DIET THERAPY

Diet is an important component of a comprehensive naturopathic healthcare plan. Food is regarded as medicine in many systems of medicine but this is more obvious and apparent in Naturopathy. Naturopathy promotes and encourages the natural food, i.e., the food which is provided by nature and is consumed essentially in the natural form. The concept of diet is little different in modern medicine. In Naturopathy food is classified as acidic or alkaline, live or dead food, eliminative, soothing, constructive, vegetarian or non-vegetarian, liquid, fruit, and mono fruit diet, etc. Naturopathy gives more emphasis on raw food rather than cooked food. According to it, to remain healthy 80 % of the food items should be alkaline, i.e., uncooked and only 20 % food items should be acidic, i.e., cooked. In Yoga, the food is classified as Sattvik, Rajasik and Tamasik.