College of Natural Diet & Digestion

College of Natural Diet & Digestion

 

AYURVEDIC RECIPES

Sweet Potato Pie


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Customer Reviews

5.00 out of 5 stars
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"I substituted the sweet potato for the same amount of pumpkin. I also added 1/4 teaspoon of cardamom, changed cinnamon..."
- Larissa Demalteris Golden, CO

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How to Make Sweet Potato Pie

INGREDIENTS

1/3 c
1/4 c
2 whole
2 c
1 tsp
1/2 tsp
1/2 c
1/2 tsp

PREPARATION OF THIS HEALTHY RECIPE

1. Boil the sweet potatoes, leaving the skin on, until they are soft (about 40 minutes)

2. Remove the skins after potato cools. Soaking them in cold water will help them cool more quickly.

3. Mash potatoes with remaining ingredients.

4. Pour filling into an unbaked oatmeal based pie crust (see instructions).

5. Bake at 350 degrees for an hour, or until knife inserted in the center comes out clean.

How Does This Ayurvedic Recipe Improve Wellness?

CLINICAL AYURVEDIC REVIEW

Hunting for something sweet? Trick-or-treating in the grocery aisles and in your pantry? This time of year can be difficult for those who find treats irresistible, as sweet consumption ramps up from Halloween into the winter holidays. This recipe is the perfect alternative to candy and desserts commonplace around this time of year. Nutritious and spiced for digestion, sweet potato pie is a feel-good dessert for those who want to avoid that too-full feeling of indulgence. A slice of this pie won't weigh you down. Instead, healthier digestion and the taste of this creamy and well-spiced recipe make sweet potato pie a rewarding treat without too much trick.

A Remedy for Food Cravings

Got a strong appetite? Looking for something sweet that will stick to your ribs but not your waistline? Sweet potatoes are delicious, comforting, and guilt-free. Rich in fiber and complex carbohydrates for the transition into autumn, sweet potatoes satisfy your urge for a full belly when the weather drives your hunger for warmth and comfort. In the fall, dropping temperatures are the body's cue to build a layer of insulating fat in the skin. The increased demand for fats ultimately ignites strong food cravings. Instead of using their existing fat reserves, Kapha people often fall prey to these cravings, succumbing to that tempting urge to bake sweet, rich, heavy desserts. Sweet Potato provides an easy out, and a delicious, guiltless Thanksgiving treat! Sweet potatoes are the very color of fall and are versatile on the autumn and winter table, appearing in both savory meals and desserts.

Not Your Average Comfort Food

If you feel burdened and sleepy after gorging on on your comfort-food favorites, there's no need to shun the sweet potato. These tubers are often prepared in the manner of comfort food, but are easier to digest than many comfort-food dishes. Although they are satisfying and sweet, you won't feel sluggish and tired after eating them. That vitality is the sign that sweet potatoes are a step up from your usual heavy carbs. Sweet potatoes are a special remedy for those who are overweight but have strong cravings for homey, rich treats through the holidays and changes in seasons.

Ayurvedic Baking for the Holidays

When you eat sweet foods, your circulation and metabolism become sluggish. Dessert spices like cinnamon and nutmeg rev up your circulation and heart rate, helping you burn off those unwanted calories, and flush your system of any fat residues. Oatmeal, ghee, and raw sugar may still be rich and sweet, but they are lighter alternatives to wheat based crusts, butter, and refined sugar, and may be consumed in moderation. Kapha people often suffer from constipation after eating heavy foods. As an added bonus, sweet potatoes provide plenty of fiber, encouraging regular elimination and cleansing the intestines.

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.

Is Sweet Potato Pie Good for My Ayurvedic Diet?

Find out by taking this free, easy quiz. You'll learn your body type, and whether 'Sweet Potato Pie' is a good fit. Complete the basic quiz in 1 minute, or go deeper with additional quizzes at your own leisure to learn more about your body.

Health Virtues of Sweet Potato Pie

Personalized medicine systems use biocharacteristics to classify the metabolic nature of food, hebs, lifestyle choices, indivdual constitutions, and disease.

