EAT RIGHT FOR YOUR MIZAJ TYPE -BY DR.AFROZ FATHIMA

UNANI SCIENCE GIVES A PERSONALISED DIET APPROACH TO MAINTAIN HEALTH AND IN MANAGEMENT OF DISEASE .

 The 4 HUMOURS being the metabolic agents of the natural faculty (quwat e tabaiyya) ,follow the workings of nature within the human body .When the UNANI PHYSICIAN works with the 4 humors in correcting and facilitating their natural homeostatic and metabolic processes, he truly is working with nature as a NATURAL HEALER. Modern medicine has a vast , bewildering array of imposing ,polysyllabic disease names . But Greek Medicine sees behind this perplexing facade to common humoural themes that run through them like universal connecting threads.

The Vast Multiplicity of diseases root caused by and crisis happenings from only 4 humours which can get deranged , aggravated or vitiated in various ways to varying degrees and localize themselves in various organs , tissues or parts of the body .

The word diet is taken from a Latin word „dieta‟ means a way of living in Greek. Ghiza (diet) is one of the vital necessities of life. During prehistoric period, most of the people considered diet only to satisfy their hunger pangs, but with the advent of medical science and preventive or community medicine, people began to realize the dietary importance as it plays a key role to maintain health and recover from various ailments. In fact diet is responsible for cellular activity, growth, reproduction and their secretion which help to perform various physiological functions. For the maintenance of health, body requires macronutrients viz., carbohydrates, protein and fat and micronutrients viz., vitamins, minerals, trace elements etc. This requirement of the body is accomplished with proper and balanced diet.

It is only in 19th century A.D. that dietotherapy has become a core specialty where as Unani physicians were way ahead in incorporating dietotherapy as a separate principle of treatment as evident by Unani literature. Unani Medicine deals with different types of diet like Dawae Ghizai, Ghizae Dawai, Kaseef Ghiza, Lateef Ghiza, Motadal Ghiza and many more. Modified diets are the principal therapeutic agents in some metabolic diseases and chronic diseases and serves as a preventive measure as well as therapeutic aid.

WHEN we talk about MIZAJ (Temperament )we should always address it with the dominant akhlath (humour) in the body with its basic parameters to understand the process of pepsis involved .To start with SANGUINE (DUMVI) MIZAJ , BLOOD is the very essence of life and health and is perfect nourishment when perfectly digested .As the first humor to arise blood is also the first humor to be replenished and regenerated from food we eat .Eating a balanced ,wholesome ,nourishing diet is the best way to generate healthy and vital blood for optimum health. Eating meat also generates a great abundance of blood but the down side is that it will be too thick ,acidic and filled with toxic residues , so it should be restricted to 2 to 3 times a week to keep the blood robust and healthy. So especially individuals with dominance of blood in their bodies (DUMVI) have an easy time choosing veggies diet inorder to REGAIN HEALTH . Blood disorders are the quickest and easiest to ripen and resolve thats because blood is the first humor to arise in the second digestion and is quickly generated and re generated as blood takes only a day or two to ripen at the most.

THOSE OF A CHOLERIC ( SAFRAVI) TEMPERAMENT , whose blood tends to get too hot , choleric and acidic ,need an abundance of fresh fruits and vegetables to cleanse their blood: since their digestion is generally strong and robust . SAFRAVI MIZAJ individuals usually have an easy time being vegetarians . The Safra (yellow bile) being the hottest in temperament, is the most active and volatile humour and takes only 3 days to ripen . The role of a unani physician is to aid and facilitate in ripening and elimination of morbid or superfluous humours from the body of an individual suffering from the underlying pathologies of the dominant humor in the body.

THOSE OF A PHLEGMATIC (BALGHUMI) MIZAJ can go either way , meat eater or vegetarian : a little meat can be good to stimulate their metabolic heat and digestive fire .They posses a cold and wet quality so the general rule is that heating and drying the substances to be marked on the list , all the physiological and metabolic processes tend to operate very slowly, at a very low level of energetic output; the digestive and metabolic fires of the organism operate at very low levels, and the whole Phlegmatic habit is generally slow and sluggish..BALGHUM HUMOUR usually takes 9 to 11 days to ripen and resolve .

Being Cold and Dry in nature, the Melancholic Temperament ( SAUDAVI MIZAJ ) is the complementary opposite in its basic qualities to the Sanguine Temperament (DUMVI MIZAJ) and its dominant humor, Blood, which is the essence of life and health.  Therefore, the Melancholic Temperament is generally considered to be the most problematic of all the Four Temperaments, and the one most prone to pathology and disease. Those of Melancholic ( SAUDAVI) Temperament tend to have the hardest time being pure vegetarians since their weak , colicky , delicate digestions make them most prone to malnutrition and aneamia . SAUDA is the slowest and most recalcitrant , requiring a full 15 days to ripen .

THE GENERAL THUMB RULE IS THAT A HUMOURAL DISORDER MUST BE TREATED FOR AT LEAST AS MANY DAYS AS IT TAKES THE HUMOUR TO RIPEN .

BY DR .AFROZ FATHIMA

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