ILAJ BIL GHIZA (DIETOTHERAPY) IN UNANI SYSTEM OF MEDICINE- AN APPRAISAL

*Fouzia Bashir and Jamal Akhtar

ABSTRACT

The word diet is taken from a Latin word „dieta‟ means a way of living in Greek. Ghiza (diet) is one of the vital necessities of life. During prehistoric period, most of the people considered diet only to satisfy their hunger pangs, but with the advent of medical science and preventive or community medicine, people began to realize the dietary importance as it plays a key role to maintain health and recover from various ailments. In fact diet is responsible for cellular activity, growth, reproduction and their secretion which help to perform various physiological functions. For the maintenance of health, body requires macronutrients viz., carbohydrates, protein and fat and micronutrients viz., vitamins, minerals, trace elements etc. This requirement of the body is accomplished with proper and balanced diet. It is only in 19th century A.D. that dietotherapy has become a core specialty where as Unani physicians were way ahead in incorporating dietotherapy as a separate principle of treatment as evident by Unani literature. Unani Medicine deals with different types of diet like Dawae Ghizai, Ghizae Dawai, Kaseef Ghiza, Lateef Ghiza, Motadal Ghiza and many more. Modified diets are the principal therapeutic agents in some metabolic diseases and chronic diseases and serves as a preventive measure as well as therapeutic aid. The present paper is an effort to highlight the salient features of dietotherapy as described in classical texts of Unani medicine.

Keywords: Dietotherapy, Unani Medicine, Ghiza, Nutrition, Dawa.