Modification of diet in Pre-monsoon, Monsoon and Autumn season in India

Ayurveda for a healthy life ! – 14/2023

7. Pre-monsoon season (Pravrut rutu)

In South India, the Pravrut rutu lasts from 22nd May to 21st June, that is, Jyeshtha and Ashadha months of the Hindu lunar calendar. However, this season does not exist in North India.

In this season, the intensity of the sunrays decreases. The sky is cloudy and the climate is cold. There is thunder and lightning accompanied by rain.

The ground is hot in the first half of the season. Later it is cold and covered with green grass. The water is muddy and contaminated with faeces and urine. The potency of the medicinal herbs is mild. In this season, there is dominance of the sour taste. The body strength, secretion of digestive juices and digestive power are low. This is the period of excessive accumulation of Vata (Vataprakopa).

Diet : One should eat food items with all the six types of taste. However, sweet food items should be eaten in a greater quantity. One should avoid consuming alkaline salts (Ksharas). Oily food items can be eaten in moderate quantity.

Beneficial and harmful diet in the Pravrut rutu

	Beneficial diet	Harmful diet
1. Cereals	Wheat, rice and yava (barley) more than a year old	Cereals less than a year old
2. Pulses	Peas	–
3. Vegetables	Same as in summer (grishma). Leafy vegetables should be stopped with the onset of the monsoon (Varsha)	–
4. Fruits	Tamarind, lemon, amalaki and pomegranate
5. Milk products	Same as in the monsoon	–
6. Meat	Roasted meat and fish of lakes	–
7. Spices	Same as in the monsoon	–
8. Drinking water and beverages	Water should be boiled till 1/8^th of its volume remains and naturally cooled or wine prepared from honey and grapes	–

8. Monsoon season (Varsha rutu)

In North India, the Varsha rutu lasts from 22^nd June to 21^st August, that is, Ashadha and Shravan months of the Hindu lunar calendar, while in South India it lasts from 22nd July to 21st September, that is, Shravan and Bhadrapad months of the Hindu lunar calendar.

In the Varsha rutu, the climate is cold, humid and chilly. The sky is fully covered with clouds. The sun is not seen or seen occasionally and the sun rays are mild. Due to constant rain, the ground is wet and covered with green grass. The water is dirty and muddy.

In this season, the potency of medicinal herbs is mild. The climate, earth and water are dominated by the sour taste.

In this season, the body strength, secretion of the digestive juices and digestive power are less.

This season leads to accumulation of the Pitta dosha and excessive accumulation of Vata (Vataprakopa).

8A. Diet in monsoon : One should include food items with all types of taste in the meals. One should not consume alkaline salts (Ksharas) as they liquify the Kapha in the body, leading to an increase in Kapha. In this season, one should consume a diet which is light, hot and which contains all the six tastes. One should avoid very oily or very dry food items and drink fewer fluids. One should fast intermittently.

8B. Beneficial and harmful diet in Varsha rutu

	Beneficial diet	Harmful diet
1. Cereals	Cereals more than a year old, e.g., nachani (finger millet), wheat, rice, vari, jowar, bajri and roasted pulses	Cereals less than a year old, e.g., sattu and corn
2. Pulses	Tur (pigeon peas), masur (lentil), mung (green gram) and roasted pulses	Val, green peas, peas and matki (moth beans)
3. Vegetables	Fruity vegetables, ghosale, padval, brinjal, shirale (ridge gourd), suran (yam), lady finger and dudhi (bottle gourd)	Leafy vegetables, e.g., spinach (palak), amaranth leaves, shingada (water chestnut), dry vegetables, cabbage, ambat chukka (green sorrel), karela (bitter gourd), potato, carrot and kamalakanda (lotus stem)
4. Fruits	Amalaki, lemon, pomegranate, grapes, karavanda and coconut	Watermelon, melon musk, cucumber, toddy fruit, jamun, jackfruit and kapittha (wood apple)
5. Oil	Til (sesame) oil	–
6. Milk products	Milk, buttermilk, curd and ghee medicated with ginger	Buffalo’s milk, chakka, piyush and paneer (cottage cheese)
7. Meat	Meat of a rabbit, fox and tittir, mutton and chicken	Fish from the river and other aquatic animals and dry meat
8. Sugar based products	Old honey and jaggery	–
9. Spices	Ginger, mustard, pepper, coriander seeds, onion, turmeric, panchakola [pippali, pippalimula, chavya, chitrak, sunth (dry ginger)], tamarind, sauvarchala, padelavana, bidalavana, mint, garlic, asafoetida and saindhav	–
10. Drinking water/beverages	Boiled water and well water	Unboiled cold water and lake water
11. Beverages	Wine prepared from honey and grapes or juice, asava and arishta prepared from amalaki, pomegranate and lemon	–

9. Autumn season (Sharad rutu)

In North India, the Sharad rutu lasts from 22^nd August to 21^st October (Bhadrapad and Ashwin months of the Hindu lunar calendar), while in South India it lasts from 22^nd September to 21^st November (Ashwin & Kartik months of the Hindu lunar calendar).

The climate is hot. The sun rays are intense. Initially the sky is less cloudy and humid, but the breeze is hot. Later the climate becomes clean and clear.

As the rainy season is just over, the ground is wet. But due to the hot climate, vapours arise from the ground. The water is very clear and clean.

The potency of medicinal herbs is moderate. The climate, earth and water are dominated by the salty taste. The body strength, secretion of digestive juices and digestive power are moderate. In this season, there is allaying of the accumulated Vata (Vataprasham) and there may be excessive accumulation of Pitta (Pittaprakopa).

Diet in autumn : The diet should be light and should contain sweet, bitter and astringent tastes. The food items should have a cooling effect on the body. As ghee subdues Pitta, ghee should be included in the diet but one should avoid food items which are oily and contain animal fat.

The beneficial and harmful food items in this season are given in the table ahead.

	Beneficial diet	Harmful diet
1. Cereals	Cereals more than a year old, wheat, rice, jowar and bajri	Corn and nachani (finger millet)
2. Pulses	Tur (pigeon peas), mung (green gram), chana (gram) and masur (lentil)	Kulith (horse gram) and udid (black gram)
3. Vegetables	Methi (fenugreek leaves), chakvat, karela (bitter gourd), cucumber, cabbage, shingada (Water chestnut), lady finger, spinach (palak), suran (yam), potato, kamalakund (lotus stem), ghosale, shirale (ridge gourd), sweet potato, dudhi (bottle gourd), kushmanda (ash gourd) and snake gourd	Dry vegetables, drumstick, radish and raw jackfruit
4. Fruits	Chiku, apple, banana, amalaki, grape, pomegranate and jamun	Raw mango, peach, cherry, kamrak and strawberry
5. Nuts and dry fruits	Kharik and dry black grapes	–
6. Oil	–	Animal fat and food items containing oil
7. Milk products	Payas, basundi, ghee, butter and paneer (cottage cheese)	Buttermilk, curd, buttermilk kadhi
8. Meat	Meat of a deer, sheep, rabbit, antelope, pigeon, parrot, sparrow, peacock, tittir and lava, mutton, chicken and fish from spring water lakes	Large fish and dry fish
9. Sugar based products	Sugarcane, jaggery, sugar and old honey	–
10. Spices	Cardamom, cloves, kankol, coriander leaves and coriander seeds	Pepper, asafoetida, chillies, mint, hot spices and badishep (fennel seeds)
11. Drinking water and beverages	Alcohol prepared from sugarcane, water medicated with ushira and sandalwood	Hot water, stale water and penetrating alcoholic drinks