Rule 1: Ensure that the environment is right
You should eat your food in an environment where nobody disturbs you while eating. You could be either alone or with peers.
Rule 2: Keep the negative energy away
For proper flow of digestive juices, it is crucial that negative mental factors such as anger, jealousy, fear and greed are absent.
Rule 3: Eat in balanced proportions
For proper digestion, ideally, 50% of your stomach must be filled with solid food ingredients, nearly 25% with liquids and the balance 25% should be empty for circulation of air and blood.
Rule 4: Know the timing of water intake
An ideal pattern is to drink water amidst meals. However, obese subjects are advised to consume water prior to meals, and lean subjects post meals.
Know what’s Right and Wrong
Do’s
The food should be prepared using healthy ingredients and appropriately cooked so that it is easy to digest.
An adequate quantity of food corresponding to individual Prakriti should be consumed. The required intake may vary across age, gender and nature of occupation.
Food should be stored in a clean container and consumed while it is still warm
Long term storage of prepared food.
Food should serve all the six types of taste senses including sweet, sour, salt, astringent, bitter and pungent.
The sitting posture should be comfortable, and it is not advisable to eat in resting posture.
Food should be properly chewed before swallowing.
Both over-eating as well as under-eating should be avoided.
Don’ts
You should not eat your food in a hurry, but in a slow fashion.
You should not talk or laugh while consuming your meals. It can make food pieces enter your wind pipe and cause difficulty in breathing.
An excess of any one of the six tastes (sweet, sour, salt, astringent, bitter and pungent) should be avoided.
Food articles that contradict each other such as milk and fish should be avoided.
Excessive consumption of fast food such as pizzas and burgers should be avoided.
Soft drinks should not be consumed with meals.