If Diet is Wrong, Medicine is Of No Use

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If diet is wrong, medicine is of no use. If diet is correct, medicine is of no need.

From the Sanskrit word “ayus” meaning life, and “veda” meaning knowledge, Ayurveda is a holistic approach to health. Considered to be the oldest healing science, it has been practiced for at least 5,000 years in India. Its basic principle is maintaining balance in the body, mind, and consciousness to prevent illness.

Ayurveda places its emphasis on moderation and harmony. It revolves around the theory that everything in the universe is connected. To achieve good health, one’s mind, body, and spirit must be in harmony with the universe. When imbalance occurs, one’s physical, spiritual, and emotional well-being is at risk.

For holistic health, ayurveda teaches that food should be taken as medicine. In other words, we must be aware of what we eat and how we eat, because what we put in our body could either sustain us or destroy us. Medicine can only do so much and is incapable of fully regaining our vigor. With good food, medicine is unnecessary for the most part.

Most of today’s prominent diseases are effects of destructive eating habits. A lack of conscientiousness leads to substance abuse, including food. Ayurveda consists of guidelines on what and how to eat for maximum nourishment. Eating isn’t regarded as a pastime activity but a ritual that involves mindfulness. For instance, one should only when he is hungry and a lot of thought should be put into the quality and quantity of food to consume. As Hippocrates counseled, “Let food be thy medicine, they medicine shall be thy food.”