Healthy eating habits as per Ayurved

The way we eat our food affects its digestion and assimilation in our body. Ayurved therefore prescribes some eating habits to ensure better digestion & assimilation of food, and thereby ensure good health:

One should always eat food which is fresh and warm, because fresh and warm food is more palatable and easy to digest.
One should always eat food which is soft and contains appropriate amount of oil in some form.
One should always eat in proper quantity, meaning that one must neither overeat nor eat too little.
One should eat only when a meal consumed earlier has been properly digested.
One should not consume foods with opposite characters (Prakriti). For example, do not consume food with ‘hot’ and ‘cold’ characters in combination. eg. milk and fish.
One should always eat in a pleasant and hygienic place with proper cutlery & appliances.
One should neither eat too quickly nor too slowly.
One should eat with his or her full concentration.
One should eat according to his or her constitution or Prakriti, because the food which is acceptable by the body will eventually help in building the health.

The food which is consumed as per all the above rules is easily digested and assimilated in the body. This ultimately helps in keeping ourselves healthy.

The most important part that has to be noted here is that ancient Ayurvedic scholars have given equal importance to the things other than food, such as place and appropriate use of cutlery which makes the food presentable and boosts the person’s interest in eating which is also an important factor in proper digestion and assimilation of food.