Cooked zucchini is extremely easy to digest, making it a favorite for clients suffering from constipation, acid reflux, fatigue after meals, and many other disorders. It is very low in calories making it good for weight loss.
Date sugar is a complex cabrohydrate that takes longer to digest, thus releasing it's energy more slowly over time into the body. Dates contain phyto-hormones for women that tonify reproductive organs.
Cool and soothing, verdant and fragrant, fennel is a member of the carrot family that includes other popular spices such as cumin, coriander, dill and celery. Fennel is used as a flavoring in some natural toothpastes and mouth fresheners. Fennel seeds...
Red meat strongly rebuilds deficient blood. It is especially useful in late summer and early fall. Red meat increases Pitta and Kapha. Too much red meat clogs the lymphatic system (Kapha blocking Vata in rasa dhatu), and causes blood stangation...
The dark meat of chicken is oily and has a rich fat content, making it a grounding, nourishing meat for Vata and Pitta. Chicken is an excellent choice to balance conditions of dryness and debility by giving the body strong protein with a heavy dose...
Aromatic, pungent, astringent & sedating. A soporific digestive spice famous for its use in insomnia and cold type diarrhea. It is popular in spiced desserts such as egg nog. Excessive doses can cause hallucinations.
Sweet potato is unique among comfort foods for its Kapha pacifying lightness. This tuber is beneficial even for those with heavy digestive symptoms. Unlike dairy products, potatoes, and other common comfort foods like pasta, sweet potatoes feel light...
Caffeine shifts awareness from the heart chakra to the third eye. New trades routes brought caffeinated beverages to Europe creating an 'Age of Enlightenment' and ending the middle ages. Ayurveda comes from an older time where the mind was not separate...
Golden, sun-kissed, and rich with vitality, flower bee pollen is often called "nature's multivitamin." Collected by honeybees from flowering plants, each granule is a potent blend of nectar, enzymes, pollen, and bee secretions—alive with prana and...
The entire nightshade family (solanaceae) aggravates Vata and Pitta, due to the weak liver of these two body types. All peppers aggravate Pitta due to heat. Note that black pepper...
Culinary sage, although a diaphoretic, has an anhidrotic action - it prevents excessive sweating. This is useful in night sweats of all kinds - from chronic febrile conditions to menopausal syndrome. Culinary sage stimulates the...
Often used for weight loss, vinegar strongly increases the flow of bile. Bile is a fatty, oily substance made by the liver, and stored in the gall bladder. It helps you digest fats. Since bile is also a fatty oily substance, draining bile from the...
Cauliflower causes gas in Vata types.
Buckwheat's hearty warmth hits the spot on any damp cloudy day in November. Enjoy as you snuggle up with your loved ones, or while listening to crackling logs in a wood burning stove. Smoky, nutty and earthy, buckwheat is slightly demulcent like...
Goji berry is called wolfberry in Chinese medicine because it is a member of the nightshade family.
Acai means fruit that cries. Acai is a sweet & juicy fruit with a satisfying purple pulp. It provides rich nutrition, high antioxidant value, and fiber.
Sunflower oil is a relatively safe, neutral oil for all three doshas. However, deep fried food aggravates all three doshas. Fried food aggravates Vata due to dryness, Pitta due to excess bile production, and Kapha due to heaviness.
Cottage cheese is easier to digest and lighter than most other dairy products. Ysha Oakes recommends mixing Cottage Cheese with flax seed oil and spices like black pepper and turmeric.
Hot and stimulating, dried ginger kindles the digestive fire, supports healthy circulation, and melts away sluggishness.
Blue spirulina is less fishy, higher calcium, and an amazing blue food dye.
Tobacco, a member of the nightshade family, aggravates all three doshas. Kapha in the lungs, Pitta in the liver vitiating the blood, and Vata due to the mobile quality. People crave tobacco because it temporarily stimulates the lungs and...
Fish is lighter than poultry or meat. Although all meat is considered heavy and tamasic, we are labeling fish as sattvic relative to poultry and red meat.
Promotes strength and solidity. Anabolic, but without creating stagnation. Regulates estrogen (phytoestrogens can increase or decrease estrogen as needed). Liver, Spleen Yin Tonic. Alfalfa is a urinary & GI membrane restorative. (Source: Holmes)
In the Middle Ages, caraway seeds were served with a bit of sugar as a digestive after a big meal, much the way sugar coated fennel is eaten after a meal in India.
Causes Weight Gain The abundance of starch in potato and their high glycemic index cause weight gain.This heaviness puts you to sleep and can slow digestion. Cools Inflammation Potatoes, un-remedied by spices...
Black beans are a rich source of vegetable protein, easing any meat cravings for those seeking satiation. The shiny obsidian quality of the beans are a beautiful addition to any meal, providing an earthy depth and dark contrast. Black beans appear...
Thyme tea has been used to stop gastric fermentation. It may be mixed with honey for sore throats. It's diaphoretic properties make it useful to sweat out a fever.
Anything you eat must be completely rehydrated in order to digest it. That means dry foods like corn could absorb too much fluids for deficiency, dehydrated Vata typs. Corn is also drying in the colon as it continues to absorb moisture, leading to...
In Norse mythology, apples are said to provide eternal youthfulness. Apples appear in many religious traditions, including the bible, often as a forbidden fruit. Apples originated in Western Asia, where its wild ancestor still grows today. There are...
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Founder of Joyful Belly Ayurveda, John Immel, answers the question ‘What is Ayurveda?’