Proper Food Proportions

just how much food should a person eat per meal?

from an āyurvedic perspective, this is vital information for an individual to know and adhere to strictly!

an añjali (your two hands cupped together) is the proper quantum of food to consume at each meal.

this is because our bodies are built inherently proportionate to all of our parts (unless there is a "bīja vikṛti" or congenital abnormality). of course, one person's añjali will vary in size from another person's añjali.

however, for each of these people their unique añjali size equates to the amount of food that their stomach can hold in order to start properly digesting food WITHOUT CREATING AGGRAVATION OF DOSHA.

this is a critical point to make - overfilling the stomach will greatly disturb the doshas. there SHOULD BE room in your stomach after completion of a meal.

in fact, in the caraka saṁhitā, the very FIRST thing mentioned in the chapter on dinacaryā (or daily activities of living that preserve health and prevent disease) is in regards to eating the proper amount of food at each meal.

caraka is very intentional on the sequence in which he describes things in his texts, so the fact that he emphasizes eating the proper amount first here is hugely significant in the sustenance of health.