The short version
Many of us finish lunch in five minutes at the desk. The Charaka Samhita has a rule for exactly this. In its rules of eating, Vimanasthana 1.24, Charaka says natidrutam ashniyat, do not eat too fast, and right after it nativilambitam ashniyat, do not eat too slowly either. The next verse gives his reasons. Eat too fast, and a bite can go down the wrong way, the food does not settle in the stomach properly, and you cannot tell its taste or notice if something is wrong with it. Eat too slowly, and you never feel satisfied, you end up eating a lot, the food goes cold, and it digests unevenly.
This page is the full version of our reel on the same rule. It has the Sanskrit, each reason in plain words, what a large Japanese study found about eating speed, and a simple way to find the middle speed at your next meal.
Explore Ayurveda Hub →इस लेख को हिंदी में पढ़ें: न बहुत जल्दी, न बहुत धीरे: चरक संहिता में भोजन की गति (विमानस्थान 1.24)
📖 10 min read · Charaka Samhita, Vimanasthana 1.24–1.25
What this article covers
Ahara Vidhi: Charaka's Rules of Eating (Vimanasthana 1.24)
The first chapter of the Charaka Samhita's Vimanasthana is the Rasa Vimana, the chapter on tastes and on how food acts on the body. Near its end, in verse 24, Charaka gives a short set of rules for how to eat a meal, the ahara vidhi vidhana. In the Sanskrit printed in the 2020 edition of the Charak Samhita Research, Training and Skill Development Centre, the core of the list reads:
Charaka Samhita, Vimanasthana 1.24 (the rules, in brief)
उष्णं, स्निग्धं, मात्रावत्, जीर्णे वीर्याविरुद्धम्, इष्टे देशे, इष्टसर्वोपकरणं, नातिद्रुतं, नातिविलम्बितम्
Warm; unctuous; in the right quantity; after the previous meal is digested; not opposed in potency; in a pleasant place, with everything needed at hand; not too fast; not too slowly.
Several of these rules have their own pages. The one about eating only after the earlier meal is digested is the reason behind Charaka's praise for one meal a day, which we cover in Eating Once a Day in Charaka Samhita. The right quantity is the subject of Ahara Matra: Vagbhata's Stomach Rule. This page stays with the last two words: natidrutam and nativilambitam, the speed of a meal.
From our reel: the stomach goes straight to the source, Charaka's rules of eating in Vimanasthana 1.24.
What makes these two rules unusual is that Charaka does not leave them bare. In verse 25 he explains every rule on the list, one by one, and gives each its reason. For speed, he gives three reasons not to eat fast and four not to eat slowly.
Natidrutam: Why Not Too Fast
Ati-drutam means very fast, and na turns it into a rule: not too fast. Here is Charaka's reason, in the Sanskrit of verse 25:
Charaka Samhita, Vimanasthana 1.25 (on eating too fast)
अतिद्रुतं हि भुञ्जानस्योत्स्नेहनमवसादनं भोजनस्याप्रतिष्ठानं च, भोज्यदोषसाद्गण्योपलब्धिश्च न नियता
Read in plain words, it gives three problems with eating fast.
1. The bite can go down the wrong way. When you gulp, food can slip into the wrong passage. Most of us have choked on a bite eaten in a hurry at least once, coughing until our eyes water. Charaka lists this first.
Charaka's first reason not to eat fast: a bite swallowed in a hurry can go down the wrong way.
2. The food does not settle properly. The 2020 edition's notes put it as food that does not get placed in the stomach properly. A meal pushed down in a few minutes arrives all at once, not in the steady way the stomach can deal with.
3. You cannot tell what you are eating. In Charaka's words, the good qualities and the faults of the food are not reliably noticed. You miss its taste, and you miss the stone in the rice, the hair in the dal or the sour smell of food that has gone off. A slower meal lets your senses do their job before the food is already inside you.
And in a hurry you cannot tell what you are eating: its taste, its qualities, or what is wrong with it.
All three reasons are about attention. Eating fast is eating without noticing, and Charaka's list asks you to notice.
Try this. At your next lunch, put your spoon or your roti down between bites. It is the simplest brake there is: you cannot take the next bite until you pick it up again.
What a Study of 59,717 People Found
Charaka's reasons are about the meal itself. Modern research has looked at what eating speed does over years. One of the largest studies is "Effects of changes in eating speed on obesity in patients with diabetes: a secondary analysis of longitudinal health check-up data" by Y. Hurst and H. Fukuda, published in BMJ Open in 2018.
The researchers used health check-up records from 2008 to 2013 for 59,717 Japanese adults with type 2 diabetes. At each check-up, people said whether they ate fast, at a normal speed, or slowly. Compared with fast eaters, normal-speed eaters were less likely to be obese, and slow eaters less likely still: the odds were about 0.71 and 0.58 of the fast eaters'. When people changed their speed over the years, eating more slowly went with a small fall in body mass index and waist size.
We should be careful about what this shows. It was a study of records and answers, not an experiment, and everyone in it already had diabetes. It does not prove that eating slowly causes weight loss in everyone. But it fits Charaka's point from the other side: a meal eaten fast tends to be a meal eaten without the body keeping up.
