A REVIEW ON THE ASSOCIATION OF AAHAR WITH MENTAL HEALTH

Nutrition is the gross term. It includes body nourishment and mind nourishment. Mind nourishment can be understood in two forms, i.e. good thoughts and good food. Good thoughts depend on a positive mind attitude. The goodness of food depends on what kind of food a person eats and how to eat the food. The role of Satwik Aahar mentioned in Bhagwat Geeta, Chaturvidh Aahar, and Shad-rasatmak Aahar mentioned in Ayurvedic texts are essential to know what to eat, and Aharvidhi Vidhan, which is explained in Charaka Samhita is necessary to understand how to eat. The mind has three qualities, Satwa, Raja and Tama, which are present in almost everything, including food. Chhandogya Upanishad points out that the food eaten has three layers; sthula amsha, madhyama amsha and sukshma amsha, and what is sukshma (the subtlest part), that is mind. It also states Aahar shuddhau satwa shuddhi. From the purity of food comes the purity of mind. One should always try to increase the Satwa guna because; the persons having Alpa Satwa are more prone to have diseases, as Alpa Satwa indulges Pradnyaparadha, and pradnyaparadha is the root cause of all kinds of illness. So, it is important to achieve Satwa Shuddhi and to achieve Satwa Shuddhi Aahar Shuddhi is important.