Food should be our medicine and not the other way around. When we eat, we should feel healthy and not lethargic? Eating mindfully is very important to keep up good health. How to make sure that the food we eat every day is giving optimal benefit for our health?

Here are few suggestions to get maximum benefit from the food. These suggestions one can also see in Ayurveda the ancient medicine system.

1. Know your food and what you eat: Before eating anything, make sure you know something about the food that you are going to eat. You should be aware whether the food you are going to put in your mouth suits your health or not.
2. Eat in a pleasant mind: If you are angry, depressed and tensed, avoid eating food at that moment. Wait for your mood to improve. If you eat when your mind is stressed, your digestion system will not work properly, and you will end up sick. Your stomach itself like a mini brain and what you eat will have an impact on your digestion and other body system.
3. No desire to eat, then don’t eat: If you are not up to eating something that you don’t like, then don’t eat. You should have desire to eat the food that is offered. Sometimes you might have to give a try to taste new dishes, but if you don’t have desire to eat even if you are familiar with dish then don’t eat as you could end up in bloating, indigestion, vomiting.
4. Enjoy the taste of food: While eating eat slowly and taste the food. Try to find out through your taste buds what ingredients could be in the food. Enjoy the taste. Tasty food will increase happiness, digestion, nourishment of body, gives sense of satisfaction of feeding the body.
5. Practice to eat fresh and warm food: When food is warm and fresh it tastes better. Try eating food within an hour of cooking. Warm food will properly absorb, and digestion will be proper too.
6. Avoid reheating of food: Now a day’s modern kitchens are equipped with microwave and if the food gets cold, we will use microwave to reheat multiple times. We should not waste food either. If you are planning to reheat the food, then reheat once and eat. Reheating food multiple times takes away the nutrition and quality of the food.
7. Do not miss breakfast: Breakfast is important meal of the day. Do not miss breakfast as it helps brain function properly and keeps us energetic throughout the day.
8. Avoid eating multiple times: To avoid indigestion, inflammation, body ache, stop eating multiple times. Sometimes you might feel hungry and approach the food. The real reason could be your thirst, that might be making you eat too many times.
9. Lunch and dinner: Always your dinner should be lighter than lunch. Lunch can be heavy with proper nutrients. Have dinner three to four hours before you go to bed.
10. Seasonal selections: Buy the fruits and vegetables that are available in the season. Eating winter fruits or vegetables during summer is not good for health. Avoid cold and frozen food during cold season. During summer eat foods that are less spicy and have cooling effect on the body.
11. Know ingredients: Take some time know the ingredients that are in your prepared food. Some ingredients in combination makes food taste better and has good impact on health. Some ingredients your body may not able to handle at certain levels. There are ingredients that could be allergic.   The ingredients in our kitchen cabinets work wonderfully on our health and are real medicines.
12. Check for contamination: To avoid food poisoning, check for any microbial growth on food surface. You may find mold and other fungus on fruits and vegetables. Or you might see slimy growth on a day-old food that you are about to eat. During summer if food is sitting outside then, next day make sure to check for growth of bacteria or fungus on the surface.
13. Eat with family: Always make time and eat together as a family. At least one meal of the day you should consider having with family as it brings positive effect on your eating habits. 

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