How to Make Grapefruit with Honey, Ginger & Cardamom

SERVINGS: 1

PREP TIME: 5 MINUTES

COOK TIME: 0 MINUTES

SKILL LEVEL: EASY

MEAL: BREAKFAST

STYLE: WESTERN

PREPARATION: RAW

EAT IN: SPRING, AUTUMN-WINTER

FOR OCCASION: CLEANSE

How Does This Ayurvedic Recipe Improve Wellness?

CLINICAL AYURVEDIC REVIEW

Simple, cleansing, sweet, tangy, and tart, this recipe is our favorite weight loss breakfast for Kapha dosha. Enjoy the fresh, clean juiciness of biting into a plump slice of grapefruit, with the spicy zing of ginger and fresh liberating aroma of cardamom.

Many individuals follow a philosophy, "Breakfast is the most important meal." Instead, heavy Kapha predominant constitutions have the liberty to choose a light breakfast. If a Kapha person isn't hungry at breakfast time, they may eat a simple dish or skip breakfast altogether. A lighter meal helps wake up your body after a long, cozy night of sleeping. The morning is the best time to metabolize unwanted pounds and start the day off feeling clean and fresh.

Cleanse & Detoxify

January can make you feel frozen. The chilly, dark days seem to freeze your body's workings, causing stagnation and congestion just when you need a post-holidays system sweep. Sunshiney citrus fruits are rectifiers of the stuck qualities of the wintertime body, with their brilliant hues and zesty flavors, offering a just-in-time refresher to kick out lodged toxins. This snack recipe accentuates the supportive nature of grapefruit and its bright way of flushing out the impurities and letting the affirming light of good health in.

In Ayurveda, the secret of the grapefruit lies in its powerful flavors, sour and bitter. These cleansing tastes stimulate the flow of bile, diluting and flushing it out of the gallbladder and into the small intestine. Stagnant bile tends to collect and thicken in the gall bladder, where the liver stores the bile after producing it, forming problematic sludge and stones. The sludge inhibits the drainage of bile, congesting the liver. Sour and bitter flavors encourage the bile to move and flush toxins out of the liver to the relief of your newly cleansed liver cells. Support the movement of bile and you directly reduce Pitta, making your spine feel cool and relaxed. Bile helps to move along the poor choices of holiday celebrations, freeing your whole body to truly move on into the new year.

Improve Fat Metabolism

Bile is an oily substance. The removal of bile from the liver directly lowers cholesterol and triglyceride levels in the blood. Bile is the main pathway of cholesterol metabolism in many animals. Grapefruit improves fat metabolism, lowers cholesterol, and reduces insulin levels. Grapefruit also gives your metabolism a kick-start, increasing thyroid activity.

Raw honey is the only safe sweetener for Kapha, or for those who tend to experience congestion, sluggish digestion, and are overweight. Like grapefruit, honey increases fat metabolism. Ginger gives this recipe an "agni" kick meaning it stimulates energy, igniting the digestive fire. Honey and ginger together heat the blood. You may notice how the two ingredients direct sensation to the frontal lobe of brain, the cerebral cortex, awakening the mind's ability to concentrate and analyze. Ginger also stimulates the heart. Lastly, cardamom and the grapefruit's bitter rinds clear the stomach of Kapha stagnation.

Grapefruits are contraindicated for high blood pressure or when using anti-depressants. If you take thyroid medication, please check with your doctor before adding grapefruit to your diet.

AYURVEDA'S GUIDE TO VITALITY & WHOLESOME NOURISHMENT

Your Ayurvedic diet is tailored to your individual body and your specific imbalances. With an Ayurvedic diet you feel joy and satisfaction because what you are eating truly nourishes and balances you. Disease results from diets and lifestyles that are incompatible with your nature. By eating a personalized diet matched to your body, you experience optimal health. See How it Works.

See a complete list of all biocharacteristics.

