How to Make Red Cabbage & Vinegar

SERVINGS: 4

PREP TIME: 15 MINUTES

COOK TIME: 60 MINUTES

MEAL: LUNCH-DINNER

STYLE: WESTERN

PREPARATION: BOILED

EAT IN: SPRING, AUTUMN-WINTER

FOR OCCASION: NEW-YEARS-DAY, ON-THE-MEND, CHRISTMAS, CLEANSE

How Does This Ayurvedic Recipe Improve Wellness?

CLINICAL AYURVEDIC REVIEW

Red cabbage & Vinegar Stew's tangy flavor and rustic heartiness will make you pine for the Ukrainian grandmother you never had. Perfect for a dark winter night, stimulating vinegar gets your blood moving when the cold leaves you feeling constricted. Darker foods like red cabbage seem only too fitting for a season with very little sunlight. Your body enjoys these mineral rich foods because of their earthiness. Meanwhile, cabbage's natural sweetness and a dash of brown sugar puts a smile to your lips, replacing the bitterness of winter with the affection of togetherness.

Your Body's Change from Thanksgiving to Christmas

As the late fall Thanksgiving turkey wanes into a quieter Christmas gander, your cravings for red cabbage come to the forefront. Across the world, cabbages are known as a poor man's food. By late December, the harvest bounty seems like a distant memory. Taking a moment to reflect inward, you realize that you are happy for the change in pace. Not only because the pantry is bare, but because your body really needs relief from the overstuffing of autumn. You realize that Christmas really IS a lighter meal than Thanksgiving, in more ways than one.

While the thanksgiving table is full of fatty desserts like cheesecakes and pudding pies, Christmas treats are noticeable less rich. Sugar plums and candy canes steal the spotlight instead. However, all the fat of fall may still be lingering in your bloodstream, and congesting your liver. Vinegar's sour flavor is a cholagogue, meaning it purges toxic bile from the liver, and helps with fat digestion and metabolism. Cabbage has been featured in many weight loss diets as a negative calorie food. It inhibits the conversion of sugar and carbs into fat and speeds up metabolism. Take caution with eating raw cabbage however, as compounds in raw cabbage and other cruciferous veggies suppress the thyroid.

Cabbage's Purple Color

Towards the end of the holiday season, the oranges of Thanksgiving give way to the deeper reds of mulled wine, dark brown gravies, and the purples found in red cabbage. Cravings for these darker colors represent your body's natural desire to build rakta, the red part of your blood. Every phlebotomist (a nurse who draws blood) knows that blood can be separated into two parts, the clear plasma part, and the red blood cells. Rakta is Ayurveda's term for the red part of the blood. Ever notice that everyone looks pale in the winter? Red cabbage is your body's attempt to put some color back in your cheeks.

Cabbage's red color indicates its abundance of anticancer and antioxidant flavonoids. These phytonutrients increase the activity of the liver's detox enzymes, prevent tumor growth, and scavenge free radicals. Cabbage is known in Ayurveda for its calm, coolness much like the cucumber. You'll notice these cooling, detoxifying effects as a freshness in your mind and skin. Your eyes will also feel more relaxed.

Cabbage and Cleansing

Humble fare, like cabbage, is nearly always healthier than the decadent fare of the wealthy. Cabbage is a light vegetable, full of roughage, and full of nutrients as well. In our home, cabbage is a fallback food - a staple we return whenever our diet is out of hand from kid's birthday parties to holiday celebrations. There is nothing like a cabbage soup to bring our life and health back into perspective. The fiber in every bowl of cabbage soup is like a mini cleanse.

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	LIGHT ABOUT LIGHT BIOCHARACTERISTIC Lightness is identified by reduced weight. LEARN MORE ABOUT LIGHT MOBILE ABOUT MOBILE BIOCHARACTERISTIC Mobile refers to anything that stimulates the nervous system, muscles, or activity. LEARN MORE ABOUT MOBILE 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 CLEAR ABOUT CLEAR BIOCHARACTERISTIC Clear refers to anything that cleanses or flushes out wastes, or that digests ama. LEARN MORE ABOUT CLEAR EASY ABOUT EASY BIOCHARACTERISTIC Easy refers to anything easy to digest, or digests quickly. LEARN MORE ABOUT EASY HOT ABOUT HOT BIOCHARACTERISTIC Hot is identified by increased body temperature, metabolism, or inflammation. LEARN MORE ABOUT HOT
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	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	Tissue (dhatu): Red Blood RED-BLOOD Red blood (Rakta Dhatu) includes red blood cells and blood vessels. SEE ALL 'RED-BLOOD' FOODS / HERBS Family: Brassicaceae
HERBAL ACTIONS (see all)	Medicinal Benefits, Uses & Herbal Actions of Red Cabbage & Vinegar 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. Bowel Health: Relieves Burning RELIEVES-BURNING Herbs that soothe a burn or reduce an internal burning sensation, such as aloe vera. SEE ALL 'RELIEVES-BURNING' FOODS / HERBS , General Laxative GENERAL-LAXATIVE Promotes a bowel movement. General laxative is an umbrella term that refers to several different types of laxatives... SEE ALL 'GENERAL-LAXATIVE' FOODS / HERBS Cleanse & Detox: Detoxicant DETOXICANT An herb that decongests or dislodges toxins from the body and the lymphatic, transforming or altering fluids to a more healthy state. SEE ALL 'DETOXICANT' FOODS / HERBS Mind, Stress & Sleep: Relaxes Solar Plexus RELAXES-SOLAR-PLEXUS Soothes and comforts the muscles of the upper abdomen, reducing any tension or pressure in the solar plexus area. SEE ALL 'RELAXES-SOLAR-PLEXUS' 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 Immune System: Flushes Membranes FLUSHES-MEMBRANES Herbs in this category stimulate mucus membranes to release fluids, flushing them out. SEE ALL 'FLUSHES-MEMBRANES' FOODS / HERBS Heart & Circulation: Alterative ALTERATIVE Restores the proper function of the body by cleansing the blood and balancing blood chemistry. In Ayurveda terms, they pacify Pitta in rakta. They were traditionally used to revitalize and detoxify after a long winter. SEE ALL 'ALTERATIVE' 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 , Livotonic LIVOTONIC An herb that strengthens the liver. It is helpful for people with a history of substance abuse, chronic liver issues from hepatitis and hemolytic anemias. Generally, liver tonics are oily, cool, sweet, mildly sour, or contain beta-carotene. SEE ALL 'LIVOTONIC' FOODS / HERBS Constituents: Vitamin A, Vitamin K, Beta Carotene, 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

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Joyful Belly is a recognized school of biocharacteristics medicine.