What is Ayurveda?
Ayurveda means "The Science of Life" in Sanskrit and is considered to be the oldest healing modality, as well as the "Mother of all Healing.” The practice of Ayurvedic medicine is a lifestyle system that began in India 5,000 years ago and uses the elements of nature (space, air, fire, water, earth) and body types, called doshas, to recommend specific ways of eating. In Ayurveda, your body type encompasses more than just physical appearance - it also includes common symptoms, character and personality traits. Based on these features, Ayurveda recommends eating certain foods and spices to make sure you stay balanced and feeling good.
Ayurveda is complex, but here's a short breakdown of the different dosha types. Most people have a combination of two types, with one being more prominent.
Ayurveda Body Types
- Pitta (fire + water). Intelligent, hard-working, and decisive. This dosha generally has a medium physical build, short temper, and may suffer from conditions like indigestion, heart disease, or high blood pressure.
- Vata (air + space). Creative, energetic, and lively. People with this dosha are usually thin with a light frame and may struggle with digestive issues, fatigue, or anxiety when out of balance.
- Kapha (earth + water). Naturally calm, grounded, and loyal. Those with a kapha dosha often have a sturdier frame and might be prone to weight gain, asthma, depression, or diabetes.
Eating For Your Ayurvedic Body Type
Those with a pitta dosha typically do well with cooling, energizing foods and limiting spices, nuts, and seeds. Examples of “pitta-friendly” foods are avocado, asparagus, dandelion greens, carrots, coconut, watermelon and figs.
The vata dosha favors warm, moist, and grounding foods while restricting dried fruit, bitter herbs, and raw veggies. Those with a vata dosha should include lemon, bananas, peaches, beets, green beans and plums into their diet.
Eating well for a kapha dosha means limiting heavy foods like nuts, seeds, and oils in favor of fruits, veggies, and beans. They thrive when eating cherries, berries, apples, cabbage and broccoli.
Eating Ayurvedic during the winter means focusing on incorporating a lot of soups and stews and comforting meals with high amounts of (good!) fats like avocado, coconut and olive oil. Another Ayurvedic practice is to avoid chilled or iced drinks in the winter. They can aggravate vata and kapha energies. Ayurveda suggests choosing warm teas or room temperature water as much as possible .
Spices are a staple in Ayurveda and adding ginger, turmeric and cinnamon to meals helps to improve circulation and digestion and helps to clear out your nasal passages. Spices like cayenne, nutmeg, chili, black pepper, help you feel full, satisfied and raise your inner body temperature.
When the weather is warmer, going for raw and cold foods will help to keep you cool, balanced and heathtly. The beautiful thing about Ayurveda is that it aims to individualize diet, understanding that we are all different and works with both your body and the seasons for balanced health.
At Mymee, we advocate that there is no one-size-fits all diet. To be in the best health, one needs to avoid your specific trigger foods, so even if it fits within your dosha but you have a reaction to it, it may be best to limit or avoid it. Mymee supports finding what works best for your unique body, and trying proven methods that help relieve symptoms and improve your well-being. Reach out to see how we can help.
