Raw Salads: Are They Always Healthy

When you think of salads, you think fresh, green, vital, healthy and refreshing. There is a general view in the nutritional community that salads are an important part of daily life. There is no right or wrong answer to the raw versus cooked debate.The real answer to the debate depends on the digestive strength of the individual. Let’s discover how Ayurveda looks at salads.

Ayurveda emphasizes that we need to eat a diet of mostly warm and cooked food. Generally, it does not promote salads. Why? Raw foods are considered cold, rough, and take a lot of time to break down inside the body as a result it is hard to digest it. Ayurveda recommends warm, cooked foods in general. So people who have a weak metabolism shouldn’t consume too many raw foods, and we certainly should not binge on them right before bedtime.

The raw food may produce gas, the toxicity created by the gas & fermentation outweighs the nutritional benefits of the food. 

Pitta people have the strongest digestive strength and can tolerate more raw foods than other doshas. Juicing fresh raw vegetables or blending fruits into a smoothie might make them more digestible for some people. Once food has been pulverized and thoroughly blended, the body does not have to do as much work to process it. But, it still depends on the power of one's agni.

The qualities of raw food itself are light, cold, rough, difficult, and clear. Raw food feels cold in the stomach and rough on the GI. It has the qualities of Vata and can therefore increase Vata if consumed in excess.

The best time to eat salads is at noon and during the summer season, when the digestive fire is at its peak. Prepare and eat salads right away. If you leave them longer than an hour, they lose their prana or vital force and can cause digestive toxins (ama).

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Buxone Out Of The Box June 01, 2024