Acid/Alkaline balance
The foods we eat are either Acid or Alkaline.  In order for our body to function normally our blood has to maintain a pH level of higher then 7.4.  It is drops to 7.2 it can have fatal effects.  Our bodies produce acid as a by-product of normal metabolism, which is a result of our bodies burning or using alkaline to remain alive.  Since our bodies do not manufacture alkaline we must get this from an outside source.  Food is the means of replenishing alkaline in the body.

If we balance a diet of about 70-80% alkaline and 20-30% acid, we should remain relatively healthy.  The more alkaline the better, however if we have too much alkaline we lose our appetite and atomically wants to fast, to which time the normal acid metabolic by-products return the body’s pH back to normal.  This is nature’s way of keeping our diets balanced.   For this reason, it is essential that we watch what we eat and try and keep a nutritional, balanced diet, and eliminate fast and packet foods, soft drinks, sweets etc, which can affect pH levels in the body and cause major health problems.

General diet information
Ayurveda focuses largely on getting our diet right for our body make up or dosha type.  Diet plays an important role not only in the physical appearance of our bodies, but also internal health. Poor digestion digestion can lead to a build up of bacteria, which has been identified in both ayurvedic and western medicine asthe root of many reoccurring illnesses in people today.  By correcting diet, we eliminate the fundamental cause of many diseases.

In vedic philosophy the mind is considered to be the essence of all food.  It is believed that food is divided into threefold, the gross part becomes excrement, the middle becomes flesh and the subtle part becomes the mind.  According to one of the age old ayurvedic philosophers “we are what we eat”.

Diets should be adjusted for the seasons.  An anti-vata diet should be followed in autumn, along with and anti-pitta diet for summer and late spring and anti-kapha diet should be followed more in winter.

So let’s start by getting our diets back on track not only for our general health and appearance, but also so we can make sure we are putting the right foods in to balance out our doshas.  If our doshas are out of balance, our whole body will be out of balance and many internal problems could start to arise.