Harmful Food Habits

Deep Fried Food

- Though the taste of food can be enhanced when it is deep fried in oil, oil makes the food heavy to digest.

- Acidity increases in the digestive system due to deep fried food.

- Oil is good to eat only in very small amounts as it creates Rajasic and Tamasic qualities.

Refined Foods

- Refined foods include foods such as chocolates, sugar, candies, white flour, cakes and biscuits.

- Refined flour is used to make these foods. The flour is made by removing the fibrous covering from the grain. This decreases the nutrient value a great deal. Constipation and other problems result when the diet contains too much refined food.

- Vata increases with an over-refined diet and digestive fire is impaired.

- Children who eat a lot of refined food can become hyperactive.

Sugar

- White sugar can be thought of as white poison. A high intake of sugar is extremely harmful to the health.

- Too much sugar in the diet can cause acidity, dental cavities, osteoporosis, high cholesterol levels and a number of other diseases in the body like migraine, hypertension and kidney disease.

- Children with high level of sugar in their diet can develop crankiness, lack of concentration and hyperactivity. Drowsiness, decreased activity and inappropriate behaviour can also develop in children due to eating too much sugar regularly.

- Sugar aggravates kapha and leads to metabolic disorders. It increases rajas and tamas.

- Sugar is intoxicating and leads to addiction. The more sugar one takes, the more chromium is needed to digest it. This leads to chromium deficiency, a symptom of this is craving for sugar. The more the craving, the more the intake and the more the intake, the more craving, and the cycle continues…

Salt

- Heavily salted food aggravates pitta and may lead to circulatory disease.

Carbonated drinks

- Carbonated drinks disturb vata and pitta a great deal and create rajas in the body and the mind.

- The chemicals in the drinks are extremely harmful to the body.

Frozen, Refrigerated or Re-heated Food

- Food that has been left overnight is called `lifeless food’ in Ayurveda. It cannot nourish the body properly or bring a sattvic quality to the mind. According to modern nutritional science, the defrosted food may have the food component. But the effect on the body is different, it has a tamasic effect on the body and much less prana.

- Vata or Kapha imbalances can happen from eating food that is not really fresh, both doshas can go out of balance at the same time also.

- Defrosted food decomposes more quickly than fresh food.

- The digestive fire is maintained properly when the food we eat is at body temperature or a little warmer. Food straight from the refrigerator is too cold for digestion.

- The quality of tamas dominates in lifeless food. This creates dullness and inertia in the body and mind.

Fermented Food

- Fermented food includes vinegar, cheese, pickles, ketchup, alcohol and food containing yeast.

- During fermentation, organic substances are transformed by agitation or intense activity at the cellular level.

- Fermented food is also called `lifeless food’ in Ayurveda. It creates tamas, therefore inertia and dullness.
When fermented food is eaten, it decays slowly in the body and can produce toxins. When too much fermented food is in the diet, the toxins in it can lead to tissue degeneration. Gases are produced, the senses are dulled and the digestion is also affected.

Tinned and Canned Foods

- Tinned and canned food is also classified as `lifeless food’ in Ayurveda.

- The chemicals used to preserve tinned food has a negative effect on the health.

- Artificial colours and flavours added to the processed foods act like poison to the body. They cause indigestion and obstruction of the subtle channels.