DIET MANAGEMENT DURING PREGNANCY ACCORDING AYURVEDA
Meenakshi Kumawat*, Deepak Kumawat, Chandan Singh, L.N. Sharma, Rajendra Prasad Purvia and Manoj Kumar Adlakha
ABSTRACT
Pregnancy is a happy and joyous time of life for many women. It can also be a challenging time of life as the mother's body goes through numerous changes in order to create and support the development of a new life. Ayurveda is an excellent addition to the care provided by medical doctors and midwives. Ayurveda creates support for the physical, mental/emotional and spiritual bodies of the mother and her baby. Women have special dietary needs during each stage of her lives, including adolescence, pregnancy, breast feeding and menopause. During pregnancy the mother’s nutrition bears a great impact on the fetus’s growth and its future. Ayurveda lays great emphasis on ensuring holistic nutrition. A combination of Ahara (diet), Vihara (regimen), Vichara (emotions/thoughts) and Aushadha (medications) have been given great significance in Ayurveda in antenatal care called as Garbhini Paricharya (Antenatal care). Diet comprises the most important component of Garbhini Paricharya. Ayurveda advises congenital diet and regimen throughout the pregnancy.[1] It also stresses on the healthy state of mind and body to beget healthy progeny. Milk and ghee stand out as the most common in the pregnant diet that Ayurveda advises. The idea of this is to provide optimum amount of protein and fat to the body. In addition, it provides right amount of calcium and vitamins for the pregnant mother helping in sustaining a comfortable lactation. In this review article a designed protocol of the month wise diet advised by various ancient Ayurvedic physicians, which can be modified according to the age, season, place, constitution and the digestive fire of the pregnant woman has been presented.
Keywords: Pregnancy, Garbhini Paricharya, Ahara, Vihara, Vichara.
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