle for those
desiring to heal. W e don’ t need  state-of-the art equipment, we need more
healing hearts and hands, a reassurance that we are going to be okay , a
reminder that we are more than our symptoms and diagnosis. If the medical
world practiced  some common sense and wisdom, we might require less
testing. The medical processes  are more fear -driven than what we truly
need. There is m ore documenting but less listening. Machines c an only test
what’ s going on physically , whe n the true healing is something that happens
at a mu ch deeper level. The tests and the x-rays, leave out what’ s most
important: our story , our aspir ations, our fears and our chal lenges, our
hopes and our dreams for our life. The more we accept the system  as it is, the more we normaliz e it. In that
sense, we normalize pain and  suf fering. W e have created t he medical
system that we have today by being complacent and following its
development blindly and faithfully . Don’ t learn how to live with your
illness without giving it your all  to heal it. Y ou deserve better . It  is never too
late. W e are ali ve until we tak e our last breath! Let’ s not die before our
death! W e were born to heal, not to suf fer . Imagine the ener gy and the time we will spare if we are not so vested in our
illnesses. W e could be immersed in creating something beautiful, learning
and cont ributing to the world. W hen we connect with our true Essence, we
heal. This deep connection no urishes us, and our soul, and  we fill up
emotionally . Then our life and our eating simply become a reflection of that
experience inside.Can you think beyond your illness? What may your lif e look like
without it?C H A P T E R  1 5F o o d  i s  O u r  M e d i c i n e
A yurvedic food is distinguished by the fact that it puts a lot of dif ferent food
items on  your plate, of fering a v ariety of tastes, textures, aromas and colors
and this is something that is carried over into all aspects of Indian food
generally . It truly is a feast for the senses. In fact, it is quite a feat to
navigate your way around the meal and it is simply not possible if you are
distracted, or even using equipm ent. The eating experience demands your
total presence. What’ s’ more, eating with your hands allows you to taste
many di f ferent i tems simultaneo usly and to feel the food, its tex ture, and its
temperature. It engages your oth er senses, as well. It compels you to notice
the colo rs and the dif ferent tast es and aromas put before you. All of one’ s
senses and ener gies are turned inward to help digest and absorb the food. This satisfies the inner Self, and eliminates the need to eat continuously . Healing is no dif ferent; it asks that we dig in. On a more scie ntific side, joining the fingers together to pick up food
triggers the most therapeutic and  sensitive point in the center of your palm. This rele ases lif e force ener gy to  the entire body , enlivening yo ur body and
senses for deeper enjoyment and fulfillment. Another distinguishing factor of A yurvedic/Indian dining customs is the
practice of sitting cross-legged on the floor during a meal. Y o u may have
seen at least a picture of that at some point. This isn’ t due to poverty ,
although poverty certainly exists in India. There is wisdom behind this
tradition: sitting cross-legged on the floor means we put pres sure on our
stomach each time we lean forward to take another bite. This makes us
notice w hen our  stomach is starting to feel full. W e start to burp once our
stomach is three-quarters full and this signals that we are happily full and at
the s atisfaction point. Eating an ything more would fall into the category of
“overeating.” Sitting completely upright on a chair acts to suppress this
natural sign from our body’ s innate intelligence. Gr owing up in India, I sat on the floor to eat mor e often than not, and I
have carried that habit with me  into my adult life simply because I derivemor e enjoyment fr om eating while seated on the floor . Whether you eat with your hands or not, and whether you sit on the floor or
at a tabl e, the point is to draw your attention to the immense inn ate wisdom
of your body . Enjoying your food is a must for complete satis faction and
nourishment on all levels. Regar dless of how much progress we  have made
in m any areas of our lives, the i nnate wisdom of our bodies rem ains, and to
undermine, or try to “outsmart” it will only impede our progress in ways
that we may not foresee today . Gaining fulfillm ent or satisfaction from any area of our life requires our
presence. T o be fully present to  anything, we must slow down . This is an
issue tha t confu ses many of us  today . W e equate slowing dow n to being
idle, wasting time or feeling less important. The fact of the matter is this:
time moves at th e same rate all the time. How time appears to p ass for each
individual is a re sult of their ow n perception, and it’ s a direct result of their
state of mind. W hen our mind speeds up, time speeds up. An d when our
mind slows down, time slows down. When we are mentally rushing, it only
feels like we are accomplishing more; it isn’ t true. W e actually are less
productive and more frantic and therefore always catching up to the time
that seem ingly won’ t stop. So, if you want to slow time, slow  your mind. Sit and pay att ention to your breath for one minute and n otice what
happens. Healing on any level is not rushed or scheduled, it has its own
timing but it requires that we slow down to notice it when it happens. Slowing down to enjoy your foo d will awaken you to the blessing that it is,
and that subtle a wareness deepens the nourishment and fulfillm ent it of fers. When we can allow food to fulfill these basic needs, we feel full on many
levels and we can stop looking to other unhealthy ways to find that
fulfillment. Whe n we don’ t have time to cook and eat, there ma y be a need
to evaluate our priorities. A fe w years ago, I visited my si ster in Pune, India. Ar ound lun ch time one
day , I walked outside at the pa rking level of her building. I noticed many
cars and  bicycle s making their way in to the parking lot, a sur e sign that
people wer e coming home for  lunch. I could hear the sound of dishes
clattering in kitchens and I could smell the ar omas of food in the air . Ther ewas som ething very comforting about this: I could feel the  ener gy of
slowing down to honour something important: eating. When we gulp o ur lunch down in a smoothie, or race through a meal while
distractedly paying attention to something else, it may seem like progress,
but is it really? I always equate progress to waking up to the  innate and
ancient wisdom we can all acce ss that will allow us to better o ur lives and
our heal th. Fors aking our health in the name of progress or s uccess isn’ t
worth much. Our real hunger is for love, com fort, joy , satisfaction and fulfillment. Food
is a med ium of expression for all of those vital aspects of what we seek in
life. It is up to us to extract the real nutrients from our meal s simply by
shifting our attitude, by slowing down, and by taking the time th at is needed
to nurtu re ourselves. What we experience through eating will be infused
into the other areas of our lives. Food is love. Nothing says “ I love you”
more than a meal that we cook for ourselves or someone else. W e feel the
love in the comfort, warmth and satisfaction when we eat. When we can
allow our ego to shatter and surrender to what simply is, love is all that
remains. W e heal! S U P P O R T I N G  O U R  L I F E  E N E R G Y
No celebration anywhere in the world is complete witho ut food. It
heightens every experience and  makes it memorable, and we never for get
the aromas in our kitchen du ring holidays and special events. These
memories support our life ener gy . Celebrations in general are about people,
connections, sharing and community and the food we serve at these times
represents a powerful magnet that brings people together . Sharing is a big
part of togetherness—when we like something, we immediately want
someone we love to try it. Sharing helps us grow and build connections
together . So, if someone asks you to try something, say yes so you can share
in their experience. What if we brought a little cele bration into our meals more of ten? It does
not need to be an elaborate ef fort: celebration requires only our presence. Intention and mindfulness can  make every meal more “gourmet” andspecial. Attentio n takes as muc h time as inattention. It takes just as much
time to slow down as it does to hurry up. T ry it sometime and see what you
think. Anything can heal if used for th at purpose and intention. A “m iracle food”
can turn into p oison if used inappropriately or consumed by  the wrong
person. Many healing medicine s in the ancient wisdoms cam e from the
kitchen. There is no replacemen t for the love and care that goes into that
type of medicine  and that’ s a big part of why it heals. Food is o ur ultimate
medicine! Food is a metaphor for life. How we view food is how we view life. If we
view life as a blessing and celebrate being alive and our experiences, food
will tak e us in that direction. If we view life as a curse or dif ficult, no
amount of food will sweeten our experiences of life. Food is n ot separate
from life and lif e is not separat e from food. If we believe we are here to
heal, we will naturally consume the food that will heal us. Food has been u sed to correct im balances, treat illnesses, and reverse aging
and it is at the core of vitality and longevity . It connects us to the very
