Re: How much fat? & What order to eat in?

Vata types need more fats to sustain themselves and curb their naturally high metabolic rate, but fats require sufficient amounts of bile to digest them. That's where the confusions is. As long as bile ducts are blocked, the Vata has difficulties digesting the fats they need to properly digest and absorb their food and prevent constipation. Once bile flow if copious, the relatively high amounts of fats are no problem for the Vata, but until this is so, their digestive fire, AGNI, tends ot be subdued. Hence, fat consumption should not be excessive. A slightly heaped teaspoon of butter for a cup of oatmeal would be OK. I would not eat fat with fruit. They are already pre-digested (another world for sun-ripened)>Fruits should be eaten on their own, away from meals. Regarding the sequence of food items at lunchtime. If you eat a salad, eat it first, then vegetables, then grains and beans, or grains and nuts, for example. Vatas tend to eat fast, which upsets their digesiton. Nearly 75% of carbohydrates are digested by salivary enzymes i nthe first hour if masticated well. If eaten too quickly, carbyhdrated tend to remain undegested and ferment in the large intestine, leading to sticky, hard stools and gas.
For Vatas, to increase AGNI before a meal, chewing on a piece of grated ginger with a pinch of salt is helpful.

Andreas