An Ayurvedic meal is completed with deserts or sweets and is usually served with the main course rather than at the end. Ayurveda suggests sweets if eaten at the end of the meal may cause congestion and sinus problems. Therefore it should be eaten before meals or with meals. In India, sweets are integrally related with ceremonies, festivals and auspicious moments.

Sweets aggravate Kapha and therefore people with Kapha dosha and also diabetes and high cholesterol should restrict its consumption. It is a nutritious dish and malnourished and poorly built people are encouraged to have sweets. The important sweet dishes are :

• Almond kheer is a popular sweet dish, which is delicious and at the same time very nutritious.

• Date kheer is usually served hot and the saffron and cardamom in thepreparation helps it to digest it easily.

• Rice kheer is a common Indian desert cooked on all auspicious occasions.

• Roasted vermicelli kheer is a delicious sweet dish prepared with a special type of ingredient vermicelli, which is locally called sewai.

• Carrot halwa is a sweet dish usually prepared during the winter season and is very nutritious.

• Sheera should be served warm and for people with Kapha prakriti, add a pinch or two of ginger.