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iandthou
Well, to say that doshas have no supporting evidence is to say that an entire medical system for 3000 years or more, or actually a group of medical systems - ayurveda, Tibetan, Islamic - are just fake.


>>>I await the evidence.

I suppose that could be plausibly true but in my perspective it would take more than evidence of modern science to convince me of that. I would rather turn it around and say that much of what goes for science - like measuring vitamin levels, and the more clearly flawed things like prescribing pills to take away symptoms, radiating people in the name of diagnostics, etc. - has little supporting evidence in ayurveda.

>>>agreed. but this doesn't relate to ayurveda validity


Most of all, I would trust my experience and that of others I know. We are particular types in our bodies and minds. These types determine the foods we are drawn to or averse to. They also determine what makes us healthy and sick. It is really quite simple if you just read about it and then observe your own body and mind.

...


To refute something means to show HOW it is irrational or wrong, by engaging with its basic assumptions or its final claims. To just say "it is wrong", or "there is no evidence" is really not a serious starting point for a discussion.

>>>>here's some good from ayurveda..
"human body is part of nature, as we discussed before as a microcosm of the universe, and when it runs perfectly, as it was designed to run, it can be perfectly healthy. It is trying to be perfectly healthy all the time, using its innate self-healing, self-regulating ability as it strives for a perfect homeostatic balance. But we repeatedly interfere.

Nature has set us up with all the equipment we need to be perfectly healthy. Health is our natural state, and ill health is unnatural. Every day our systems are exposed to literally millions of bacteria, viruses, allergens, even carcinogens, and yet our immune system has the intelligence and skill to deal with all those invaders and keep us healthy. However, when stress, inadequate nutrition, or just fatigue weaken the immune system, those same invaders may produce disease.

Every second the body is adjusting to countless thousands of changing parameters, keeping us in homeostatic balance. No matter what comes along to upset the balance, the body knows its own nature, knows what ideal temperature it should be and the correct chemistry it needs to maintain, and keeps referring back to that blueprint to maintain proper balance."

now for the bad..

it simply claims that imbalances cause disease. which doesn't say anything.

the five great elements don't add anything of value

vata pitta kapha are simply primitive ways of categorizing the elements and have no basis in logic or observations.

the people who developed it didn't understand health.

natural hygiene has a better understanding as it was developed when we had more knowledge.



Hope I am not being disrespectful here, fresh. All this is meant in the spirit of friendly discussion and inquiry.

>>>thank you . same here.

And I do not dispute the fact that an unclean body will have cravings that are difficult to manage. I only dispute the fact that that is the case always and that there are no other reasons.

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fresh
imo not feeling satisfied on raw foods has nothing to do with doshas

it's simply a matter of not having the proper diet, or not being cleaned out, or being pulled in by addiction or many other reasons.

doshas are without any supporting evidence or logic.

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iandthou
I agree with you to an extent. In a body with a high level of health, the doshas are transcended. I would not say the doshas do not exist, but rather that the body has a way of balancing them itself.

Most of us, however, do not have that kind of health. Also, in my opinion it is a bit too simple to say that one just needs to eat a good raw food diet and you will achieve a high level of health. The internet is full of stories of people whose health got worse after going raw. As far as I understand, this is because for a very large proportion of people today, raw foods are difficult to digest. The cellulose is difficult to break down and the natural toxins in raw food are not neutralised by the body.

If you and I lived in the wild, never having stepped into a city and breathed fossil fuel fumes, a 100% raw food diet might have been the best diet for us. But since that is not the case, I think we all need to work with the raw element in our diet and listen to our bodies to understand how much raw they want.

I do not see any other plausible explanations for why people's health goes downhill on a raw diet except this. It is too naive to say that those people were just lazy or unintelligent and hence did not take up the raw diet with the best of information.