essence of life, and using its wisdom is the key to our health and happiness. W e are living in blessed times  indeed where our kitchen app liances and
gadgets make much of our food  preparation work easy . What’ s more, food
is availa ble all the time. There  has never been a time when the ancient
healing wisdom of food can serv e us so powerfully and in ways that are far
beyond our imagination. “Let food be thy medicine and medicine be thy food”
Hippocrates
Food is the mos t natural state of medicine, providing healing ener gy with
every bite. It repairs our interna l or gans, nourishes our body , a nd comforts
our soul. Our body’ s own innat e intelligence guides us as to what to eat if
we don’ t get in the way . It is more common-sensical than we think. Paying
attention to the ef fects of food on your mind, body and soul can create a
solid frame of reference that will point the way to which foods are good foryou and which are not. Food is a tasty way of restoring balance to your
body . Be lieve in the healing power of food and you will natural ly be drawn
to use food in this way . The most reliable source of strength in challenging times is our health, and
self-care is an im portant part of this. Think about cooking and e ating as part
of your self-care. Check your grocery cart, your pantry , your refrigerator
and your dinner plate. Does th e food you have in yo ur gr ocery cart, in your kitchen, or on
your plate fulfill the pr omise of health and healing?C H A P T E R  1 6S t o c k i n g  Y o u r  A y u r v e d i c  P a n t r y
A little planning  goes a long way in creating mindful and healthy meals and
having the ingredients you nee d available right in your pantry can make
meal pre paration easy and joyful. Y ou may have your own way of stocking
your pantry and your own shopping rhythm and ritual. I normally buy fresh
vegetables and fruits perhaps tw ice a week and I stock many other items
well in advance, as they can keep longer . Here is a list that I have
categorized under dif ferent headings to help me remember what I have and
what I need. Y ou don’ t need to have all the items all at once, you can start
with few items and can build from that. S P I C E S
Not only  do spices make food m ore interesting and enjoyable but they turn
food int o medic ine and bring th e healing intelligence of food t o our table.Spices a waken o ur senses and a dd many dimensions to our mea ls. Y ou will
want to have on hand the following:
Asafetida, black pepper (whole and ground), cumin seeds, cardamom
powder , cinnam on powder and sticks, bay leaves, cloves, coconut (flakes
and piec es), coriander seeds, cumin seeds, fennel, fenugreek (seeds and dry
leaves), ginger powder , mineral salt, mustard seeds, pomegranate seeds,
saf fron threads, tamarind, turbinado sugar , turmeric powder , whole green
and black cardamom. O I L S  A N D  G H E E
Coconut oil and saf flower oil f or high heat, olive oil for low heat; ghee
(clarified butter) can be used for both low and high heat; use avocado oil for
high hea t and it’ s also great fo r salad dressing. Y ou’ll find the recipe for
ghee below . G R A I N S
Amaranth, barle y , basmati Rice, brown rice, buckwheat, oats, pasta, quinoa,
tapiocaL E N T I L S / L E G U M E S
Brown, green, orange and yellow lentils
Black-eyed peas , black beans, black chick peas, garbanzo beans, kidney
beans, split peas
F L O U R S
All-purpose flour , almond flou r , chapati flour , chick pea flour (besan),
semolina (sooji)
N U T S / S E E D S
Almonds, Brazilian nuts, cashews, pine nuts, pistachios, walnuts
Chia seeds, flax seeds, hemp hearts, sesame seeds, sunflower seedsF R E S H  F R U I T S  A N D  V E G E T A B L E S
Buying fresh vegetables and fr uits once or twice a week is b est. Always
have ginger , lemons and leafy greens, and a few fresh pieces of fruit, to
enjoy throughout the week. Buy foods with vibrant colors. G H E E  A N D  S P I C E  M I X
These t wo items can be mad e beforehand so you always have them
available. Here are recipes for both:
G H E E
Ghee is clarifie d butter and it is most nourishing to the nervous system. Enjoy a little tea spoon with the f irst bite of any meal to stoke your digestive
fire. 1 . Place 4 sticks of  butter (16 ounc es or 2 cups) of unsalted or ganic butter
in a medium pot on less-than-medium heat, uncovered. 2 . Once th e butter  melts, the wate r contained in the butter will start to
boil and make a distinctive sound.3 . Continue boiling for about 12-15 minutes. The milk solids will settle
to th e bo ttom of  the pot, and the ghee will start to crackle with a high-
pitched sound. 4 . T urn the heat to low and continue cooking for another 5 minutes. Y ou
will see the golden yellow liquid in the middle and foam arou nd the
sides of the pot. 5 . Don’ t overcook, as the liquid can easily burn and turn dark. 6 . T urn the heat of f and let cool for 10 minutes. 7 . W ith a spoon, skim the foam cr ust of f or push it to the side and pour
ghee into a glass jar . Or you m ay use cheesecloth to strain the ghee
into a glass jar . 8 . Ghee does not need to be re frigerated. It will keep fresh on the
countertop. Use as needed. S P I C E  M I X
Make a small batch as fresh spices are more potent.1 . Grind half a cup of fennel seeds, ¼ cup cumin seeds, and ¼ cup
coriander seeds together in a spice grinder . 2 . Pour the mixture into a bowl. 3 . Add ⅛ cup turm eric powder , 1 teaspoon ginger powder , ½ teaspoon
black pepper powder , ½ teaspoon of asafetida (hing), and dash of salt. 4 . Mix ingredients together and store in a glass jar in your cupboard. 5 . Always start with a small amou nt to test; you can always add m ore to
the dish you are preparing. C H A I  S P I C E S
Cinnamon, cloves, cardamon, black cardamon, fennel, fresh ginger root
Recipe on page 189. C H A P T E R  1 7B e  Y o u r  O w n  M a s t e r  C h e f
When hunger strikes, we are all suf ficiently equipped to figure out a way to
eat. That need serves as the basis for all of us to become cre ative in the
kitchen and make our own recip es based on what we have and w hat we feel
like eating. Now , with your new -found knowledge of food as presented in
this boo k, and a mindfully-stocked pantry , you can create healt hy dishes in
no time. Naviga ting your own kitchen and taking care of your basic need
for food, ener gy and nourishment is a great skill and will give you a feeling
of accomplishm ent and joy . Self-reliance is a much bigger confidence
booster than chasing another recipe or a food fad. W e can  always  get our meal from a box, the freezer , or a fast-food
restaurant, but something greate r than just the nourishment is amiss when
we do that. The quality of our li fe is the sum total of our experiences. Short
cuts are needed sometimes, but  the richness of life comes from taking the
longer route. This is a journey we can take right there in our own kitchen. As I  me ntioned before, chopping , stirring and tasting will not only give you
the nour ishment you need, but i t will also add joy and satisfaction to every
meal you consume. Immerse yourself in the experience and see what
happens. The proc ess of meal preparation , setting up the table and creating a calming
and invi ting environment nourishes us on more levels than just the physical. Here are a few things to keep in mind as you for ge forward in y our kitchen. The more we are  at ease in the k itchen and preparing healthy foods, the less
reliance we place on the food corporations to do that for us. 1 . Keep fo od simple. Simplicity attracts wisdom! One of the things I
learned from my father is that simple living leads to high thinking . 2 . Simple dishes are richer in tas te and nourishment. Our physiology
recognizes and understands the simple tastes and ingredients better
than the complex ones, and it works seamlessly to extract nutrients
from it. Simplicity and goodness go together like a slice of fresh bread
and butt er with your favorite herb or spice sprinkled onto it. W hen itcomes to  food, less is always m ore: the fewer ingredients you use the
better tasting the food is. 3 . Recipes provide the basic foundation for a dish and many require
special ingredients to make them just right. However , they can be
daunting if we don’ t recognize the ingredients or we don’ t have them
on hand . Always practice one n ew recipe at a time. Get a gener al idea
about what you are cooking fro m the recipe itself but be willing to be
creative about it. Add somethi ng new , take something away . Allow
your senses, and your intuition, to guide you, and just flow with it. Be
willing t o mess around and crea te. If the dish does not turn ou t well,
and you don’ t like it, there is a lways pizza! Ther e is  no perfection,
only a pr ocess. 4 . Cooking is mostly an art with a  little bit of science. By understanding
the basic  scienc e of cooking, an d combining flavors, there is a  lot of
room to  play and create. Experi enced cooks don’ t measure, or follow
specific steps, they create mo stly by feel. Cultivate that i n your
cooking by being playful, veeri ng away from the recipe and allowing
your ow n creati vity to kick in. Improvise, substitute, and add m ore or
less of an ingredient. Y ou never know what you might invent. Allow
your senses to guide you. The worst-tasting dish will teach you the
most. Experimenting is what makes cooking fun and joyful. 5 . Is th is go od for me? Is this okay  to eat? Let your experience guide you. All of us are eq uipped to know how eating something makes u s feel. W e don’ t need any scientific res earch to validate our experience.
