Recipes + a Home Practice to keep you Cool Calm + Collected this Christmas and New Year
Christmas time in Australia is Summer time!
Tis the season when our body heats up and pitta is highly aggravated. Even Vata and Kapha body types suffer from aggravated pitta, and your body can dry out totally if you are of Pitta constitution. Irritability, heartburn, UTI’s, skin eruptions and stomach acid are the signs of aggravated Pitta.
Cooling foods TO CONSUME in summer :
It is natural to grab a cold drink to pacify a hot day. Cool and room temperature liquids help to hydrate the body and flush the toxins out of the body. But ice cold liquids give the opposite effect. They dampen Agni (the digestive fire) inside the body and disturbs the digestion process. Carbonated drinks also give the same effect. So, it is wise to drink to drink a lot of room temperature water throughout the day to prevent the body from being dehydrated.
Take some herbal teas like CCF tea and fresh coconut water as beverages.
Avoid or consume minimal foods with sour, salty and pungent rasa (taste).
Consume more sweet and astringent tastes. Enjoy sweet, nourishing full ripe fruits like mango, cherry, grape, melons, and sweet pineapple. They are nourishing and cool for summer.
Consume more leafy bitter greens (kale, rocket, endive, lettuce, watercress) and enjoy avocado, zucchini, broccoli, asparagus, cucumber, bitter goard, green beans, peas, potatoes, sprouts, pumpkin, fennel, and beetroot.
Dairy products also help to balance the heat of pitta. Ghee, Raw Milk, Pure Cream, Goats Cheese, Paneer + Fresh Ricotta is best.
Mint, fennel, and coriander, are some of the best fresh herbs/spices that can be added as coolants in diet.
Wheat, cassava, rice, barley and basmati rice are cooling grains.
Coconut oil, Sunflower oil + Ghee have cooling effects on the body.
Apart from food, make time to exercise before the heat of the day, and engage in slow, cool and calming activities like meditation, yin yoga, cooling pranayama. Take adequate rest, spend time in nature; walk along the beach of an evening, bask in the moonlight and enjoy a cool and calm Summer.
Recipes + a Home Practice to keep you Cool Calm + Collected this Christmas and New Year
