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Melting Fat & Shedding Dogs: Late Winter & Early Spring in Ayurveda Written by John Joseph Immel, Asheville, NC

10 Good Eating Habits | Eating for the Season | Melting Fat & Shedding Dogs: Late Winter & Early Spring in Ayurveda

An Ideal Season for Weight Loss

January is traditionally the coldest month of the year in North America. Ayurvedically, January is a month of transition from Vata to Kapha season. Vata season is characterized by the body scrambling to protect itself from ever dropping temperatures (see Fall/Early Winter). As soon as temperatures bottom out and begin to rise, the pattern shifts from building to releasing. Literally the body melts fat much as a dog sheds fur. Late winter & early spring are thus ideal seasons for begining a new diet and losing weight (see Spring Diet). Spring fasting, the traditional time of year for many Native American cultures, helps cleanse the blood after a long winter of fatty, heavy foods.

Useful Products for Losing Weight and Managing Cravings

• Gymnema Sylvestre - Destroys the taste and craving for sugar, regulates blood sugar levels
• Weight Away - Helpful with weight loss and cleansing
• Trikatu - Improves metabolism and destroys Kapha
• Triphala - Cleansing action supports weight loss
• Triphala Guggulu - Aids fat metabolism and detoxification
• Neem - Destroys sweet cravings
• Ginger - Improves digestion, circulation and metabolism
• Cardamom - Refreshes the palate and destroys cravings

A Season of Transition

Late winter and early spring is a kapha watery season of warming temperatures lasting from February to mid-May. Outside, snow melts making the rivers full and muddy. Warm temperatures encourage tender young sprouts and sweet sap to run in the vasculature of maple trees. Our internal landscape reflects mother nature's. Spring is a time of cleansing and renewal. Kapha fat along with toxins melt away from tissues and into the blood, making the blood sweet. Blood plasma and toxins are our metaphorical maple syrup and muddy river, releasing a flood of mucus in allergy season.

Rich Blood

Late winter & early spring is Kapha season. Melting fat enriches the blood provoking Kapha dosha. Liver heat is responsible for moving the blood and metabolizing it. However, blood that is too rich and thick clogs circulation and the liver. Clinically, the symptoms of spring Kapha are stiff muscles, arterial plaque buildup, mucus & hay fever. Allergy season is a sign of aggravated Kapha. Turmeric is a powerful blood mover that restores circulation, cleanses the liver and re-ignites metabolism (via rasa dhatu agni). Spring is the season of bitters. Bitter cholagogues such as turmeric and dandelion root aid the cleansing process by draining the excess fats from the blood and depositing them, in the form of bile, into the digestion tract.

Spring Diet

Eat a dry kapha pacifying diet favoring bitters.

Include drying grains, for example, like barley and corn, warming spices that open the blood like ginger and turmeric, and warming bitters like dandelion and arugula. Take triphala to keep bowels clear and aid the cleansing process. Avoid heavy, oily, sweet and salty foods such as red meat and dairy

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