_OceanofPDF.com_Healing_Your_Relationship_with_Food__The_A_-_Meena_Puri.txt
Summarize the following text section accurately and concisely. Maintain specific details and numerical information, and use anti-repetition mechanisms:

        In fact, cooking for our health is
not abou t creating the most co mplicated and exotic meals possible, it is
about us ing our  wisdom and ou r intelligence to create the dish es that will
nurture and nourish us. Peggy came to me due to many health issues, most of them  r elated to
chr onic pain and inflammation. She did not own a stove and lived primarily
on fr oze n meals. She had a micr owave and a r efrigerator. Sh e knew that
food would be o ne ar ea wher e s he could make an impr ovement in her life,
but s he d id not know how. She n ever bought normal gr oceries as she did not
have the  means to cook them, and she r eally did not know how to cook
anything. I suggested that she g et a slow cooker and that her shopping list
should c onsist o f buying good q uality canned soups and beans. I told her
that she must w alk out of her gr ocery stor e with at least two leafy gr een
vegetables of her choice. I made her a spice mix that she was to use in her cooking. She was able to
use the slow coo ker to sauté the  spice mix, then add canned soup or beans,
plus the leafy gr een vegetables she had bought. She felt like she was
cooking fr esh food each time she made a meal. She liked her meals so much
that she bought a small slow cooker for her work as well. She was no
longer e ating fr o zen meals. She incr eased the variety of the vegetables she
used; her menu expanded and she became cr eative. Using anti-inflammatory spices and foods r educed her pain. She felt mor e  ener gy and
she was  very happy with the pr ogr ess she was making; she also lost some
weight. It really can be this simple. W e can begin where we are and move towards
health one step at a time. It is never too late to be healthy. W e a re meant to
heal and live ou r best life. Start today. Figure out what your firs t step might
be, and begin. Making your own meals for the sake of your health will make you feel
engaged in your own life and when we are engaged we are present and
enjoy ou rselves; this makes us m ore ef fective, thus saving time. It is when
we d isengage that we feel anxious, bored, out of sorts, and un happy. Start
paying a ttention to this area of your life and it will change your health. The
solutions to our illnesses are in our kitchen, not in the doctor ’ s of fice. And
the mos t reliable  way to get the nutrition you need is to prepare your own
meals. W ith so many kitchen gadgets available to help us, cooking is now
far easier than it ever used to be. In fact, the act of preparing your own meal
is a digestive aid, as the anticip ation of eating a meal prepares our body to
digest it. Mental stress and anxiety about food also contribute to a weakened
digestive system. What we eat af fects our emotions, as we discussed
previously. Emotions af fect our ability to transform the food we eat into the
fuel we  need. Stress causes toxicity, even when we consum e the most
perfect food possible. On the other hand, food eaten with joy and happiness
is far more positioned to give us the ener gy we need, even if it is not the
most perfect food. When we are upset or angry, our digestion naturally
shuts do wn to allow us to spend  our ener gy digesting and meta bolizing our
emotions. It is best to delay eating if you find yourself upset because you
might be inclined to overeat in o rder to suppress unpleasant emotions. This
can start a cycle  of emotional e ating, which is not good for anybody. It’ s
better to just sip  some hot tea or sit quietly—your body needs ti me to digest
your emotions. Nothing happens if we skip a meal, and it actually might
give your body a much-needed break. One of the easiest and most pot ent ways to begin to improve our digestion
is to add ginger to our diet. It is a must-have staple in my kitche n and it sitsright in my fruit bowl. Ginger is Pungent, and it heats the diges tive system. More than a great digestive aid, it settles the stomach and, it’ s great for
colds and flu in  the W inter sea son, it’ s terrific for aller gies in any season
and it is a detoxifier in the Spring season. It is highly versatile and it will
serve yo u to make friends with  it. Ginger is a medicinal herb that can be
used fresh, dried, powdered or a s a juice. It has powerful anti-inflammatory
and antioxidant ef fects. It can also reduce muscle pain and soreness. Soaking your feet in water that has been boiled with a few slices of ginger
or even adding ginger to your bath, is a great way to get relief from achy
feet and an achy body. Include ginger powder in the s pices that you add to your meals. I have
added it to the suggested spice mix in this book (the recipe is  in Chapter
16 ). Fresh ginger r oot can be shred ded and sautéed in oil or ghee with your
vegetables, and added to soups and stews. Sipping on ginger tea (made with
three or four long slices of ginger root and hot water) is a wonderful
digestive aid before, during, an d after your meals. T o add variety to your
ginger te a, you can add some f ennel seeds (½ teaspoon per cup of water)
and/or a pinch of licorice root. Another great way to improve di gestion is to
eat a  couple of slices of ginger pickle before meals. This can be made by
just placing some slices of ginge r in apple cider vinegar and storing them in
a gl ass jar in the refrigerator. Or you can make fresh ginger pickle by
simply s licing a  few thin slices  of ginger, sprinkling some salt  and lemon
juice on  them, and enjoying them right before meals to stoke yo ur digestive
fire. T H E  A M A Z I N G  G I N G E RGinger T ea
Cut up fresh slices of ginger and add hot water. Steep for 5 minutes and enjoy. Ginger pickle
Cut thin slices of ginger and add to apple cider vinegar. Refrigerate and
have a couple of slices with meals. There ar e many factors that af fe ct our ability to digest. The choice of food,
the timin g of meals, the food combinations, and the environmen t where we
eat are all contributing factors. Let’ s discuss them in detail below. W H A T  T O  E A T. When it comes to food, purity and freshness matter. Choosing fresh,
or ganic, non-GM O food and food in the purest form possible saves our
digestive system from being overloaded with foreign substances that it
can’ t recognize. Spending a little extra now to save your future health
is the greatest health insurance you can purchase. Food left over f rom a previous meal is okay once in a while but if
eaten regularly it can overwhelm your digestive system, as the food is
no longer fresh or pure and it accumulates toxins. Eat mos tly vegetarian and warm, cooked meals. Our bodies do not
have the enzymes necessary for breaking down cellulose, which is the
major constituent of the outside surfaces of most fruits and vegetables,
and cook ing makes them digestible. Raw food becomes roughage that
lines our intestinal walls, blocking the absorption of vital nutrients. Eat the foods that are most suitable for your dosha (constitution),
adjusting it according to the seasons and cycles of the day as discussed
previously. W H E N  T O  E A T
Eating somethin g light and warm in the morning wakes u p our
digestive system, warms it up and also helps with the elimination
process. Drinkin g hot water with a bit of lemon and raw honey is a
great w ay to awaken our dig estion and get our bowels m oving. Morning is the Kapha time and  eating something light and war m will
balance the Kapha qualities of heavy and cool. Eating y our bigg est meal of the  day during lunch time, the Pitta time,
is best for harnessing the digestive fire that is available to us during
that time and it can provide us with the fuel we need for the rest of the
day. Eating a lighter meal at dinner time is in alignment with Nature, as it
slows down during this time, a long with our digestion. In ad dition,
leaving a two-hour gap between our dinner and our bedtime is
recommended to ensure adequate digestion while we are still awake. Eating at approximately the same time regulates our digestive function
and trai ns our body to work w ith our natural rhythms and th ose ofNature. Regularity in meals will make you hungry around the same
time and is best for your digestion. T H E  E N V I R O N M E N T  M A T T E R S. Eating in a settl ed environment is good for our digestion. Mini mizing
the distractions while eating will maximize the enjoyment and
satisfaction of the meal. Be present to the dif ferent tastes, textures, and
aromas, and truly enjoy your food. Allowing that experience to register
with all your se nses will go a long way towards helping you eat in
accordance with  your hunger so you do not overeat. Rememb er, the
banquet is in the  first bite. A happy and cozy place in our kitchen is an
important factor in helping us feel nurtured and nourished. Eating on-the-ru n and while engaged in other things takes awa y from
the enjo yment a nd satisfaction of a meal and we may turn to  other
things—or more eating—in order to get that feeling. Y our multi-
tasking abilities  are better serv ed in other areas of your life a nd not
while eating. A void stimulatin g conversations, news or phone calls so your ener gy
and atten tion can  go towards eat ing and digesting. It is okay to i ndulge
in ea ting in fron t of a good movie once in a while, but it is what we do
consistently that matters. A great way to f inish a meal, and to have the experience registe r, is to
sit f or five mi nutes after the meal instead of running of f to do
something else. W H O  I S  T H E  C O O K. Food conveys ener gy to the body. The food will have the ener gy of the
person who cooked it. So, the level of Consciousness of the cook matters. Food cooked by a corporation—as is the case with frozen, prepared, or fast
food meals—is not the same as food cooked by a family member or
yourself. The ener gy of the cook plays a big part in the enjoyment of the
food, and it del ivers that same ener gy to us. Have you ever noticed that
even when you follow grandma’ s recipe to a “T,” the dish still doesn’ t tasteas g ood as hers  did. Love is a potent ingredient in our meals  and that is
