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1. Preheat oven to 400F. Trim the tails and greens off the beets. Place in a roasting pan. Drizzle with olive oil and salt. Cover and bake 1-2 hours, or until beets are tender. Remove from oven.
2. Bring balsamic vinegar to a boil in a frying pan. Reduce to a syrupy consistency.
3. Once beets are cool, the skins should come off easily. Coarsely chop and place in a serving bowl. Drizzle in balsamic glaze. Optionally garnish with orange zest or rosemary.
How Does This Ayurvedic Recipe Improve Wellness?
CLINICAL AYURVEDIC REVIEW
Earthy, sweet blood red beets brighten the cloudy days of early spring with their vibrancy. Smooth texture with light oil, the rich sour flavor of balsamic glaze awakens your senses just as the nearing sun awakens nature in early springtime.
An uncanny craving for beets usually strikes our fancy in February. Aptly described as "the most intense of vegetables" by Tom Robbins in Jitterbug Perfume, beets are full of earthy mystery. When roasted and drizzled with sharply rich balsamic vinegar beets become a sweet, juicy wonder.
Liver Cleansing in the Spring
Beets with balsamic vinegar is a perfect addition to an early spring diet. They offer a healthy remedy to a congested liver that creates heavy blood. Both are cholagogues, releasing bile from the liver into the digestive tract. Release of bile siphons fats from the blood, reducing triglyceride levels. Bile is also a major pathway of cholesterol metabolism. The beta-carotene in beets is an excellent liver tonic. The mild laxative qualities of beets and vinegar help clean the digestive tract as well. Cooking beets transforms the starches into sweet sugars that are cool down the blood. They nourish the liver, clean the blood and improve the eyesight. Beets are good for anemia.
Liver Bitterness
February comes at the bitter end of winter, the time of ashes. The natural environment offers slim pickings this time of year and the pantry is nearly bare. Early spring is the hardest month for animals in the wild. Anxiously awaiting the hope and promise of spring, lovers will make a last ditch effort on Valentine's Day to resurrect the dying embers of affection.
You may experience waves of bitterness, discouragement and a sense of failure in February. Try not to take these 'liver' emotions too seriously. Instead, these emotions offer an important cue.
Rich Blood
As soon as temperatures start to rise in early February, the body begins to metabolize some of the winter fats. The blood becomes rich and congested with these fats. It becomes thick and hard to circulate. Fatty blood makes February heart attack month. The fatty blood congests the liver as well. Much like a stuffed goose, your stuffed liver start to look as fatty as foie gras. You may have even noticed a week or two of dark, loose stools.
These important cues are signs your body is ready for cleansing. Ayurvedically, it is a critical time to cleanse the liver and jumpstart the body's fat metabolism.
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.
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.
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 Roasted Beets in a Balsamic Glaze:
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.
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.
John Immel, the founder of Joyful Belly, teaches people how to have a
healthy diet and lifestyle with Ayurveda biocharacteristics.
His approach to Ayurveda is clinical, yet exudes an ease which many find enjoyable and insightful.
John also directs Joyful Belly's School of Ayurveda,
offering professional clinical training in Ayurveda for over 15 years.
John's interest in Ayurveda and specialization in digestive tract pathology was inspired by a complex digestive disorder acquired from years of international travel,
as well as 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.
Outside of work, John enjoys spending time with his wife and 6 kids, and pursuing his love of theology, philosophy, and language.
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* 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.
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