I want you to know, I am not a saint and I don’t follow the Ayurvedic eating plan with rigidity. I do still eat foods that are listed in the foods to avoid column for Pittas and accept the consequences. (See Food Charts For Vata, Pitta, Kapha at the back of the book, pages 240–5.) I cherish winter where my Pitta is at its calmest. I have learnt to love relaxing and best of all I have learnt to listen. I know humbly and wholeheartedly now that I am not always right, but I still really love when I am. I can now accept the differences in others and not see them as weaknesses. I understand that when I am angry or overheated it is about me and not about others and what they have done to me. I see I have an amazing ability to transform things and create something from nothing, and that is the gift of my Pitta, but most of all I know that the things I love often are not the best things for me.
Ayurveda has taught me to respect that we are all individuals and what works for one won’t necessarily work for another. We are all on a journey of self-discovery; some will move a little faster than others but it is essential we honour the other person’s path. Life is here to teach us the lessons we need to learn. We must all remember to listen to the voice inside of us as it knows the truth about how we feel. Following how I feel inside has never been easy but it’s the best compass I have found.
Enjoy the ride.
Yoga is the journey of the self through the self to the self.
–The Bhagavad Gita
Using this book
Ayurveda is a gentle way of living. It is not my intention to be preaching to you here. Take what resonates with you and leave what doesn’t. As with any changes to your diet, you may want to consult your GP or health practitioner before you begin. I don’t demand that what is written on these pages be followed with such vigour you drive everyone around you nuts. Life is big, it is organic and it ebbs and flows. We are not in control: we have a say and we can try our best but we need to remember that life is not an exam, we are here to enjoy it and feel good in it.
I know that there will be times when it is easy to move through your day with ease, prepare your meals, eat the recommended foods, say all the right things, go for a walk, drink a herbal tea and finish your day feeling just super. And then there will be other days when it’s a total nightmare, you will wake up feeling crap, you will eat something indulgent for brekkie and it will just continue to get more pear shaped from there. And that’s OK. Enjoy every mouthful, I say.
I want you to go slowly with this, go gently and remain flexible. I am introducing you to Ayurveda to improve your life, not add another stress. It’s all about balance and moderation, so cliché but so true when it comes to wellness.
To get started, first you need to figure out which doshas form your constitution, and then take a look if you are in balance or out of balance, which is perhaps what brought you to this book. All of that’s in the next section. You will learn about the various characteristics of each dosha, then how to balance your constitution, followed by a little about the Ayurvedic approach to health, including the perfect daily routine and which foods to embrace and which to avoid if you are feeling out of whack. Of course, the bulk of this book is recipes, so once you know which dosha you are predominantly and that it is in balance, you could simply skip to that section and eat from there, confident that you are doing yourself some good.
There are Vata recipes that feature warming foods for autumn and early winter or for Vata types who need to reduce cooling foods, followed by Pitta recipes to cool you down in summer, and finally Kapha recipes for late winter and spring that contain astringent foods to help dry up the season’s colds. These recipes will help you harmonise your doshas and help you gain a feeling of balance.
For those of you who need to know more, the endmatter (pages 228–245) provides even more information in the form of pantry information, food charts and other useful references.
Okay, hope that’s all clear. Let’s get into it!
Which dosha are you?
READING YOUR CHART AND DISCOVERING YOUR DOSHA
On the following pages are two charts that will help you figure out the particular mix of doshas that comprise your constitution. You may discover that you have some of the characteristics of all three doshas; this is not uncommon. But you will probably have one dominant dosha (Vata, Pitta or Kapha), then another dosha that is slightly less obvious, and so you would be, say, Vata Pitta, Pitta Kapha or Vata Kapha.
For example, I am a Pitta Vata. I have far stronger Pitta tendencies than I do Vata so I focus on managing my Pitta, but I do have to be aware of my Vata when I travel and in autumn and early winter, the Vata season (more on this later). You may find you are a Pitta Kapha, for example, and so you would focus on balancing Pitta generally but also managing Kapha tendencies in the Kapha season of late winter and spring or if you have a cold or cough, and you may need to manage the Kapha if you find you are gaining some excess weight in later years.
Be sure to look at both the physical and emotional/psychological/lifestyle/environmental characteristics of each dosha. A person may be physically a Kapha type but emotionally a Vata; this person would then be considered a Kapha Vata.
Just watch the tendency to make sweeping statements and generalisations about your doshas: there are a lot of factors and elements at play here. And what may appear to be someone’s dosha may be a big imbalance that is demanding their attention. The world outside of us and the world inside us are ever-changing and so are we.
WHAT DOES TRIDOSHIC MEAN?
If, when you fill out the charts, you find you have an even amount of characteristics from Vata, Pitta and Kapha, you are described as being Tridoshic. This means you have a fairly balanced constitution but will still need to be aware of each dosha in its season. Ayurveda recommends tridoshic people follow a Vata diet usually because Vata is the dosha that goes out of balance first and the other doshas then follow. To obtain a more accurate and individual dosha reading and diagnosis, you may wish to seek out a consultation with an Ayurvedic practitioner.
Dosha evaluation charts
Go through the charts and tick the boxes, then add up the ticks. The one you have the most ticks under is your dominant dosha, the next your secondary dosha.
Normally we would suggest completing a dosha chart twice: the first time to establish your constitution (prakruti) and the second time to establish any imbalance (vikruti). Understanding your constitution will give you valuable insight into your tendencies; knowing your tendencies will help you manage your health and go a long way in helping you to create a balanced life for yourself. Each of us is made up of varying amounts of Vata, Pitta and Kapha energy. Vata provides us with movement and expression, Pitta governs our metabolic action and Kapha builds our tissues.
The first time you go through the chart, think about your body shape, emotional responses and personality up to about 18 years of age. If you can discuss this with your parents, you will often find they are able to share some valuable information with you about your behaviour in your younger years and they may have a much clearer memory of your size and shape.
The second time you fill out the chart, approach it from how you are now. Watch out for changes in weight, mood etc. to your formative years. Be honest and present. This can be a very helpful tool if used properly and you cannot get it wrong, as we are just trying to establish where your body is not functioning as it should.
If you complete the chart twice and your prakruti and vikruti are the same, then this is a good thing as it shows that your body is in a state of balance. But remember, the body is always in a state of flux, sensitive to outside influences and always trying to communicate any imbalance to you.
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