what’ s hugely missing in food prepared by corporations. One of my siste rs, who passed away a few years ago, had magic in her
hands and in her pr esence. I enjoyed my meals the most when she was in
the kitchen. She knew what I liked, and how I liked it, and she put extra love
into the food she pr epar ed for me. One particular time she pack ed my lunch
for a field trip and I could taste the love oozing out of the food she had
pr epar ed. A lot o f my friends ga ther ed ar ound me for a taste. Luckily, I can
say this about all of my sister s especially the oldest one: she not only
cr eates magic in the kitchen but  she has the unique gift of making everyone
happy with her cooking. M O R E  W A Y S  T O  I M P R O V E  D I G E S T I O N
Starting the day with stewed apples in the mornings is a great way to
kick-start our digestion. (Cut apple into small pieces, with or without
the peel, put in  a small saucep an and add ½ cup of water and 3-4
whole cl oves (n ot garlic); cover and cook on medium heat for a bout 7
minutes, checking in between to make sure that more water isn’ t
needed. Discard  the cloves, they  are added for flavor and to ad d some
heat to the digestion. ) Sipping hot water throughout the day is a great way to detoxify and
help your digestive system stay strong and healthy. Eat a couple of pieces of ginger pickle, as discussed earlier. T op your food w ith a teaspoon of ghee (recipe in Chapter 16 ) and  eat  it
with the first bite to stoke your digestive fire. A void icy drinks or lar ge amounts of liquid with meals, as the
ef ficiency of our digestive syste m decreases with cold drinks, a nd too
much fluid tends to liquefy th e stomach enzymes and weaken our
digestion. Cooking with digestive spices (recipe in Chapter 16 ) h elps our body
digest and assimilate the food and also helps repair our gut. Di gestive
spices include ginger, black pepper, cumin, coriander, turmeric and
fennel. Eating u ntil only  75% full ensures there is some room left in our body
for the digestive process to take place. A void snacking between meals so your body has time to fully  digest
your me al before it has to digest the snacks. Eating a handful of nuts or
a little fruit is okay, however, if necessary. Pay attention to how you feel after you eat certain foods. This will help
guide you in ca se there are certain foods that do not agree wi th you. Notice also the ef fect of the food on your sleep, mood, and
elimination. Our body has its o wn intelligence and a little awareness
can help us tap into it. What is the one  thing you can  do to better your digestion. Many times,
it is  that single  step that cr ea tes a chain r eaction in an upward and
positive way. C H A P T E R  1 2W h a t  M a k e s  F o o d  A y u r v e d i c. The purpose of this chapter is to pull all the information together for a
practical understanding of A yurv edic nutrition and also to discuss what may
have be en left out of the previous chapters. Some A yurvedic information
does not fall into any one category but needs to be discussed. A nother key
focus of  this chapter is to talk about Ama (toxins) in terms o f how it is
created and how we can clear it up. What m akes food A yurvedic. A yurvedic food is not Indian food; however,
the terms are commonly used interchangeably because A yurveda originated
in India. This way of cooking and living is common and pred ominant in
India; it’ s in the culture. But A yurvedic food is not limited to I ndian food. A yurvedic principles are inheren t in Nature and when we respond to Nature
in ou r co oking a nd eating, it bec omes A yurvedic. Also, food is A yurvedic if
we unde rstand its properties and function and use it to create a specific
result. F ood is preventive medicine. By paying attention to how we cook
and eat,  we are preventing future illness. Below are some reminders that
may seem obvious, but it is the obvious things that we often mi ss, and they
are pivotal in creating a sustainable change. F O O D  N E E D S  T O  B E  H O T,  F R E S H L Y
C O O K E D,  N O U R I S H I N G,  O R G A N I C  A N D
N O N - G M O. A w ord on why fresh is important: what we eat needs to be available to our
body fo r ener gy. Y ou may be familiar with the word bio-avail able, which
means our body is able to identify it, therefore making it usable and
available for ener gy. Process ed food is laden with add itives and
preservatives and our body does not recognize them. It therefo re does not
know w hat to do with them. F ood transforms into ener gy and waste, and
our digestive system must be working well to carry out this process fully. Additives and preservatives can not be cycled into either ener g y or waste. Overconsumption of processed food will undermine our body’ s intelligenceand ability to get rid of these ch emicals, so they linger in our body adding
to the existing accumulation of toxins—or, what A yurveda calls Ama. The
longer A ma remains in the body, the deeper into the tissue layers it travels;
ultimately it manifests as disease. Ama is disease waiting to manifest. Ama bl ocks the proper functioning of our body; it is like dust on the
window which blocks the sunny view outside. Ama blocks our body’ s
innate ability to heal. The same is true of leftover foods. Cooking for the whole week may be
good planning and may save ti me, but our purpose is to save our health. Although it’ s better than a drive -thru meal, leftover or old food is not only
devoid of Prana (ener gy), but the food is no longer edible, as it has changed,
chemically, from the time it was cooked. Just as with additives, the body
can’ t do  much with what it does not recognize as food, and l eftovers, in
turn, become Ama. Microwaving food distorts it, so, ener getically, it becomes chaotic. Not to
mention that leftover foods that have been reheated are devoi d of Prana. Consuming these foods also creates Ama. Genetically mod ified food is on e of the biggest contributors to Ama as our
bodies cannot recognize it. What the body does not recognize, it can’ t
metabolize. And what can’ t be metabolized becomes Ama. It m ay appear in  our modern cul ture that most of our eating practices create
Ama and hence this is why mos t people have weakened digestive systems. How do  we change that. If we practice living and eating more in line with
Nature a nd our body’ s intellige nce, then we can support what  is ideal for
our body. W e don’ t get far when we go against Nature, but wh en we align
with it the resul ts extend far be yond what we may have imagined. So, any
ef forts to create positive changes are worthwhile. Why mu st food  be hot. Cookin g makes food easier to digest. Cooking is
also nee ded to ward of f bacterial growth. Hot food stimulates our digestion
and wak es it up. Cold food makes our digestion work harder and, over time,
makes i t sluggis h; in that sense  it reduces the ef ficiency of our digestive
system. Cold meals are v ery common in our culture, especially cold lunches. Those
of us working in the corporate  world may find the idea of h aving a hot
lunch quite foreign. Chomping on a cold sandwich while working is more
the norm. This is where I tell my clients to at least sip some hot water or
ginger tea with t heir sandwich instead of a cold drink. Poor lunches may be
one of the reasons people feel extra exhausted from their work day when
they get home. Then they eat a  long, drawn-out dinner to make up for the
lack of proper lunch. Fatigue makes us eat more, and eating wh ile working
is fa tiguing, rather than as resto rative as it should be. A quick w ay to solve
the cold lunch i ssue is to use a thermos. Y ou can prepare you r lunch half
way and, while it is still cooking, transfer it to a thermos where  it can cook
fully and  be ready for you at lunch time. Many of my clients do this and
love it. Soups and stews turn out great when cooked this way. S K I P  T H E  C O L D  D R I N K S
Another norm in our culture is drinking lar ge volumes of icy cold liquids
during meals. If grease from the dishes clogs our kitchen sink, pouring cold
water in to the drain will solidify the grease along the pipe and  eventually
plug our  sink. Drinking icy cold liquids does the same thing: it plugs the
digestive track—in other words, it creates Ama. On top of that, if we drink
a l ot of cold water, it will lique fy the stomach enzymes that are needed to
break down our food. So, it is a double whammy to have a lar ge icy cold
beverage. I recommend my clients sip a cup of hot water o r tea and it
immediately improves how they feel after meals. Symptoms of Ama include feeing sluggish, heavy, and lethar gic, and having
dif ficulty waking up in the morning. Ama impedes the flow and movement
in the body resulting in pain and a host of illnesses. In the same way, our
negative emotio ns, and holding on to past grudges, create emo tional Ama
that get in the w ay of our heali ng and happiness. According to A yurveda,
our decl ining he alth has more to do with the accumulation of Ama, and
blockages in the transfer of ener gy, than with age alone. Ama can be
eliminated from our bodies through purification methods such as
Panchkarma (a five-step A yurvedic mind and body purification process)
and meditation (to purify emotional Ama)There are a few additional ways to reduce Ama in your body, apart from all
that has  already been discussed. Here is a simple list of actio ns you may
wish to take:
Dairy: Low fat milk, lassi made very thin (1 tablespoon yogurt in a cup
of ro om temperature water), ghee (recipe in Chapter 16 ) and other oils
in small amounts, avoiding coco nut oil as it tends to be cooling  to the
digestion. Fruits: Grapes, pomegranate, figs, and apples are okay. A void sweet
fruits such as pineapple, mango, and banana. Grains: Barley, rye, millet, semolina, couscous, crackers, rice
Legumes: Y ellow and green mung beans cooked with pungent spices
(recipe in Chapter 16 ) a nd extra ging er are great. It’ s  also a good idea
to make the finished dish a little more watery so it is easy to digest. Sweeteners: Honey in small quantities. All spices are good except salt,
as it increases water retention and water tends to hold Ama. V egetables: Favor leafy green vegetables and cook them until slightly
juicy. Astringen t, bitter and pungent vegetables like asp aragus,
artichokes, radish, celery, zucchini, cabbage, and spinach are good
