Six Faces of Taste

          Two important aspects of life associated with tongue are taste and speech. Our elders advise us to control both as one can led to illness and the other can land you in trouble!

          Ayurveda (natural medicine) says that nutrition depends on the tip of our tongue as the sense of taste is a natural guide for good health.The taste of different food desired  by the body are a barometer of the body's innate wisdom regarding food and nutrition. Taste buds not only identify taste for the brain, they provide the initial impetus to the digestive system.

                       Our tongue will immediately readt to temperature - hot and cold, spice foods like chilli,sweet, sour, bitter etc..Ayurveda have identified six tastes called

Madhu - Sweet,

Amla - sour,

Lavana - Salty,

Thiktha - bitter,

Kattie - Pungent and,

Kashaya - Astringent.

Each taste has an impact on our behaviour and nature.

·         Sweet helps to build tissue, it calms nerves.

·         Sour helps to clean the system and play a major role in the absorption of minerals.

·         Salt mainly improves the taste of the food. It contributes greatly to maintaining the liquid content of the body, lubricates tissues and stimulates digestion.

·         Bitter food is great detoxifier.

·         Pungent food also stimulates digestion and helps with metabolism.

·         Astringent food absorbs water and dries up fats.

        When  all these six tastes are included in our daily diet, then a natural balance is created. The body automatically avoids the over consumption of a particular kind of food. A squeeze of lime juice or a dash of fenugreek, asafoetida, a piece of beetroot or sweet potato, adding chopped coriander or curry leaves, a sprinkling of pepper or a dash of chilli powder will fulfil the criteria of six tastes without any hassle.

                The combinations of these essences have a tremendous impact on our digestion, absorption and metabolism rejuvenation which is very important for well being according to ayurveda.

         People with a strong Vata Constitution are drawn to moist solid foods, Kapha prominent people tend to eat light and drying foods. Pitta predominent people will go for cooling foods and spices.

     There are different kinds of foods that had to be chewed, crunched, licked, sucked, sipped and swallowed whole.  In the digestion process, each of these actions contribues to the absorption of the nutrients in the food that we eat.