How Can This Ayurvedic Food Make You Feel Great?

AYURVEDIC ANALYSIS

The humble and bland little bean is your passport to enjoy the rich and exotic flavors of India. Mung bean is a versatile legume that absorbs flavors of other spices and herbs, retaining their purity and vibrancy. They offer a mesmerizing bellyful of contentment; a bowlful of satisfaction that could become addictive. While it fills your belly you'll also enjoy many health and nutritional benefits. Mung beans and kitchari have a long history of food and medicinal use throughout Asia and have now made their way into kitchens here in the United States and are gaining widespread popularity.

Cleansing

Are you feeling lethargic and tired? Do you feel bloated or have irregular bowel movements? Do you often see a thick white coating on your tongue? These are signs you may need a detoxifying cleanse with mung beans. The pastiness of mung bean is your cue to its cleansing action - a hint of the soluble and insoluble fibers in mung bean that literally scrape your colon clean. But it's not the only sign of mung's cleansing properties. Place a teaspoon of uncooked mung dal on your tongue. Within a minute, you will notice a dry, rough sensation in your mouth. This sensation is called astringent taste in Ayurveda. The astringent taste of mung bean helps tone your digestive organs. Along with fiber, astringency helps to purge mucus from the bowels, rooting out toxins and parasites that may be lodged in your gut.

Want to experience the cleansing and revitalizing properties of mung bean directly? Try kitchari. Simple and easy to make at home, kitchari features rice, a legume, ghee or oil, salt and spices. You may also add greens such as kale, vegetables like potatoes and squashes, or garnish with cilantro and coconut flakes. Popular kitchari spices include ginger, cumin, cayenne, cinnamon, fennel and asafoetida. To cook kitchari, boil the mung beans until soft. Fry the spices gently in ghee or oil. Then add all the ingredients to the mung bean broth, simmering until the rice is tender.

Add mung beans into your regular meal plan by replacing lunch and dinner with a hearty serving of mung bean kitchari once a week. Monday's are often the most convenient day for a kitchari fast, as you may be more motivated after a weekend of rich and heavy foods. You will benefit from increased energy, improved metabolism, regular and healthy bowel movements and reduced signs of constipation, as well as an overall boost in your immunity and general feeling of wellbeing and vitality. For enhanced cleansing, you can extend your kitchari fast (also called kitchari mono-diet) for 1-10 days. Time any type of cleanse for when you're not too busy or distracted and keep a thermos handy so you can enjoy your kitchari at work. During your cleanse, minimize or eliminate rigorous exercise, refined sugars, alcohol, and cold beverages. Replace rigorous exercise with walking or yoga, and replace beverages with warm water and / or herbal teas.

Fresh is Best

If you have a hectic lifestyle, you might find yourself surviving on overly rich, processed foods, old food, and poor eating habits, which leads to a sluggish and overburdened digestive system. While preparing your meals fresh daily may be difficult, once you gather and master a few good recipes in your cooking arsenal, cooking fresh food every day can be a great tool to reach your wellness goals. Kitchari is an easy way to enjoy fresh food. For best results, make kitchari fresh daily although one-day left overs may be okay if your digestion is strong. Keep in mind that leftover food loses its "life" quickly. Reheating (and freezing) can destroy many of the nutritional benefits.

Strengthening and Healing the Gut

Emotional stress, environmental toxins, harsh seasonal changes, illnesses, extended travel, overworking, and irregular activities can also leave your digestion in a weakened state. A simple mung bean kitchari can help reset your digestion, as well as stimulate your digestive powers so you can feel lively and light. A kitchari fast also gives your digestion a much needed rest from the assault of rich foods characteristic of modern lifestyles. Use dehulled beans whenever digestion is weak, as bean skins are difficult to digest.

Mung beans can help restore your bowels after a bout of food poisoning. Their cooling nature reduces inflammation in the digestive tract. To enhance their cooling effect, garnish with cilantro. Mung bean's fiber and astringency can help bind up loose stools in diarrhea. Mung bean kitchari is a restorative for those recovering from any illness. Literally it is the vegetarian equivalent of Grandma's proverbial 'Chicken-Soup'. Plus, it reintroduces the simplicity and austerity of wholesome, great tasting food.

