Most Indians believe the true taste of food can only be felt by consuming it with hands. According to Ayurveda, each finger is an enhancement in each of the five elements. Thus, if a person puts his hands together and touches food, he may feel the five elements (earth, water, fire, space, air, etc.) to increase his perception of the texture, smells and taste of the food he will eat. You nourish your physical body but also your mind and spirit in this way. Continue reading for the benefits of eating food with hands.
What Ayurveda Has To Say About It?
The Ayurveda text tells you that each of our fingers is one part, like air, water, heaven, earth, and fire. If you eat with your hands, both the energy and food match the good vibes. You will also see that joining all fingers is a mudra if you are reading the mudras we make with fingers to raise our food while we feed. It keeps all our energies in a state of balance and therefore it keeps us healthy.
Benefits of Eating Food With Hands
Why are Indians eating with hands? Some people might be curious to learn that. Here are a few benefits of eating food with your hands:
1. Promotes Mindful Eating
As you eat your fingers, the taste and aroma of the food can be improved and the whole experience made more enjoyable. Compared to eating with a fork or spoon you are more connected or in sync with your food. Moreover, a more conscious and calm mindset may support optimal digestion and better nutrient assimilation.
2. Offers Healthy Bacteria
The skin of the hands is inhabited by many healthy bacteria. This healthy flora can protect the body from attacks by other destructive bacteria from the outside. Hand-eating will thus help improve the natural immunity from ecological bacterial germs in our digestive system. However, before eating, make sure you wash your hands properly and cut your nails too.
3. Helps To Improve Digestion
As soon as our fingers reach our food, the ends of the nerves in your fingertips are a warning to the brain. The message is also sent to the stomach, which begins to prepare for digestion with enzymes and digestive juices needed for proper digestion. Furthermore, the finger nerve endings help to assess the texture and temperature of the food we are about to eat and prepare the brain for releasing sufficient digestive juices even before it has reached our lips.
4. Increases Blood Circulation
It is safe to eat with your hands because this will demonstrate a wonderful muscle workout that will in effect help to improve the blood flow. Hand movements can help promote improved blood flow and thus have a positive effect on the body’s overall well-being.
5. Prevents Over-Eating
Eating your hands can slowly and deliberately prevent binge eating and weight gain. This can help you feel comfortable with even less food. This also encourages a feeling of satiety or happiness that you do not have by using the cutlery to consume.
6. Lowers Type 2 Diabetes Risk
Research reveals that patients with diabetic type 2 are likely hasty eaters. Because they use cutlery to eat compared with people who are not affected. A fast meal is associated with differences in blood sugar in the body, which is a factor in the development of type 2 diabetes.
7. Chakras Benefits
As fingers put the food in the mouth, they tend to curve into a yogic mudra, stimulating the sensory organ, which keeps the prana balance. The third eye, heart, throat, solar plexus, sexual chakras, and root chakras are related according to the Vedas. If we eat food with our hands, then touch and action trigger the chakras and make a tremendous profit for us.
8. Prevent Tongue Burning
Your hands can also act as temperature sensors. When a person is eating with a fork, he can’t tell how warm the food is, because the dish goes straight into his mouth. By comparison, the nerve endings of your fingertips transmit a temperature reading in the brain when you touch the food with your hand when you consume it and therefore stop you from burning your tongue.
9. Engages All Your Senses
If a person eats food with the help of cutlery, his experience may be limited to the food texture felt only in the mouth. Eating with your hands, however, adds a real dimension to your meal by involving all of your senses.
10. It Is Natural
Many cultures, especially Indians, eat with their hands is common because Indian cuisine feels like the naturally most important thing to do. Now imagine having a fork and knife on dal and roti? Or are you trying to eat a non-vegetarian delicacy of bones with a fork? It’s very unworkable. Hands are therefore preferred over fine cutlery.
11. Vital Energies Are In Balance:
All human beings consist of five pranas, also known as life energy, according to Ayurveda. The thumb finger implies the fair, the index finger implies air, the middle finger implies the sky, the ring finger implies earth and the small finger relates to water.
These are 11 benefits of eating food with your hands:
Indians tend to value food, both during their preparation and enjoyment. Most Indians will eat with hands, as opposed to the western culture of the use of favorite. And the practice has its benefits. So consider tossing the cutlery to taste the dishes with your hands the next time you want to cherish food./
Also Read: 10 Essential Foods That Boost The Immune System
