Ayurvedic Cooking for Self- Healing

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FOREWORD Some of the fondest memories of my years of Ayurveda study in India involve the Lad family. No sooner did meet Dr. Vasant Lad in January 1974 than he invited me home for dinner, a dinner which inaugurated a veritable procession of future meals. When classes were in session at Pune's Tilak Ayurveda Mahavidyalaya, Dr Lad frequently would insist that I share his lunch and soon was consuming many of my meals in the Lad home, a practice which continued during most of the six years spent at the college. Whenever I would arrive at her door, Usha Tai (Mrs. Lad) would offer me some freshly-prepared tidbit. If the cupboard was tempo rarily bare, apologetically she would begin to whip something up from scratch, no matter how vociferously might protest. Even when was living on only milk and fruits, a glass of milk was always waiting for me, day or night.

Like many Indians, Usha Tai genuinely loves to cook for guests, because every guest, indeed every living being, bears the spark of divinity. That I had arrived in her home meant that should be fed, not as some grudging obligation but from the love of cooking and feeding. Every morsel fed to that visiting incarnation of God is a morsel fed back to the Creator as an offering of gratitude for Nature's bounty; and since the scriptures remind us that "food is indeed God," to feed the hungry is to serve God to God. Food creates the rasa, that juicy nutritional essence which nourishes the body's hungry tissues and pleases and satisfies the mind and the senses. This nourishment and satisfaction are the blessings that Annapurna, the goddess of food, has awarded to all sentient beings, and the Lads have believed always in sharing their blessings freely.

As I watched time pass in the Lads' kitchen, had ample occasion to see first hand the sort of attention Usha Tai lavished on the food she pre pared. I watched her shop and select, grind and chop, sauté and boil, and imbibed that rhythm of food preparation which makes the victuals begin to cook themselves as soon as they enter the pot. Her culinary preparations were a practical demonstration of what I was being taught theoretically in the college, namely that the standard linear logic that serves the physical sciences so well is of little use when it comes to the arts of living, such as medicine and cookery. Only when you gain a real feel for food, which happens when Annapurna begins to possess you, can you know what cui sine can really mean.

On Sundays, when the hospital's outpatient departments were closed and the relative quiet permitted Dr. Lad to sally forth himself on grocery expeditions, I would accompany him to learn more about the indications of a certain vegetable, or about the type of people who would do best with a particular fruit. Sometimes we would purchase herbs and parboil them into potions, a dramatic demonstration of the rule that a good vaidya (Ayurvedic physician) must also be a good cook. After months and months of such informal preparations, I myself then began to cook under the watchful gaze of my mentor Vimalananda and, before long, I added the pleasure of feeding others to the pleasure of being fed, all thanks to my sojourn with the Lads.

I know from personal experience how consistently the Lad family has followed an Ayurvedic lifestyle over the twenty years that I have known them, and so I acceded with great pleasure to Usha Tai's request to write the introduction to her book on Ayurvedic cooking. The good Ayurvedic teachers are those like Dr. Lad who have learned and who have per formed, and the good cooks are those like Usha Tai who have sweated and have served. May this book help all those who are sincerely willing to learn the true meaning of feeding and being fed that they may gain a new awareness of what food can mean to a life well lived.

PREFACE During and after my internship, I worked as a house physician in the departments of medicine, surgery gynecology and pediatrics at the Ayurvedic Hospital in Pune. At that time I observed over and over again. how the correct diet, combined with proper herbal medicine and lifestyle, can play a vital role in healing. I became increasingly aware that illness pro vides an "invitation" to change one's habitual patterns related to thinking, feeling and feeding ourselves properly.

My outlook began to move from the commonly used labels for an ill ness, such as "this is influenza or that is a virus," to the inner sense of how that illness manifested according to basic Ayurvedic theories. I incorpo rated a deeper and subtler understanding of the interplay of the doshas in health and disease and of how nature's gentle source of healing with herbs and food can bring healing and balance. As my awareness grew about the role of food as medicine, I observed that many health problems seemed intertwined with the stresses of daily life. These include worries about one's job or money tension and even the stress created by eating the wrong kinds of food and improper food combining.

In the last twenty years I have seen many problems, sometimes culmi nating in serious illness, that were the result of poor food choices and igno rance of the art of proper cooking for oneself and for the family. While working in the panchakarma department at the hospital, I saw the impres sive effects of this cleansing program administered in conjunction with proper diet, which is usually a mono-fast on a single food. This also taught me that food is medicine when rightly used.

In this book you will find simple, practical approaches to food and spe cific recipes from the Ayurvedic art of cooking to help restore the body's healthful balance. Though there is much helpful information within these covers, this book is not proposed as a treatment plan for any disease. This, of course, you must obtain from your own doctor.

Much of the information here can be classified best as the "intuitive sci ence of life." It comes from my own practical clinical experience, founded on the basic principles built from thousands of years of Ayurvedic medicine. This is not a "scientific" method, as the term is used in Western med icine, but the information carefully gathered from centuries of day-to-day experience.

For instance, sour fruits, fermented food and hot spices provoke pitta and can cause acid indigestion and heartburn, Black beans and pinto beans aggravate vata, can create gas and can lead to bloating and discomfort. Yogurt, cheese and cold drinks aggravate kapha and may lead to cold, cough and congestion. This book will help you to develop a good under standing of the wise and practical Ayurvedic approach to food and health. I hope you will find that the suggestions in this book become a vital part of your own self-healing. The golden keys to health lie in getting in touch with your inner self and in seeing the process of healing as a useful means of learning about your own unique needs.

I met my wife Usha at the Ayurvedic Hospital in Pune where she was a student of Ayurvedic nursing. After we were married, Usha began using her knowledge and love of Ayurveda as her guiding light in preparing our meals. She always brings great love and respect to every stage of food preparation, and she cooks each meal with all of her heart.

By calling this book Ayurvedic Cooking For Self-Healing, my wish is that you will discover a creative program for better health for yourself and your family. These recipes and healing ways are meant to enter into your life as a natural method of healing without any side effects or reactions. Keeping you healthy and balanced in all seasons is the goal of this practical "guidebook" about food. Enjoy your Ayurvedic cooking for health, happiness and the healing of family and friends.

**Contents and Sample Pages**