choices. Since your digestion may be weak due to Ama, think about
including foods and vegetables that are easy to digest, and leaving out
those that are not. F O O D  N E E D S  T O  B E  T A S T Y  A N D
D I G E S T I B L E. Strong d igestion is the key to better health. All of the eating practices and
recommendations I’m including here have that goal in mind. W e discussed
digestion in some detail in the la st chapter. As a reminder, it is i mportant to
point ou t that the practices that will stimulate digestion are the ones that
turn our food into medicine. Why must food be tasty. T ast y food stimulates digestion. W e begin to
salivate just by smelling it and  the spices aid greatly in the aroma, taste,
texture and digestibility of food. Spices also help bring out the nutritivevalue of food a nd help repair and maintain the health of ou r digestive
system. If we don’ t like the taste of a fo od, we are not likely to eat it. Or, if we eat
it, we won’ t enjoy it and it won’ t benefit us, not to mention that eating
something we don’ t like causes stress. There is so much food av ailable to us
that we can all f ind healthy ways to enjoy food without having to be forced
into eati ng som ething we don’ t like. Every now and then, there may be
something you may need to do to develop a habit that is going  to help you
in th e long run. Drinking hot w ater is something some of my clients feel
averse to  doing,  especially if the y really enjoy cold beverages, b ut they feel
better w ith the hot water and this experience reinforces their  new habit. More of ten than not, the results we experience when we make a change in
our food -related habits can help us change our likes and dislikes. It also
helps m y clients when I educa te them on the reasons for the changes I
suggest. F O O D S  N E E D  T O  B E  C O M B I N E D  S O  T H E
W H O L E  M E A L  P O I N T S  I N  T H E  S A M E
D I R E C T I O N. The example I u sed earlier of p utting grease and cold water in a sink fits
here. But, most importantly, we want to avoid combining foods that will
hamper our digestion and create Ama. Combining meat and dairy,
combining dairy and fruit, combining meals with milk, combining too many
ingredients that  don’ t work well together (as in the case of smoothies,
discussed in Chapter 3 )—all of that will overtax your digestive system and
eventually create Ama. Meat is better c ombined with green vegetables; yogurt is better consumed
without fruits or, even better, taken as a drink with meals (for lassi, mix 2
tablespoons of yogurt with one cup of water). Y ogurt is better left out of the
meal at dinner time as our dig estion slows down in the eve nings; milk
should a lways b e boiled and dr unk away from food, and neve r with salty
meals (i t curdles the milk and produces Ama in the body); milk should not
be whipped into your eggs to make them fluf fy. As I write this, cheese and mea t lover ’ s pizza comes to mind. How about
hambur gers, sandwiches made with cold cuts and cheese, and milk with
meals. I f you are consuming those foods and reading this, don’ t worry. As
horrendous and impossible as i t may seem, it is not a big undertaking to
take che ese or meat out of your  sandwiches or take meat out of your pizza. Start wit h the idea in your mind and it may not be as dif ficult as you feel it
might be  in this moment. Let the idea take seed in your mind. There is a
reason why you are still readin g about it. Give yourself a chance to shift;
your own power may amaze you. F O O D  N E E D S  T O  B E  B A L A N C I N G. Using the principle of balance will go a long way towards stopping us from
yo-yoing between diets and fad foods. Balancing meals are created by
paying attention to your imbalance, the seasons, the time of day, and eating
enough, not too much or too little. It is important to take the time to eat but
also not  to make it a long, drawn-out af fair. Including variou s tastes and
textures will go a long way in satisfying your nutritional needs. Optimally, 50%  of our meal should be comprised of fres hly cooked
vegetables, including leafy green vegetables. This is easier accomplished if
we p lan our meals around the vegetables, rather than thinking o f vegetables
as the side dish. About 25% or  1/4 of the plate, should be w hole grains. Many grains are a great source of protein and fiber, they are easy to cook,
and very  versatile. For non-vegetarians, if you’d rather add animal based
protein, then just keeping it to 2 5% of your meal will reduce the quantity. Adding something sour, e. g. lemon, on your vegetables or soup, or pickles,
olives, s auerkraut or a digestive chutney such as mint chutne y (recipe in
Chapter 19 ), to a dish is a good way to complete the meal. F O O D  N E E D S  T O  B E  E A T E N  W H E N  Y O U
F E E L  H U N G R Y. Food sh ould be  eaten on an empty stomach after the last meal has been
digested and not before. Snackin g between meals should be min imized and
you should only do this if you are really hungry. If you a re prone tosnacking, it is always better to add a little more to your meals (unless you
have blood sugar or other medical issues). Constant snacking often leads to overconsumption and it gets in the way of
fully digesting the previous meal. It is important to mark the end of a meal
by washing the dishes and putting them away, cleaning the table, and
putting t he food away. Leaving food on the kitchen table not on ly tempts us
to snack on it, but it also makes eating a drawn out af fair. F O O D  S H O U L D  B E  E A T E N  I N  P L E A S A N T
S U R R O U N D I N G S,  W I T H O U T  D I S T R A C T I O N S
O R  S T I M U L A T I O N. As m entioned earlier in this book, it’ s important to delay eating if you are
upset. This allows complete satisfaction with the meal a nd curtails
overeating. F O O D  N E E D S  T O  B E  B A L A N C I N G  F O R
Y O U R  P A R T I C U L A R  C O N S T I T U T I O N. Food is a big way to change yo ur health. What goes into your body af fects
your life. An understanding of your constitution and current imbalances
provides a deeper understanding of your food choices. This is w here it pays
to work  with an expert instead  of risking the errors that may come from
using fragmented information or becoming overwhelmed. Ama res ults fro m the poor dige stion of food or experiences an d it blocks
our conn ection w ith our body’ s underlying intelligence in the same way our
negative emotions may get in the way of our happiness. When digestion is
not working ef ficiently, food is not properly digested. What is not digested
becomes Ama that builds up in our body and our tissues,  eventually
blocking the channels through which nutrients are delivered. What is the on e thing you ca n do to move in the dir ection of eating
A yurvedic meals. C H A P T E R  1 3I t  T a k e s  a  V i l l a g e
D own the  str eet fr om the house I gr ew up in lived a family whose little hut
was mad e of mud and straw. M y mom knew the family and often talked to
the moth er when  she was out walking. One day my mom came home fr om
her walk and to ld us that the woman was in labor and neede d help. She
went into the ki tchen to make s ome special foods for her. I r emember my
mom ma king ma ny trips back an d forth to this lady’ s house, delivering food
that would help her r ecover and heal fr om childbirth. Thi s was very
common wher e I gr ew up. I r e member many other times when my mom
would take food to anyone she had hear d needed help. Ther e was always a
community ar ound us, someone  was always coming or going, sharing, and
checking up on one another. Neighbors would often shar e th e food they
cooked, and we looked out for o ne another. No appointments wer e needed;
we fr ee ly went into each ot her ’ s homes and kitchens. This type of
envir onment holds the power to heal in a way that no herb or drug can. I am  hopeful t hat these types of practices are present today in many
communities ar ound the world, regardless of how advanced we have
become. The need for connectio n is as basic as the need for air. Love is our
true nature and, ultimately, it is love that heals. It is the subtlest yet the most
potent fo rce that  drives our most  desirable behaviour, actions and life, and it
needs to  be upheld and rememb ered as if our life depended on it. The truth
is, o ur li fe and our liveliness does depend on the love in our h earts and in
our live s, henc e the need to  cultivate and foster it in our homes,
neighborhoods a nd communitie s. Regardless of how much w e evolve or
prosper, the deep desire for the human heart to connect with another
remains. Many of  us struggle with our ch allenges silently for the fear of shame, or to
maintain an image that we have  constructed about ourselves. W e hesitate to
speak up  and reach out, especial ly in the case of mental illness. The truth is
that the physical  illness only pro vides a mask for what’ s going on internally
within u s. Ther e really isn’ t a physical illness that is not rooted in our
mental a nd emo tional health. W e need to be able to converse about ouremotional challenges as easily as we talk about our blood pressure or a knee
pain. Giving words to what we feel is the first step in getting clear on
what’ s h appening internally. Sh aring our challenges lessens them; we feel
we can breathe again, and find a way to a solution. W e are not our challenges, our illnesses or our struggles. Our human life is
the caus e of these struggles; they are here to heal us, if we let them. The
human l ife does  not dif ferentiate between rich and poor, fat and thin, high
or low status. These are man-made concepts or beliefs that have no bearing
on our T ruth. W e must understand that. There isn’ t anything to  hide, as we
are all the same in our experiences and challenges. T H E  C R Y  F O R  C O N N E C T I O N
Our stories may be dif ferent but our struggles aren’ t really that dif ferent. If
we can understa nd our own str uggles, we can understand the struggles of
others. This connection provides support like nothing else can. Even in our
spiritual journey, we connect with like-minded individuals who support our
growth, underst and our challenges and keep us on track. So cial media
addiction, food addiction, or any other addiction for that matter is a cry for
