It incorporates almost all the aspects of ahara (food), one of the first and foremost Upastambha (basic sustainer of life), given much importance and considered to be the best in Ayurveda. It's significance can be well appreciated during intra-uterine life, even from the very day of conception as well as in post-natal and adolescent periods, where ahara as a diet embodies all the six rasas which generate and control all the dosas and contribute in the formation of all the seven body tissues.
In this work, an effort has been made to shape it in a style familiar to science of medicine dealing with the ahara and its nutritional significance in respect of health and disease of mankind. Entire subject matter has been arranged into five board headings i.e. 1. History of Diet, 2. Importance and classification of Diet, 3. The different types of aharas, 4. Unwholesome aharas (dietetics) and diseases, 5. The principles of aharas (dietetics), each are representing an independent chapter. The utmost aim has been to make the text understandable to any interested reader belonging to any one of the integrated or modern medical discipline but with a background of general scientific education. The present endeavor will fulfil the need of society, at both, our national and international levels, in maintenance of health and prevention of diseases, by infusing the knowledge pertaining to principles of ahara. |
