College of Ayurvedic Diet & Digestion

College of Ayurvedic Diet & Digestion

 

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Is It Okay To Eat Leftovers?

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The longer leftovers sit, the more toxic they become due to fermentation by bacteria. Some of my Vata clients with weak digestion simply cannot digest leftover food without stomach upset.

Once you cook food, the nutrients in the food degrade very quickly, within a matter of hours. Food that sits in the fridge for several days may have very little nutritional value left in it. Kids know this intuitively - that's why they don't like the taste. They complain when they have to eat leftovers. The taste buds of adults are dull, concealing this effect. Reheating food causes further nutritional degradation.

Eating leftovers is better than binging on ice-cream because there's no food in the house. Eating leftovers is better than fast food too. True, classical Ayurveda recommends against eating leftovers. However, there were no refrigerators in ancient India. So even though fresh food is always best, leftovers aren't so bad either, due to modern refridgeration. Three days is probably the absolute limit on leftover food. Here another good rule of thumb: If you can't remember when you cooked it, it's too old.

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About the Author

John Immel, the founder of Joyful Belly, teaches people how to have a healthy diet and lifestyle with Ayurveda. His approach to Ayurveda is clinical, yet exudes an ease which many find enjoyable and insightful. John also directs the Joyful Belly College of Ayurveda, offering professional clinical training in Ayurveda for over 15 years.

John's hobbies & specialties include advanced digestive disorders, medieval Catholic philosophy, & botany. He holds a bachelor's degree in mathematics from Harvard University. His wife and family of 7 kids live in Asheville, NC.

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claudia figueredo
2020-05-09
“excellent content, I love it. My I have your permission to share some of your content in spanish, qiving you the credit of the information, my ig is @yogaclo, if you wish to take a look"
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