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N O U R I S H M E N T   A N D   T R A N S F O R M A T I O N
P A R T   2

PART 1   |   PART 2

HOW DO ALIMENTS INFLUENCE OUR BEING?
In Ayurveda is a fact of common knowledge the fact that our being responds to any interaction with the environment through different transformations.

The act of eating represents the transformation of that which was external into that which was internal, part of our organism.

In this way, through food, our physical body is formed, grows and is kept alive. Thus, every time an aliment is assimilated in our organism, this fact triggers an entire chain of biological, chemical, and energetic processes whose main role is to transform the aliment into a substance "known" to our organism.

What used to be exterior has to become now known to our body so that it will be able to be "integrated" into it.

These processes are characteristic to each being, according to its determinant structure. A good digestion implies a great power of transformation, rendering the digestion of "heavy" meals quite easy, while a less powerful digestive fire will generate difficulties and perturbations in the organism.

The food influences us clearly even from the first stages of ingestion. We all noticed the fact that after a "great" and heavy meal the mental processes are slowed down, or that after a hot meal we get warm or even irritable at times. All these states represent in fact interactions between the aliments we ingest and the three Doshas.

These were some simple examples. In fact, the food influences our inner life in a complex way that we ignore most of the time. However, in order to perceive these effects we should consider the fact the food has also subtle, energetic characteristics besides those perceived through the senses.

Recent researches have proved that that any object emits imperceptible vibrations, which are the subtle energetic characteristics of a particular object.

We may now understand that besides the direct effects produced on our physical body through the chemical substances contained in aliments, there is also a subtle level of interaction with our organism - the energy of the food.

Through these two main mechanisms, the aliments influence both our organism and the vibrations of our mental and psychic processes.

This phenomenon may be easily observed if we pay attention to the different states we experience while consuming a certain aliment. The direct observation of the above-mentioned aspects may lead you to the discovery of the great importance of the type and quality of the food you eat.

As we already mentioned, the interaction of the three Doshas with the energies of the various aliments leads to all these transformations. A secret key known by the ancient wise is that the concrete, perceivable expression of the energies contained in various types of food is their taste.

The variety of the tastes of the aliments is in fact the result of the combination in different proportions of the six fundamental tastes known in Ayurveda: sweet, salted, hot, sour, bitter, and astringent.

The distinct energies of each taste act directly on the Doshas, in a beneficial or less beneficial manner.

In conclusion, women would benefit of an important help in their attempts to become physically harmonious (and not only physically) if they considered the food from a different perspective. A new approach of this issue should be based on several aspects:

1. The symbolic attribute of the act of eating.
2. The possibility of transforming the act of preparing the food into an art and into a therapeutic procedure for bringing harmony to your body and mind.
3.The direct correlation between the taste of the aliments, their sensorial qualities and their effects on our psychic.
4.The diversity of human typologies - keeping in mind that different persons react in a different manner to the same type of food.
5.The duality of the nature of food: matter-energy.

The approach of such revolutionary perspective on food requires also the development of a practical aspect, which may profit by all the information provided in these articles.