The order in which food is consumed is important.
Heavy to digest, fatty, sweet, solid foods – such as sweet dishes – are consumed at the beginning of the meal. The traditional practice of serving sweets at the beginning of a meal is based on this theory. In the middle of the meal, food that is predominantly sour and salty – such as sambar and rasam in the South Indian meal – is consumed. At the end of the meal, light, easy to digest, dry (not fatty), liquid type of food is consumed. Buttermilk is an example of such a food.
These days, perhaps under the influence of the Western habit of having a dessert at the end of the meal, we have taken to consuming sweets at the end of the meal. The advantage of eating the sweet dish at the beginning of a meal is that after this heavy food, we can correctly estimate the remaining quantity we need to eat.
A more important reason has to do with the relationship of the doshas to the process of digestion. Food when consumed in this order gets digested properly.
Abraham Thomas If the sweets were made of jaggery, I'd agree.
Aparna Krishnan In ayurveda jaggery is not advised, sugar (the traditional boora sugar maybe) is advised. Regular use of jaggery can cause worms, blood disorders and many other pronlem. Yes, modern medicine says something contrary.
Abraham Thomas Sugar is the bleached version of jaggery as far I know. Jaggery is rich in iron, micronutrients, and fibre. Worms perhaps because those days handling the jaggery was perhaps not so hygienic
Aparna Krishnan No, sugar, the traditionally purified form, is what is superior for the body as per the ayurvedic texts, Jaggery, even if rich in iron, is bad for the body in many ways if taken regularly.
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