Maharishi Ayurveda Newsletter Archive

Lunch the Ayurveda Way

The most important thing to remember about the ayurvedic approach to diet is that our meals should be warm cooked meals. Eating warm food is nourishing and balancing to all the doshas. It is possible to prepare a warm lunch while you are getting ready to go to work or at work. The following tips will help you find alternatives to sandwiches and fast foods.

• Invest in a stainless steel thermos. Nissan makes a special thermos that is shorter and wider, to hold warm foods. In the morning, cook some fresh vegetables, dhal and a whole grain. Pour into the container. Pack some ready-made chapatis, flat breads or matzo crackers. To make lassi, take an empty glass container and fill with 1/4 part yogurt, 1 cup water, sugar and 1 teaspoon rosewater, and shake for several minutes. Take the jar with you to work with he other items and you can have a warm healthy lunch.
  
  
• If the dining hall at your workplace has a kitchenette, then keep a slow cooker there. Assemble all the ingredients at home for a hearty vegetable bean soup. When you get to work just put the already cut vegetables and measured out beans, spices and grains in the slow cooker with water. Take along some flatbreads and lassi. Your lunch will be done by the time you are ready to eat, and it will be fresh and hot. Don't forget to turn the slow cooker on though.
  
• The Council of Maharishi Ayurveda Physicians recommends avoiding the commercial flavored yogurts. Fresh homemade yogurt is best because it has fresh lactobacilli in it that help keep the intestinal flora healthy. Commercial yogurts are cold and difficult to digest. They also may have been sitting on grocery shelves for weeks, with the lactobacilli dead and worthless. Many people eat these as snacks, and colds, congestion, and weight gain may result from this type of yogurt in your diet.
  
• For snacks, eat dates with the pit removed and a bit of ghee inside where the pit was. Almonds and raisins, and plenty of fresh sweet juicy fruit such as pears or plums are also excellent choices for energy and balance. Warm milk with a little Almond Energy or Raja's Cup is great for your "coffee" breaks.

For a special snack, try Maharishi Ayurveda's Almond Butter on crackers. If you are feeling a bit irritable or frustrated, try eating a spoon of Rose Petal Preserve. This delicious preserve helps to balance sadhaka pitta, which governs our happiness quotient.

The following are some recipes for take-along lunches:

Thermos Lunch

• 1/4 cup split mung dahl beans
  
• 1/4 cup basmati rice
  
• 1/2 cup fresh chopped vegetables such as zucchini, carrots, broccoli
  
• 1 teaspoon vata or pitta churna
  
• 2 cups boiling water
  
• 1 teaspoon ghee
  

Heat ghee in a frying pan. Add churna and vegetables and sauté for several minutes. Add the rice and dahl and stir. Add the boiling water and cook only for a few minutes. Pour everything in a stainless steel thermos and close lid tightly. Keep closed for about 4 hours. It will be done cooking in the thermos by lunch-time.

Slow Cooker Lunch

• 1/4 cup split mung dahl or any bean that has been soaked overnight
  such as aduki beans or kidney beans
  
• 1/4 cup quinoa
  
• 1/2 cup chopped vegetables
  
• 1 teaspoon vata or pitta churna
  
• 1 teaspoon ghee
  
• 3 cups of hot water
  
• salt to taste
  

Place contents in slow cooker. Cook on high for 2 hours or cook on low for 4 hours.