METABOLIC NATURE / BIOCHARACTERISTICS

Metabolic Nature / Biocharacteristics

Ayurveda assesses metabolic imbalances through 20 main biocharacteristics (vital qualtiies). Aggravating them weakens your body and causes imbalance. By knowing which biocharacteristics are habitually imbalanced in your body, you will be able to identify and correct metabolic imbalances before you get sick. Every biocharacteristic has an opposite which balances it (i.e. hot balances cold). You restore balance by favoring diet and lifestyle choices that increase the opposite biocharacteristic.

Find Out More

MOBILE

ABOUT MOBILE BIOCHARACTERISTIC

Mobile refers to anything that stimulates the nervous system, muscles, or activity.

LEARN MORE ABOUT MOBILE

HEAVY

ABOUT HEAVY BIOCHARACTERISTIC

Heavy is identified by sedation, sluggishness, or increased weight.

LEARN MORE ABOUT HEAVY

GOOEY

ABOUT GOOEY BIOCHARACTERISTIC

Gooey is identified by anything gelatinous (such as oatmeal), or by mucus congestion.

LEARN MORE ABOUT GOOEY

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?

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SWEET

ABOUT SWEET BIOCHARACTERISTIC

Sweet refers to anything builds tissue, including macronutrients such as carbohydrates, proteins and fats.

LEARN MORE ABOUT SWEET

ASTRINGENT

ABOUT ASTRINGENT BIOCHARACTERISTIC

Astringency is characterized by constriction, drawing together, or drying.

LEARN MORE ABOUT ASTRINGENT

AYURVEDA BODY TYPES (DOSHAS)

The Three Doshas / Body Types

Ayurveda is a metabolic theory of medicine that explains individual health, tendencies, and disease patterns through the concept of doshas, which can be understood as your metabolic patterns and tendencies.

Each dosha reflects a distinct metabolic nature and describes strengths & weaknesses in bodily function, and how these affect energy levels, digestion, susceptibility to disease, and many other tendencies.

Your metabolic nature not only affects your physical characteristics, but also influences your mental thought patterns, confidence, and enthusiasm.

Ayurveda balances these metabolic strengths & weaknesses to support your body's vitality and prevent recurrent disease cycles. This support is a critical aid, especially in chronic or incurable disease conditions.

The 3 metabolic body types (doshas), are Catabolic (Vata), Metabolic (Pitta), and Anabolic (Kapha).

Through dosha, Ayurveda empowers people to identify metabolic imbalances early, break repetitive patterns of disease, and cultivate habits that support long-term vitality and well-being.

Ultimately, these metabolic patterns also provide a framework for understanding yourself, including body, mind, and spiritual tendencies.

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PACIFIES
Pitta pacifying Vata pacifying
AGGRAVATES
Kapha aggravating

GREEK MEDICINE / TEMPERAMENTS

The Four Temperaments / Humors

Ayurveda & Greek Medicine were the dominant form of medicine along the Silk Road from England to China and South Asia. They work by assessing your metabolic type, patterns, and nature. Greek medicine recognizes 4 metabolic temperaments, Melancholic, Choleric, Sanguine, and Phlegmatic.

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PACIFIES
CHOLERIC

ABOUT CHOLERIC BIOCHARACTERISTIC

Has a hot and dry metabolic nature. Enthusiastic, vibrant and bright. In excess burns up fluids and ojas, irritable. Corresponds to high bilirubin in the blood that irritates and heats up the body and liver.

LEARN MORE ABOUT CHOLERIC

MELANCHOLIC

ABOUT MELANCHOLIC BIOCHARACTERISTIC

Cold and dry with a slow, variable or erratic metabolism. Colicky, tense. Withdrawn, pensive, anxious, and hesitant. Analytical, intelligent, detail oriented and creative. Prone to ojas depletion, dehydration, an overactive nervous system, and depression.

LEARN MORE ABOUT MELANCHOLIC

SANGUINE

ABOUT SANGUINE BIOCHARACTERISTIC

A hot and oily nature with a moderate metabolism and a well nourished body makes Sanguine individuals vigorous, vivacious, outgoing and generous, and prone to impulsivity and self indulgence. Bullish and intense when out of balance.

