Boiled rice food (Annam) which is impure and dirty, infested with poison, or out of which another has eaten a portion as well as that which is full of weeds, pebbles, dust etc., which the mind instinctively repels, or cooked on the previous day or which has been kept standing over-night, as well as that which is insipid or emits a fetid smell, should be similarly rejected. Also food which has been cooked long ago, or has become cold and hard, and has been rewarmed or which has been imperfectly strained, or is burnt and insipid should also not serve as food. More and more palatable dishes should be successively taken in the course of a meal. During the course of a meal, the mouth should be frequently rinsed or gargled inasmuch as the palate thus constantly being cleansed becomes more susceptible to taste, and anything eaten thereafter is relished the better and gives all the pleasures of a first morsel. The palate affected with a sweet taste at the outset fails to appreciate the tastes of the successive dishes. Hence, the mouth should be washed at intervals during the meal. Sweet food eaten with a relish pleasurably affects the mind, brings joy, energy, strength, and happiness in its train, and contributes to the growth of the body; whereas the one of a contrary character is attended with opposite effects. The food, which does not satiate a man even after repeated eating, should be considered as agreeable (Svadu) to him. After finishing a meal water should be drunk in a quantity which would be beneficial. Food adhering to the teeth should be gently drawn out by means of a tooth-pick, inasmuch as if not removed a kind of fetor is produced in the mouth.

The Vayu is increased after the completion of digestion, the Pittam, during the continuance of the process, while the Kapham is increased immediately after the act of eating. Hence, the Kapham is to be subdued after the close of a meal, and the intelligent eater should attain that end by partaking fruit 71 of an astringent, pungent, or bitter taste, or by chewing a betel leaf prepared with broken areca nut, camphor, nutmeg, clove, etc., or by smoking, or by means of anything that instantaneously removes the viscidity in the cavity of the mouth, and permeates it with its own essence.

Then the eater should take rest, like a king, till the sense of drowsiness incidental to eating is removed. After this he should walk a hundred paces and lie down in a bed on his left side. After eating, a man should enjoy soft sounds, pleasant sights and tastes, sweet perfumes, soft and velvety touch, in short anything that ravishes the soul and enwraps the mind with raptures of joy, since such pleasurable sensations greatly help the process of digestion. Sounds, which are harsh and grating, sights, which are abominable, touches, that are hard and unpleasant, smells, which are fetid and disagreeable, encountered after a meal, or the eating of impure and execrable boiled rice, or a loud sidesplitting laugh after a meal is followed by vomiting.

The after-meal siesta should not be long and continuous; basking before a fire, exposure to the sun, travelling, driving in a carriage, swimming, bathing etc., should be avoided just after the close of a full and hearty meal. A diet which abounds in fluid courses should be refrained from. Only a single taste should not be enjoyed in the course of a meal.

Cooked potherbs, boiled rice of inferior quality, and a course of diet abounding in acid taste should be avoided. Articles of one taste should not be eaten in large quantities at a time, nor articles of various tastes should be constantly indulged in. A second meal should not be eaten on the same day in the event of the appetite having become dulled by a previous meal. Eating with a previous meal only partially digested seriously impairs the digestive functions. A man of dull or impaired appetite should refrain from eating heavy articles of food, as well as from partaking of large quantities of light substances. Cakes should never be eaten, and a double quantitiy of water should be taken if they are eaten at all out of hunger, by which their safe digestion would be ensured. Of drinks, lambatives and confectionary (solid food), each succeeding one is heavier than the one immediately preceding it in the order of enumeration. Heavy articles of food should be taken in half measures only, while the lighter ones may be eaten till satiety. Liquid food, or that which abounds in liquid substances should not be taken in large quantities. Dry articles of food taken in combination with a large number of other substances fail to do any injury to the stomach. Dry food (Annam) taken alone can not be completely digested. It is transformed into lumps in the stomach, is irregularly chymed, and produces deficient gastric digestion followed by a reactionary acidity. The injested food) whether of a character that stamps it as belonging to the Vidahi group or not, is but incompletely digested and gives rise to a reactionary acidity in the event of the Pittam being confined in the stomach, or in the intestines. Dry food (cukes, etc.), incompatible food combinations (milk with fish and so on), and those, which are long retained in the stomach in an undigested state, tend to impair the digestive functions (Agni).

The Kapham, Pittam, and Vayu respectively produce the types of mucous indigestion of chyme (Amajirnam), acid indigestion (Tidagdhajirnam), and indigestion due to incarcerated fecal matter (Vish-tabdhajirnam). Certain authorities aver that there is a fourth class of indigestion, known as the indigestion of unassimilated chyle (Rasa-shesha). Drinking of an abnormal quantity of water, irregular eating, voluntary suppression of any natural urging of the body, sleep in the day, keeping of late hours in the night, partaking of a light food with a strong appetite are the factors which interfere with the proper digestion of food and develop symptoms of indigestion. The food taken by a person under the influence of envy, passion, greed, or anger, etc., or by a man suffering from a chronic distemper, is not properly digested.