What is Ayurveda?
Ayurveda is an ancient health science, which originated more than 5 000 years ago in India. It looks at good health as the balance between different aspects of life. Healing is addressed by looking at disease within the context of your life, rather than as isolated events that need to be medicated, operated on or removed. Ayurveda is compatible with all other healing modalities as well as allopathic medicine.
What does an Ayurvedic doctor do differently?
An Ayurvedic practitioner is likely to consider:
- your physical body,
- personality and constitution,
- your habits and lifestyle,
- what you eat, and how effectively you digest it
- how your body eliminates waste,
- the stage you are in your life,
- and the time of year
before determining a treatment regime.
A treatment regime may include a cleanse, Ayurvedic herbs and massages, a change in lifestyle or taking up a meditative and/or physical practice as well as a change in diet.
Although many of us may have heard of Ayurveda growing up, at a Yoga class, or in a meditation circle, few people know about Ayurvedic Nutrition. One of the tenets of Ayurveda is ‘food is medicine’ and that ‘we are what we eat’.
What does an Ayurvedic Nutritionist do?
An Ayurvedic Nutritionist helps you to determine your dosha. Your dosha is your unique constitution, which is a combination of the elements we find in nature: air, ether, water, fire and earth.
Vata = Air + Ether
Pitta = Fire + Water
Kapha = Earth + Water
Dosha types are used to determine the types of foods that best suit you. Consideration goes into how to keep your dosha balanced as you face the constraints and goals of your life.
An Ayurvedic nutritionist co-creates a meal plan and recipes with/for you. Once you know your dosha and how your food and lifestyle choices affect it, you can then regulate your own health and eat your way into well-being.
