Shrikhand is a delectable indulgence and, like ice cream, is kapha provoking and artery clogging. Yet, shrikhand has several important edges over ice cream:

First, yogurt is fermented and more easily digestible than heavy cream. Second, ice cream usually contains dairy mixed with eggs, a bad food combination. Third, shrikhand contains spices like saffron, cardamom and nutmeg that break up the mucous forming tendencies of dairy. Nevertheless, kapha beware! Not every dish in an Indian restaurant is Ayurvedic.

Churnas and chutneys are blends of spices, herbs and/or fruits that include all six Ayurvedic tastes: sweet, pungent, salty, astringent, sour & bitter. Incorporating all six tastes balances the body and satisfies the palette. Each taste has its own physiological and emotional effect.When all six tastes aren't present, we tend to feel unsatisfied after a meal. Quite literally, there is something missing. This often leads to overeating, instinctively knowing a part of us is still unsatisfied.

Saffron and cardamom make milk easier to digest. Caution for Kapha! Cutting sugar and ghee in half will somewhat minimize the heavy, gooey and oily quality. Otherwise, use the recipe for gold milk, adding honey after cooking and cooling the recipe.

Beets provoke kapha. Tubers tend toward heaviness and beets are naturally sweet. Sugar beets, a cultivated variety of the beet we normally find in our grocery store, account for half of the world's refined sugar production. All heavy, kapha provoking foods should be lightened by spices that make them easier to digest. Otherwise, heavy foods have a tendency to bog and clog the blood.

Raw beets provoke pitta but cooked beets are pitta pacifying. Cooked beets transform the starches into sweeter sugars that are cooling. Beets cleanse and cool the blood, nourish the liver, are a gentle laxative, and improve the eyesight. Beets are good for anemia. Beet juice increases stamina and was used as an aphrodisiac in Roman times.

Pureed foods are easier to digest. They are 'pre-chewed.' Babies, convalescing patients, and vata constitutions have weak digestion. Insufficient chewing of food forces their stomachs to break down larger chunks by acids. While an easy task for a tooth it takes time and effort for acids to penetrate a chunk of food. Pureed beets are thus gentler than diced.

Beets are high in bio-flavonoids. Generally, bio-flavonoids show anti-allergic, anti-inflammatory, anti-microbial and anti-cancer activity. The body tries to get rid of bio-flavonoids soon after they are eaten. To eliminate them the body activates phase II enzymes that also help eliminate mutagens and carcinogens.