Digestive Effects Written by John Joseph Immel, Asheville, NC

Ayurveda harnasses the power of food to heal. Food can make us light or heavy, dry or oily, hot or cold, etc. We call these properties of food digestive effects. Western medicine uses the nutritional effects of food butt ayurveda believes good digestion is the first step to good nutrition. Every recipe, ingredient, and spice on Joyful Belly is keyed by digestive effect.

Let's look at the example to the right for pumpkin. The first row gives dosha, the second row guna, and the third row taste. The slash through the V means pumpkin provokes Vata. Cold means that pumpkins have a cooling effect on the body for several hours after digestion. Sweet means that pumpkin has sweet taste.