connection. It is a quest for validation and acceptance. “Every man for
himself” may be needed somet imes in our lives, but this type of thinking
does not really w ork in the long  run if what we are seeking is healing and
connection with others. Our desires are not separate from our spirituality;
the desires that unravel our human potential are borne of our Spirit. This is
our ultimate T ruth. W e are alone in our spiritual journey in the sense that we have our own
lessons to learn and our own unique path and process to follow, but
connection, collaboration and cooperation go a long way towards easing our
path and  suf fering. W e don’ t heal in isolation. W e can easily mistake
loneliness for independence, iso lation for privacy, and create a wall around
ourselves. There is a need for deep connection with our heart an d its needs;
a need to let go of the ego and become real and transparent. W e can no
longer prohibit real deep con versations and hide behind masks. Our
ultimate freedom lies in living our truth. The truth will set you free. Y es,
indeed. It is our ultimate shield and defense. H E A L I N G  A S  A  C O L L E C T I V E  C O N C E P T
As we heal, we heal the world around us. Healing is a collecti ve concept;
individualism an d division does not lead to healing, as our human hearts
yearn to  connect. W e can’ t limi t our thinking to only ourselve s, as we are
powerful in the way that we af fect others, and we are equally  af fected by
others. As we di scussed previou sly, we are part and parcel of the whole of a
Creation that includes each of us. Y es, we are responsible for o urselves but
we are also responsible to this  world that we are a part of. And that is
where, as individuals, we can make a shift. What would it be like if the food
corporations and the pharmaceutical companies took this to heart and put
that kind of thinking behind their products and drugs. Healing can become an uphill battle when we are dealing with food
corporations, school cafeterias, vending machines, fast food restaurants,
convenience sto res or anything that sells us junk. When the main objective
is mone y and personal gain, regardless of how it is achieved, then global
health becomes a challenging goal. When m y son was little, he aske d me why cigarettes were sold if they were
bad for people. Children have such innocence and wisdom. That is the same
question I have. Why would someone sell me something and at the same
time tell me it will ruin my hea lth. What if we simply asked that question
of th e food corp orations, who sell us disease-causing products  made with
questionable ingredients. When people’ s intentions are to fulfill their
personal agenda s with a short-te rm vision, no healing at the global level can
really take place. For all the d isease-making products and fo od products
that are sold, the re is Karma bei ng created and that does not help anyone. I
think ou r world is in dire need of some good Karma. The first owner of the
Marlboro Comp any, Phillip Morris, died of lung cancer. I doubt this was
coincidental. I am fascinated b y our obsession with money. How much will be enough. It
is this obsession that keeps us all poor in more ways than one, and it keeps
us sick, as a nation. Money can be made when you are selling something of
value. Why not make money by selling something that promotes health. The hum an min d is fickle; it can easily be persuaded or manipulated. It is
hard to walk by the racks of colorful, sugary cookies just when you enter a
grocery store and even if you do simply walk right on by, there is more
persuasion at the checkout line, right in front of you. These subtle
suggestions are laid out everyw here in a store, enticing you to bite. This is
where o ur strong  connection to our deeply-held desires will come in handy. W e can simply smile and walk away. It can’ t hurt pointing that out to the
store ma nagers, if you see them. But as long as we buy thes e disastrous
products, we are helping create a market for them. So, the ultimate
responsibility for what’ s available to us lies with each one of us. If a
product is not so ld, it does not get made. So, thinking beyond ou rselves can
fuel our own ef forts for healthy eating and living. Instead of being af fected
or manipulated, we can ef fect change. It is  not enough to know what challenges there are. It is not en ough to be
handed s olutions, either. One of the obstacles to doing what we know to do
is a lack of inspiration and motivation and we need each other for that. Not
all of us are self-motivated; som e of us need an extra nudge, a reminder, or
a l ittle kick, onc e in a while. Meeting someone at the gym, wa lking with a
partner, and having a pot luck m eal are some of the ways that can keep us
motivated. Sharing and connecting is how we create a healing community. There is  power and inspiration in numbers. However small, we can begin to
create our own l ittle village of h ealing. W e must keep moving in an upward
direction, as those ef forts will be supported by our Higher Self. “If you want to go quickly, go alone; if you want to go far, go together. ”
African Proverb
It does take a vil lage. W e don’ t live on an island. W e are interdependent and
interconnected. W e are here for ourselves and for each other. I hope that
sharing my thoughts might stir something big inside of you. How ca n you cr eate a support system for yourself and perhaps be one
for someone else. C H A P T E R  1 4I  D r e a m  o f  a  D i f f e r e n t  W o r l d
A famou s quote from prosperity expert Napoleon Hill says, “Wh at the mind
of man  can  conc eive and  believe, the mind of man  can achieve. ” The point
is that all changes begin with a t hought or a dream. In that sense, no dreams
are too lofty. As I come close to finishing this book, I realize it’ s more than a book. There
is a dream stirring in my heart. I dream of a dif ferent world; a world that
allows h ealing b ecause it understands that to be the purpose of our human
life. Pur e Consc iousness, the stuf f of our making, seeks to express itself in
every aspect of our living. And  it sees you and me through o ur pain and
suf fering. It is beckoning us to grow, to prosper and to shine. Pai n is beyond
our control, but suf fering is something we choose. W e can choose
Consciousness instead; we can choose to shine like the sun. W e can choose
to d well in ou r own infinite potential regardless of our sm all-minded
agendas and goals. When we can allow Consciousness to simply  have us, it
will work its ma gic through us. What if we all understood this. What if we
knew that we were more than just our physical body. Real me dicine i s that which he als. T o divide or to separate medicine into
conventional or alternative is to  see human beings in a divided, fragmented
way. When we do that, it beco mes a matter of belief, hence the common
resistance to alternative medicin e, which gets expressed as “I don’ t believe
in it. ” I have als o come across clients who don’ t “believe” in prescription
medications even when they may need one temporarily. W e can choose to overlook the  real root causes of our illnesses, but they
remain, whether  we believe in them or not. If we believe we are separate
from our spirit or our soul, then we do feel separate and fragmented, and are
forever missing the deep connection with ourselves, seeking it everywhere,
in fact, but in ourselves. When we are fixated on our sympto ms, we are
viewing ourselves in a rather s uperficial way, bypassing and missing the
opportunities to  really become whole. This is what I drea m: that we
understand who we are, regardless of color, age, sex or creed. Healinghappens when we look at the bi gger, whole picture, it rarely happens when
we think we are just a physical body. S T A N D  U P  F O R  Y O U R  H E A L T H. When we become the authority on our own health and healing,  we can use
the reso urces available to us i n the most ef ficient and appropriate way. Many times, we must address our physical symptoms to get relief from
them, so we can think straight and function, but our focus on health can’ t
end ther e. When  we can step up to what we expect of ourselves,  we can use
the med ical system, both conventional and alternative, in the most informed
and ef fe ctive wa y. When we stand up for our own health, we won’ t buy into
a pre determined  medical system that is laid out before us to blindly follow. W e w ill no long er be lulled into  the concepts of health-related c omforts and
conveniences, but rather rise up to the challenge of facing our fears and
becoming whole. Steve, a 40-year -old man, came to see me. He had had learning disabilities
all his life due to an injury durin g his birth. He managed his daily functions
very car efully an d methodically. It worked for him. He lived with  his mother
but had a job, and he was doing his best. Although he did not completely
understand healing, he was drawn to it and that is one of the r easons he
came to see me. He also wanted to learn about how to liv e a healthy
lifestyle. Upon meeting with him, I r ealized that he was actually mor e
functional than he thought. He had a job, he cleaned his home, he did the
best he could do every day. What wa s gettin g him down was that he would never be like other 40-year -
old men who wer e married with their own homes and c hildr en. In
comparison, he felt small and h ighly inadequate, but otherwis e okay with
his l ife. I asked him what it wo uld be like if he lived somewher e wher e all
the 40-y ear -olds wer e exactly like him. His eyes lit up and he  smiled. By
himself and with himself, he was actually quite content. The thought that he
was actually okay, or good enough, lit him up. His struggle was not his
disability; his struggle was the meaning he gave his disability by comparing
himself with others. The r evela tion that he actually was okay struck him
deeply and he looked like a differ ent person. His body perked up, his eyesshone an d ther e  was a smile on his face. At the end of his appo intment, as
he w as leaving, he nodded his head and kept r epeating to himself, “I am
okay. I can do this. This is good. ”
Isn’ t that what we all want. T o know, that we are going to be okay
regardless of our challenges and our struggles. The struggles don’ t need to