LEARN MORE ABOUT SANGUINE

AGGRAVATES
PHLEGMATIC

ABOUT PHLEGMATIC BIOCHARACTERISTIC

A Phlegmatic has a cold and wet metabolic nature. The coldness implies a slow metabolism, the moisture that you are well-nourished. Phlegmatics tend towards sluggishness and thickened fluids, including mucus.

LEARN MORE ABOUT PHLEGMATIC

Other Health Virtues

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

, Bland Negative Calorie

Medicinal Benefits, Uses & Herbal Actions of Sweet Potato Pie
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.

(see all)
Antacid

ANTACID

Herbs that neutralize acidity in the gastrointestinal tract, the stomach in particular.

SEE ALL 'ANTACID' FOODS / HERBS

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

Makes You Tired

MAKES-YOU-TIRED

Induces drowsiness and promotes sound sleep.

SEE ALL 'MAKES-YOU-TIRED' FOODS / HERBS

, Makes Jittery,
Wakes You Up

WAKES-YOU-UP

Invigorates the body and nervous system, increases energy.

SEE ALL 'WAKES-YOU-UP' FOODS / HERBS

,
Nerve Relaxant Grounding

NERVE-RELAXANT-GROUNDING

Encourages feelings of stability and heaviness. Makes you feel settled, mentally relaxed. Mildly sedates the nervous system to ease stress. Can bring a spacey or anxious person back to earth. Reduces agitation, irritation, stress and racing thoughts.

SEE ALL 'NERVE-RELAXANT-GROUNDING' FOODS / HERBS

Satisfies Stomach

SATISFIES-STOMACH

Provides a sense of gratification and fullness in the stomach.

SEE ALL 'SATISFIES-STOMACH' FOODS / HERBS

,
Nutritive

NUTRITIVE

An herb that is strengthening and nourishing.

SEE ALL 'NUTRITIVE' FOODS / HERBS

Muscle Relaxant

MUSCLE-RELAXANT

Herbs that relax muscles. Helpful for chronic pain or tension as well as healing from physical trauma.

SEE ALL 'MUSCLE-RELAXANT' FOODS / HERBS

Constituents:
Carbohydrate, Fats,
Coumarin

COUMARIN

Moderately toxic, vascular tonic, hypotensive, and anti-inflammatory.

SEE ALL 'COUMARIN' FOODS / HERBS

Foods with a Similar Nature to Sweet Potato Pie

  • Pumpkin

    Pumpkin has these Actions in Common

    Muscle-relaxant, Relieves-burning, Nerve-relaxant-grounding, Satisfies-stomach, Makes-you-tired, Nutritive

    LEARN MORE

  • Salmon

    Salmon has these Actions in Common

    Nutritive, Makes-you-tired, Satisfies-stomach, Nerve-relaxant-grounding, Wakes-you-up

    LEARN MORE

  • Hemp Seed

    Hemp Seed has these Actions in Common

    Nerve-relaxant-grounding, Makes-you-tired, Nutritive, Muscle-relaxant, Satisfies-stomach

    LEARN MORE

  • Jackfruit

    Jackfruit has these Actions in Common

    Relieves-burning, Nerve-relaxant-grounding, Satisfies-stomach, Nutritive, Wakes-you-up

