AYURVEDA FOR DUMMIES

By now, I guess almost everyone has at least heard this word: Ayurveda... It is Sanskrit. Ayus means life, Veda means science (as in knowledge). One of my works here in Copenhagen is to receive foreigners or new comers into our Sunrise School. This is a School that follows the Ayurvedic approach to eating. Believe me, if I had to explain about it some good 15 years ago, it would have been so much more difficult than now. Now, almost 80% of the people I talk about Ayurveda have an idea of what this is all about. Some even comment: Oh, I saw something about it in Larry King the other day...

Yes, it is all so simple. And complex! So, it is not enough to become a vegetarian only. There are many distinct groups within the classification of vegetarianism. There are the Vegetarians who eat dairy products and the ones who also include eggs in their diets. There are the ones who are very radical and do not consume anything that comes from an animal source (the vegans) and there are always the very flexible ones who "only eat white meat", or "real meat", just once in a while...

And... there is the Ayurvedic group!!! And what is the difference? Well, a person who follows a strict Ayurvedic Diet will have some difficulties in eating in Vegetarian places for 3 reasons, and I will name them: Onions, garlic and mushrooms... and you thought that cutting meat was the hardest thing...

The science of life, Ayurveda. There is so much beauty in reading any of the many ancient, and modern, books about this science and wisdom. My Grandmother always said: Bananas are gold in the morning, silver in the afternoon and stones in the evening. In a nutshell? Ayurveda! That's all there is to it. Some ages ago people were so in tune with their bodies and how it reacted whenever they ate something. It is said, and pardon me for not having an official source, that when sugar first made it's way into European Courts, it was almost a drug. Their bodies were so not used to "that thing" that the nobles would eat some of it and go into a type of stupor, tripping on the sweet stuff! And now??? How many spoons do we need to even taste it? My Grandmother died and with her some of the "old knowledge" died too, things that were never taught in Schools will also perish, or flourish, depending on which super star of the moment will adopt this or that religion and so on and so forth, bless their hearts for keeping it all alive and popular!

So, some food is good for you, some is bad and some, depending on the time of the day (like bananas and cucumbers) will be either beneficial or not.

The Ayurvedic system created names for each of these categories and that is when, if you are introduced to these strange names before getting acquainted with the notion behind it, you give up! They don't sound familiar at all, yes, Sanskrit, babe! Actually, officially, a dead language that has not being spoken for the past thousands of years but still is very much used to describe certain very refined concepts about life and Death.

So, now some hard core, old school, teaching, are you ready?

Tamasic: BAD BAD BAD!!! Food or substances that will have nothing positive to be said about!

Rajasic: IT DEPENDS (on where you are in the globe, which season of the year we are talking about and what time of the day it is).

And finally, the star of the show, the wonderful, one and only, LADIES AND GENTLEMAN, I Proudly announce to you...

SATVIC!!!! You can't go wrong here. Whatever you eat, that falls into the Satvic category, will not only benefit your body but your mind and, for those who believe, your souls too!!! Some examples of things (or shall I say elements) that are considered Satvic? Ok... WATER AND AIR! Yes! You can have it as much as you want, suuuureeeee!!!

Yes, water and air are satvic but there are many other things too: Certain grains, fruits, fruits, grains (not all of them) and some more vegetables and vegetables and fruits and grains!!! BUT; ATTENTION! ATTENTION! ATTENTION!!! NO mushrooms... If there is one vilain in the ayurvedic world (natural world that is, cause you could place number one in the list of TAMASIC stuff: Drugs and alcohol) this would be it: Mushrooms... they grow in the shades, no photosynthesis involved in the process, a fungus that will bring strange thoughts, create weird gases that will make you uneasy and thinking of unthinkable thoughts... yes, Lord Voldermort himself could be represented by an inauspicious mushroom!!! yes, we know, some of them have amazing nutritious values but Ayurveda is not only interested in your body. No, it also worries about your mind and, for the believers at the back row, your soul!

So, this was the easy part of the Philosophy. I mean, common sense, right? Most of it at least. We don't need no Ayurvedic Doctor telling us that a life of Drinking, smoking and tripping around will not lead anyone to a place in the sun. And before I continue, I have to say that this is my favorite aspect of it. It is not that some people will want to stop eating this or that right away but actually to go a deep further into the investigation of what will be my body and mind responses to certain foods? I have the obligation to know. I might want some onions in my tofu tonight but I will know that meditation will not be smooth next morning. And I will know why: Onion heats up the body so extremely that, according to Ayurveda, you should only eat if you find yourself trapped in a snow storm. Do we really need all this heat walking around in the office on a day to day bases? And how will this heat affect my mood on a continuous mode? Garlic? The best natural medicine we can have? The strongest antibiotics in the world? But what will be the point of it if I take it everyday in my life? Will it be effective? Of course not, try any antibiotic for more than a couple of months and it will be as good as nothing (plus, the inconvenient truth that it is banned from any pilot's diet before long flights since studies have shown that it slows down vital responses, brain wise!)

So... I like to know these things. I might not follow them 100% all the time but I like to be in control of my body and aware of what I put inside of it and Ayurveda has such a complete catalogue of different types of food and why and what and when that I am a huge fan of it!

Yeah, and we haven't even started to talk about the different types of people, according to Ayurveda... People that are categorized as having more AIR, EARTH OR FIRE and all possible combinations between those 3 elements and all the specific diet that each combination proposes (If you are a fiery person you do not want to ingest fuel all the time, right? You will probably benefit from cooling down a bit with certain herbs, etc). But it does take a good and serious Ayurvedic Doctor to really study your body, your habits and your whole life to come up with a customized diet that will only serve you and no one else but you! And this is another thing I love about it. There is not one body that will need exactly the same thing as another. We are such complex beings, and Ayruvedic medicine acknowledges that. Or do you think an Ayurvedic Doctor will tell an Eskimo not to eat a seal?

Well, just to end this piece (of what is totally up to the readers) I have to quote 2 very interesting people (interesting, to say the least) First was this fellow, you probably heard of him, a very smart, kind of wise guy called Einstein. Is he a genius? Did he change the way we see the world? Well, he said: I do not eat meat because I do not want my body to become a cemetery, holding within the carcasses of dead animals. But let's ignore it, right? Let's focus on more important things this man said such as the theory of relativity and other more complex stuff... Maybe he was not smart in every aspects of his life, right? Maybe he was actually pretty stupid when it came to his eating habits who knows?

The other one I want to quote was also a very controversial guy called Jesus, aka the saviour. I guess somebody said in the Bible that one day Jesus said: It is not what comes in your mouth that matters but what comes out of it!!! And I love it cause having said it all I must add that no matter how little onion you eat in your life, if you open your mouth and only unpleasant, negative and destructive stuff comes out of it, well... I will be happy to show you the way to the next garlic bar, oh, don't ask why, oh, don't ask why...