Eat according to your body’s energies

Diet is the first pillar of good health. Thoughtful, healthy eating is the safest way to positively impact your body and mind, and can be used by anyone as self care.

When you modify your diet, you can profoundly affect your underlying problems. Ayurveda primarily evaluates the diet based on the energetic qualities of the food and its effect on your doshas-not necessarily on the chemical nutrient content of the food.

As unique as your body type is, so too, are your nutritional requirements. Ayurveda recognizes this, and emphasizes the correct diet for you, as an individual. To achieve balance, the diet for treating each dosha will have the characteristics that are opposite that of the dominating dosha.

People with high vata should strive to concentrate on sweet, sour and salty tastes- the anabolic, building tastes. Salty is best for vata because it promotes moisture retention in the tissues.

Those with high pitta should use mainly sweet, bitter, and astringent- the cooling tastes. Bitter is best for pitta because it is the most cooling.

Those of us with high kapha will primarily consume pungent, bitter and astringent- the catabolic, detoxifying tastes. Pungent flavors are the best for kapha because it is warming and drying.