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Ayurveda, the science of life, possesses ancient wisdom that gives us integral tools to live life to the fullest potential. The teachings of this science explain ways to remain happy and healthy within the external world through suggestions of choosing the right lifestyle and nutrition and use of Herbs and spices. Ayurveda places a great deal of emphasis on nutrition, digestion, and metabolism, teaching that they are accomplished through the sense of taste. The principles that govern digestion and nutrition are: 1.Food is equal to medicine. Most of the imbalances in the body can be corrected by simple adjustments to the intake of food and spices. “Let food be thy medicine,” is an age-old Ayurvedic dictum. 2.Like increases like and opposites decrease one another. A truth of Ayurveda is that when a food has a certain quality that increases a particular humor in a constitution, then food with the opposite quality will decrease that humor. 3. Agni is a major principle in Ayurveda; it is the digestive fire. Digestive fire is needed to digest anything we bring into our body. If the Agni is high, even a suboptimal intake can be fully digested, absorbed and assimilated in the body to create energy. However, if the Agni is low, then even the best quality foods do not provide the right nutritive value as the food is neither properly digested nor properly assimilated. The strength of appetite reflects the underlying state of our digestive fire. 4.The Six Tastes Nature has packaged all possible food sources into six tastes. Before the discovery of proteins, carbohydrates, fats, minerals, vitamins, and trace elements, Ayurveda taught that we need all six tastes present to make a balanced meal. The six tastes are sweet, sour, salty, pungent, bitter, and astringent.