Mung Beans & Weight Loss

Mung beans are a low-calorie, natural choice to help you overcome the hardest challenge of weight loss: curbing your hunger pangs and keeping your cravings quiet. How many other ingredients can boast comfort and satisfaction while restoring lightness to your step and clarity to your mind? The high fiber content in mung beans aids in cholesterol reduction and lowers blood sugar levels. Plus, mung beans are a mild diuretic which helps to reduce excess water weight. They are especially useful for edema in the lower limbs. To enhance their durietic effect, prepare them with diuretic spices like cumin, coriander and fennel, or celery and parsley.

Nutritional Information

Like most legumes, mung beans contain difficult to digest saponins. They are also high in potassium, a diuretic and astringent. They contain vitamins A, C and E, folacin, phosphorous, magnesium, iron and calcium. They are also a source of phytoestrogens.

ABOUT MUNG BEAN

Looking for a new way to keep your body refreshed and cleansed this summer? Mung beans can help you keep your cool when the days are hot. These nourishing legumes are also famous for their cleansing abilities in Ayurveda.

BUYING & PREPARATION

Mung beans (often spelled moong) may be found in Indian or Asian grocery stores. Mung beans with the skin are green. Split mung beans without the skin are yellow. Green mung beans with the skin intact can be sprouted, while the hulled, split variety cannot. We recommend split mung beans for those with weak digestion, and sprouted mung beans for improved nutrition if you can digest it without gas.

Like most legumes, mung beans contain difficult to digest saponins. Fortunately, saponins are water soluble. To reduce saponins, soak the beans overnight then strain the water the following morning. Or, boil for ten minutes until the water turns sudsy then strain. You may also follow these techniques to improve digestibility and reduce gaseyness in beans.

COOKING MUNG BEAN

Browse Recipes Mung beans can be spiced in countless ways. They are simple to cook, cost-effective, and versatile. They are most often cooked into a soup (or dal) in India. Or, they may be ground with rice to a thick paste and fermented, then fried into a delicious thin pancake known as a dosa. The fermented paste may also be used to make idly, a tasty dumpling served with rich yogurt sauces. In Indonesia, mung beans are also featured in sweet dishes cooked with coconut milk, sugar or jaggery, and ginger.

For the Chinese, drinking a bowl of cold sweet mung bean soup is an every day habit in summer - it's a delicious dessert with medicinal properties that cool down your system in the heat. In China, sweet mung paste is also frozen into an ice-cream.

WHY EAT AN AYURVEDIC DIET?

Eating Ayurvedically makes you feel nourished and energized. An Ayurvedic diet is tailored to your individual body type and the specific imbalances you are working with at any given time. Ayurveda shows you your specific body type’s needs and what should be favored in your Ayurvedic menu. Watch as you eat less but feel more satisfied because what you are eating truly nourishes you. Since Ayurveda believes all disease begins in the digestive tract, food is your first medicine. By eating a healthy diet that’s ideal for your body, you experience optimal health.

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Is Mung Bean Good for My Ayurvedic Diet?

Find out by taking this free, easy quiz. You'll learn your body type, and whether Mung Bean is a good fit for you. Time to complete: approximately 1 minute.

AYURVEDIC MEDICINAL BIOCHARACTERISTICS

What is the biocharacteristic theory of medicine?

