Yoga Journal Singapore - June-July 2018

43

june / july 2018

yogajournal.com.sg

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. Associated with fire
energy, the pitta dosha governs 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

Pitta-Calming Sauté
MAKES 1 SERVING

For a light but satisfying dinner, serve over cooked

quinoa and rice.

1 tablespoon ghee

1 small head of broccoli, florets

roughly cut

1 teaspoon fresh ginger, grated

2 tablespoons scallions, chopped

1 Heat ghee in a sauté pan over medium heat.
2 Add the broccoli and sauté until just cooked,
about 5 to 8 minutes.
3 Sprinkle ginger and scallions over broccoli,
and serve.

production, eventually weakening the liver,

gallbladder, and small intestine.

When you do sit down to enjoy a meal,

you’re likely to indulge a craving. Strikingly

sour and hot tastes that deliver sharp

stimulation—like red wine, garlic, chilies, and

vinegary pickles—just add intensity to the fire.

These foods don’t translate directly into weight

gain, but according to Ayurvedic thought,

they do lead to intestinal inflammation,

which creates circulatory congestion, or fluid

retention, a precursor to obesity.

To eat for balance, you must take time for

regular meals, making lunch the biggest meal

of the day, as digestion is at its peak at midday.

A pitta metabolism is naturally strong with

high agni, which demands fuel; if the digestive

fire isn’t fed regularly, it overheats. Acids and

enzymes then concentrate, disrupting normal

digestion and contributing to the formation of

ama, the toxic byproduct of a faulty digestive

process that Ayurvedic theory suggests can clog

various bodily channels and cause weight gain.

Fresh, light fruits, veggies, and grains

with bitter, sweet, and astringent tastes (like

cucumbers, green beans, apples, quinoa, and

greens) calm the dosha’s overheated passion

and ease digestion.

Kapha-dominant types tend to have stockier
builds and round faces. You fall out of balance
slowly and are most likely to gain weight over
time and hold on to it. A slide into extra weight
might begin with long hours at a sedentary job.
Add a few slices of birthday cake, a couple of
rainy weekends sleeping in, a movie instead of
yoga, and a few servings of rich comfort food,
and extra pounds appear.
If kapha dominates your prakriti, you’ll find a
healthy weight when you eat smaller meals of
fresh raw and light foods with bitter, astringent,
and pungent tastes. Eating your main meal
around noon is especially good for balancing
digestion in kapha-dominant prakritis.
Dessert, unfortunately, is not on the menu.
The sweet taste just creates an imbalance of
kapha energy that can lead to weight gain.
Instead, try an after-meal cup of green tea with

dry ginger to boost digestion and metabolism

and reduce dependence on heavy, cloying

sweets. However, dried fruit and treats

sweetened with the herb stevia can bring

kapha energy back into balance. Fresh berries,

apricots, and apples are great choices, too.

While your natural sense of stability can

become stagnation that resists even healthy

change, once you have made a commitment,

your slow and steady nature will keep you

on a sure path until you reach your goal for a

naturally balanced and healthy body weight.^

SIMPLY SATISFIED

How will you know when you’ve hit the

right weight? The Caraka Samhita, a classsic

Ayurvedic text, says: “The senses are fulfilled;

hunger and thirst are assuaged; standing,

sitting, lying down, walking, breathing, talking,

and laughing are effortless; food is digested

easily by evening or morning.”

Forget cultural expectations—if you nourish

yourself in a way that brings you health and

joy, your body will follow your lead to your

perfect, balanced weight.

Satisfy a sweet tooth naturally with apples and

dried apricots. (recipe on page 44)

Niika Quistgard directs a women’s

Ayurvedic clinic in Kerala, India

(rasaayurveda.com).

KAPHA SAVOR THE BITTERSWEET