Daikon Radish: Detoxify and Promote Digestion
Daikon Radish is a great soup or salad vegetable. It is spicy, and acts as a digestive by stimulating digestive fire, just as the small radishes that Mexicanos eat with corn and meat do, but it is more aromatic, especially when boiled, than the small radishes and not as hot. Daikon is used in Chinese Medicine Nutritional therapy to balance heavier foods that are high in harder to digest animal protein and fat, like beef or pork. Beef and pork, which are are also neutral and cool in natural temperature, easily produce toxic dampness when eaten in excess, because the combination of heavy...
Read MoreAyurveda and Fruits: Match Food to Your Dosha and the Season
What foods match your dosha? Fruits are naturally sweet sour and refreshing. Some fruits, like apples, also have an astringent or drying property, depending on variety, macs more than fiji, for example. Your mouth feels a bit dry after a bite of apple, or quite dry after a bite of unripe banana–this is the astringent flavor. Pomegranates are another great example of this, as are persimmon, especially if not perfectly ripe. Some fruit are more sweet than sour, like ripe figs, dates, bananas, some fruits are especially cooling, like watermelon, ripe bananas or oranges. Some fruits...
Read MoreGrass Fed Milk, Cultured Butter, Butter in Ayurveda
If you eat butter, let it be from cows that exercised in the fresh air and sun and ate grass in summer pastures, not soybeans and grains in barns. I really like the Organic Valley brand Pasture Butter (and also Grass Fed Milk. ) http://www.organicvalley.coop/products/butter/pasture/ As the cows graze on grass over the long summer days, they produce a milk that provides higher levels of vitamins, CLA (conjugated linoleic acid), and balanced omega-3 and omega-6 fats. And because they are out in the fields, their milk has the flavor of the terrain, like single origin chocolate or wine,...
Read MoreInstant Relaxation Stress Busters
Stress busters you can reach for any time. Dial down stress before an important meeting,calm yourself while driving, keep cool when faced with situations or people you find irritating or scary. These proven breathing, body-scanning exercises work. One Minute Relaxer Place your hand on your belly beneath your navel so you can feel it rise and fall as you breathe. Take a long slow deep in-breath through you nose. Notice the sound of the air in your throat. Hold you breath for a count of three. Exhale forcefully through your mouth with pursed lips. Repeat 5 times. Two Minute Relaxer Starting...
Read MoreJuiced Watermelon with Lime, Ginger, and Salt
Alternative to Iced Drinks in Hot Weather Protect the Agni/ Yang in Summer: Juiced Watermelon with Lime, Ginger, and Salt The other day was quite hot (for SD!), and I swam at the beach after walking down from the top of Torrey Pines, and got home overheated and thirsty. I could still feel the sun hot on my head, even though I had worn a hat. I needed a lot of fluid and to cool down healthfully. An excellent alternative to iced beverages in hot conditions like that is juiced melon, especially watermelon. I juiced mine with fresh ginger root so as to protect my digestive fire/yang/agni from...
Read MoreSummer Raw Beet, Sardine, and Pasta Salad
Summer is a time when even cold dry (Vata) types or cold damp (Kapha) types can have little more raw foods. One of the ways to make raw foods more compatible for cold types with weaker digestive energy (Agni/Spleen Qi) is to have it in small amounts with other foods that stimulate digestion. Necessity is the mother of invention. Today I was hungry, lazy, and the cupboard was bare. I had some leftover pasta, a tin of sardines, a can of chickpeas, a bunch of scallions and one lone beetroot in my frig. So I made a pasta salad with those ingredinets, with olive oil and vinegar as...
Read MoreHormonal Acne Natural Treatment with Ayurveda and Chinese Medicine/Acupuncture
Hormonal Acne Natural Treatment with Ayurveda and Chinese Medicine/Acupuncture In a certain sense most acne is hormonal, as it is often associated with increased levels of the hormone testosterone, in both men and women. Testosterone is made in the adrenals and the ovaries, as well as the testes. And it is the adrenal glands that are involved in the fight or flight stress response. That is why we often see the appearance of acne during periods of high stress. There are other factors besides testosterone and inadequate stress management skills. A Diet rich in sugar, processed foods and...
Read MoreAyurveda Summer Tea–Ayush Brand ProPita Tea
Ayurvedic Summer Tea One of my favorite Ayurveda Summer Teas is Ayush Brand ProPita Tea. This is a naturally cooling tea that is mildly relaxing. Because it combines energetically cooling herbs and spices like Tulusi, Sandalwood, and Cardamon, with sweet spices like Licorice and Cinnamon, ProPita tea pacifies Pitta, which is the dominant dosha of late Spring and early Summer. What’s great is that at the same time, the mild pungent qualities of Cardamon, Tulsi, and Cinnamon promote Agni/Digestive Fire, so this tea is safe to drink in large quantities, unlike iced teas and iced...
