3 age-old eating rules you can use to your benefit!

Editors Note: This is a post from our contributor Megha Mehta
Here’s a mini quiz to get you thinking about the rules we’ll talk about

- if you’re a fiery ambitious easily irritable person who doesn’t take well to hot weather and ur in the middle of this desert town and have been eating spicy barbecued food for the last one week – guess how ur going to be feeling?

- imagine a working executive who lives in a highly urbanised town surrounded by concrete most days of the week and feels burned out and has low energy levels. what food group do you think he will benefit from?

Here’s a reminder that will help you answer the above and many such questions – each food has a specific personality n character – it actually informs us of what it can do! And depending on your personality, environment, body type, lifestyle and weather influences, your body will demand and benefit from certain kinds of foods more than others.
Our first example - the person who has a fiery personality because of which he/she doesn’t particularly enjoy hot weather and has been gorging on hot spicy food. This person is probably as of now super heated. This imbalance will most likely make him/her feel easily irritable, have a heated or upset stomach, allergic reactions, hyperacidity and so on…and these very same imbalances over a longer period of time might result in more severe issues like hypertension, liver disorders etc.
And in second example of a person who is burnt out and has no energy left is probably not getting enough clean air because of the environment he is living in. Living and being around greenery is a great way to supply higher levels of oxygen to your body which in turn makes your blood richer with nutrients and your organs have more vitality and energy.

Whatsoever was the father of a disease, an ill diet was the mother.  ~ George Herbert

If you’re unable to get that benefit from your environment then you will probably do well to include dark leafy greens in your diet. They have the very quality that is the opposite of what our lungs do – take in CO2 and release O2. So these can work wonders to one’s respiratory system and consuming them regularly can give you higher levels of oxygenated blood which in turn gives more energy and vitality to all your organs.
So here are some basic rules to get you started on these rules that can allow you to make smarter food choices.
1. Eat as per season
One of the best ways to ensure you’re giving your body the right foods is to buy foods that are fresh and in season. That means not buying the mangoes in the middle of winter cos they’ve probably been frozen through months and have come out to be sold now. If you eat fruits in the season they’re naturally produced you automatically ensure nature is working to balance the factors that your body needs now and you’re making sure you get freshest and highest quality foods!
So think watermelons in summer, kiwi and oranges in winter and pineapples and lychees during the spring.
2. Consider your personality and temperament 
Remember that your personality type has a huge role to play in choosing balancing nourishing foods. If you’re feeling cold n dry and have been anxious n stressed lately – your body is probably giving you signs in the form of dry cracked skin. What you need at that point is balancing grounding warm foods. That means you should favour soups, stews, and cooked foods more than raw salads.
3. Time of the day matters
You can digest heavier food better during the day because your metabolism and digestive fire is higher then. Eating your last meal 2 hours for you sleep is a great way to ensure your digestive system has done its work in time and you will be able to sleep more peacefully and wake up refreshed and energised. A light nourishing fibre rich meal for dinner will keep your stomach happy and constipation will never be an issue!
Megha is a Holistic Health Counselor helping busy working executives to eat healthier and achieve their ideal weight, energy levels, and body type. She also blogs about health tips, interesting recipes, natural remedies etc… at http://www.backtobasics.com.sg/ You can follow her on Facebook and Twitter. 
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Source: Zen to Fitness.