SAVE SYMPTOM
Children invite their parents to shift their attention from an ego-centric worldview, to love-centered attention towards others. In this sense, parenthood satisfies one of the most basic goals of the spiritual life, "Life becomes better the more...
Alcohol is also a medicine when used in the right dose. Alcohol is recommended in Ayurveda during winter months as a remedy to blood stagnation. Two (2) tablespoons of wine represent a daily medicinal dose of alcohol during the month of January and...
The first step in alleviating body shame is to develop a gentler and more loving relationship with your body. Your body is an important part of your identity in life and should be treated with the care and respect that you would show a spouse or best...
Many new moms report they do not have enough time or space to bathe frequently. Yet, bathing is an important part of feeling fresh every day.
Beans are difficult to digest, high in soluble and insoluble fiber, and high in potassium (drying). They feel cold and heavy in the digestive tract. See more...
Belly breathing means when the belly expands on the breath due to the bering down of the diaphragm. Belly breathing is essential for a full deep breath.
Bingeing is a common and serious symptom of bulimia and binge eating disorder. A binge involves a short period during which the binger consumes abnormally large amounts of food and feels a complete loss of control. This can be followed by a period of...
Body dysmorphia is when you believe you are less attractive looking than you actually are. A classic example is an anorexic who believes they are overweight. More subtle examples include preoccupation with some trivial defect, such as acne.
Broccoli, cabbage and cauliflower are cruciferous vegetables. They are all difficult to digest in a person with a dry or cold digestive tract.
Whole grains are more difficult to digest than husked, but have more fiber and are nutritionally superior. If your digestion is poor, however, you won't be able to absorb the nutrition benefits of whole grains.
Burgers and hot dogs combine meat and wheat, two difficult to digest ingredients. These heavy, gooey, difficult to digest ingredients often cause heaviness and stagnation in the stomach, and gas and bloating in the colon.
Burritos are a bad food combination. They generally contain rice and wheat (two types of grains), beans and meat (two types of proteins), sour cream and cheese (two types of dairy), nightshades (tomatoes, chilis) and fatty avocados.
Over 40% of all Ayurvedic practitioners focus on pre-natal and post-partum care, reflecting Ayurveda's focus, insight, and interest in this area. The first trimester is Kapha, second trimester Pitta, and last trimester Vata. Vata surges after birth but...
Food Restrictions Lead to Overeating Deprivation often leads to a lack of control around food. If you feel like you cannot stop eating once you start, observe your daily habits. Are you eating regularly throughout the day? Often...
Canned, frozen food may be nutrient deficient, and lack taste. Taste is important to help the body choose the best foods for the season.
Chest breathing means that you are expanding the chest on the breath, as opposed to just the belly.
Taking care of children can be draining, especially for sensitive or conflict avoidant individuals who don't enjoy, either intellectually or physically, the work required to train children. Some of the happiest parents we know are parents...
Chocolate is difficult to digest and hot. Bitter chocolate is Kapha pacifying. Since chocolate is often mixed with sugar and cream, it aggravates all three doshas. Chocolate stimulates the reproductive organs in women, which explains why chocolate can...
Over 40% of all Ayurvedic practitioners focus on pre-natal and post-partum care, reflecting Ayurveda's focus, insight, and interest in on fertility, pregnancy, and children. The first trimester is
Your diet is the 'religion' of your body. It's what your body believes will help it survive. In many ways, because of deep subconscious patterns, it's easier to change your religion than to change your diet. Medical studies show that 90% of people...
Dairy creates heaviness, cloudy thoughts, bloating and constipation for many. It provokes weight gain, mucus and Kapha dosha. Although adult humans have adapted to milk, it was originally intended for babies. Lactose intolerance may be quite natural.
Consuming food soon after a meal forces the stomach to process partially digested and undigested foods at the same time, disturbing the rhythm of digestion. Desserts especially challenge the stomach due to their heaviness. The stomach produces special...
Keeping clothes that no longer fit you or are too small is often a form of insidious self-punishment. Too small or too tight clothes serve as reminders of your past and current weight and can inspire feelings of shame and guilt, which are prime...
The difficulties and messiness of life require compassion and forgiveness for those suffering through a divorce. Divorce disrupts stability, routine, community, and causes displacement generally. True unity is possible only when individuals submit...
Coffee is like a metabolic credit card. By suppressing exhaustion, coffee prevents you from learning how to build and restore vitality naturally. It enables people to live at a superhuman pace for years, and by stimulating the mind can even prevent...
If you drink more than 8-12 cups of water a day, and aren't nursing or sweating, you may be drinking too much. Signs that you are drinking too much are a frequent need to urinate, with clear, colorless urine. If you're taking diuretics, your pee...
Fasting between meals gives the digestive organs a chance to rest, and improves the ability of the body to digest fat, a stable source of energy. Although recommended by western medicine, many small meals causes blood sugar instability and leads to...
Do you eat meat every day, or large quantities of meat? Some constitutions (Vata and Kapha) benefit from the blood building qualities of meat. Those with a "full" constitution, meaning individuals with plenty of heat and oil, often have an excess of...
Red meat (such as beef, lamb, venison, etc) strongly builds blood, which can benefit cold constitutions such as Vata and Kapha. Pork has much less iron in it than beef, and may not build blood as strongly. Red meat can aggravate Pitta-Kapha...
Wheat is generally difficult to digest, very heavy, gums up the digestive tract, and causes mucus.
Part of what makes loneliness unbearable is the aspect of mystery in it. When you are alone, you may not know how and where you can find human connection, and feel your self-esteem quickly wither before the enigma. When you feel like you are unloved or...
Eating late at night provokes Kapha. When a person goes to bed with undigested food in the stomach, the food tends to stagnate both in the intestines and the blood, leading to weight gain. Sumo wrestlers in Japan gain weight by eating late at night. If...
Eating late at night provokes Kapha. When a person goes to bed with undigested food in the stomach, the food tends to stagnate both in the intestines and the blood, leading to weight gain. Sumo wrestlers in Japan gain weight by eating late at night. If...
Studies show over 1/5 of all eating happens in a car. The flavor curve of food changes with every bite. When you are distracted, you may not be aware of how the taste of food is changing. Distractions make it impossible to listen to your body's cues to...
Eating happens. Food calms you down when you feel overwhelmed, stressed, or hazed, which can create an almost instinctive impulse to reach for a snack, even when you're calm, when life and your diet are going swimmingly well for you. Two elements,...
If you lead a hectic lifestyle and find yourself always running from place to place, it can be hard to switch gears and slow yourself down. The first step might be in planning, long before the meal. Have you carved out enough time in your schedule to...
The kinds of food you crave can give you clues as to what's going on internally When you eat, are you truly hungry for food?...
Excitement and inspiration can lead to greater focus and determination, if rooted in reason. Sometimes, however, excitement and inspiration become an imbalanced habit, caused by excess wonder or curiosity. Wonder is a source of...
On Joyful Belly, we've created an extensive categorization of food so you can easily match food to your imbalanced biocharacteristics. By eating an optimal diet that balances your biocharacteristics, your whole body is strengthened and the conditions that created the disorder are removed. Once the root causes of the disease are removed, the disease lessens in strength or disappears altogether. Additional remedies - such as herbs and lifestyle practices - focused on the specific disorder, can greatly enhance your healing.
Founder of Joyful Belly Ayurveda, John Immel, answers the question ‘What is Ayurveda?’
