Dietary Guidelines 2022 by Ayur Times

The Ayur Times Dietary Guidelines 2022 provides up-to-date information about the healthful foods that you should eat. The basis of recommendations is ayurveda, nature cure and scientific evidence from good quality research. The aim of guidelines includes helping reduce the risk of chronic diseases and improve overall health.

Basic Principles 2022

We introduced the following basic principles of eating habits in Dietary Guidelines 2022:

Eating Twice Daily

Avoid eating more than two times a day. Ayurveda recommends two types of mealtimes:

1. One Meal a day diet plan.
2. Two Meals a day diet plan.

You can choose either to eat once daily or twice daily. For most people, two meals a day diet plan works better. If you choose once daily, eat around 12:00 pm to 2:00 pm. If twice daily, eat the first meal around 8:00 am to 10:00 am and the second meal around 3:00 pm to 5:00 pm. I follow two meals a day plan (9:00 am and 3:00 pm).

In addition, ayurveda recommends if your evening meal is not well digested, you should not eat the next day morning meal. If you have two meals a day plan but suffers from any digestive issue or no sense of appetite, you should avoid the next day morning meal. It generally happens if you have eaten a very heavy meal in the evening. In such a case, the next day meal should be once a day only.

For reference, please read: Mealtimes in Ayurveda

Fasting

You should adopt the two types of fasting.

1. Intermittent Fasting (time-restricted eating) – 16:8
2. 40 Hours Fast Once a Week.

Intermittent Fasting (time-restricted eating) – 16:8

As recommended above, adopt once or twice a day mealtime. If you eat twice daily, the gap between two meals should not be more than 8 hours. You should not eat anything for the next 16 hours after your evening meal.

If you follow the One Meal a Day Diet Plan, you should not eat anything for the next 24 hours. However, you can drink water whenever you feel thirsty.

40 Hours Fast Once a Week

You should have fast for around 40 hours once a week. Choose the same start day and the same end day each week.

After eating the last meal of day-1, you should not eat anything on day-2 and start eating on day-3 as per your meal plans. For example, if you eat an evening meal at 4:00 pm on day-1, you can take a morning meal on day-3 at 8:00 am. It is just skipping all meals for day 2.

Note: You must drink water during fasting. You should drink water whenever you are thirsty, regardless of time.

Intact Natural Form

The naturally occurring form of food is known as an intact natural form. It refers to wholesome food without extracting its components. It is unrefined and unprocessed. It may include foods with minimal home-based processing. The cooking methods include soaking, steaming, boiling, baking, lightly cooking using water or vegetable broth and cooking food until they become soft and eatable (especially for beans, as they take a long time to become soft and eatable).

For example, you should eat whole fruits instead of fruit juices or use fresh herbs or dry herbal powder instead of herbal extracts. Use nuts or seeds instead of their oils. This rule does not apply to vegetable juice extraction used for the management of a health condition (as generally recommended in Nature Cure).

Variety

Variety is key to a healthy diet. Choose different varieties of all food groups. Include various colours of vegetables and fruits. Choose different foods from various sub-groups of each food category. Alternate whole grains and legumes daily. You should not take the same grain or legume every day.

Primarily Plant-Based

Choose most of the food from the plants. Include at least 80-90% calories from plant-based foods in your daily diet.

Sunbath

Expose your maximum skin to tolerable sunlight for 20 to 30 minutes daily. You should stop sunbathing if you start sweating even before the recommended duration. It helps in Vitamin D production and reactivating antioxidants in the body. Read More: Sunbathing.