INCREASES Increases These Biocharacteristics (Gunas) Functional Ayurveda helps you assess imbalances through 20 main biocharacteristics (gunas). Aggravating these characteristics weakens your body and causes imbalance. By knowing which characteristics are habitually imbalanced in your body, you will be able to identify and correct imbalances before you get sick. Every characteristic has an opposite which balances it (i.e. hot balances cold). You restore balance by favoring diet and lifestyle choices that increase the opposite characteristic. Learn More	DRY ABOUT DRY BIOCHARACTERISTIC Dry is identified by lack of moisture, lack of fat, or anything that causes diuresis. LEARN MORE ABOUT DRY CLEAR ABOUT CLEAR BIOCHARACTERISTIC Clear refers to anything that cleanses or flushes out wastes, or that digests ama. LEARN MORE ABOUT CLEAR COLD ABOUT COLD BIOCHARACTERISTIC Cold refers to anything that reduces body temperature, metabolism, and blood flow. LEARN MORE ABOUT COLD EASY ABOUT EASY BIOCHARACTERISTIC Easy refers to anything easy to digest, or digests quickly. LEARN MORE ABOUT EASY LIGHT ABOUT LIGHT BIOCHARACTERISTIC Lightness is identified by reduced weight. LEARN MORE ABOUT LIGHT
TASTES The 6 Tastes Taste is used to sense the most basic properties and effects of food. Each taste has a specific medicinal effect on your body. Cravings for food with certain tastes indicate your body is craving specific medicinal results from food. Taste is experienced on the tongue and represents your body's reaction to foods. Sweet taste causes physical satisfaction and attraction whereas bitter taste causes discomfort and aversion. Kapha should use less sweet taste while Vata and Pitta would benefit from using more sweet taste. One of the first signs of illness is that your taste and appetite for food changes. The six tastes are sweet, sour, salty, pungent, bitter, and astringent. Do you crave foods with any of the tastes below? Learn More	ASTRINGENT ABOUT ASTRINGENT BIOCHARACTERISTIC Astringency is characterized by constriction, drawing together, or drying. LEARN MORE ABOUT ASTRINGENT
DOSHAS The Three Doshas / Body Types According to the biocharacteristic theory of medicine, people tend to get sick, over and over again, due to habitual causes and imbalances that are unique to the person. Your body type summarizes this tendency, showing you the 'type' of conditions and imbalances that frequently challenge your health & wellness. Using body type, you can also identify remedies likely to improve your strength and resiliency. Your body type identifies physical and mental characteristics as well as your personal strengths and weaknesses. The calculation of your body type is based on your medical history. The 3 functional body types (doshas), are Catabolic (Vata), Metabolic (Pitta), and Anabolic (Kapha). Catabolic individuals tend to break down body mass into energy. Metabolic individuals tend to burn or use energy. Anabolic individuals tend to store energy as body mass. Catabolic people tend to be easily stimulated, hyperactive, underweight and dry. Metabolic people tend to be rosy-cheeked, easily irritated, focused, driven, and easily inflamed. Anabolic people are heavy, stable and grounded, but if they store too much energy, they could gain weight easily and have congestion. Learn More	PACIFIES AGGRAVATES
HAS THE FOLLOWING	EFFECT: Acidifying ACIDIFYING An herb that creates an acidic pH in the blood chemistry. LEARN MORE ABOUT ACIDIFYING , Ojas OJAS Ojas is the essence of healthy tissue, immunity, stable energy and happiness. Substances that improve ojas are recommended after long-term illness, debility, emotional and physical trauma, and even sadness. LEARN MORE ABOUT OJAS , Sattvic SATTVIC Sattvic foods promote awareness and a refreshed mind by nourishing the body without taxing digestion. Sattvic foods do not stimulate desire or nervous energy. They create clarity instead of drowsiness or heaviness. LEARN MORE ABOUT SATTVIC TYPE: Beans Legumes ELEMENT: Air AIR Resembles air (vayu) in quality - highly mobile, drying, light, cold, subtle, rough. LEARN MORE ABOUT AIR NUTRIENT: Protein COLOR: Green

MEDICINAL PROPERTIES

Experiences are Personal

Experiences vary according to the person and constitution. Individual results may vary. The list of herbal-actions below has not be approved by the FDA and should not be used to treat a medical condition.

Here are the herbal actions of Mung Bean:

Digestion:

Antacid

ANTACID

Herbs that neutralize acidity in the gastrointestinal tract, the stomach in particular.

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Cleanse and Detox:

Detoxicant

DETOXICANT

An herb that eliminates or metabolizes toxins from the body.

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Energy Vitality Strength:

Nutritive

NUTRITIVE

An herb that is strengthening and nourishing.

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Heart & Circulation:

Styptic

STYPTIC

A herb that contracts tissue or blood vessels. Generally styptics are astringent. They are often used to stop bleeding.

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Kidney & Urinary:

Diuretic

DIURETIC

Herbs that promote urine formation, thereby flushing the kidneys and urinary tract while eliminating any excess water retention. As diuretics reduce water retention, they are often used to reduce blood pressure.

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Bowel-Poop-Elimination:

Constipative

CONSTIPATIVE

An herb that binds stools / stops diarrhea. When used in excess, these herbs and foods can cause constipation.

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General Laxative

GENERAL-LAXATIVE

Promotes a bowel movement. General laxative is an umbrella term that refers to several different types of laxatives...

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High Fiber Laxative

HIGH-FIBER-LAXATIVE

A class of laxative that adds bulk and water to stools. The size of a stool stimulates peristalsis and the stool passes more easily through the colon. It is important to drink plenty of water when using high fiber laxatives, as they can be dehydrating.

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Joyful Belly is a recognized school of biocharacteristics medicine.