Ayurveda advises to eat this healthy food in dinner to stay healthy
It is very important to include the right foods in dinner. What you eat at night can help keep you healthy. And can cause weight gain and other health problems.
Dieticians call breakfast the most important meal of the day. This is your first meal of the day after a gap of 6-8 hours after dinner. However, other meals like lunch and dinner are also important and should not be skipped. More importantly, skipping any of these foods will not help you lose weight, as is commonly believed.
Ayurveda tells us to be careful about what we eat at night. It is the last meal of the day, and it is important that it is consumed at the right time and low in fat and easily digestible foods that have a low calorie content.
What is Kapha dosha?
Kapha dosha is the Ayurvedic mind-body element associated with earth and water. It is slow, moist, cool, oily, heavy, smooth and stable in nature and signifies structure, lubrication and stability in mind and body.
Foods that increase Kapha dosha
There are certain foods that you should avoid having in dinner as they create an imbalance in Kapha dosha. Junk food, oily food, non-vegetarian items, frozen food, heavy-to-digest food, curd, or ice cream are some of the things that you should avoid eating at night. Even if you eat them, try to eat them in less or limited quantity. Consuming them in excess at night can create an imbalance in the body and lead to complications such as:
– Weight gain
– Cough and cold.
– Feeling of vomiting
– Indigestion
– Excessive salivation in the morning
– Allergy
After all, eating the wrong foods can lead to the build-up and accumulation of toxins in the body, which can lead to a number of health complications.
If you are suffering from any of the above complications, now is the time to start taking proper care of yourself. Sometimes, a slight adjustment in your dietary pattern can cure or improve most of these conditions. So, the next question is what kinds of adjustments can improve your health.
Know Ayurveda remedies for healthy eating at night
Eat healthy, low-carb foods at night.This is mainly because low-carb foods are easily digested. Having a heavy meal at night will disturb your sleep and you may feel light-headed the next day.
Drink buttermilk instead of curd.If you are one of those people who like to have curd, or dahi at night, then it is time you stop doing it. According to Ayurveda, curd has both sour and sweet properties and it increases Kapha dosha in the body. There is a natural predominance of phlegm in the body at night. This imbalance can lead to the development of excess mucus in the nasal passages.
Ayurveda suggests keeping dinner light as this will help you get a sound sleep. Also, our digestive system remains inactive while we are late, which means that it becomes difficult for our body to digest heavy meals. According to Ayurvedic expert Dr. Vasant Lad, “Don’t eat more than the amount of food you can hold in two cups of your hands. Overeating expands the stomach, which will make you feel the need for extra food. It is also made by eating more. Toxins in the digestive tract.” Also, give a gap of at least 2-3 hours between dinner and bedtime.
Include more protein rich foods at night.Include pulses, pulses, green leafy vegetables and curry leaves in the evening meal. It is good to consume more protein and less carbs at night to keep your digestive system working properly. Try to include more and more pulses, green leafy vegetables, curry leaves and a small amount of ginger in your diet.
Avoid salt after 7 pm. Yes, it is a bit harsh, but it is believed that salt increases water retention in the body. As we tend to have more sodium in our dinners, we put our heart and blood vessels at greater risk of overnight low blood pressure.
Salt is believed to increase water retention in the body. So it would be better if you reduce the intake of salt.
Include more spices in dinner. Spices come with many health beneficial properties apart from giving an aromatic flavor to your food. Spices increase the heat in your body, and can also help with weight loss by reducing appetite. Include more spices like cinnamon, fennel, fenugreek and cardamom in your evening meal.
Consume less sugar and more honey.It is better to avoid consuming sugar along with dinner, replace it with honey. Consuming honey will not only enhance the taste but also aid in weight loss and help reduce mucus.
If you have a habit of drinking milk before sleeping, then give priority to low fat milk. Always boil milk before drinking it. This makes it easy to digest. You can also add a small amount of ginger or cardamom to the milk before boiling it, which helps reduce the mucus-producing properties.
The rule that you should follow while having dinner is to make sure that whatever you eat, you should not feel heaviness in the stomach. Instead, your stomach should feel light so that you can sleep properly.
So as you are seeing from above, there are high chances that eating at night can make you fat. With barely enough physical activity at night, your body needs very little energy at night. And excess food, instead of being converted into energy, gets stored as fat leading to obesity or weight gain. Ancient Ayurvedic knowledge as well as modern science suggests having a light meal at night. Making a habit of eating early and light meals at night will improve your metabolism and make you feel lighter and healthier.