Kurma

Tanya writes:

Hare Krishna Kurma. I've read your articles on the 'evils' of the microwave, and quite frankly, I agree that we should try to avoid using them as much as possible. However, I also know that eating cold food isn't good either (at least according to Ayurveda theory). So I'm wondering, for people who have to work must prepare and offer their lunches beforehand, is it better to eat cold food or just surrender and zap it? (what i do actually is leave my lunch in a drawer and eat it at room temperature for a compromise).

I reply:

This is the one million dollar question. It is a very tough call, since cold food, especially stuff which is supposed to be eaten hot, like rice and subjis and soups etc, is very tough on the digestion. Not keeping it in the fridge is certainly a good compromise, as you do.

A good suggestion is this: buy one of those containers that keeps food hot for hours - a sort of insulated affair with a container within a container - in the style of a thermos but wider and bigger. Cook the food at home and take it to work in some of these. Then open and eat, and it will still be hot/warm.

This works with fresh food, but not with foodstuff frozen or that have been in the fridge for a while. Reheating cold food is an unhealthy practice, in my opinion (and this is also confirmed in Ayurveda). Hope this helps.

Oh, by the way, I had a similar discussion some months ago, and the exchange of letters was published on my blog. Read it....