My opinion on Ayurveda, ‘cooling foods’ and ‘warming foods’

In Ayurveda, food is categorised by its energetic effect on the body, cooling or heating, rather than its physical temperature.

Ayurveda generally recommends avoiding ‘cooling foods’ such as raw foods, and eat majority ‘warming foods’. Ayurveda states that cooking (boiling or steaming) makes foods easier to digest and acts as pre-digestion, preventing sluggish digestion.
I disagree with this statement for plant-based foods. Cooking your fruits and vegetables means you are breaking and destroying natural digestive enzymes in the plants. These enzymes assist in the digestive process, therefore cooking means your digestion relies more heavily on the body’s own digestive enzymes and stomach acid. For people with reduced digestive capacity e.g. low stomach acid (symptoms include reflux and burping) then cooking your foods is making it harder to digest without the plants natural digestive enzymes. 

Ayurveda states people with weak digestive fire may feel discomfort, when they eat or drink food that is too cold. That cooling foods inhibits digestive fire and leads to toxins to accumulate. 
I also disagree with this, if you are experiencing discomfort eating foods it’s likely not the temperature of the food but more the way you are combining the food with other foods, or you may have an intolerance, or you have a deeper gut issue like a imbalance in gut bacteria. Eating cooling foods doesn’t cause toxins to accumulate, quite the opposite in most cases, cooling foods such as fruits and vegetables are very beneficial to releasing toxins from the body.

Ayurveda teaches that foods with sweet, bitter and astringent tastes tend to cool the body, while sour, salty, and pungent foods increase heat.
I do agree with this. Generally, spicy foods (e.g. chilli) challenge the digestive system and cause gas and bloating. This is because they contain a compound called capsaicin. This is a chemical the plant produces to deter animals and fungi from consuming it. So, naturally and biologically, we aren’t meant to be consuming hot spices or chilli.