“So much attention has been focused on the fad diet of the day. These diets generally make one recommendation that all people should follow and then focus almost entirely on what you eat rather than how you eat. None of them have been found to work on a consistent basis.
Ayurveda teaches that it is more important how you eat than what you eat. I often shock the students at the California College of Ayurveda when I tell them that I would rather see them eat a fast food hamburger properly than healthy foods like rice and vegetables improperly. Now, this is a bold statement, but hopefully it makes the point [and by the time you finish reading this section I hope you will agree].
Why is it so important how you eat? Because, no matter what you eat, if you don’t digest it well you will not benefit from the food. Worse yet, Ayurveda teaches that the process of indigestion causes toxins (called ama) to form in the digestive system which spread to the tissues of your body. What exactly is ama? No one can say for sure. The ancient teachers of Ayurveda described it as having heavy, soft and moist qualities. The accumulation of ama has been said to lead to obstructions in the passages of the body. It interferes with circulation, elimination and cellular function. As the ancient teachers defined it only in general as “toxins”, it is likely that ama is not one thing, but many. Ama is all of the unhealthy by-products and metabolites of poor digestion and is a contributing factor to most disease. Ayurveda focuses extensively on the prevention of ama formation through optimizing digestion. Once ama is present, Ayurveda focuses on the removal of ama through the proper application of purification techniques.”
~ Excerpt from “Healing Your Life, Lessons on the Path of Ayurveda,” by Dr. Marc Halpern, Founder of the California College of Ayurveda. Available at Amazon: http://amzn.to/1GP7m28 and Barnes & Noble: http://bit.ly/1PsYDUA
