The Pitta Cooling Eating Plan

It seems to me that one of the most profound things you can do to impact your long term health is to control inflammation. More and more health experts are turning to these ideas and recommending an anti-inflammatory eating plan. To catch up on the basics of this approach, see this good overview.

But wait. Healers knew all this 5,000 years ago. Ayurveda calls this inflammatory heat "pitta" and they said it's one of the most destructive forces in your body. It can literally slow cook your organs, causing them to become worn out and fail prematurely. The eyes, liver, skin and hair are particularly vulnerable, along with the digestive tract and, as we know, the joints.

I have seen a pitta controlling diet do great things for people. Cooling down the chronic damaging pitta makes people more relaxed, happier and less burned out.

To get going on a pitta/inflammation reducing program, it is thought that best to eat green vegetables, especially raw. Include the juices, too. Cucumber and celery are standouts. Naturally sweet foods, including fruits, and the colorful (purple, blue, red) superfruits are also helpful. Bitter foods are actually the most cooling. Our American diet does not include many bitter foods, but consider some mildly bitter greens like kale. I've also seen ghee do some wonderful things.

Avoid pungent foods like horseradish and go easy on the hot spices (chilies, garlic and the like).