    LEARN MORE

  • Raw Sugar

    Raw Sugar has these Actions in Common

    Makes-you-tired, Nutritive, Makes-jittery, Wakes-you-up

    LEARN MORE

  • Beer

    Beer has these Actions in Common

    Muscle-relaxant, Nutritive, Makes-you-tired, Satisfies-stomach

    LEARN MORE

  • Potato

    Potato has these Actions in Common

    Nerve-relaxant-grounding, Nutritive, Makes-you-tired, Satisfies-stomach

    LEARN MORE

  • Peanut Butter

    Peanut Butter has these Actions in Common

    Nerve-relaxant-grounding, Nutritive, Makes-jittery, Satisfies-stomach

    LEARN MORE

  • Peanuts

    Peanuts has these Actions in Common

    Makes-jittery, Satisfies-stomach, Nerve-relaxant-grounding, Nutritive

    LEARN MORE

  • Shrimp

    Shrimp has these Actions in Common

    Nutritive, Muscle-relaxant, Satisfies-stomach, Nerve-relaxant-grounding

    LEARN MORE

  • Buffalo Milk

    Buffalo Milk has these Actions in Common

    Makes-you-tired, Satisfies-stomach, Nerve-relaxant-grounding, Nutritive

    LEARN MORE

Herbs & Supplements with a Similar Nature to Sweet Potato Pie

  • Oats, Fresh Milky Seed

    Oats, Fresh Milky Seed has these Actions in Common

    Muscle-relaxant, Nerve-relaxant-grounding, Nutritive, Relieves-burning

    LEARN MORE

  • Shatavari

    Shatavari has these Actions in Common

    Antacid, Nerve-relaxant-grounding, Nutritive, Relieves-burning

    LEARN MORE

  • Joint Oil Soak (Sandhi / Kati / Griva Basti)

    Joint Oil Soak (Sandhi / Kati / Griva Basti) has these Actions in Common

    Muscle-relaxant, Nerve-relaxant-grounding, Nutritive

    LEARN MORE

  • Shirodhara Treatment

    Shirodhara Treatment has these Actions in Common

    Nerve-relaxant-grounding, Nutritive, Muscle-relaxant

    LEARN MORE

  • Bala Taila

    Bala Taila has these Actions in Common

    Muscle-relaxant, Nerve-relaxant-grounding, Nutritive

    LEARN MORE

  • Self Massage

    Self Massage has these Actions in Common

    Muscle-relaxant, Nerve-relaxant-grounding, Nutritive

    LEARN MORE

  • Dashamoola Powder

    Dashamoola Powder has these Actions in Common

    Muscle-relaxant, Nerve-relaxant-grounding, Nutritive

    LEARN MORE

  • Kava Kava

    Kava Kava has these Actions in Common

    Makes-you-tired, Muscle-relaxant, Nerve-relaxant-grounding

    LEARN MORE

  • Gokshura

    Gokshura has these Actions in Common

    Nerve-relaxant-grounding, Nutritive, Muscle-relaxant

    LEARN MORE

  • Eleuthero Ginseng

    Eleuthero Ginseng has these Actions in Common

    Muscle-relaxant, Nerve-relaxant-grounding, Wakes-you-up

    LEARN MORE

  • Amalaki

    Amalaki has these Actions in Common

    Antacid, Nutritive, Wakes-you-up

    LEARN MORE


Joyful Belly is a recognized college of biocharacteristics medicine.

View Other Healthy Recipes for Autumn-Winter

This recipe is recommended for Autumn-Winter. Check out these other Autumn-Winter recipes here.
VIEW ALL AUTUMN-WINTER RECIPES MORE VATA / PITTA RECIPES
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About the Author

John Immel, the founder of Joyful Belly, teaches people how to have a healthy diet and lifestyle with Ayurveda. His approach to Ayurveda is clinical, yet exudes an ease which many find enjoyable and insightful. John also directs the Joyful Belly College of Ayurveda, offering professional clinical training in Ayurveda for over 15 years.

John's hobbies & specialties include advanced digestive disorders, medieval Catholic philosophy, & botany. He holds a bachelor's degree in mathematics from Harvard University. John, his wife Natalie and their 7 kids live in Asheville, NC

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Comments & Impressions of 'Sweet Potato Pie'

Do you like 'sweet potato pie'? Why or why not? What makes it unique? Is there something else you'd like to know about 'sweet potato pie'?

(5.00 out of 5 stars) 1 rating, 715 likes
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Kathy Kulaas Saint petersburg, FL
2012-11-01
“do you have a substitute for the eggs?"
Larissa Demalteris Golden, CO
2019-11-22
“I substituted the sweet potato for the same amount of pumpkin. I also added 1/4 teaspoon of cardamom, changed cinnamon to 1 full teaspoon, and added 1/4 teaspoon of powdered ginger and it made a great pumpkin pie! I also had to bake it for about 1.5 hours on 350."
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