Avoid List

1. Sugar: You should not eat sugar in any form (especially added sugar) unless it naturally occurs in fruits. Fruits are the exception. You can eat fruits as much as recommended or required in a balanced diet.
2. Industrial Fructose: Avoid fructose syrup and products containing fructose. Fruits are the exception. You can eat fruits as much as recommended or required in a balanced diet. Sugar (glucose and fructose) in fruits is bound to fibre and other phytonutrients. Fruits are also water-rich leading to a low glycemic index. Fruits do not cause insulin resistance, obesity, heart diseases and other chronic diseases. Instead, they help in healing and reversal. But you should not drink fruit juices.
3. Flour: Avoid food made of grain flour (including refined flour and whole grain flour). Instead, use intact whole grains.
4. Oils: Avoid all types of oils. Instead, you should eat a required amount of wholesome fats keeping in mind the 2:1 ratio of omega-6 and omega-3 fatty acids. You should include – flaxseeds, chia seeds, hemp seeds, walnuts, other seeds and nuts, fresh coconut, fresh olives, avocado, etc. Fat is not an enemy, but you should eat in naturally occurring form.
5. Animal Food: Dairy products and meat contain hormones and may cause hormonal imbalances. These products might also be associated with chronic diseases and certain types of tumour growths and cancers. You should avoid or reduce the consumption of these products. For your reference, meat from mammals (red meat) is the worst food. Red meat is worse than poultry (e.g. chicken), poultry is worse than seafood (fish), and fish is worse than plant-based food. Therefore, plant-based foods are the best among all protein foods. But you need to eat various plant-based food (legumes with whole grains) to get all essential amino acids because plants lack one or more essential amino acids. Combining plant-based foods and eating their variety fulfils the need for all essential amino acids.
6. Alcohol: Avoid alcohol and alcohol-containing beverages.
7. Processed and Refined Foods: All foods made in factories, foods that contain unnatural colours and preservatives, food products made of white flour, fried and overcooked foods are processed foods (it also includes similar homemade foods). It includes glucose drinks, energy drinks, foods made of refined flour and white rice, refined pasta, breakfast cereals, desserts, sweets, sugar, syrups, paratha, fries, biscuits, cookies, crackers, crisps, commercial bread or rolls, pies, sausages, readymade sauces, etc. You should avoid all these items (even if all ingredients are plant-based). Plant-based food does not mean it is always healthy. Processed plant-based food is equally bad as processed meat.
8. Excessive Salt: Your body needs around 1-2 grams of salt (approx. 460-920 mg sodium) a day. The best recommendation is – you should not take salt more than that you need. It might not be possible for everyone. Your aim should be not to take more than 5 grams (1 tsp.) of salt a day, equivalent to 2000 mg sodium. Avoid excessive salt consumption.

10 Food Groups

There are 10 important food groups, which are important to keep you healthy.

1. Fruits: Eat different varieties of fruits and include at least 1 serving of berries.
2. Vegetables: Eat different varieties of vegetables and include leafy greens 20% of daily recommended servings of vegetables.
3. Whole Grains: Choose intact whole grains.
4. Legumes: Choose legumes as recommended in this article.
5. Nuts: Choose nuts according to your health condition, as mentioned in this guide.
6. Seeds: Include seeds to get a good quality of fats.
7. Fresh Herbs: Eat at least two fresh herbs – fresh leaves of coriander, parsley, dill, mint (all types), fenugreek and Basil (all types) daily.
8. Spices: Eat turmeric, ginger, black pepper, long pepper, green cardamom seeds, cinnamon, and cumin seeds daily. Use Asafoetida (Hing) in legume recipes, especially for gas-forming beans. Take other spices occasionally.
9. Water: Drink water when you feel thirsty. Take at least three glasses a day.
10. Sunshine: Get sunshine for at least 30 minutes daily. It is treated as a food group because it helps in Vitamin D production. It also has some healing benefits.

Supplements: Check the bottom of the article.

Fruits

Recommendations:

1. Include a variety of fruits.
2. Eat at least 3 different fruits daily.
3. Include at least 1 serving of berries.

Standard Serving Size for Fruits

Recommended Fruits Servings:

The following table represents the serving size for fresh fruits:

The recommended daily amount refers to the required daily amount that you must eat each day. People eating 800 grams of fruits and vegetables every day have a lower risk of diseases. (reference) According to this scenario, 400 grams of fruits and 400 grams of vegetables are essential for an adult to have a healthy life.

Fruit Variety

You can take fruits in the following way to balance the optimum fruit intake.

If you cannot eat fruits from each group daily, you should balance fruits servings over the week.

