Deepak Chopra Says Food Can Help Heal

ByABC News via logo
October 20, 2002, 10:19 PM

Oct. 21 -- Deepak Chopra has spent the past 15 years trying to make us feel better in mind, body, and spirit. Now, he's trying to make us feel even better in the one area that's the quickest way to our hearts: our stomachs.

The best-selling author and spiritual guru turns chef with the release of his 28th book, The Chopra Center Cookbook: Nourishing Body and Soul.

Chopra co-wrote the book with David Simon and Leanne Backer, the executive chef of the Chopra Center for Well Being in Carlsbad, Calif. Based on recipes served there, the book shows how nature provides us with all the nutrients we need to create meals that are delicious and nutritious.

Recipes for Moroccan Vegetables and Kabocha Squash or Pumpkin Pie.

Chopra, considered one of the great spiritual leaders of our time, acknowledged that his new role as cookbook author might seem a bit unusual. But he said that food is indeed an important part of our health and our spiritual lives and that good food can be the best medicine.

"If we just listen to our bodies and what they're telling us about food, we're the best judges of our needs," Chopra told Good Morning America. Food has a lot of guiding principles that can help us decide which are the best for healing. The more color and texture a food has, the more indicative of what it can offer us in terms of healing.

Every taste in nature boils down to just six tastes, and if we have each of them in our diet, we're covered, Chopra said. His "Moroccan Vegetables with Couscous" recipe contains all of the flavors.

"We need them each to make up a well-balanced diet," Chopra said. "Otherwise, you don't get the chemicals you need, which lead to addictive cravings and obesity."

The Six Tastes

Chopra writes in his book about the six basic tastes, and says if we include each of them in our diets, we will be eating properly. Here are the tastes:

Sweet Flavor: Foods that carry sweet taste increase your body bulk. They include carbohydrates, protein and fat, including breads, grains, nuts, pasta, most fruits, starchy vegetables, dairy, oils and all animal products are considered sweet. These sweet foods supply the bulk of what we consume each day.