The type of food you eat has a huge impact on your physical and emotional health. The way your nourish yourself has the ability to affect your mood, body, and emotions. For this reason, Ayurvedic medicine places a huge amount of eating right for your body type. Foods can have the potential to be both healing and aggravating, so it’s very important to listen to what your body needs! By eating foods that are right for our body type, it is believed that our bodies will accumulate less toxic waste.
According to Ayurvedic philosophy, different people have different nutritional needs. So, what works for one person isn’t necessarily good for the next. In order to bring your body and mind into balance, you first need to identify your unique dosha (skin and body) type. Ayurvedic teachings say that we are all born with some of the characteristics of each dosa, but in different proportions. Our bodies and minds are in balance when each of the dosas are in balance. Here’s how you can tell which doas you are and how you should nourish yourself:
Vata
This dosa is considered to be the leader of the three Ayurvedic principles. Vata controls all the movement in the body, including blood flow, breathing, elimination of waste, and the movement of thought. If you have a predominantly Vata constitution, you probably are:
- Creative
- Imaginative
- Quick to learn and grasp new knowledge
- Easily excitable, but quickly satisfied
- Talk and walk quickly
- High energy in short bursts, but tend to tire easily
- The most slender of the three body types
- Acts on impulse
- Love sweet, sour, and salty tastes
- Have cold hands and feet
If you have a vata body type, you should try to consume foods that will help keep you grounded. Warming spices like ginger, cloves, cinnamon, rosemary, and garlic are great for these energetic types. Cooked grains like oatmeal and brown rice are also very grounding for the vata personalities. They should also head towards sweet and moist fruits like mangoes, nectarines, bananas, peaches, and strawberries.
Pitta
The pitta dosa controls digestion, nutrition, metabolism, body temperature, intelligence, and empathy. If you have a pitta body type, you are generally are:
- Strong and well-built
- Well-focused and have good concentration
- Self-confident and assertive, though can be pushy at times
- Competitive and enjoys being challenged
- Passionate and romantic
- Strong digestion and appetite
- Red or fair-skinned and sunburns easily
- Straight and fine hair, which is typically blonde or red
- Uncomfortable in the heat
- Subject to bursts of anger and impatience
- Ambitious and enjoy leadership positions
If this describes you, your personality can be calmed by cooling foods like fresh fruits and vegetables. Other cooling foods include most dairy products, including ice cream, milk, and cottage cheese. They should also try to add some cooling spices in their food, such as mint, coriander, cumin, dill, fennel, and parsley. Try to stay away from hot or spicy foods, and definitely try to eat more raw produce!
Kapha
Kapha is the personification of strength. This dosa is responsible for physical power and natural tissue resistance in the body. Kapha lubricates the joints, helps to heal wounds, supports memory retention, and gives energy to the heart and lungs. You’re probably a kapha body type if you are:
- Loving and affectionate
- Forgiving, compassionate, and non-judgmental
- Graceful and slow-moving
- Has an excellent long-term memory
- Tendency to be overweight and have a slower digestive system
- Prone to depression
- In excellent health and have a strong immune system
- Slow to anger and always try to maintain peace
- Strong dislike for cold, damp weather
- Have thick, soft, and wavy hair
Kapha body types are not suited to excessive protein. Instead, they should opt for beans, which help to promote a quicker digestive system. Light and crispy food suits kaphas, so they naturally steer towards foods like corn tortillas and popcorn. They should definitely try to put a little variety in their diet, since this body type is more predisposed to falling in a rut than the other body types.
