When we say healthy, for most of us ; if the lab values are in normal range, everything is normal and normal is healthy. Ayurveda understanding of health is completely different. Ayurveda believes on energy (dosha) body and the balance in energy, balance in all the fires (which means all the transformation including metabolism and hormones) , balance in all tissue (which means all the systems are functioning properly), and happy and satisfied emotions (balance from the mind), is called healthy.
Now we might be wondering, how to balance each of this. And we search for the tools to balance it. However, we can never do it one by one. The beauty of Ayurveda is that it is holistic as well. So if you do something good or bad, it is for body, mind, emotion, senses, spirit and every possible components of life at the same time. So if we find something good for body, it is good for all other components.
However wait a moment – If someone says I like smoking and feels amazing while smoking, so this should be good for my body as well and all the components. Here, Ayurveda believes , there can be couple of things that explains why not. First, one might not be doing a mindful smoking . Which means one might not be smoking in the present , if one doesn’t live in a present and do any activities, that doesn’t count for healthy practice, and anything not done for healthy practice always harms. Second, one might already be imbalanced, if we do something really wrong , it is called pragyaparadh which means ignorance, one becomes attached to material aspects of life exclusively. And if someone is in pragyaparadh everything that they experience is not true .
To be healthy first we need to live in a moment. Once we live in a present then we are aware of all the rights and wrongs. Then we truly know our nature . Then we know if it is in balance or out of balance. And we always try to maintain the balance. And the tools that we use are very simple in the nature. These are the food that we take everyday including (when, and how), lifestyle in different season, different age, different time in a day, herbs , mineral, therapies etc.