SIX GUESTS
If you rely on this ancient teaching of Ayurveda, tastes are divided into six categories: sweet, salty, sour, spicy, bitter and astringent. If one taste is missing, we usually have the feeling that something is missing, even if the stomach is full. You have to learn to trust this feeling. It clearly indicates that we missed one of the six tastes. Unfortunately, products from the standard diet of modern Westerners are sweet or salty.
Human life experience can also be characterized in the categories of tastes. Pay attention to how communication with certain people causes a certain aftertaste in you. Sometimes it is sweet, grounding. Sometimes it is bitter. Perhaps you will notice that some worries cause you to crave one or another of the food.
Just knowing that we need all six categories of taste is an important step towards a sense of fullness of life. Ideally, a balanced meal should include all six flavors, and their ratio is adjusted according to the home.
Sweet taste: cereals, bread, rice, honey, sugar, milk, most fats, most fruits, nuts
Sour taste: vinegar, sour apples, raspberries, yoghurt, fermented products, citrus fruits.
Salty taste: all kinds of salt (stone, sea), seaweed, seafood.
Spicy taste: all spicy peppers and chili, ginger, garlic, basil, cardamom, cinnamon, cloves, mustard, horseradish, oregano, rosemary, thyme, mint.
Bitter taste: leafy vegetables, green tea, mate.
Astringent flavour: most varieties of lentils and beans (including green beans), green apples, pomegranates, cranberries, asai berries, asparagus, teas with a high content of tannins.
EMOTIONAL NUTRITION
You've probably noticed how embarrassing it is to admit that you're eating under the influence of emotion, overeating or grabbing food unconsciously. Because food is essentially a symbol of food and care, we are overwhelmed with it when we feel the need for safety, love, and stability. This erroneous substitution has its roots very deeply. When we were little, no one respected our desires. It was then that we stopped listening to the wisdom of our inner voice and we had an unnatural urge to eat. Think about it: did anyone teach you to listen to your body? What does he really need to know? The tastes and food preferences shaped in childhood are passed on to adulthood. If we are accustomed to eating properly, we are likely to continue to do so when we grow up. But if we have been fed sweets for good behavior or scolded that we eat what we get fat from, we are likely to upset our nutritional balance in adulthood as well.
The unhealthy passion for a certain type of food indicates that we are short of something in life. But how can we distinguish between "good" and "bad" cravings? Having satisfied the "good" passion, we are full of energy and vitality. "Bad" temporarily sublimates this or that emotional need, but later we have a feeling that something is wrong. By analyzing our unhealthy desires, we can understand what we lack (consciously or subconsciously), what emotional needs are not met.
Sweet taste is equivalent to a warm embrace. When our emotions do not respond, this is the taste we most often turn to. Why not? From the point of view of emotions, when we eat sweets, we feel cared for. In a reasonable amount, it calms the mind and body and gives a sense of stability. Imagine an evening after a busy, worrying day. Maybe you had no one to hug or calm you down. There was no one to touch you and say, "Everything will be fine, dear. In this situation, it is quite logical that your emotional body will stretch for sweets so that you will feel the care of yourself and safety. To reduce the craving for sweets, you need to analyze your life more deeply and ask yourself the question: in what life situations I lack sincere care, calmness, stability? How can I change this?