What Do Exclamation Points Mean?

'' Exclamations in General

Generally, exclamation points mean that a recipe or ingredient is contraindicated for a diet. Hold your mouse pointer over the exclamation icon to find out why. Contraindicated is just a fancy word for 'unhealthy' used in medical texts.

'' Fixing Recipes with Exclamation Points

Sometimes the recipe fits your diet but many of the ingredients have exclamation points next to them. In this case, the synergy of the whole recipe overcomes the qualities of individual ingredients. Some ingredients balance each other out cancelling the bad effects. For example, the hot quality of black pepper in a vinaigrette can balance the cold quality of iceberg lettuce.

The result is that Ayurveda offers you greater freedom. You can safely enjoy forbidden ingredients as long as you create a balanced formula, the recipe. Most recipes, even healthy ones, have one or two ingredients with exclamations. For example, salt is kapha aggravating, but every Kapha person needs some salt in their diet. Check to make sure the recipe itself doesn't have an exclamation point on top.

If a recipe you like has an exclamation next to the title, you may be able to substitute contra-indicated ingredients and create a similar recipe that is balanced for your dosha. Simply look for an ingredient in the recipe with an exclamation point and click on the '' button.