Vaj wrote: > > On May 17, 2009, at 9:08 AM, Duveyoung wrote: > >> Just on the level of physiology, fasting >> seems to be a fairly powerful tool to >> achieve both precise and general health >> and consciousness goals. > > Unless you have a specific sadhana designed to use fasting as a tool, > fasting more than a couple of days is folly, esp. for vatas--typically > the type of people who seem to go for these type of dietary heroics. > > "FASTING > > Ayurveda frowns on longterm fasting because the sense of deprivation > created by a long fast encourages you to follow it with a long spell > of indulgence to rebuild Ahamkara's confidence. I knew a Westerner in > India who had decided to fast his way to enlightenment. He was an > extreme example of the V constitution so I knew it would be dangerous > and warned him pointedly about the possible perils. It was impossible > to change his mind; he obstinately ignored all warnings. One day his > starving, devitalized immune system landed him in the hospital, where > doctors lanced a long abscess running all the way up his leg. The > outcome of this adventure into higher consciousness? After his > recovery he returned to North America and became a cook! > > His obsession with food never left him, because his persistent fasting > so starved his Dhatus that they eventually overwhelmed his resolve. > This cycle of overrestriction followed by overgratification aggravates > Vata in everyone who attempts it. It is better to fast regularly for a > day once every week or two. The digestive organs need a day off as > much as any human workers do, and it will not do to make them work > overtime for months in a row without any rest and then give them a > long enforced fasting vacation. > > > Robert Svoboda, Prakruti
A participant on one of Robert's ayurvedic workshops I took spoke strongly about how a fruit diet almost killed him. The guy was skinny as a rail too. The wisdom of ayurveda is do what YOUR body needs not what other people's bodies need. And ayurveda is in the process of adapting to people in different climes. I still think for greater adoption that we need to help people understand what they are already eating and what of that can be emphasized to help them. Too many of the books just have Indian foods and menus. Amadea Morningstar did do a book on cooking western foods for ayurveda and I have another that was even more practical with both vegetarian and non-vegetarian recipes. Most books have little sections on what one can dining out which is helpful. And really the basis is about the metabolic rate or how fast or slowly you utilize carbohydrates. Interestingly people who metabolize carbs slowly are vata type (hence they can skip meals or even forget to eat) whereas those who metabolize carbs rapidly are kapha types. The pitta types are in the middle (almost tri-doshic) metabolizing carbs at about the correct rate.