go a way for us to be okay, we have to tap into something bigger  in us that is
far m ore powerful and potent than our struggles. When we limit a person to
their dia gnosis, we limit their view of themselves. They becom e the illness
and can’ t get be yond it. The thi nking that we are just our body is limiting
and gets in the way of our healing. When we look at illness from the
viewpoint of what caused it, r ather than how it has shown up, we are
creating space to work at its root cause, instead of masking it. T o know  that we have cr eated something gives us the power to un-
cr eate it. This motivates us to look deeper, to heal, rather than to give in and succumb
to our misfortune. Connecting to our own power is the most healing thing
we can do for ourselves. No one is broken, nobody. No ne of us are victims. Life is no thing but a
series of  opportunities for Self-realization. It is up to us to cho ose to view
our cha llenges as opportunitie s. How long can we keep running and
repeating the same old patterns. Sooner or later, we must step up. I
recommend sooner. The Universe will always suppo rt our higher intentions and asp irations, our
higher purpose of serving others and spreading goodness in the world. Y ou
have the ultimate responsibility for your health. Don’ t reduce your life to a
script an d a pill. Y our struggles won’ t lessen with that. Sedating or numbing
our min ds to the pain will only  prolong the suf fering. A wakening to our
struggles not only lessens them, but will also awaken us to our T ruth. Allow yourself to come alive and to feel deeply, instead or rushing to block
your pat h with a pill. Feeling deeply is your ultimate strength; it is what you
can af ford to do. Let fear be a catalyst instead of an obstacle. Don’ t
normalize pain and suf fering, it isn’ t why you are here, you are here to heal. There is a yearning in all of us, a fire to awaken to that part of ourselves
which is  much lar ger than we can imagine. Connect with tha t yearning. Nothing creates a bigger burden for our souls than not showing up for
ourselves. Expect more. If you expect to w alk away with a script, then that’ s what you
will get. Don’ t be taken in by dumb and embarrassing marketing. “W e call
our patie nts by their first name,” the hospital ad says. Seriously. W e should
drool ov er that. I like to know what they were calling their patients before. By their  disease. The standards have become so low that we actually are
impressed if we are called by own first names. The same g oes for the
standards for early detection, so- called “prevention. ” If it is detected, it isn’ t
prevented. W e must raise the bar as to what prevention is. Prev ention is in
your kitchen, in how you live. It isn’ t in a blood test. A blood test is a
warning. Why must you need a warning. It is your health, your life, isn’ t it. Bigger a nd filled -to-capacity ho spitals are signs of a sick nation and it isn’ t
anything to boast about or to be proud of. I dream of a world where the
hospitals becom e the healing and health education centers. State-of-the art
medical equipment, a new wing, and expensive artwork in the  lobby isn’ t
my visio n. I will applaud when the medical world is concerned more with
creating goodwi ll than collecting patients; where instead of bo osting their
egos, they are boosting our con fidence in creating our own he alth; where
they view the opportunities to m ake a lasting dif ference in the lives of those
who cross their path, instead of maintaining a limited fixati on on their
bottom l ine. The  Universe never supports greed or personal nar row-minded
agendas; it will always support our big visions and higher purpose. W e can,
at our individual levels, have a big vision for our health and our life. I dream of a wor ld where old age is not equated with disease. D isease is not
a fu nction of ag e. W e can’ t ha ve a mindset of being disease-ridden at a
certain age. W e can’ t hold on to the cause of death of our parents and their
parents. Keep your mind young  and keep your beliefs young. Age matters
but how you age matters more. Y our mindset, and your beliefs, are
everything when it comes to your health. Aging is not a dise ase. If you
believe that you are doomed because you are old, then you ARE doomed. W e can run, but we can’ t hide f rom our higher calling. When we don’ t do
all that we can do, our soul will seek us out and confront us and we’d better
have an answer for it. Live today according to your bigger purpose and
calling, and your last day will be a quiet celebration of knowi ng that you
have done all that you could do. Y ou can be the source of guidance and
healing. Ultimately, we have to answer to our soul alone, and not to our
boss, our CFO or our insurance companies. I want a world where the healing heart of the physician is more valued than
the medical equipment he or sh e uses. A world where compassion, time,
connection and Consciousness are a norm, and not an uphill bat tle for those
desiring to heal. W e don’ t need  state-of-the art equipment, we need more
healing hearts and hands, a reassurance that we are going to be okay, a
reminder that we are more than our symptoms and diagnosis. If the medical
world practiced  some common sense and wisdom, we might require less
testing. The medical processes  are more fear -driven than what we truly
need. There is m ore documenting but less listening. Machines c an only test
what’ s going on physically, whe n the true healing is something that happens
at a mu ch deeper level. The tests and the x-rays, leave out what’ s most
important: our story, our aspir ations, our fears and our chal lenges, our
hopes and our dreams for our life. The more we accept the system  as it is, the more we normaliz e it. In that
sense, we normalize pain and  suf fering. W e have created t he medical
system that we have today by being complacent and following its
development blindly and faithfully. Don’ t learn how to live with your
illness without giving it your all  to heal it. Y ou deserve better. It  is never too
late. W e are ali ve until we tak e our last breath. Let’ s not die before our
death. W e were born to heal, not to suf fer. Imagine the ener gy and the time we will spare if we are not so vested in our
illnesses. W e could be immersed in creating something beautiful, learning
and cont ributing to the world. W hen we connect with our true Essence, we
heal. This deep connection no urishes us, and our soul, and  we fill up
emotionally. Then our life and our eating simply become a reflection of that
experience inside. Can you think beyond your illness. What may your lif e look like
without it. C H A P T E R  1 5F o o d  i s  O u r  M e d i c i n e
A yurvedic food is distinguished by the fact that it puts a lot of dif ferent food
items on  your plate, of fering a v ariety of tastes, textures, aromas and colors
and this is something that is carried over into all aspects of Indian food
generally. It truly is a feast for the senses. In fact, it is quite a feat to
navigate your way around the meal and it is simply not possible if you are
distracted, or even using equipm ent. The eating experience demands your
total presence. What’ s’ more, eating with your hands allows you to taste
many di f ferent i tems simultaneo usly and to feel the food, its tex ture, and its
temperature. It engages your oth er senses, as well. It compels you to notice
the colo rs and the dif ferent tast es and aromas put before you. All of one’ s
senses and ener gies are turned inward to help digest and absorb the food. This satisfies the inner Self, and eliminates the need to eat continuously. Healing is no dif ferent; it asks that we dig in. On a more scie ntific side, joining the fingers together to pick up food
triggers the most therapeutic and  sensitive point in the center of your palm. This rele ases lif e force ener gy to  the entire body, enlivening yo ur body and
senses for deeper enjoyment and fulfillment. Another distinguishing factor of A yurvedic/Indian dining customs is the
practice of sitting cross-legged on the floor during a meal. Y o u may have
seen at least a picture of that at some point. This isn’ t due to poverty,
although poverty certainly exists in India. There is wisdom behind this
tradition: sitting cross-legged on the floor means we put pres sure on our
stomach each time we lean forward to take another bite. This makes us
notice w hen our  stomach is starting to feel full. W e start to burp once our
stomach is three-quarters full and this signals that we are happily full and at
the s atisfaction point. Eating an ything more would fall into the category of
“overeating. ” Sitting completely upright on a chair acts to suppress this
natural sign from our body’ s innate intelligence. Gr owing up in India, I sat on the floor to eat mor e often than not, and I
have carried that habit with me  into my adult life simply because I derivemor e enjoyment fr om eating while seated on the floor. Whether you eat with your hands or not, and whether you sit on the floor or
at a tabl e, the point is to draw your attention to the immense inn ate wisdom
of your body. Enjoying your food is a must for complete satis faction and
nourishment on all levels. Regar dless of how much progress we  have made
in m any areas of our lives, the i nnate wisdom of our bodies rem ains, and to
undermine, or try to “outsmart” it will only impede our progress in ways
that we may not foresee today. Gaining fulfillm ent or satisfaction from any area of our life requires our
presence. T o be fully present to  anything, we must slow down. This is an
issue tha t confu ses many of us  today. W e equate slowing dow n to being
idle, wasting time or feeling less important. The fact of the matter is this:
time moves at th e same rate all the time. How time appears to p ass for each
individual is a re sult of their ow n perception, and it’ s a direct result of their
state of mind. W hen our mind speeds up, time speeds up. An d when our
mind slows down, time slows down. When we are mentally rushing, it only
feels like we are accomplishing more; it isn’ t true. W e actually are less
productive and more frantic and therefore always catching up to the time
that seem ingly won’ t stop. So, if you want to slow time, slow  your mind. Sit and pay att ention to your breath for one minute and n otice what
