follow up: I-yer-vay-duh

As promised, a follow up to my post on Ayurveda, here are some dietary recommendations for each of the doshas. I've also included a fun "how to imbalance your constitution" for each of the doshas.  This was written by one of the instructors at IHN, so I cannot take credit for it!  Please also see my kitchari recipe; this dish is excellent for balancing all of the doshas. Let me know if you have any questions or if you're interested in learning more about the doshas and/or Ayurveda in general.

Food	Vata (sweet, sour, salty)	Pitta (bitter, sweet, astringent)	Kapha (bitter, astringent, pungent)
What	Warm, moist, nourishing, grounding, rich	Cool, dry, not very spicy, not oily, some raw, some sweet	Dry, low GI foods, warm, light
How	Eat when free from anxiety, with attention, eat with others	Don’t eat when angry, irritated or rushing, cultivate gratitude for food, don’t skip meals and eat when it’s too late at night or when you’re too hungry	Be extra careful about emotional eating, are you really physically hungry?  Good to occasionally skip a meal and don’t nap after eating
When	Smaller meals, snack throughout the day	Classic schedule: Breakfast, lunch, dinner	Don’t snack, wait to eat until you are physically hungry.  Main meal at noon, light breakfast and dinner.  Exercise before eating, avoid sleeping after eating
Grains	Encouraged to eat pasta, rice, potatos, bread.  Basmati and jasmine rice (be careful with brown, wild and black), quinoa, wheat (unless celiac) grain porridges are good but soak grains overnight and cooked well with digestive spices such as ginger, cinnamon), oats, millet (but not all the time)	Can handle most grains, drying grains are particularly good i.e. millet and rye.  Pittas should have a good amount of whole grains in their diet	Millet, basmati, quinoa, rye, barley, buckwheat are all okay but are also dry and heavy.  Porridge is not a good idea but millet is okay in small quantities, soaked overnight and served with digestive spices
Veg	90-100% of veg should be cooked and seasoned with oil and spice, only 10% raw, unless juicing.  Avoid cruciferous veg, careful with artichokes and asparagus	All vegetables are good, up to 50% can be raw	All vegetables are good as long as they are cooked.  Not a lot of raw (25%)
Fruit	Avocado is excellent, other fruit is okay in medium quantities, juicing is good, apples should be cooked, avoid dried fruit unless they are stewed	Fruit is good but careful with acidic fruits i.e. lemon, lime, orange, grapefruit.  Pittas should eat lots of fruit	Eat low GI index fruits, low quantities, avoid dried fruit
Animal	Need to eat meat and fish, eggs, chicken, turkey, fresh fish.  Small amount of raw fish is okay	Fish is better for pitta.  Should not eat large amounts of meat but can eat all meats.  Be careful with pork and lamb	Medium amount of raw fish okay.  Kapha needs meat the least because kapha retains nourishment best.  Small quantities, but all types are fine.  Careful with seafood.  Eggs are good for kapha
Dairy	All dairy good, raw organic milk is best, served warm with spices.  Fermented dairy is particularly good i.e. kefir, aged cheeses	All dairy is good, but minimize fermented dairy and strong cheese	Avoid dairy.  If having dairy, most strongly fermented is best, and also light cheeses (cream cheese) in small quantities
Legumes	Mung, lentil, are best, cooked with digestive spices, tofu	All beans, but cook with digestive spices	Mung, lentil and other light beans (black beans)
Nuts and seeds (all doshas should have more seesd than nuts)	Small quantities, must be prepared i.e. sprouted or roasted, avoid raw.  Nut milks are fine, nut and seed butters are fine in small quantities	Good with nuts in terms of digestion, but need to be careful with quantity because oil tends to show up as some sort of inflamed condition in the body i.e. skin.  Raw nuts and seeds are fine for pitta	Avoid raw nuts and seeds but roasted and sprouted are okay in small quantities.  Kapha can handle more nuts than vata but must be careful due to heavy/oily nature.
Oils	Sesame, ghee, coconut, but mostly all oils are good	Small quantities.  Olive, grapeseed, coconut, almond, ghee	Olive and grapeseed in moderation, hemp and flax, almond, sunflower
Sweeteners	All in small quantities: fruit, fruit juices, molasses, jaggery maple syrup	Stay away from refined sugars, have whole sweeteners (raw honey, maple syrup, jaggery)	Minimize sugars, small amounts of raw honey, maple syrup

Remember, below are suggested ways to imbalance your doshas!  

How to imbalance Vata: worry, fast, don't get enough sleep, eat on the run, keep no routine whatsoever, eat dry, frozen, leftover foods, run around a lot, never moisturize your skin, work the graveyard shift, avoid tranquil, warm, moist places, use drugs, indulge all of your feelings and thoughts.

How to imbalance Pitta: drink plenty of alcohol, eat spicy food, engage in highly competitive activities, eat lots of tomatos, chilis, raw onions, sour foods and yogurt, exercise at the hottest time of the day, wear tight, hot clothes, avoid cool, fresh, peaceful places, snack on salty foods, eat as much deep fried foods as possible.

How to imbalance Kapha: take nice long naps after meals, eat lots of fatty foods and sweets, overeat as often and as much as possible, refuse to take any risks, be a couch potato, assume someone else will do it, avoid invigorating, warm, dry areas, don't exercise, dwell on dead romances, unrequited love, old grudges, and thinks you can't leave behind, make sure you get at least one dessert every day, preferably cheesecake or ice cream.

Did any of these make you giggle?  

Awareness is key,

xo