Let Your Food Be Your Medicine

Remember, your food becomes you! Eat to nourish your body, calm your mind and satisfy your senses. There is a saying in Ayurveda, “When diet is wrong medicine is of no use. When diet is correct medicine is of no need.”

You Are What You Eat: The Alchemy of Food into Consciousness

Imagine having a warm bowl of soup on a cold winter day. The soft and warm qualities of the soup help to counteract the cold and rigid qualities we experience in a cold climate. As the body becomes nourished with the warm soup, the body relaxes and the mind feels a sense of peace and fulfillment. A calm mind produces calm clear thinking, clear thinking allows for balanced emotions. A calm and balanced mental and emotional state determines our beliefs and our actions. Our actions determine our life!

Remember this  simple  guideline in choosing food; opposites create balance, respectively, like increases like. For example, when you feel excess heat in your body or your mind (a rash on your skin, acidic digestion or feeling hot tempered) chill out with some mint tea, a piece of sweet fruit or incorporate cooling herbs and spices like fennel or cilantro in your food. Conversely, a night out at a Mexican cantina, snacking on chips, salsa and a margarita, would be like pouring gasoline on a blazing fire.

*Remembering these simple guidelines when making diet and lifestyle choices will have a profound effect on the quality of your life *

Variety is the Spice of Life

An important principle of Ayurveda is the emphasis on the combination of the six tastes: sweet, pungent, salty, astringent, sour and bitter. Incorporating all six tastes in your meal has physiological and emotional effects, in addition to supporting digestion. When all six tastes are not present, we tend to feel unsatisfied after a meal. Quite literally, there is something missing.

Keep it Simple

Foods listed in bold are the most nourishing and most easily assimilated by our body. This is a crucial factor in building healthy tissue and ensuring the body functions at its optimum. Make these foods a regular part of your diet.

Grains: Aged rice, wheat, barley, oats, couscous, amaranth, millet, and rye

Cooked Vegetables: Squash (snake gourd, obo, kabocha, butternut, acorn, delicata), okra, eggplant, radish, sweet potato, bamboo shoots, bitter melon, spinach, onion, daikon radish, avocado, carrots, beets, parsnip, asparagus, artichoke, bok choy, broccoli, brussels spouts, burdock root, cabbage, cauliflower, green beans, leafy greens, peas, zucchini, cauliflower, leeks, kohlarabi, turnip

Fruits: Coconut, dates, grapes, mango, pomegranates, raisins, persimmons, apricot, banana, all berries, cherries, figs, grapefruit, kiwi, lemons, limes, oranges, papaya, plums, peaches, pineapple, rhubarb, strawberries, cranberries, pears, prunes

Legumes (soaked and well cooked): Mung beans, aduki beans, red lentils beans, black-eyed peas, chana dal, garbanzo beans, kidney beans, pinto beans, navy beans, split peas, white beans, black beans

Nuts & Seeds: Sesame seeds, almonds, charoli, pumpkin seeds, brazil nuts, cashews, coconut, hazelnut, macadamia nut, pecans, pistachio, walnuts, chia, flax seeds, sunflower seeds, hemp seeds, poppy seeds

Fresh Dairy: Raw cow’s milk, ghee, butter, goat milk, home made buttermilk, unsalted cheese

Meat: Buffalo, bone broth, goat, rabbit, chicken, turkey, lamb

Occasional: beef, fish, seafood, duck, chicken eggs, duck eggs, pig

Sweeteners: Raw honey, jaggery, rock sugar, raw sugar cane, rapadura maple syrup, sucanat, turbinado sugar, solcano

Oils: Sesame, ghee, unsalted butter, olive oil, peanut oil, coconut oil, flax oil (never heat) hemp oil, pumpkin seed oil

Spices: Most spices are beneficial, ginger, cumin, cardamom, fennel, coriander, cinnamon, saffron, turmeric, cilantro, dill, mint, neem leaves, black pepper, cayenne, chili, long pepper, cloves, garlic, horseradish, mustard seeds, nutmeg, onion, paprika, thyme, rosemary, sage, marjoram, hing, …

Avoid Completely (Ideally, or when ill)

Raw leafy greens & raw vegetables

Yogurt

All fermented foods (sauerkraut, miso, kim chee, kombucha, soy sauce, …)

Mushrooms

Sprouts

Tomatoes/Ketchup

Vinegar

Table Salt

Ice Cream

Cold drinks

Smoothies

Fried & Fatty Foods

Cheese

Molasses

Frozen Food

Dried Meats & Vegetables

Leftovers

Sour Dough Bread

Processed and canned foods

Sandwich -

Salted Butter

Special “Stand alone foods” (Food combining)

Fresh Fruits

Milk should be taken alone or with other sweet tastes. Allow 1½ hours before having other foods.

Milk should not be taken with vegetables, meat, fish, sour foods, salt or eggs. This includes milk with most cereals (read the ingredients on the label, cereals generally have salt) and cheeses made with salt. Keep this principle if you have the habit (a good habit to break!) of having milk with coffee or tea with meals.

Timing – general guidelines

Eat only when you are hungry and only after the previous meal has been digested. Generally, it takes 6 hours to digest a meal. If you wake up hungry, have a light breakfast. If you aren’t hungry in the morning skip breakfast. Eat your main meal of the day, around noon when your digestive fire is strongest. Dinner should be light and eaten close to 6PM. Avoid snacking between meals.

