Ayurveda

A•yur•veda //Traditional Hindu system of medicine which uses diet, herbal treatment, and yogic breathing.

I have been traveling for 2 months. Although that is not very long compared to some of the other people I met traveling (ahem, Australians!), it was long enough for my body to go all out of whack. My body just feels like things are not the way they should be. I mainly notice it when it comes to the texture of my hair and skin and how I feel each day. I just don’t feel healthy and I would like to fix that. As much as I tried to eat healthy and practice yoga while traveling, it really wasn’t that easy. First off, bread, chocolate and crepes are too hard to pass up. Also, I received many awkward stares while trying to do sun salutations in a crowded dorm room.

I had heard about Ayurveda before in a yoga class, but because it basically suggested I cut out all my favorite foods, I didn’t want to listen. Enter this is amazing girl named Devin. She is an astrologer who read my charts. Whoa, spot on there. The chart reading led to a discussion about my fiery temperament. A discussion of the zodiac signs, eventually led to talk about Ayurveda.

There is a quiz that you can take that I have linked down at the bottom to discover your Dosha, or body type. Ayurveda takes your unique body and mind into account, and then helps you discover foods you should be eating to balance that out. I am a Pitta type. Seriously, learning that garlic isn’t the best for my body type is the most depressing thing ever. The way I will apply Ayurveda to my life is the mantra “everything in moderation.”

 ”Pitta body-types should avoid foods that are hot, intense, light, and oily (for example, garlic), and instead choose foods that are cooling, slightly heavy, and a little dry. Pitta body-types should avoid foods that are salty, sour, and pungent. And they should favor foods that are sweet, bitter, and astringent in taste. It is preferable to eat three regular, good-sized meals each day. Overall, foods that are fresh, organic, cooling, raw, very lightly spiced, and cooked in little oil are balancing.”

It started to make sense after hearing that I am fiery and passionate. It makes sense to eat foods that tame this.  You want to eat food that balances your Dosha out. As a Libra, that is what I always want – balance!

To find your own Dosha and a foods to take into account, follow this link.

Find your Dosha.