106 YOGAJOURNAL.COM YOGA TODAY
self-care
SATISFY A SWEET
TOOTH NATURALLY WITH
APPLES AND DRIED APRICOTS.best friend’s, or your own five years ago.
Your ideal weight is af fected by your age,
the season, the climate, and—if you’re a
woman—your menstrual stage. The right
weight has nothing to do with numbers.
Instead, it’s a re flection of feeling and be -
ing truly healthy—being comfortable and
stable in body and mind, and having the
strength and endurance to fully engage in
the demands of everyday life.
Knowing your dominant dosha can
help you establish healthful eating habits
and dietary choices. (Take our survey de-
signed to reveal your dosha at yogajournal
.com/ayurveda.) Over time, by living and
eating according to your dominant dosha,
you’ll settle into the best weight for you—
and only you.
VATA FIND THE RHYTHM
Vata-dominant people have slight or
deerlike builds. When out of balance,
they might tend toward irregular diges-
tion, usually losing weight when stressed.
If vata dominates your constitution, you
can become imbalanced after emotional
trauma, and your weight may yo-yo up and
down as your system attempts to insulate,
ground, and protect itself.
You’ll find balance in your weight and
life by following a rhythm: eating three
meals a day at regular times, with the
main meal of the day around noon, when
digestion is strongest. Warm, moist, and
heavier foods with sweet, sour, or salty
tastes will nourish tissues, emotions, and
overall body weight. Foods that are bitter,
pungent, or astringent should be avoided.
Warming spices like cumin, garlic, or cin-
namon support a stable agni (digestive
fire, or metabolism).
You might crave sweets, caffeine, or
other substances that affect the nervous
system—especially if life has you running
in rapid, unpredictable circles. Instead of
turning to food stimulants, try develop-
ing faith through a devotional or spiri-
tual practice to help you disengage from
anxious, repetitive thinking. Warm oil,
applied externally with an all-over self-
massage, can calm tense or hypersensi-
tive digestion and bring you back toward
a comfortable, stable, balanced body
weight and muscle tone.
PITTA GO FRESH AND LIGHT
The pitta dosha is associated with fire
energy. If you’re pitta dominant and live in
balance, you’ll most likely sport a medium,
equine, well-proportioned body. Associ-
ated with fire energy, the pitta dosha gov-
erns digestion and transformation in the
body and mind.
With a propensity for ambition and
hyperfocus, you might keep your nose
to the grindstone far past lunch, honing
your mental aim with acidic coffee and
attempting to quell hunger with whatever
is most easily available. Sadly, fast food
usually means junk food. The salty, fatty
processed ingredients, artificial flavors,
and preservatives can aggravate acid pro-
duction, eventually weakening the liver,
gallbladder, and small intestine.Kapha-Calming
Apple Dessert
MAKES 4 TO 6 SERVINGS1 teaspoon dried orange peel,
soaked overnight in 1 teaspoon
boiled water
4 apples, washed and chopped into
½-inch pieces
1 ⁄ 3 cup dried apricots, chopped
Sprinkle of ground cloves
Drizzle of honey1 Mix all of the ingredients in
a large bowl.
2 Let sit at room temperature for
an hour, and then enjoy.