Read MorePeppermint and Gotu Kola Ayurvedic Cooling Summer Tea
Cooling Teas of Summer: Peppermint and Centella Asiatica (Brahmi, Gotu Kola, Pennywort) There are lots of ways to hydrate and cool off in summer, without damaging the Agni/digestive fire/Spleen Qi which is actually weaker in the hot weather than in the cold weather. In cold weather the Agni fires up in the core to keep us warm, but in the hot weather it is dispersed to the surface as we sweat. That is why we can eat heavier food in the winter than in the summer. So it is important to be careful about too much cooling food in summer, especially late summer as we begin the descent into the...
Read MoreCurried Quinoa Super Food: Pacify Kapha in Late Winter/Early Spring
Curried Quinoa Super Food: Pacify Kapha in Late Winter/Early Spring The ancient grain of the Incas, Quinoa has a delicate, nutty, slightly bitter flavor and the lightest texture of all grains. This combination of bitter taste and light texture make it an ideal grain for Kapha types and Kapha imbalances such as excess weight, sluggishness, and issues of phlegm. And while Quinoa is excellent for elevated Kapha any time of year, it’s especially true in Late Winter/Early Spring when Kapha predominates. Quinoa is also a very good choice for Pitta imbalances that benefit from...
Read MoreDandelion and Chicory Greens: Vegan Fast Food
My idea of fast food: real food, made easily. Too many of my vegetarian and vegan friends are what I call “grilled cheese vegetarians.” Though they avoid meat, they also seem to avoid green vegetables and eat lots of bread and soy cheese or vegan sausages. I was on a meditation retreat a few years ago in Quebec, and it was surprising: lots of beans and grains and dairy, too, even ice cream, but zero green vegetables. Chinese medicine says: Protein for strength, Grains for energy, Green Vegetables to keep it all clean. Luckily, walking around the extensive uncut fields...
Read MoreSafe Neti Pot Use
Below is an article from NPR about a recent death in Louisiana suspected to be from Neti Pot use with tap water. Before anyone gets too freaked out, let’s look at the facts. 1. There is no proof; it is a suspected case of one.2. The people live in Louisiana, a state with a particularly dismal health record, perhaps in a rural area. City water has nasty things like chlorine you don’t want up your nose either, but less likely to have amoeba 3. What was the health of the deceased; how was their immune system.Of course this is something to take seriously, but efore you stop using...
Read MoreNatural Cranberry Sauce with Dates and Saffron, Low Sugar
It seems silly to buy canned cranberry sauce with a ton of sugar and the bonus of toxic Phtalates, when it is so easy to make it homemade. Takes literally minutes. Boil water, add cranberries and sweetener. Simmer 15 minutes. Voila! Ingredients 1 bag cranberries. Water, enough to cover the berries1/2 cup raw sugar, I like coconut palm sugar–avail at Whole Foods4 Medjool dates, pitted and chopped a bit, but any dates will do.5-6 strands saffron…again, Whole Foods has a pretty cheap good brand3-4 cardamom pods, crushed. You could use orange juice in place of the water if you...
Read MoreRose Scented Limeade for Summer
There are so many lovely beverages to enjoy rather than drinking sodas full of phosphoric acid and high fructose corn syrup, linked in studies to lower bone density and diabetes, respecitively. Here is a very refreshing drink you can enjoy in summer that will cool you off even without ice, which damages digestive fire. Rose and Lime in Chinese Medicine and Ayurveda Rose is considered cooling and harmonizing in Ayurveda and Chinese Medicine. The heat of summer can sometimes create irritability, so this is a valuable quality.In Chinese Medicine we use dried rose petals , Mu Gua, for cooling...
Read MoreNearly Tridoshic Cucumber Avocado Summer Soup
Cucumber Avocado Summer Soup 2 cups chopped cucumber, peeled if non-organic1 cup avocado1.5 cups plain yogurt or kefir1-2 tbsp fresh bell pepper 3-4 tbs fresh cilantroSalt and Pepper to taste Ayurveda This is a lovely creamy cooling summer soup that in Ayurvedic terms is especially suitable for both Pitta and Vatta, and quite tolerated by Kapha, as discussed below. What I want to show you below is how a dish is adjusted to suit a dosha, and how to eat seasonally. Pitta: This soup cools Pitta’s fire, which is naturally increased in Summer months. Both cucumber and cilantro are very...
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