Click one of the buttons above, or cut and paste the following link to share this page with your network.
This link will automatically track your referrals to Joyful Belly:
Share URL for this page (cut and paste this link):
Halve one head of cabbage, then slice in thin shreds. Place in large pot, cover with water, and bring to a boil. Reduce heat to simmer.
Sautee finely chopped onion in the oil until translucent. Add vinegar to pan, and pour into cabbage. Add remaining ingredients to pot. Simmer, covered, until tender and serve.
How Can This Ayurvedic Recipe Make You Feel Great?
AYURVEDIC ANALYSIS
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.
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.
Is Red Cabbage & Vinegar Good for My Ayurvedic Diet?
Find out by taking this free, easy quiz.
You'll learn your body type, and whether Red Cabbage & Vinegar is a good fit for your body type. Time to complete: approximately 1 minute.
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.
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?
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.
Rajasic foods stimulate desire or nervous energy. Red meat, high protein food, garlic and onions stimulate desire. Rajasic foods include chili peppers, coffee, and anything that stimulates movement.
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 Red Cabbage & Vinegar:
Literally, an herb that restores the proper function of the body. In practice, alteratives are usually blood cleansers and blood chemistry balancers. They were traditionally used to revitalize and detoxify after a long winter.
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 has beta-carotene.
John Immel, the founder of Joyful Belly, teaches people how to have a
healthy diet and lifestyle with Ayurveda.
His approach to Ayurveda exudes a certain ease, which many find enjoyable and insightful.
John also directs Joyful Belly's School of Ayurveda
, which specializes in digestive tract pathology & Ayurvedic nutrition.
John and his wife Natalie recently published Explore Your Hunger: A Guide to Hunger, Appetite & Food.
John's interest in Ayurveda and digestive tract pathology was inspired by a complex digestive disorder acquired from years of international travel, including his public service work in South Asia.
John's commitment to the detailed study of digestive disorders reflects his zeal to get down to the roots of the problem. His hope and belief in the capacity of each & every client to improve their quality of life is nothing short of a personal passion.
John's creativity in the kitchen and delight in cooking for others comes from his family oriented upbringing.
In addition to his certification in Ayurveda, John holds a bachelor's degree in mathematics from Harvard University.
John enjoys sharing Ayurveda within the context of his Catholic roots,
and finds Ayurveda gives him an opportunity to participate in the healing mission of the Church.
Jesus expressed God's love by feeding and healing the sick.
That kindness is the fundamental ministry of Ayurveda as well.
* These statements have not been evaluated by the Food and Drug Administration.
The information and products on this website are not intended to diagnose, treat, cure or prevent any
disease.