You don’t want to commit these Diet mistakes!

Food can be a strong pillar to health and food can destroy the foundation of your health. It is a double headed weapon. It’s up to us how we use it. COVID 19 pandemics once again brought our attention on lifestyle, food choices and their effect on good resilience . Some food practices and choices are mistakes, but we do not bother them committing again and again. The reason is most of the times lack of knowledge. These diet mistakes if done often can shake the foundation. One must know the logical theories behind the mistakes. Let us get to know common 10 mistakes in diet and food practices.

1. Eating without knowing own appetite/ digestive fire (Agni). What your does inside your body depends on how well you digest it. Digestive power is called as Agni in ayurveda There are four (weak, balanced, strong, and unpredictable) types of Agni and metabolism depends on the same. Consuming food incompatible with the Agni causes indigestion and unfavorable accumulation of the waste in various cells through out the body which causes harm to immune system and can produce many diseases. Every person should know what Agni I belong to. Respect, and eat accordingly. Do not hesitate to ask me more about it.
2. Food which is not suitable to your body type is a very common diet mistake often all of us do. Ayurveda has unique theory of Body prakriti which is like phenotype of an individual. Diet favoring the prakriti is healthy diet. e.g. Kapha prakriti person needs less sweet, less oily and less sicky form food. If the person consumes the same in large and regular it will increase the Kapha Dosha creating the diseases. Vata Dosha person needs more lubricating, more good fat, warm diet if he consumes the cold, dry, less fat diet it will create Vata diseases for sure. Get the help of Ayurveda expert, ask for your body type
3. Eating stale/ leftover food is another very common diet mistake we do without even knowing it. The food which is not fresh and is stored/ processed / refrigerated to increase its shelf life is stale food. Different food has different shelf lives. It is a matter of common sense to decide whether the food is fresh or stale. E.g. milk, bread, fruits, snacks, cooked food all of these have different shelf lives. Milk ideally has some hours of shelf life if not boiled time to time or preserved in cold temperature. After a period of 24 hours milk is supposed to be stale food anyways, though various modern process keeps it intact and avoid curdling. Still the milk we get in carton which we use for weeks together is a form of stale food. Wheat flour and cooked chapati have different shelf life. You can store flour for weeks and months but storing chapatis is a form of stale food. Some of them are unavoidable and many of us have given them place in our day to day food. All ‘ready to eat’ and packaged food are dead food preserved just like a lifeless mummy.
4. Eating food when the previously consumed food is not digested properly. This diet mistake is very common today. Especially we commit this diet crimes in case of children very proudly. Feeding them whenever we feel that they must be hungry. This is overfeeding and no nutritious meal can help nutrition if its overfed and fed without proper digestion of previous meal. This type of mistake increases the unwanted digestive system toxins in body and create various diseases not only digestive tract, but it can produce various immune diseases and allergies too.
5. Eating meal always in hurry, standing, talking, watching screen or in distress or worried,angry scared state of mind seems not so harmful but is a potent diet mistake that can harm your immunity, physical and mental health too. Meal needs little extra attention of your mind and five senses. They all contribute in normal digestion and nutrition. Do not underrate this.
6. Eating incompatible food combinations is biggest mistake that damage the immunity. Ayurveda has a unique theory of Virudhhanna (food incompatibility). Some food is not supposed to mix, cook, or eat together. Such combinations can create the unfavorable properties in food which takes a toll on health. Few examples of incompatible food are
7. Cocktails where without a thought anything is mixed anything weird found in kitchen. Some combos like egg, milk, curd, fruits cannot be compatible with the alcohol. The mixing forms chemically different property that may not be suitable.
8. Milkshakes and ice creams that contains tangy, citric fruits and milk together
9. Smoothies containing curd + milk + vegetables, cheese +curd fruits, tangy fruits+ milk+ vegetables
10. Any meat cooked with cream/milk or curd /honey.
11. Eating any meat and milk desserts together or one after another.
12. Adding milk, cream or curd in tangy taste soup or curries

Eating meal with fruit juice, cold drinks, milk, or any other beverages is a total disaster. Water is the only perfect companion for food. Milk and different food together is a big No. Salt, spices tangy ingredient curdled the milk if consume with food.  Stomach acids further raise the PH which is high than required. The same thing with fruit juice and alcohol. The high sugar content in cold drink and other beverages causes the harm in absorption and digestion. There are many such examples. Please refer my previous blog exclusively dedicated to the topic.

•  Diet trends like no Fat only protein, Keto, OMAD, uncooked food may not suit all people. Do not blind follow any of it. One which is blessing for one person may turn disaster for other. And above all every nutrient (carbs, protein, fat, vitamin, mineral) has its own role in nutrition. Eating all of them wisely not too high not too less is logical.
• Eating fullest of stomach capacity. Ayurveda explains the ideal diet quantity in simple but scientific way. Imagine four parts in your stomach eat two parts of solid meal (one part only for sweets and heavy meal, another for normal meal). Keep one part for liquids i.e. liquid meal, water, or buttermilk. Keep the last part empty for the gases and raised volume of food after it get mixed with digestive juices. If you eat fullest capacity the unnecessary strain on stomach walls will create harm.
• Any physical activity like exercise, swimming, sex immediately after meal is a mistake. It will fetch the required blood flow from GI track to the heart causing a long-standing effect on metabolism. It hampers the digestion and absorption of nutrients at cellular level which harms immunity in long time. 
• Consuming tea, coffee, alcohol, any other sugary drink immediately after the meal is also a commonly made diet mistake very often embraced as lifestyle. Buttermilk is ideal choice if someone wants something after meal. Any of the other above-mentioned things chemically does not go along well with the food that is in the process of digestion.

These are some of the wrong habits in diet. There are much more interesting things one should know about what Ayurveda has to offer for a better lifestyle. You can read previous blogs and stay tune for the future ones. Do ask questions. Do not pamper the wrong beliefs and practices