BALANCING VATA-Nutritional and Lifestyle Recommendations

Balancing Vata-

If excessive stress in your life leads to your Vata force becoming imbalanced, your activity will start to feel out of control. Your mind may race, contributing to anxiety and insomnia. You may start skipping meals, resulting in unintended weight loss, and your digestion may become irregular. If you notice these early symptoms of a Vata imbalance, slow down, take time to meditate, don’t skip meals, and get to bed earlier. A regular lifestyle routine helps ground Vata so you are not carried away into the ethers.

• Vata is cold, light, irregular, dry, and always changing. To balance Vata, make choices that bring warmth, stability, and consistency to your life.Try to get to bed before 10pm, awaken by 6am, and eat your meals at regular times.

• Avoid becoming chilled. Wear adequate clothing appropriate for the season and keep your head covered when the weather is cold.

• Perform a daily self massage using warmer, heavier oils like sesame and almond.

• They experience periods of high energy, but they also tire easily. Light exercise that enhance balance and flexibility is best for a Vata body type. Take care not to push yourself too far and exceed the limits of your energy. Beneficial activities for Vatas include: yoga,walking , light bicycling, light tennis, golf, dance, and aerobics.

• Fresh ginger root is beneficial and can be used frequently. During the cool weather, sip ginger tea throughout the day.

• Be certain that your bowels move regularly on a daily basis.

• Favor soothing, calming music.

• Favor warm colors in your clothing and environment such as earth colors, pastels, browns, and warm yellows.

• Favor aromas that are sweet, heavy, and warm. Examples include basil, bay, cinnamon, citrus, cloves, frankincense, lavender, pine, sage, and vanilla.

Vata-Balancing Nutritional Guidelines

According to Ayurveda, it is important to eat foods that have a balancing effect upon the dominant dosha or that will pacify (stabilize) a dosha that has become excessive or aggravated. Since Vata is drying, cooling and light, favor foods that are oily, warming, or heavy. The best tastes to pacify Vata are sweet, salty and sour. Minimize foods that are pungent, bitter, or astringent.

Recommendations:

• To balance the lightness of Vata, eat larger quantities, but don’t overeat.

• All sweeteners pacify Vata and may be taken in moderation.

• Fats and oils are beneficial in the digestive system and help reduce Vata. Use up to 3 teaspoons daily of ghee or extra virgin olive oil.

• All low-fat dairy products are recommended. Milk is easier to digest when warm or heated.

• Rice and wheat are the best grains for balancing Vata. Reduce the amount of barley, corn, millet, buckwheat, and rye.

• Favor sweet, heavy fruits such as: bananas, avocados, mangoes, apricots, plums, berries, coconut, figs, grapefruit, orange, lemon, melons, papaya, peaches, pineapples, rhubarb, kiwi, dates, nectarines and dried fruits.

• Eat fewer dry or light fruits such as apples, cranberries, pears, and pomegranates. To ease digestion, fruits are best eaten lightly cooked or sautéed or eaten alone.

• Cooked vegetables are best. Raw vegetables should be minimized. Favor Asparagus, beets, and carrots. Other vegetables may be taken in moderation if cooked in ghee or extra virgin olive oil, including peas, broccoli, cauliflower, zucchini, and sweet potatoes.

• Sprouts and cabbage tend to produce gas and should be minimized.

• Dairy products pacify Vata. For optimal digestion, boil milk before drinking it and consume it while warm.

• Spices that pacify Vata include cardamom, cumin, ginger, cinnamon, salt, cloves, mustard seed, basil, asafetida, cilantro, fennel, oregano, sage, tarragon, thyme, and black pepper.

• Nuts are recommended.

• Beans can aggravate Vata, so minimize your consumption of them, with the exception of tofu and mung bean dal.

• For non-vegetarians, use fresh, organic chicken, turkey, seafood, and eggs.

Note: Favoring heavy foods such as sweets, oils, and richer foods may contribute to weight gain. Focus on natural grains, and heavy, moist fruits and vegetables. Keep your sweets to a minimum and use low-fat milk products. Cook your food for easy digestion.