Is there a special diet for Panchakarma treatment?

Preparatory Therapy

We serve light foods during the preparatory phase that do not cause bloating and are easy to digest. This is done to aid and prepare your body for purificatory therapies.

For people with low appetite and irregular bowel movements, the cause could be high mucus in the gut. In such cases, we add specific herbs that increase Agni and strengthen metabolism. This is called Ama Pachana Aharam.

For people with high food cravings, we aim to retrain your mind and body to extract maximum energy from standard portion sizes and avoid the habit of binge-eating. In Ayurveda, Vipaka – after taste of the food is an important factor. You Should feel light and energetic after eating. In such cases, we serve a five-time meal plan. The idea is to not starve and lose your high cravings gradually.

Purificatory Phase

The treatments done during this phase have food guidelines that need to be followed along with the treatment. Panchakarma is a detoxifying therapy. Once a toxin is identified, we give food that activates the particular dosha in the body before eliminating it.

For example, before Virechana – induced purgation, we serve foods that are sour in nature like veg biryani, tamarind and pineapple. This activates the Pitta, and during Virechana, it is easier to flush it out from the body. The purpose of Virechana is to balance Pitta, and by giving these foods, we artificially create a slight increase in Pitta and during the treatment, the body flushes out all the excess Pitta from the body.

Likewise, for balancing Kapha, we do Vamana. The diet is followed before the therapy increases Kapha and makes the flushing process easier.

This phase follows a therapy oriented diet that aids the treatment process.

Post-purification Recovery Phase

After the purification phase, your gut would be very sensitive and the diet should be extremely light in nature. We serve a lot of soups – especially Kanji – rice soup that is easy to digest.

Once your metabolism is back to normal, we gradually introduce normal and nourishing foods.

For diabetic people, we serve a conscious diet that monitors the glycemic index. Likewise, for people with joint issues, or arthritis, we have a different diet that has high additions of anti-inflammatory foods.

Our Food Policy

We believe that food plays an important role in your healing and recovery at Sitaram Beach retreat. We ensure that all our ingredients are fresh, local/organic.

We strictly do not use the following ingredients at Sitaram Beach Retreat

key therapies

"Pancha""karma" literally means the five detoxification treatments in ayurveda which are done to remove the accumulated toxins and mucus (Aama) from the body. These treatments include -

Nasyam – nasal cleaning

Removes mucus above the shoulder level of the body.

Vamanam – therapeutic vomiting

Clears toxins from the chest and the upper part of the body

Virechanam– purgation

Cleans the intestines.

Matra/ KashayaVasti – medicated enema with oil /decoction.

The two types of vasti (enemas) are the definitive ways by which we can clean the large intestines.

Raktamoskshana – bloodletting

Removes Aama from the blood.