Ayurveda: the science of life

Abstract

Ayurveda is widely known as a system of traditional medicine native to India. It is less well known that as a preventive and holistic approach beyond medicine it provides guidelines for healthy nutrition, improving quality of life, releasing stress, and preventing other psychological hazards. Ayurveda also fits into the systematic approach of the Western world and the trend toward integrating theories and models that has resulted in biological, psychical, sociological, and economical approaches being transformed into a bio-psycho-socio-economical model of human life during the 20th century. Clearly, any treatment has to be interdisciplinary and personalized. How does Ayurveda come into the picture? It has a fully personalized and systematic method to choosing the right diet, activity or medical treatment for the person, according to his or her physical, psychical and mental traits characterized by doshasand similarly focusing on the actual state of the person. Presently most of the ayurvedic products in the Hungarian market are imported food-supplements, immune-system strengthening or rejuvenating products, and cosmetics. However, there are invaluable possibilities in daily ayurvedic nutrition because it focuses on fresh food and ingredients. This translates to an increased emphasis on local shopping and thus invigorates local agriculture. Ayurvedic principles cannot be used on one single ingredient, because ayurvedic nutrition emphasizes allocation of a special combination of ingredients. To be truly ayurvedic, the ingredients have to be processed, which could benefit the processing industry. Finally, if someone is living and eating according to a system approach theory it is highly possible that he or she will be concerned about the environment and sustainability. Further research is needed to discover how Ayurveda fits into the alternative nutrition trends of Hungary, to find and examine the target group, prepare a complete marketing strategy and certainly to develop the exact ayurvedic products. Keywords: Ayurveda, nutrition, health, sustainability