Dietetic incompatibility

Ayurveda for a healthy life ! – 16/2023

Chapter 10

Dietetic incompatibility (Viruddha Anna)

When two food items though safe & nutritious individually, produce undesirable effects when eaten together, they are considered to be mutually incompatible. Milk splits when salt is added to it. Hence, the combination of milk and salt is called an incompatible diet.

1. Dietetic incompatibility may be due to –

A.    Incompatibility of food items with one another or

B.    Incompatibility due to various conditioning factors

1A.  Incompatibility of food items with one another

   This is also called sanyoga viruddha. The following examples illustrate this.

 1.    If fish and milk are included in one meal, it leads to retention of fluid due to obstruction of various channels in the body, intestinal toxaemia due to indigestion and haematological disorders. Milk is considered to be cold, whereas fish is hot.

 2.    If meat of domestic animals, fish or aquatic animals such as crab and duck is eaten with honey, jaggery, lotus stem, radish, boiled rice, sprouted grains, udid (black gram) or til (sesame  seeds), it may cause blindness, deafness, tremors, incoherent speech, mental aberration and even death.

 3.    If leafy vegetables such as pushkara or rohini, or meat of
a pigeon fried in mustard oil is consumed with milk or honey, it
may cause epilepsy, mumps (galagunda), vasodilation, increased fluidity of blood and even death.

4.    Chicken or the meat of a deer, eaten with curd.

5.    If ripe lakucha fruit is eaten with milk and honey, it may lead to impotency, deterioration of virility, strength and complexion.

  6.    Milk drunk after eating leafy vegetables or spicy food items.

7.    Milk added to rice and mung dal (Green gram) khichadi.

8.    If palak (Indian spinach) is eaten with a paste of til (sesame seeds), it may cause diarrhoea.

9.    Milk with fruits, i.e., milkshake, fruit salad, etc.

10.    Milk when consumed with radish, garlic, leafy vegetables, arjaka (large basil), krushna gandha (Holy basil), i.e., surasa, etc. gives rise to disorders of the skin.

   11.    Meat of several animals eaten together.

  12.    Any combination of honey, ghee, animal fat and oil taken in equal parts.

13.    Each food that comprises hot food items, jackfruit, tadgola, milk, oil, banana, fish, meat, chicken, or jaggery when taken with curd.

  14.    Betel leaf after eating jackfruit.

15.    The following combinations of diet are considered to be injurious to health and may even lead to death.

 A.   Meat of a crane, eaten with varuni wine

   B.   Meat of a peacock, cooked in eranda (castor) oil or roasted on the burning wood of the castor plant

C.   Pork with honey

 D.   Mutton eaten with safflower

 E.    Kakamachi eaten with honey

 F.    Radish eaten with the soup of udid (Black gram)

 G.   Ripe lachuka fruit eaten with udid soup or with jaggery
and honey

H.   Black pepper (Maricha) mixed with long pepper

 I.     Pippali eaten with fried fish

 J.    Warm honey or honey taken with water, by a person having fever

 K.   Honey eaten with the seeds of Indian lotus or with ghee in equal parts

L.    Honey eaten with mutton or the meat of a boar

 M. Bhallataka (Marking nut) eaten with sprouted grains

 N.   Bananas eaten with tadaphala, whey, curd, buttermilk and milk

O.   Milk consumed along with Indian millet, matha, kulith (Horse gram), udid (Black gram), vatana, jaggery, curd, matulunga, lakucha, amrataka, banana, kakamarda, lemon, jambu, tamarind, walnut, jackfruit, coconut, pomegranate, amalaki, badara (Berry) or any sour food item

 P.   Milk pudding with soup

  1B.  Incompatibility due to various conditioning factors

The various conditioning factors which may act on the diet, ultimately leading to some dietetic incompatibilities, are briefly mentioned ahead.

 1.    Nisargattaha viruddha (Naturally incompatible)

Both, the milk of a sheep and vegetable prepared from mustard leaves, are heavy to digest and on digestion they increase the doshas in the body.

 2.    Desh viruddha (Region-wise incompatibility)

People living in a moist, humid place near the sea and eating more of cold food items, increases the Kapha dosha.

People living in a dry country and eating dry and pungent food in excess, increases the Vata dosha.

 3.    Kala viruddha (Time-wise incompatibility)

Curd consumed at night or in spring, increases the Kapha dosha. Cold and dry food items consumed in winter. Pungent or hot food items consumed in summer.

   4.    Agni viruddha (Digestion power incompatibility)

Individuals with a weak digestive power consuming heavy or cold food items, or food items which are heavy to digest.

Tikshnagni (Pitta dominant) : One should avoid sour, pungent and salty food.

Mandagni (Kapha dominant) : One should avoid sweet, sour and salty food.

Vishamagni (Vata dominant) : One should avoid bitter, pungent and astringent food.

 5.    Koshtha viruddha (Digestive capacity incompatibility)

A person with a weak digestive power taking a strong cathartic in large doses.

6.    Parimana viruddha (Fixed proportion of two food items)

A.   Ghee and honey taken in an equal quantity.

B.   Oil and ghee taken in an equal quantity.

C.   Honey, ghee or oil taken in an equal proportion, along with animal fat.

 7.  Satmaya viruddha (Habituation incompatibility)

A person habituated to eating pungent & hot food, initially has difficulty in eating sweet and cold food, similarly, a person used to a vegetarian diet initially dislikes a non-vegetarian diet.

 8.  Dosha viruddha (Constitution incompatibility)

A.   Consuming pungent, bitter, astringent, dry and cold food items by individuals with a Vata constitution, leads to an increase in the Vata dosha.

B.   Consuming salty, sour, pungent & hot diet by individuals with a Pitta constitution, further increases the Pitta dosha.

C.   Consuming sweet, sour, salty, cold and oily food by individuals with a Kapha constitution, leads to an increase in the Kapha dosha.

 9.  Increase in the same dosha caused by two or more food items, e.g., fish as well as milk increase the Kapha dosha. Hence, they are incompatible.

10. Sanskar viruddha (Mode of preparation)

A.   Roasting the meat of a peacock over the stem of eranda (Castor plant).

B.   Meat of a pigeon fried in mustard oil.

C.   Clarified butter (ghee) kept in a brass utensil.

 11. Incompatibility between a food item and the cooking utensil

If sour items are kept in copper or brass utensils, their colour changes to blue.

12. Virya viruddha (Combination of food items with opposing action)

Shita virya (Cold food item) consumed along with ushna virya (Hot food item), e.g., fish and milk. Fish is considered as hot and milk as cold.

13. Avastha viruddha (Mental state of an individual)

When a lazy and sleepy person eats a Kapha promoting meal, it leads to an increase in the Kapha dosha.

14. Karma viruddha (Prescribed course)

A person who breaks his routine schedule of diet, or eats his meals without voiding urine and stools, may suffer from ill health.

15. Paka viruddha (Degree of cooking)

Eating overcooked or undercooked or burnt food. Food which is heated again or heating of cooked food items when cold or heating of stale food again, should be avoided.

16. Sampat viruddha (Quality of food)

Eating raw or overripe or putrefied food.

17. Sanyoga viruddha (Way of combination of food items)

Consuming sour food along with milk.

18. Vidhi viruddha (Breaking of dietetic rules)

Eating food without following the dietetic rules.

19. Parikar viruddha (Order of food)

A person eating cold food items / diet after consuming ghee.

20. Mana viruddha (Against one’s liking)

Eating food items which one does not like.