How to Select Ayurvedic Pitta Foods
Ayurveda, known as the “science of life” is a holistic alternative health approach that originated in India and is over 5000 years old.According to Ayurveda, people are made up of different combinations of the primary elements of air, fire and water. Corresponding to these are the three “doshas” or health constitutions in a person’s body. These are Pitta (Fire), Vata (Air), and Kapha (Water). Health is achieved through the ongoing balancing of these doshas within the body. When a dosha is out of balance, corresponding health problems can occur.A key ingredient in achieving this balance is diet, and eating foods that help to balance the other doshas. If you are seeking to increase your intake of Pitta foods, here are some helpful steps in evaluating and choosing them.
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Instructions
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Choosing Foods to Increase Your Pitta
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Understand food energetics. Each food has a combination of energetics. This means they they have the ability to increase, lower, or have no real effect on any one or more of the three doshas, Vata, Pitta and Kapha. When selecting a Pitta food, you are looking for those that increase Pitta, and preferably lower Vata and Kapha. If you are using an Ayurvedic guide, food energetics are often denoted as V, P, K. P+ means "increases Pitta."
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Choose from among the following fruits to help increase your Pitta: Apricots, bananas, sour cherries, grapefruit, lemon, lime, and mango. The cooling and sweeter nature of most fruits tend more to increase Kapha or Vata.
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Choose from among the following vegetables to help increase your Pitta: Carrots, chilies, hot peppers, corn, eggplant, mustard greens, onions, radishes and turnips. More pungent or spicy vegetables tend to increase Pitta.
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Choose from among the following grains, legumes and nuts to help increase your Pitta: Buckwheat, millet, peanuts, and Brazil nuts.
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Decrease consumption of meat, fish and dairy products, all of which tend to be high in Kapha.
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Decrease your consumption of other foods that are high in Vata and Kapha to help increase your Pitta.
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Tips & Warnings
Spicy-tasting herbs tend to be a good resource for increasing Pitta. Look for ways to add a dash of such spices to your foods when cooking to increase your Pitta.
Food preparation influences the energetics of a particular food. Most fruits and veggies are at their strongest when eaten raw. Overcooking significantly minimizes their healthful benefits.
Don’t gorge on a particular food. Instead rotate among them. Eating one food in excess can actually aggravate a dosha imbalance.
Canned fruits and vegetables do not have any Ayurvedic benefits.
To learn more about Ayurveda and Ayurvedic Foods, see Additional Resources below.
