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Puree basil & watermelon in a blender and serve chilled. Use seeds and all if your blender is powerful enough to grind them (watermelon seeds are edible). Alternatively, you can strain the seeds after blending.
How Does This Ayurvedic Recipe Improve Wellness?
CLINICAL AYURVEDIC REVIEW
Watermelon invites children and adults alike to step out of the heat and enjoy a refreshing treat on a summer day. Full of delicious juice, watermelon cools your body and restores balance to overheated blood.
Late June and early July is the perfect time of year to enjoy watermelon. Its sweetness is restorative for heat induced fatigue. Its cold nature and betacarotene calms your liver, easing frustration. In the summer, your heart beats faster to regulate body temperature, an effect called heart heat in Chinese medicine. Watermelon's calming effect on your spirit relieves the restlessness and impulsivity of too much heart heat.
A touch of basil's bitterness paradoxically brings out watermelon's sweetness. The earthy aroma of basil enhances subtle flavors in watermelon, a gourd after all. Basil's pungency adds zest for a exciting finish.
Reduce Water Weight, Puffy Skin, & Swelling
On hot, humid days you might feel puffy and swollen, especially if your lymphatic system is congested. Even your ankles will get swollen with the heat. Those who suffer from puffiness and water retention will be happy that watermelon's diuretic properties dry out your blood (due to potassium) and reduce summer swelling. As it purges extra fluids from your body, watermelon leaves you feeling light and refreshed.
The dryness and low calories in this festive fruit are ideal for those trying to lose weight. Watermelon also has a surprising ability to reduce insulin resistance.
Note: Summer swelling is called damp heat in Chinese medicine. Ayurveda describes damp heat as the hot, sour, spreading, & liquid nature of pitta.
Cleanse Your Urinary Tract
The more you sweat, the less you pee. Your risk for urinary tract infections (UTI) and bladder stones increases with summer heat. As you sweat more, urine thickens to a dark yellow. When it sits too long in your bladder urine becomes turbid. The foul, and often sour smelling urine irritates the bladder and urinary tract. Concentrated urine also forms stones more easily.
Watermelon flushes and cleanses your urinary tract by its diuretic action. Its cooling quality reduces inflammation. Pay attention to the color and quantity of your urine. When you notice it has returned to a light yellow color and is more copious, you will know that you are reducing your risk of a urinary tract infection this summer.
Be sure to drink lots of water when cleansing your urinary tract with watermelon. Although an exuberant slice of watermelon might be a tempting way to relieve dehydration, due to its diuretic effect watermelon's juiciness only quenches thirst temporarily. Dry Vata types should exercise caution with watermelon, and be careful to restore electrolyte loss as well.
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 Watermelon & Basil Smoothie Good for My Ayurvedic Diet?
Find out by taking this free, easy quiz.
You'll learn your body type, and whether Watermelon & Basil Smoothie 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.
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.
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.
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.
An herb that produces more blood cells in the body, or otherwise improves blood cell quality or hemoglobin content. Helpful for anemia and other types of deficiency.
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.
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.
Herbs that increase sexual arousal through various actions including increased circulation, relaxation, stimulation, or tonics that strengthen glandular health.
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.