________________
the flow of digestion juices. It is extremely unhygienic to eat foods which are not relished. Food must be liquefied before any real taste emerges. This is true even of ice cream, which until it melts in the mouth, is quite tasteless. Slow eating is a great aid in proper choice of foods. Research has found that saliva contains specific proteins that are growth factors that make taste buds develop and mature and allow the taste buds in tongue and mouth to fully register the flavours of the food, whether bitter, salty, sour or sweet, which can enrich eating experience making it more pleasurable and enjoyable. Without these growth factors, taste buds degenerate. Sweetness, usually regarded as a pleasurable sensation, is produced by the presence of sugar, some proteins and a few other substances. Mastication converts carbohydrate into glucose and it provides sweet taste to food and quick energy and flavour is the overall, total sensation induced during mastication.
Mahavira told to eat left over/stale food, cooked on earlier day/ days. Stale means not spoilt. Stale bread is dry and leathery and calls for lot of munching. The food which gets cold after cooking decrease in nutritive value and becomes unhealthy, if heated again. Mahavira did a wide range of experiments with food, food related habits and fasting. He ate bland irregular coarse cereals, namely odan, manthu and kulash, which are unwholesome and sapless food, for eight months continuously. Current evidence indicates that consumption of such food items reduces cardiovascular disease risk, while posing little threat to positive energy
34