Ayurveda regards food and its role in daily life in a unique and integrated way. Understanding some basic principles will help one to recognize foods that help keep the doshas in balance. Each dosha has certain attributes or qualities, such as dry, hot or heavy. In the same way as the doshas, each kind of food is made up of certain qualities.

Since I have started my Ayurveda studies, I wanted to apply Ayurveda to my lifestyle, especially I found out, and already knew that my dosha was imbalanced.

My vikruti is Pitta and compare to my childhood, my Pitta is increased, my secondary dosha is Vata.

As to correct my imbalance, I have been reading and studying about different herbs, legumes, spices, food combinations, fruits, dairy and more.

I have started adding more beans and lentils into my diet. My breakfast has been always pretty nutritious but I took out certain spices like cinnamon and cayenne. I added more turmeric, cardamom, cumin in to my diet. My lunch now is more combined with cooked and raw food. I still eat my fruits in between meals. I started cooking with mung beans, green and red lentils as these are good for Pitta. Also I am learning more about spices and if I can cook with them. I know certain spices should not be cooked.

I also added a small amount of milk at night time, warming my milk (raw or goats milk) with turmeric, cumin, cardamom, fennel. I started enjoying this process.

I realize that nutrition is very important and also essential element of our balanced dosha, and at the same time wrong nutrition would cause imbalance in our bodies.

I enjoy my madhura as dates, honey, rice. Sweet taste enchances the vital essence of life (ojas). Sweet taste relieves thirst and burning sensations, enchances blood sugar, nutritive to body tissues. Sweet can bring stability and gives energy, vigor and vitality. I was never a person eat excessive amount of sweet, and also knew what sweets are better for body. Applying Ayurveda is not going to come difficult for me. I am looking forward to learning challenge and improve myself as an efficient person to others.

I cut down salt, pungent and sour, growing up in Turkey with eating pickles and still loving sauerkraut, pickles is not the easy to stop, but once in a while I am enjoying a little.

Mango chutney we had yesterday at the workshop, made by Atul, was so delicious and right amount of sweet. This kind of combination in food does not really look for sour.

Bitter (tikta) and astringent (kashaya) something that I am adding to my cooking and my pantry. These air and ether/air and earth what I need to balance my Pitta. I believe it will also help with any inflammatory issues I come across thru my yoga, dance, exerices. Bitter is laxative, and cleansing to the liver. Small dose can help to relieve intestinal gas which I also need in my nutrition. So I am using now more turmeric. I probably need to do some research on neem juice as most yogis use this for celibacy and austerity. But too much bitter also affect negatively. I am adding more pomegranate, green beans, okra because these are astringent, and air and earth is cooling, drying and heavy in nature which I need in my nutrition to balance. Too much astringent though, can create negative affects like insomnia, fear, mind scatterness.

Each of these taste in the appropriate dose will bring balance, yield happiness, good health. I am also looking forward learning more of stages of digestion, anatomy of digestion in more details, how certain foods affect agni, and how this agni affects digestion, and absorption and how one’s health can be affected with this agni

Resources:

Textbook of Ayurveda, Dr Vasant Lad