More Details: Fruit Guide

Vegetables

KEY RECOMMENDATIONS:

1. Variety: Include a variety of vegetables. Choose different colours of vegetables. Try to eat 5 different vegetables daily. Choose vegetables from different vegetable groups (given below). We have divided vegetables into 5 main groups. You should eat vegetables in equal proportion from each group whenever possible. Especially, eat leafy greens 20% of daily vegetable servings.
2. Salad: You should eat a salad before lunch and dinner. We have given the required minimum and recommended daily amount for salad below. Just divide the amount into two halves – one for lunch and one for dinner. You can also add vegetables (e.g., leafy greens) to smoothies. Check green herbs smoothie.
3. Cooked Vegetables: In addition to salad, you should also eat cooked vegetables as recommended below. Steaming, boiling, and baking are the best cooking methods.
4. Boil starchy vegetables and vegetables with high oxalate content: Boil starchy vegetables (e.g., potatoes, yam, butternut, pumpkin, zucchini, etc.) and high oxalate vegetables (e.g., spinach, beet greens, swiss chard, purple amaranth, and green amaranth, Colocasia. Boiling reduces oxalate content and aids in the easier digestion of these vegetables.

Vegetable Salad

We recommend eating raw vegetables in the form of salad. You can eat half of the recommended servings before lunch and the remaining half before dinner for the best results. The following table represents the minimum daily amount and recommended daily amount for salad.

Cooked Vegetables

In addition to salad, you should also take cooked vegetables in the amount recommended below. The standard serving size for cooked vegetables is 80 grams. You can eat cooked vegetables with cooked whole grains and legumes.

Standard Serving Size for Vegetables

Note: The total vegetable amount should be at least 1.5 times more than fruits by weight.

More Details: Vegetable Guide

Whole Grains

Recommendations:

1. Variety: Include a variety of whole grains in your diet.
2. Intact Whole Grains: Eat more intact whole grains. We recommend eating 75% to 100% of the total grain’s servings in the form of intact whole grains. If it is not possible, eat more than 50% of total grain’s servings in the form of intact whole grains.
3. Whole Grain Flour: Eat less food made of grain flour. Flour should contain bran, and it should be made of whole grains. We recommend eating 0 to 25% of total grain’s servings from whole grain flour. If it is not possible, eat less than 50% of total grain’s servings from the whole grain flour. Mix whole grain flour with 10% of bran. For example, mix 1 Kg of Wheat Bran in 10 Kg of whole wheat flour.
4. Knead in Vegetable Puree: If you eat chapati, knead whole grain dough with seasonal vegetables (except spinach, swiss green, beet greens, and vegetables with high oxalate content) and their juice. Do not use water for kneading the flour.
5. Avoid Refined Grains: Do not eat refined grains and food made of refined grain flour. For example, avoid white rice, white bread, white flatbread, chapati made of white flour etc.

Recommended Wholegrains: Read Here: Whole Grain Guide.

Standard Serving Size for Grains

Note:

1. * Whole grains (cooked) include Barley, Brown rice, Buckwheat, Cracked Wheat, Whole wheat, Millets (all types), Oats, Quinoa, etc. Whole grains in their intact form are highly recommended. You should pre-soak these grains for at least 4 hours. The ratio of water and grains should be 2.5:1. You can take 2.5 cups of water and 1 cup of whole grains. Boil water with grains and then cook on low flame until they become soft.
2. ** Homemade chapatis (roti) made of whole-grain flour are preferable and highly recommended. Choose wholemeal flatbread that contains more than 50% of whole-grain flour.
3. *** Bread is least acceptable. Choose wholemeal bread that is made of more than 50% of whole-grain flour.

Recommended Grains Servings

More Details: Whole Grain Guide

Legumes

Recommendations:

1. Variety: Include a variety of legumes in your diet. Do not eat the same type of legume daily.
2. Preference: The preference should be given to mung (green gram), masoor (red lentil), fresh green beans, fresh green peas and edamame.
3. Alternate: Legumes has 5 subtypes (Lentils, Beans, Peas, Chickpea and Soy). You should alternate each type. Do not consume same type of legume daily, especially beans.
4. Soak: Soaking legumes is particularly important. Never miss soaking. Soak lentils overnight (6-8 hours) before cooking. Soak beans and chickpeas for 24 hours before cooking. In case of beans and chickpeas, change water after every 6 hours and wash 2-3 times. This process eliminates antinutrient compound in the beans and reduces the gas-forming effects.
5. Spice up: Add antispasmodic and antiflatulent spices, especially for beans and chickpeas. For example, add cumin seeds, asafoetida, clove, mace, or nutmeg to the legume recipe to avoid gas-forming effects. Asafoetida and cumin seeds are more important than other spices in case of beans.

