Alkje Schütze

The digestive capacity of Agni always determines which foods are particularly well tolerated and how large the portions can be. Children, older people and anyone who leads a sedentary lifestyle in particular should make sure that they only eat as much as they are really hungry for. The preparation also determines whether the food is easy or difficult to digest: hungry and sporty family members with a high Pitta content should help themselves from the salad bar. Everyone else needs predominantly warm, cooked dishes enriched with digestive spices.

Love nourishes body and soul

The best thing that can happen to a family is a mother, father or grandmother who loves to cook and enjoys spoiling their loved ones with fresh and tasty food. If we manage to defy the modern fast-food lifestyle and enjoy a family meal together every day, we have already achieved a great deal. This is because the healing power of food can unfold particularly well through lovingly prepared meals that are eaten in a pleasant atmosphere. Even "unhealthy" treats are allowed, because from an Ayurvedic point of view it is recommended to enrich the diet with 20% exceptions, as these nourish the soul. In this way, the "un-Ayurvedic" favorite foods of the individual family members can also be integrated into the diet as "soul food" so that everyone can benefit from the healthy lifestyle without dogma and frustration.

Three important Ayurveda rules for more health and fun when eating

• When preparing your main meal, always use fresh ingredients and a balanced variety of flavors with sweet, sour, salty, spicy, bitter and astringent.
• Start your meals with sweet and sour foods and finish with bitter and astringent substances to increase the satiety effect during the meal and avoid fatigue and bloating afterwards. This rule can be easily implemented with a sweet and sour soup or a small sweet with fruit compote as a starter and a tea or coffee for dessert.
• Every Ayurvedic meal should consist of 4 forms for elemental balance: edible, chewable, drinkable and suckable. This rule can be implemented in creative ways that also pay attention to color variety: For example, the toddler menu features creamy mashed potato (suckable) with crunchy blanched broccoli trees (chewable) in a sea of red lentils (drinkable) and toasted almond slivers (edible).