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	MOBILE ABOUT MOBILE BIOCHARACTERISTIC Mobile refers to anything that stimulates the nervous system, muscles, or activity. LEARN MORE ABOUT MOBILE CLEAR ABOUT CLEAR BIOCHARACTERISTIC Clear refers to anything that cleanses or flushes out wastes, or that digests ama. LEARN MORE ABOUT CLEAR LIGHT ABOUT LIGHT BIOCHARACTERISTIC Lightness is identified by reduced weight. LEARN MORE ABOUT LIGHT LIQUEFIED ABOUT LIQUEFIED BIOCHARACTERISTIC Substances that thin fluids (lower viscosity of blood plasma). These may include blood thinners or mucolytic herbs. LEARN MORE ABOUT LIQUEFIED
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	PUNGENT ABOUT PUNGENT BIOCHARACTERISTIC Pungency is characterized by irritation, or sharp, spicy foods that irritate the mouth such as black pepper. LEARN MORE ABOUT PUNGENT SOUR ABOUT SOUR BIOCHARACTERISTIC Sour refers to anything fermented or acidic. LEARN MORE ABOUT SOUR
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. They are easily stimulated, hyperactive, underweight and dry. Metabolic individuals tend to burn or use energy. They tend to be rosy-cheeked, easily irritated, focused, driven, and easily inflamed. Anabolic individuals tend to store energy as body mass. If they store too much energy, they could gain weight easily and have congestion. Anabolic people tend to be stable and grounded. Learn More	PACIFIES AGGRAVATES
HAS THE FOLLOWING	Subtaste: Aromatic STRONG AROMATIC Herbs or spices with volatile essential oils that present strong aromas. Aromatic oils shock, refresh and numb tissue, with the end result of relaxing, opening and clearing stagnant fluids in tissues. SEE ALL 'AROMATIC' FOODS / HERBS
HERBAL ACTIONS (see all)	Medicinal Benefits, Uses & Herbal Actions of Grapefruit with Honey, Ginger & Cardamom 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. Digestion: Quenches Thirst QUENCHES-THIRST An herb or substance that relieves thirst. SEE ALL 'QUENCHES-THIRST' FOODS / HERBS , Stimulates Peristalsis STIMULATES-PERISTALSIS An herb that promotes involuntary smooth muscle contractions to facilitate the movement of food and waste through the digestive tract. SEE ALL 'STIMULATES-PERISTALSIS' FOODS / HERBS , Digestive DIGESTIVE Herbs that encourage healthy digestion. SEE ALL 'DIGESTIVE' FOODS / HERBS , Appetizer APPETIZER Herbs that cleanse the palate & stimulate hunger or desire to eat. SEE ALL 'APPETIZER' FOODS / HERBS , Carminative CARMINATIVE Stimulates the release of gas. Helpful for bloating or cramping abdominal pain. Propels food downward. Carminatives typically expel gas by relaxing the muscles of the intestines. SEE ALL 'CARMINATIVE' FOODS / HERBS Cleanse & Detox: Internal Detoxicant INTERNAL-DETOXICANT Liquefies, dissolves, decongests or dislodges internal stagnant toxins. Decongests the lymphatic system. SEE ALL 'INTERNAL-DETOXICANT' FOODS / HERBS , Burns Toxins BURNS-TOXINS An herb that detoxifies by helping your body metabolize toxins, as opposed to eliminating them. SEE ALL 'BURNS-TOXINS' FOODS / HERBS Mind, Stress & Sleep: Wakes You Up WAKES-YOU-UP Invigorates the body and nervous system, increases energy. SEE ALL 'WAKES-YOU-UP' FOODS / HERBS Energy Vitality: Stimulates Energy STIMULATES-ENERGY This category groups thyroid and adrenal stimulating herbs. SEE ALL 'STIMULATES-ENERGY' FOODS / HERBS , Refreshing REFRESHING Stimulates and wakes up the body, leaving it feeling