Note: Nuts, seeds and whole grains are better protein sources than legumes. In the healing phase diet and stabilising phase diet, you should not eat legumes.

Recommended Daily Amount

According to age group, the recommended daily amount for legumes varies. Here is a details:

Standard Serving Size for Legumes

Recommended Daily Servings

1. Minimum: If you are also taking nuts in a high amount, less physically active, or exercise less than 30 minutes a day, you should eat legumes in minimum recommended amounts. Alternatively, you can take legumes on alternate days in the maximum recommended amount.
2. Maximum: If you suffer from obesity and cardiovascular diseases, you should not take nuts in the recommended amount. Check Nuts’ Guide for more details. In such cases, you should increase legumes intake to the maximum recommended amount. People with high protein needs should also increase the intake of legumes to maximum recommended amount.

Alternating Legumes

More Details: Legume Guide

Nuts

Recommendations:

1. Preference: Give preference to walnuts and almonds. These should be a part of your daily diet. Walnuts are more important than almonds if you need to choose one from two.
2. Alternate: Except almonds and walnuts, alternate all other nuts. Do not consume the same nuts daily.
3. Soak: Soak all types of nuts for about 8 hours before eating. You can also soak nuts overnight.

Recommended Daily Amount

Standard Serving Size for Nuts

Recommended Servings for Nuts

The above recommendation is for children, pregnant women, lactating mothers and physically active people doing exercise for 30-60 minutes a day. Learn more: Nuts Guide

Conditions:

• The above recommendation is for healthy people doing exercise for at least 30 minutes a day.
• If you live a sedentary life, you should not take nuts more than half of the recommended amount.
• If you try to lose weight or suffer from skin diseases (especially acne) or cardiovascular diseases, you should reduce your nut intake. In such cases, you can take soaked almonds and walnuts. Avoid all other nuts. The total nuts intake should not exceed 7.5 grams per day. You should take more legumes (3 or more servings of legumes daily). Check legume guide.

More Details: Nuts Guide

Seeds

Recommendations:

1. Variety: Include a variety of seeds in your diet. Choose at least 2 types of different seeds every day – one from each group of seeds.
2. Soak: Soak all types of seeds 6-8 hours before eating. You can also soak seeds overnight.

Recommended Amount for Seeds

The highly recommended seeds are flaxseeds and poppy seeds. Flaxseeds are a rich source of omega-3 fatty acids. Poppy seeds provide an abundant amount of calcium.

More Details: Seeds Guide

Fresh Herbs

Recommendations:

1. Variety: Include a variety of fresh herbs in your diet. Choose at least 2 types of different herbs every day.
2. Fresh: These herbs should be fresh. Consume within 3-5 days after picking up from the garden or purchasing from the vegetable market.
3. Green: Use green leaves of these herbs as a part of the food.

Recommended Fresh Herbs

You should eat any 2 herbs from the following list:

• Basil (all types).
• Coriander or Cilantro.
• Mint (all types).
• Parsley.
• Curry leaves.
• Dill leaves.
• Fennel (green).
• Giloy.
• Hyssop.
• Oregano.
• Moringa.
• Rosemary.

Standard Serving Size

Recommended Amount

Note: Pregnant woman should take coriander, fennel green, dill leaves, giloy leaves, mint, or moringa. During pregnancy, preference should be given to coriander as the main herb.

More Details: Fresh Herbs Guide

Spices

Recommendations:

1. Variety: Include a variety of spices in your diet.
2. Tolerability: Choose according to your body tolerance. If some spices are not suitable for you, you should not eat.
3. Appropriate Amount: Eat in the right amount. Eating less may not be beneficial. Excess intake of some hot spices may cause burning.
4. 7 Daily Herbs: Eat Turmeric, Black Pepper, Long Pepper, Ginger, Cumin Seeds, Green Cardamom and Cinnamon daily.
5. Weekly Herbs: Any two of Asafoetida, Clove, Fenugreek seeds, Mace, Nutmeg, Saffron and Fennel Seeds.

