Benefits of Eating with Fingers

Why should we eat with our fingers? Indians follow this tradition of eating with hands all across India. Eating food with your hands not only feeds the body but also the mind and the spirit. The logic behind this practice is the Vedic interpretation. In the printed paper ‘Vedic wisdom behind eating with your hands’ it mentions that “Our hands and feet are said to be the conduits of the five elements”.

Vedic Interpretation

Ayurvedic texts teach that each finger is an extension of one of the five elements. The thumb is agni (fire). Children suck their thumb, this is nature’s way of aiding the digestion at an age when they are unable to chew; the forefinger is vayu (air), the middle finger is akash (ether ) i.e the tiny intercellular spaces in the human body; the ring finger is prithvi (earth) and the little finger is jal (water)

Childhood practices-eating with fingers

In our childhood days parents were always behind us to hold all fingers together while transferring the morsel into the mouth. Now you can also understand the essence of this practice. All the five elements will come into play by properly placing fingers together and it affects our digestive system.

Personal hygiene

Eating with one’s hands means following a good level of personal hygiene. It forces one to wash their hands before and after the meals. It’s believed that the touch, sight, sense and taste that can be drawn with one’s hands cannot be achieved with the aid of a fork, knife or spoon.

Apart from washing the hands, one should have clean fingernails as well. In fact, long fingernails are considered unhygienic in some countries, especially India. Besides this, the right hand is always used for eating because the left hand is considered unclean for eating purpose. The left hand that is idle during eating process actually aids to serve food during meals.

Benefits and Ergonomics

Eating with your fingers  helps you to judge the temperature of the morsel and rules out the possibility of an ulcer or a scalded tongue. Sitting on the floor and eating rather than a dining table is recommended because the repeated bending of the spine improves blood circulation and digestion. Prevents the morsel falling onto your clothes.

The staple diet in India includes rice, dal, chapathi. Eating chapathi and sabzi with hands is convenient rather than a fork and spoon.

Impact on digestive system

Each finger aids in the transformation of food, before it passes on to internal digestion. Gathering the fingertips as they touch the food stimulates the five elements and invites Agni to bring forth the digestive juices. As well as improving digestion the person becomes more conscious of the tastes, textures and smells of the foods they are eating, which all adds to the pleasure of eating.

The five fingers also represents taste like sweet, sour, bitter, salty and spicy. Therefore even if you are a newbie to the practice of eating with your hands, do make an attempt.

You can also read:

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Simple ways to include Ayurveda in everyday life

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Simple steps of Ayurveda for Good Health

How to be healthy this Rainy season

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HOW TO GROW WHEATGRASS AT HOME

Due to the overwhelming reports on the health benefits of Wheat grass, many are curious to know how to grow them.

It is very easy to grow wheatgrass at home. By harvest time you can also juice the wheatgrass. It grows all round the year. You can use very little place. Your balcony sill is the ideal choice.

Benefits of Wheatgrass:

• It boosts the hemoglobin production. Rebuilds the bloodstream.
• Helps in healing the wounds, cuts, burns. Apply poultice.
• Improves digestion.
• Cleans the liver. Good detoxifier
• Purifies the blood in the entire body. Doubles red blood count
• Anti aging property, aids beauty treatment
• It is economical and hygienic to grow and juice the wheatgrass at home.

For planting wheat grass, select plastic trays or clay pots about 8 to 10” in diameter and height about 3 inches.

• Wash and soak good quality wheat grains overnight in water.
• Next day spread the grains in the pots containing soil approximately 2.5 inches high..
• Cover the wheat grains with a thin layer of soil. Maintain space between the grains. Do not add chemicals and fertilizers.
• Keep away from the attack of birds.
• Darkness helps the grains to sprout quickly.  Cover the pot with a newspaper or cloth and leave it for 2 to 3 days.
• Sprinkle with a little water to dampen the soil. You will start to observe the green leaves coming out.
• Stop covering the pots now.  Water the plants lightly.
• Provide sunlight. Leave the plants in sunlight.
• Water the plants daily.
• In seven to eight days time the wheat grass has grown sufficient enough i.e 8” tall.
• Cut the grass blades with a scissor. Leave ½ inch plant above the soil surface. The grass will grow back in a week’s time.

Only two harvests is allowed with a sowing. After the second harvest crush all the roots and it is time for the next sowing. The harvested wheat grass is ready to be juiced.

You can keep wheat grass safely in refrigerator for five to six days keeping the same in foils. It will still retain its nutritional value. It is ideal to manually grind the leaves in a stone grinder with a pestle. Chop the grass blades and add little water gradually as you keep grinding and filter the paste thru a clean cloth. Your wheat grass juice is ready to consume.

The wheat grass juice should be consumed within 30 minutes of preparation. You can also consume juice by chewing the grass . A mouthful of grass is sufficient. Chew till the juice is extracted and the cud becomes white. Do not swallow the cud as it is difficult to digest. A healthy person can take ¼ cup daily, recommended early in the morning.

It is not advised to grind the wheat grass in a mixer or blender as the rapid blade movement oxidizes the chlorophyll and will make the wheatgrass useless . You can maintain the harvest time and the sowing such that you can get the grass all round.

It combines well with apple, carrot , beetroot, spinach leaves, lemon .

Organic wheatgrass powders and juices are an extremely effective way of boosting the body’s immune system to fight against and recover from illnesses and ailments. Wheatgrass is a great source of beta carotene, contains most of the B vitamins and vitamins C, E, H and K, and also contains over 90 different minerals and 19 amino acids. It also contains several active enzymes which play a major role in breaking down fats, undertaking biological functions and assist hugely in weight loss.