With good timing after my recent cooking disaster, I’m attending an Ayurvedic cooking course. It’s only one and a half days, but does cover a reasonable amount of theory. Having a fairly good amateur knowledge of western nutrition, and an interest in Chinese Traditional Medicine (practising tai chi), I’m interested in seeing the overlaps between the three methods.
Ultimately, optimum nutrition will be specific to the individual, and I believe obtained only by expanding the consciousness of the individual. No expert can tell you what to eat – your body, and therefore ideally you, knows better than anyone else. But blindly eating say, McDonalds burgers, is a sign that you’re not really in touch with your body.
I’m already noticing strong overlaps between what I currently eat and like, and what the principles suggest I should eat. I like raw fruit, which is not really recommended in Ayurveda, as it’s more difficult to digest, but Pitta is strong in me (there are three doshas, Pitta, Vata and Kapha, each of us having elements of all to some degree), which makes me the best candidate for raw food. I love mushrooms, which is recommended for both Pitta and Kapha (my two dominant doshas), and coriander is one of my favourite herbs.
At the culmination of day one, we had a fantastic xxx (I forget the word, probably something ending in A 🙂 ), so I look forward to actually being able to produce something like that. At the very least, I’ll have a list of new spices and ingredients to look out for.