More Details: Spices Guide

Water

Recommendations:

1. Drink water whenever you feel thirsty.
2. Drink lukewarm water during winters.
3. Drink water kept in an earthen pot during summers.
4. Drink water sip by sip. Do not gulp water in a hurry.

Sunshine

Recommendations:

1. Take sunbath daily for at least 30 minutes.
2. You can take sunbath any time during the day whenever the sun is tolerable to the skin. Cover the head if taking a sunbath in mid-day.
3. Avoid taking sunshine during intense heat.
4. Mornings and evenings are the best time to sunbathe but require a longer duration.

More Details: Sunbath – How to Take Sunbath & Recommended Duration

Limited Food

You can take the following food in a limited amount, as recommended below:

Limited Sea Vegetables

Sea vegetables are important for getting iodine. However, each sea vegetable contains a different amount of iodine content and can also be toxic if taken in excess. For example, kelp contains a huge amount of iodine, which can have damaging effects.

Recommended: Nori, Horsetail tangle, Wakame, Mekabu and Dulse.

The above-recommended amount applies to Wakame, Dulse and Nori and it is weekly recommended amount.

Acceptable: A pinch of Kelp, twice a week.

Restricted: Hijiki and seaweeds containing arsenic in excess.

Note: Before taking sea vegetables, always check iodine and arsenic content.

Alternative to Sea Vegetables: Iodized Salt.

Incompatible Foods

1. Avoid citrus and high sugar fruits along with grains and legumes. This combination causes bloating and gas in some people.
2. Avoid citrus fruits with sweet fruits, melons, vegetables, grains, legumes and other food groups.
3. Avoid lemon with cucumber and tomatoes.
4. Avoid melons with starchy vegetables and grains. Melons are best to eat alone.
5. All fruits and vegetables are incompatible with animal foods. We have not provided much information because we do not recommend animal foods.

Supplements

Recommendations:

1. Vitamin B12: Take at least 25 mcg of Cyanocobalamin twice daily. Generally, 100 mcg tablets are easily available. So, you can take a quarter (1/4) of tablet 2 times a day. Check Vitamin B12 Guide for more details.
2. Vitamin D: We highly recommend sunbath for Vitamin D and other healing benefits. If you do not get sufficient sunshine, take Vitamin D 1000 IU daily or 7000 IU weekly.
3. Ashwagandha + Long Pepper: Take at least 400 mg of Ashwagandha powder and 100 mg of Long Pepper powder daily if you are underweight or have a normal weight (and if no abdominal fat).
4. Amla + Long Pepper: Take at least 1000 mg of Amla powder and 100 mg of Long Pepper powder daily if you are overweight or obese or have abdominal fat.

You should not take any other supplements for proteins, multivitamins, and minerals.

Exercise

However, exercise is not part of the food. But its inclusion is necessary here to stay healthy.

Recommendations:

1. Do exercise for at least 30 minutes daily.
2. Involve in physical activities at least for 120 minutes daily.

Thirty minutes of exercise and 120 minutes of daily involvement in physical activities (e.g. playing) are mandatory. In total, you should be physically active for about 2.5 hours daily.

For more details, Check Healthy Lifestyle Guidelines.

Notes

1. The recommended serving sizes are just a general reference and highly recommended minimum values. If you eat less than the recommended amounts, you may experience weakness and weight loss.
2. You can take more servings for most food groups (except nuts and seeds) than recommended amount according to your energy needs.
3. You should eat according to your appetite and digestive capacity. If your body asks more, you can eat more than the recommended amounts.
4. If you follow the exact amount given in our dietary guidelines, you will get approx. 1900–2000 calories per day for adults between the age of 18-30. According to your energy need, you should increase your intake of whole grains and legumes.
5. Consult your certified dietitian or healthcare provider for your health condition and individual requirement. Some food might not be suitable for your health condition.