FOOD FOR THE INNER YOU

You are what you eat' isn't just granny's favourite saying. It's one of the key underlying principles of Ayurveda. Ayurvedic diets, contrary to common belief, do not prohibit meats or wines. Rather, they stress moderation, and selection of foods in harmony with your body type. Ayurveda also gives us the unique idea of food as medicine. The ancients believed that a person's diet had the power to cure many ailments, large and small.

A DISPENSARY OF TASTE Kalari Kovilakom's pure Ayurvedic kitchen is a shrine to ideas first outlined by the ayurvedic physicians of more than a thousand years ago. Foods are prepared in brass, iron or clay vessels only. And our chefs weave their pure vegetarian magic with only the minimum of oil and almost no heavy spices or chillis. You may find your first meal at Kalari somewhat bland, specially if you're a curry lover or a steak-eggs-ketchup-and-mustard kind of person. But within a day or two, something strange happens. Your palate softens, becomes more sensitive. Suddenly, the subtle flavours of pure spices and fresh tropical vegetables begin to come to the fore. Each meal becomes a medley of subtle textures and aromas, rather than the taste assaults most of us are used to. Even better, you need to eat less and less to feel completely sated!

DHYANA BHOJANAM

Eating is one of the most important activities in life, yet we give it time nor attention. Hours are spent cooking something and it's gulped within a few minutes! If we could only focus on the food we eat, digestion and absorption will improve and so will our peace of mind and concentration; we may even discover the life force in the food, in the eating, in the provider and perhaps even in ourselves.

ENJOY FULLY WHAT YOU EAT

Look at what you are eating not at your neighbour, the T.V., the newspaper , or even the view (you can do these in between minutes of chewing). Appreciate fully what you are eating, taste it fully, breathing and smelling the aroma to add to the taste, chewing slowly and well, to taste more and to digest better.  Discover the differences in taste between each dish served. Discover the subtleties of taste (you won't have to rely on extra tasty spices to get full satisfaction). Feel the texture of what you're eating in your mouth. Gently keep bringing the wandering mind back to tasting fully what you're eating. Feel the difference within yourself! Give thanks for the chance to be able to enjoy what you eat.

CONNECT WITH THE SOURCE

Look at what you are eating and think of how each morsel was brought to your plate. There may be one hundred different ingredients and each one was planted, tended, watered, harvested, transported, sold, packed, purchased, washed, prepared, cooked and served. If each ingredient had that many people involved in its preparation, think of how many people were involved in bringing that food to you. Create a psychic link from you (who are ingesting the food) and all those who made it possible. No man is an island, said the English poet John Donne. We are all interconnected. (Similarly, the money you spent to get that food to your plate has helped provide for all those people and their families!). Think about it! This is real yoga, union, oneness, linking with the world, with life around you. Give thanks to all those who made it possible for you to eat and live.

YOU ARE WHAT YOU EAT

Look at what you are eating and think of the nutritional value, the vitamins, protein, carbohydrates providing energy etc. Be aware of the food external to your body which was grown in the earth, fed with water and nutrients, imbibed sunshine and air and fills a space in this universe. As you eat it, it loses its separate existence and becomes a part of your body. The elements of earth, water, fire, air and space of which it was made have now become those elements of nature within you. The nutrients of that food are providing everything that every cell of your being needs. Your body is able to transform what ever you eat into just what you need (just like the body of the cow is able to transform grass into milk). Feel the food being masticated in your mouth, sliding down your throat into your stomach and being absorbed into the bloodstream and going to all parts of your body. Visualize it! It is really happening. If you think the food you eat is going to put on weight, it will. If you think the food you are eating is nourishing and healing you, it will. Whatever you think, you become; especially what you are thinking while you eat. So think carefully while you eat, think positive thoughts about the food and the eating. (Avoid eating when angry or upset). Here is another way you can experience yoga, the oneness of the universe; you and the food and the elements it is made of, are one!

GOOD EATING HABITS

1. Give thanks, in your own way, every time you eat.
2. Eat early, eat slowly, eat less.
3. Eat breakfast like a king, lunch like a queen and dinner like a beggar.
4. Drink your solids and eat your liquids. (i.e. Chew well)
5. Skip one evening meal per week, drink lots of water instead.
6. Eat to live, don't live to eat.
7. To lose weight, do above and avoid eating in between meals, if hungry, drink water.