Helpful Hints

* Use organic ingredients ~ Fresh, seasonal & local whenever possible

* Prepare and eat your meals in a peaceful environment

*  Chew slowly, mindfully & with gratitude

*  If your digestion is sluggish, chew a slice of fresh ginger with a little lemon juice to stoke your digestive fires and appetite

* Do not eat cooked foods and raw foods at the same meal since they require different types of digestion

• Avoid combining heavy and light foods

* Fill your stomach with 1/2 food, 1/4 warm water and leave 1/4 empty for digestion

* Remember, good fats are good for you. One teaspoon of ghee at each meal is a wonderful way to nourish the body.

* Cook with digestion-stimulating spices. Spices like dried ginger, turmeric, cumin, coriander and ajwan not only enhance digestion, they also help flush toxins out of the body and help improve absorption and assimilation of nutrients.

* Use only real, unprocessed salt. (Salt should have some color and moisture.) Saindav rock salt has the most nourishing qualities of the many varieties of salt.

* Soaking grains, lentils, nuts and seeds for 30-60 minutes in warm water helps make them easier to digest. Soaking them in water overnight is even better. Cooking with asafetida (hing) helps avoid gas and bloating associated with digesting beans.

* Add pungent spices to rice cooked with meat and/or vegetables to aid the digestion process.

* Each morning, have one to two glasses of warm water to hydrate the body and stimulate the digestive system.

* Drink beverages at room temperature or warm. Avoid cold drinks.

*Drink only when you are thirsty. Too much liquid weakens digestion

*Boil your drinking water. It makes it easier for the body to assimilate. Use fresh water daily. Water that sits overnight is hared for the body to digest.

*Traditional Indian foods are not necessarily Ayurvedic

* The most important ingredient is your intent. Infuse your food with Love & Gratitude!

Ayurveda is beginning to blossom in the West because of its practical approach to self care. At it’s foundation, Ayurveda is logical, accessible and truly holistic. With a few basic concepts we are able to maintain and restore balance physically, mentally and emotionally.

In the ancient Ayurvedic texts we are reminded that ‘like increases like and opposites balance.’
This is such an exquisitely simple tool for understanding how to cultivate harmony in our lives.

Vata is responsible for all movement in the body. This includes breathing, sensory functions, elimination and all motor skills. In the mind it governs creativity, clarity of thought, flexibility, feelings of joy and enthusiasm. When out of balance Vata manifests as fear, anxiety, fatigue, constipation, dry skin, insomnia, absent mindedness (‘air- head’) and an intolerance to cold.

General Guidelines for Balancing Vata:

* Follow a regular daily routine
*Keep calm, meditate, listen to calming music, breathe, relax
*Keep warm, avoid extreme cold. Take warm showers and baths
*Do gentle exercises like yoga, tai chi, take walks, swim
*Massage the body daily with warm sesame oil
*Go to bed early, rest when tired, take naps
*Follow creative and artistic passions

Diet:

Foods that are in season such as root vegetables and winter squash will help nourish and balance the body. Try carrots, beets, sweet potatoes, pumpkin, acorn, butternut, delicata and buttercup squashes. These have the qualities of sweet, heavy, smooth, dense and moist and are most balancing for vata. Casseroles, soups and stews are easily digested and can be very nourishing for vata, warming the body from the inside out.

*Eat warm, nourishing, fresh cooked foods and warming spices
*Favor foods with sweet, sour and salty tastes.
*Limit foods with bitter, pungent and astringent tastes
*Eat warming spices like ginger, cumin, coriander, cardamom, black pepper, and cinnamon
*Incorporate ghee, sesame oil and other healthful oils in the diet
* Eat at routine times each day, having lunch be the largest meal.                                                              * Avoid ice cold drinks, particularly taken with meals or immediately after
* Limit raw, cold foods such as salads and raw vegetables
* Minimize caffeinated beverages and other stimulants

Try Spiced Oatmeal For Breakfast :

In a medium saucepan over low heat, heat 1 Tbsp Ghee (clarified butter) with 1 tsp cinnamon, 1/4 teaspoon cardamom, 1/4 tsp ginger and a dash of nutmeg and clove just until the scent is released from the spices.

Add 2 cups water, 1/4 teaspoon salt and 1/4 cup raisins or 1/4 cup chopped prunes and bring to a boil.

Stir in 1 cup organic rolled oats.

Let the cereal come to a boil again and then reduce the heat to low and simmer until it reaches a smooth creamy consistency.

Serve with maple syrup or agave as a sweetener.
For sweeteners, never heat honey, it creates a toxic effect in the body.
Avoid molasses as it is a cause of imbalance.

Options: Add raw nuts or seeds, best if soaked overnight to make them more digestible

Before Bed:
Have  warm milk spiced with a pinch of ginger, cinnamon, cardamom and nutmeg to calm the nerves and promote a restful sleep

Your Yoga Practice:

Focus on the breath keeping it deep, slow and rhythmic
Emphasize the inhalation

Practice asanas that are grounding, stabilizing and strengthening to pacify Vata:
Standing poses like Virabhadasana 1and 3 (Warrior 1and 3),Vrksasana (Tree Pose), and Utkatasana(chair pose) practiced with an awareness of the feet on the ground and the strength and weight of the leg muscles and bones.

Calming poses like balasana (child pose), savasana (corpse pose), uttanasana (forward bend), and pashchimottanasana (full forward bend) calm the nervous system.

May All Beings Everywhere Be Happy, Peaceful and Free

लोकः समासतः सुकिनोह भवन्तु