happens. Healing on any level is not rushed or scheduled, it has its own
timing but it requires that we slow down to notice it when it happens. Slowing down to enjoy your foo d will awaken you to the blessing that it is,
and that subtle a wareness deepens the nourishment and fulfillm ent it of fers. When we can allow food to fulfill these basic needs, we feel full on many
levels and we can stop looking to other unhealthy ways to find that
fulfillment. Whe n we don’ t have time to cook and eat, there ma y be a need
to evaluate our priorities. A fe w years ago, I visited my si ster in Pune, India. Ar ound lun ch time one
day, I walked outside at the pa rking level of her building. I noticed many
cars and  bicycle s making their way in to the parking lot, a sur e sign that
people wer e coming home for  lunch. I could hear the sound of dishes
clattering in kitchens and I could smell the ar omas of food in the air. Ther ewas som ething very comforting about this: I could feel the  ener gy of
slowing down to honour something important: eating. When we gulp o ur lunch down in a smoothie, or race through a meal while
distractedly paying attention to something else, it may seem like progress,
but is it really. I always equate progress to waking up to the  innate and
ancient wisdom we can all acce ss that will allow us to better o ur lives and
our heal th. Fors aking our health in the name of progress or s uccess isn’ t
worth much. Our real hunger is for love, com fort, joy, satisfaction and fulfillment. Food
is a med ium of expression for all of those vital aspects of what we seek in
life. It is up to us to extract the real nutrients from our meal s simply by
shifting our attitude, by slowing down, and by taking the time th at is needed
to nurtu re ourselves. What we experience through eating will be infused
into the other areas of our lives. Food is love. Nothing says “ I love you”
more than a meal that we cook for ourselves or someone else. W e feel the
love in the comfort, warmth and satisfaction when we eat. When we can
allow our ego to shatter and surrender to what simply is, love is all that
remains. W e heal. S U P P O R T I N G  O U R  L I F E  E N E R G Y
No celebration anywhere in the world is complete witho ut food. It
heightens every experience and  makes it memorable, and we never for get
the aromas in our kitchen du ring holidays and special events. These
memories support our life ener gy. Celebrations in general are about people,
connections, sharing and community and the food we serve at these times
represents a powerful magnet that brings people together. Sharing is a big
part of togetherness—when we like something, we immediately want
someone we love to try it. Sharing helps us grow and build connections
together. So, if someone asks you to try something, say yes so you can share
in their experience. What if we brought a little cele bration into our meals more of ten. It does
not need to be an elaborate ef fort: celebration requires only our presence. Intention and mindfulness can  make every meal more “gourmet” andspecial. Attentio n takes as muc h time as inattention. It takes just as much
time to slow down as it does to hurry up. T ry it sometime and see what you
think. Anything can heal if used for th at purpose and intention. A “m iracle food”
can turn into p oison if used inappropriately or consumed by  the wrong
person. Many healing medicine s in the ancient wisdoms cam e from the
kitchen. There is no replacemen t for the love and care that goes into that
type of medicine  and that’ s a big part of why it heals. Food is o ur ultimate
medicine. Food is a metaphor for life. How we view food is how we view life. If we
view life as a blessing and celebrate being alive and our experiences, food
will tak e us in that direction. If we view life as a curse or dif ficult, no
amount of food will sweeten our experiences of life. Food is n ot separate
from life and lif e is not separat e from food. If we believe we are here to
heal, we will naturally consume the food that will heal us. Food has been u sed to correct im balances, treat illnesses, and reverse aging
and it is at the core of vitality and longevity. It connects us to the very
essence of life, and using its wisdom is the key to our health and happiness. W e are living in blessed times  indeed where our kitchen app liances and
gadgets make much of our food  preparation work easy. What’ s more, food
is availa ble all the time. There  has never been a time when the ancient
healing wisdom of food can serv e us so powerfully and in ways that are far
beyond our imagination. “Let food be thy medicine and medicine be thy food”
Hippocrates
Food is the mos t natural state of medicine, providing healing ener gy with
every bite. It repairs our interna l or gans, nourishes our body, a nd comforts
our soul. Our body’ s own innat e intelligence guides us as to what to eat if
we don’ t get in the way. It is more common-sensical than we think. Paying
attention to the ef fects of food on your mind, body and soul can create a
solid frame of reference that will point the way to which foods are good foryou and which are not. Food is a tasty way of restoring balance to your
body. Be lieve in the healing power of food and you will natural ly be drawn
to use food in this way. The most reliable source of strength in challenging times is our health, and
self-care is an im portant part of this. Think about cooking and e ating as part
of your self-care. Check your grocery cart, your pantry, your refrigerator
and your dinner plate. Does th e food you have in yo ur gr ocery cart, in your kitchen, or on
your plate fulfill the pr omise of health and healing. C H A P T E R  1 6S t o c k i n g  Y o u r  A y u r v e d i c  P a n t r y
A little planning  goes a long way in creating mindful and healthy meals and
having the ingredients you nee d available right in your pantry can make
meal pre paration easy and joyful. Y ou may have your own way of stocking
your pantry and your own shopping rhythm and ritual. I normally buy fresh
vegetables and fruits perhaps tw ice a week and I stock many other items
well in advance, as they can keep longer. Here is a list that I have
categorized under dif ferent headings to help me remember what I have and
what I need. Y ou don’ t need to have all the items all at once, you can start
with few items and can build from that. S P I C E S
Not only  do spices make food m ore interesting and enjoyable but they turn
food int o medic ine and bring th e healing intelligence of food t o our table. Spices a waken o ur senses and a dd many dimensions to our mea ls. Y ou will
want to have on hand the following:
Asafetida, black pepper (whole and ground), cumin seeds, cardamom
powder, cinnam on powder and sticks, bay leaves, cloves, coconut (flakes
and piec es), coriander seeds, cumin seeds, fennel, fenugreek (seeds and dry
leaves), ginger powder, mineral salt, mustard seeds, pomegranate seeds,
saf fron threads, tamarind, turbinado sugar, turmeric powder, whole green
and black cardamom. O I L S  A N D  G H E E
Coconut oil and saf flower oil f or high heat, olive oil for low heat; ghee
(clarified butter) can be used for both low and high heat; use avocado oil for
high hea t and it’ s also great fo r salad dressing. Y ou’ll find the recipe for
ghee below. G R A I N S
Amaranth, barle y, basmati Rice, brown rice, buckwheat, oats, pasta, quinoa,
tapiocaL E N T I L S / L E G U M E S
Brown, green, orange and yellow lentils
Black-eyed peas, black beans, black chick peas, garbanzo beans, kidney
beans, split peas
F L O U R S
All-purpose flour, almond flou r, chapati flour, chick pea flour (besan),
semolina (sooji)
N U T S / S E E D S
Almonds, Brazilian nuts, cashews, pine nuts, pistachios, walnuts
Chia seeds, flax seeds, hemp hearts, sesame seeds, sunflower seedsF R E S H  F R U I T S  A N D  V E G E T A B L E S
Buying fresh vegetables and fr uits once or twice a week is b est. Always
have ginger, lemons and leafy greens, and a few fresh pieces of fruit, to
enjoy throughout the week. Buy foods with vibrant colors. G H E E  A N D  S P I C E  M I X
These t wo items can be mad e beforehand so you always have them
available. Here are recipes for both:
G H E E
Ghee is clarifie d butter and it is most nourishing to the nervous system. Enjoy a little tea spoon with the f irst bite of any meal to stoke your digestive
fire. 1. Place 4 sticks of  butter (16 ounc es or 2 cups) of unsalted or ganic butter
in a medium pot on less-than-medium heat, uncovered. 2. Once th e butter  melts, the wate r contained in the butter will start to
boil and make a distinctive sound. 3. Continue boiling for about 12-15 minutes. The milk solids will settle
to th e bo ttom of  the pot, and the ghee will start to crackle with a high-
pitched sound. 4. T urn the heat to low and continue cooking for another 5 minutes. Y ou
will see the golden yellow liquid in the middle and foam arou nd the
sides of the pot. 5. Don’ t overcook, as the liquid can easily burn and turn dark. 6. T urn the heat of f and let cool for 10 minutes. 7. W ith a spoon, skim the foam cr ust of f or push it to the side and pour
ghee into a glass jar. Or you m ay use cheesecloth to strain the ghee
into a glass jar. 8. Ghee does not need to be re frigerated. It will keep fresh on the
countertop. Use as needed. S P I C E  M I X
Make a small batch as fresh spices are more potent.
It is about using our wisdom and intelligence to create dishes that will nurture and nourish us.
What is the main focus of cooking for health?
Cooking with love and care, as it enhances the digestion and nutrition of the food.
What is the recommended way to cook food?
It is essential for digestion and satisfaction, as it allows us to fully enjoy and appreciate the meal.
What is the importance of eating in a settled environment?
By avoiding certain foods, such as cold drinks and processed products, and incorporating healthy habits, such as sipping hot water and eating in a calm environment.
What is the recommended way to improve digestion?
It is not about following a specific diet or recipe, but about understanding our body's intelligence and intuition, and using that to create a personalized approach to health and wellness.
What is the key to better health?