'Table Manners Dietetics in Ayurveda'
Food is the fundamental requirement of every living being. Human or any other living form is the product of Ahara (diet) and so is the disease. Hita (wholesome) or Ahita (unwholesome) food factors are responsible for causation of health or disease respectively. Ayurveda categorizes diseases into non communicable diseases, contagious/ traumatic diseases psychotic disorders. Previous disease magnitude in India has shifted from contagious diseases to non communicable diseases in the current times due to changed lifestyle and faulty diet patterns. WHO estimates confirms that NCDs like heart and vascular diseases, common cancers, chronic lung disease, diabetes and mental illness account for almost 60% of the total mortality reported annually in India. Ayurveda has reasonably holistic approach in the form of dietetics towards health. The Indian food system is interlaced with lives of the people through cultural, seasonal and religious customs. There is not a single food type accounted for health. It is the outcome of various factors related to an individual and related to food ingredients. The deviation from this system is a major causative factor of different diseases. Ayurveda can offer a preventive and remedial solution. This is an effort of reviewing comprehensively dietetic factors mentioned in Ayurveda.