cool, fresh, and energized. SEE ALL 'REFRESHING' FOODS / HERBS Skin Care & Beauty: Diaphoretic DIAPHORETIC An herb that induces sweating, often by dilating blood vessels close to the skin. SEE ALL 'DIAPHORETIC' FOODS / HERBS Respiratory-Health: Warms Chest WARMS-CHEST Warms the chest and lungs, clearing mucus and allowing for clear breathing. Often these herbs are hot, aromatic, and pungent. SEE ALL 'WARMS-CHEST' FOODS / HERBS , Soothes Throat SOOTHES-THROAT Soothes throat discomfort, including from a sore or ticklish throat. SEE ALL 'SOOTHES-THROAT' FOODS / HERBS , Expectorant EXPECTORANT Expectorants help you eliminate mucus from the lungs. These herbs often work by increasing the quantity of mucus, or thinning the mucus. Expectorants are indicated when phlegm congests the lower respiratory tract. SEE ALL 'EXPECTORANT' FOODS / HERBS , Decongestant DECONGESTANT An herb that reduces mucus production often by restricting blood flow to mucus membranes. SEE ALL 'DECONGESTANT' FOODS / HERBS Heart & Circulation: Warms Ears WARMS-EARS Stimulates peripheral circulation to warm extremities, including the ears. SEE ALL 'WARMS-EARS' FOODS / HERBS , Cardiac Stimulant CARDIAC-STIMULANT Herbs that increase the heart rate. Useful in cardiovascular health, blood stagnation, and subjective feeling of heaviness in the chest area. SEE ALL 'CARDIAC-STIMULANT' FOODS / HERBS , Vasodilator VASODILATOR A vasodilator is an herb that widens the blood vessels by the relaxation of smooth muscle cells within the vessel walls, thereby increasing circulation systemically or to a local area. SEE ALL 'VASODILATOR' FOODS / HERBS 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. SEE ALL 'DIURETIC' FOODS / HERBS Liver & Gallbladder: Cholagogue CHOLAGOGUE Cholagogues stimulate the production & release of bile from the liver & gallbladder. This refreshes and cleanses these organs, as well as increases bile in the small intestines. SEE ALL 'CHOLAGOGUE' FOODS / HERBS Weight Loss: Hypolipidemic HYPOLIPIDEMIC Scrapes fats / cleanses blood vessels by 1) purging bile, 2) strengthening the liver's ability to metabolize fats, 3) by increasing uptake of cholesterol in the liver, and 4) by inhibiting fat cells. SEE ALL 'HYPOLIPIDEMIC' FOODS / HERBS , Raises Thyroid RAISES-THYROID An herb that increases thyroid function. SEE ALL 'RAISES-THYROID' FOODS / HERBS Constituents: Rutin RUTIN Rutin is a flavonoid with anti-oxidant, anti-inflammatory and anti-cancer properties. Commonly used to treat conditions such as varicose veins, hemorrhoids, and high blood pressure. SEE ALL 'RUTIN' FOODS / HERBS , Flavonoids FLAVONOIDS Flavonoids are a colorful type of polyphenol. As all polyphenols, they have a strong antioxidant effect. Many flavonoids have an anti-inflammatory, and/or antiallergen effect. SEE ALL 'FLAVONOIDS' FOODS / HERBS , Polyphenols POLYPHENOLS Polyphenols are powerful antioxidants seen in many fruits and vegetables. There are more than 8,000 types. SEE ALL 'POLYPHENOLS' FOODS / HERBS , Vitamin C, Coumarin COUMARIN Moderately toxic, vascular tonic, hypotensive, and anti-inflammatory. SEE ALL 'COUMARIN' FOODS / HERBS , Aromatase Inhibitor AROMATASE-INHIBITOR Blocks estrogen synthesis by inhibiting conversion of progesterone and testosterone into estrogen. SEE ALL 'AROMATASE-INHIBITOR' FOODS / HERBS

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Joyful Belly is a recognized school of biocharacteristics medicine.