Ayurvedic Tips and Reminders

I think we are all anticipating  the Spring season and are looking forward to being outdoors and feeling the sun again. Yes!! I hear you.

With the winter season ending you might be feeling a bit sluggish, light deprived, congested or even feeling a bit heavier than you’d like to be.  I know I am. This is pretty universal after the winter season and the holidays.

I’ve already noticed my appetite changing, needing and wanting less food and lighter foods.  I encourage you to pay attention to your own body during this delicate transition.

In Spring accumulated wastes, mucus, and toxins in the body become loosened by the warmer weather resulting in colds, hay fever, allergies and digestive imbalances. Spring is the perfect time to “detox” and unburden the liver from the fatty heavy foods we ate during winter.

Here are twelve tips for the Spring Season; according to Ayurveda, a time to build your health for whole year :

1. Include cooked beets in your diet a few times a week. Beets help thin the bile in the liver therefore supporting detoxification of wastes.

2. Focus on “bitter” and “astringent” tastes with foods like dandelion, , asparagus, arugula, nettles and beet greens. Warm steamed vegetables cooked with cumin, tumeric, coriander, fennel, ginger, garlic and leeks support digestion and assimilation. Grains such as quinoa, millet, rye, and barley are good additions in the spring.

• These tastes open the channels of elimination, clearing excess mucus and moisture from the body. Reduce kapha-aggravating sweet, sour and salty foods which could cause water retention at this time. In common with the winter diet, minimize raw and cold foods, favoring warm, lightly cooked meals. 

4. Drink ginger tea to enhance digestion.

5. Walk daily and do yoga sun salutations to move the lymphatic system and support detoxification.

6. Wheat grass, chlorophyll and natural juices are perfect this time of year.

The  Ayurvedic herb “Triphala”( three fruits) will help the detox process. Taken at night with warm water or first thing in the morning, it’s a perfect compliment to your detox program.

7. Reduce sugar and avoid the heavier fruits eaten in winter such as banana, avocados, dates and figs, and sour fruits. Choose berries, cherries, blackberries, and blueberries instead.

8. Reduce salt intake such as salt water fish and focus on freshwater fish, white meat turkey and chicken. Beans are good.

9. Reduce the use of oils in the spring and use small amounts of sunflower, safflower, and soybean oil.

10. Include this Weight Loss Simple Detox Tea and drink as you like:

Boil 4 cups water, reduce heat and stir in 1 tsp cardamom seeds, 1 tsp whole cloves, 1/8 tsp black pepper, 1 tbsp, fresh ginger. Cover and let simmer for ten minutes. Strain and add honey (optional). This makes 3 1/2 cups.

11. As you cleanse inside, you may feel inspired to do a Spring cleaning in your home and office. Fresh flowers and plants enhance the energy flow of a space . Ayurvedic “vastu’ which is the feng shui of Ayurveda is wonderful for bringing abundance and fresh energy into your space. Visit http://awakenedenvironments.com/. Heidi can come to your house for a “vastu ” consult.  It makes amazing energy shifts!

12. And don’t forget your Marma maintenance sessions. Marma points are doorways into the body’s detoxification pathways. Just like you clean your house of dust and accumulated wastes, in the same way marma rids the physiology of negative stored emotions like grief, anxiety, sadness, stress and brings fresh new energy to your body and mind!!

Stay tuned for some meal plans next week!

Namaste’

Gedalia