6 Tastes of Life: A Beginners’ Guide

Your tongue has millions of taste buds. However, according to Ayurveda, there are six tastes of life. Consuming these tastes in your daily routine can help you structure and eat a balanced diet. It dedicates six categories of food according to their tastes.

Each taste has different benefits and works differently on your body. Hence, learning the Ayurvedic tastes of life can make you a food scientist. Once you become familiar with all the different tastes according to Ayurveda, it would be easy to make food choices. Thus, you can make a well-balanced and healthy diet.

Different Tastes of Life: An Overview

Let’s have a brief outlook about different tastes. Keep reading.

Sweet

Sweet food comes under this category. Further, foods having a sweet taste are rich in energy. Thus, you need to have sweet food in your diet to function properly.

Carbohydrates, Proteins, and Fats are there in ‘sweet’ category. You cannot eat too little or too much food since it increases the risk of gaining weight. Therefore, you need to strike a perfect balance in the consumption of food. In that case, having ‘sweet’ food can be a lifesaver since they are heavy.

Hence, you can eat only a limited amount of sugar. These are a perfect source of energy and also builds muscle and tissues. A few examples could be fruits, dairy, oil, nuts, eggs, meat, and much more.

Note: You can register in a Yoga Alliance certification course to have an in-depth insight into the world of yoga and Ayurveda to know in detail about tastes of life.

Sour

Foods that are rich in organic acid are sour and comes under the category of ‘sour’. The main function of consuming sour food is to boost your digestion and cellular metabolism.

Ever noticed what happens when you take a bite of a lemon? You start to salivate. Various digestive enzymes release into your mouth and start your metabolism. Fermented foods can also be included in this category. They are a rich source of antioxidants. Also, consumption of such food lowers your blood pressure.

More than required consumption can lead to acidity. Therefore, make sure you have balanced sour food.

Salty

Salty food helps in the chemical balance in your body along with improving your digestion. Salt is an essential nutrient that enriches the level of minerals in your body. If you suffer from dehydration, including salty food in your diet can improve your hold on the water in your body.

However, overconsumption of salty food can lead to more water retention and high blood pressure. Make sure do not take more than 2,300 mg of salt to be within the limit.

Pungent

Spices come under this category. You can recognize pungent food from its strong aroma or odor. Hot spices do not come under the pungent category rather other savory spices are the perfect pungent food.

Pungent foods help in the detoxification of your body and improve your digestion. They regulate the digestive enzymes, promote anti-cancer hormones, and much more. Hence, they help in easy digestion of whatever you eat without any discomfort. Cinnamon is a perfect example of pungent food.

Bitter

Medicinal food comes under the category of bitter food. That is why bitter is better. They enrich your body with healthy phytochemicals, anti-inflammatory, and anti-oxidants. Further, bitter food heals your body.

A few examples of bitter food are turmeric, fenugreek, sesame seeds, and much more.

Astringent

These foods are known less for their taste and more for the effect they have on you. A few examples could be cranberry and pomegranate. These food have a healing effect on your body. Consumption of astringent food balances out excessive fluids in your body.

Furthermore, astringent food is rich in fiber that improves your digestion. A few good examples can be green tea, apples, carrot, and much more.

Sum Up

Ayurveda justifies why you must include these 6 tastes into your diet. Superfoods such as turmeric and berries are present in these tastes of life. Further, garlic is one food that has all the 6 tastes present in it. Moreover, any body type can consume these food and live a fit, healthy, and harmonious life.

If you want to learn more, you can join a yoga school. However, make sure you search for the best yoga schools in Rishikesh, India to learn authentic, genuine, and true knowledge of yoga and Ayurveda. You can incorporate this ancient knowledge into your modern life to stay away from all ailments.