About Clear

Elements: Ether, Air
Balanced by 'Gooey', 'Heavy', 'Oily'.
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Clear food has the ability to either clear the 1) digestive tract, 2) blood and lymphatic system, 3) mind or 4) mucus or fluid stagnation in any organ. Clear foods reduce fluids and metabolize or purge toxic buildup (ama) from tissues. Clear foods reduce muscle and fat tissue (called karshana and lekhana in Ayurveda).

Cleansing, fasting, and an excessively light diet can indicate or create clear quality in the body. Inspiration, awe, open mindedness, forgetting one's cultural heritage or homeland, divorce, travel and grief can indicate or create clear quality in the mind.

Clear foods and herbs help heal wounds. Clear foods generally lack sweet, sticky, gooey, or oily qualities. Instead, they are bitter, sharp, warm, drying, and light. Turmeric clears the blood because it dilates blood vessels, improving circulation. Dandelion clears the blood because bitters help metabolise cholesterol, fats and sugars. Dandelion is also a diuretic, flushing water stagnation. Aloe vera clears the digestive tract because it is a slight laxative. Mint, like many aromatic herbs, refreshes and clears the mind and respiratory tract. Lemon clears the liver and gall bladder by draining excess bile. Black pepper clears tissues by irritating them. Heat clears by purging the sweat glands.

Kapha needs clear quality the most. Vata craves clear quality too much, to the point of creating deficiency. The body naturally cleanses during the spring. Spring is also the season where the body needs the most help with cleansing and detoxification.

Examples: Salt, Neem, Haritaki, Weight Away

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