Nativilambitam: Why Not Too Slowly Either
Charaka does not stop at "slow down". The very next rule is nativilambitam ashniyat: do not eat too slowly. Ati-vilambitam means very delayed, a meal dragged out. His reason:
Charaka Samhita, Vimanasthana 1.25 (on eating too slowly)
अतिविलम्बितं हि भुञ्जानो न तृप्तिमधिगच्छति, बहु भुङ्क्ते, शीतीभवत्याहारजातं, विषमं च पच्यते
Four problems, each in a few words.
1. You never feel satisfied. Na triptim adhigacchati: a meal dragged out over an hour never quite ends, and the sense of "that was enough" does not arrive.
2. You eat a lot. Bahu bhunkte: because satisfaction does not come, you keep eating. The slow, endless dinner in front of the screen often ends with more food, not less.
3. The food goes cold. Shitibhavati aharajatam. The first rule on Charaka's list is to eat food warm, and a meal that drags on breaks it by the second half.
4. It digests unevenly. Vishamam cha pacyate: what is eaten at different times across one long sitting digests in a scattered, irregular way.
So the rule is not "as slow as possible". It is a middle speed: slow enough to notice the food and let it settle, quick enough to finish it warm and feel satisfied.
The Middle Speed: How to Pace a Meal
Charaka gives no number of minutes or chews. These are our practical suggestions for finding the middle speed he describes.
Sit down. A meal eaten standing, walking or at the desk between calls is almost always too fast.
Serve the whole meal first. When everything you need is at hand (Charaka's ishta sarvopakarana), you are not getting up again and again, which drags a meal out.
Take ordinary bites, and swallow before the next one. No stuffing the mouth, and no reaching for the next bite while chewing the last.
Put the spoon down between bites. It slows a fast eater without any counting.
Finish while it is warm. If your food has gone cold, the meal has gone on too long.
Check in halfway. Halfway through the plate, pause for a breath and notice how hungry you still are. This is the moment a fast eater misses.
A one-week check. For one week, notice when you start and finish lunch. If it is under ten minutes, slow down. If it drags on far beyond the time it takes to eat a warm plate, tighten it. Aim for the time that feels unhurried and still warm.
Who Should Take Extra Care
For most people, Charaka's rule is simply good sense. For some, the first reason, food going the wrong way, matters more.
Take extra care with young children, older people and anyone who has trouble swallowing. Cut food small for children and keep them seated while they eat. If swallowing is often difficult or painful, or food keeps getting stuck, see a doctor rather than only eating slower.
And if you take medicine for blood sugar, keep to the meal times your doctor has given you. Changing your speed is a change in how you eat, not a reason to skip or delay a meal.
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More to read on this topic
Related reading
Khana Nahi Pachta to Kya Kare — when food does not digest well, and what the Chakradutta says about a weak digestive fire.
The Ayurvedic Rule That Ends Dieting — another everyday eating rule from the classical texts, told in a few slides.
Frequently asked questions
What does Charaka Samhita say about eating fast? +
In Vimanasthana 1.24 Charaka says natidrutam ashniyat, do not eat too fast. Verse 25 gives the reasons: food can go down the wrong way, it does not settle in the stomach properly, and you cannot reliably notice its taste, its good qualities or its faults.
What does natidrutam mean? +
Ati-drutam means very fast and na means not, so natidrutam is "not too fast". With ashniyat, eat, it becomes the rule: do not eat too fast.
Is eating slowly always better? +
No. Charaka's very next rule is nativilambitam ashniyat, do not eat too slowly. A meal dragged out leaves you unsatisfied, makes you eat a lot, lets the food go cold, and digests unevenly. The aim is a middle speed.
Does eating slowly help with weight? +
In a 2018 BMJ Open study of 59,717 Japanese adults with type 2 diabetes, slow and normal-speed eaters were less likely to be obese than fast eaters, and eating more slowly over time went with a small fall in body mass index and waist size. It was a study of check-up records, not an experiment, so it shows a link rather than proof.
How long should a meal take? +
Charaka gives no number of minutes. A practical test is his own two rules together: slow enough that you notice the food and swallow each bite before the next, quick enough that you finish it warm and feel satisfied.
Does Charaka say to chew each bite 32 times? +
Not in these rules. Vimanasthana 1.24 and 1.25 speak of speed, not of a number of chews. The 32-chew rule is a popular saying; Charaka's own test is whether you can notice the food and whether it settles properly.
What are Charaka's other rules of eating? +
The list in Vimanasthana 1.24 asks for food that is warm, unctuous and in the right quantity, eaten after the previous meal is digested, not opposed in potency, in a pleasant place with everything at hand, and neither too fast nor too slowly.
Where is this in the Charaka Samhita, and which edition is used? +
Charaka Samhita, Vimanasthana, chapter 1 (Rasa Vimana), verses 24 and 25. The Sanskrit on this page follows the 2020 edition of the Charak Samhita Research, Training and Skill Development Centre; the plain-English renderings are our own, checked against that edition.
