Paula Youmell, RN Natural Health Education Herbalist, Yoga, Energy Medicine
Doshas, Elements, Constitutions, and Practical Thoughts About It All
Simple Dosha info: https://www.yogajournal.com/lifestyle/health/intro-ayurveda/ Deeper info on Doshas, Elements, Constitutions: https://www.ayurveda.com/ayurveda-a-brief-introduction-and-guide/
Practical thoughts: I am aware when hearing this info for the first or second time, maybe even the 10th time, it can be confusing because we did not grow up immersed in this wisdom. Meal I am making for dinner tonight is a homemade, whole food, stove top mac & cheese. This is a heavy, grounding, kapha dominant dish. I can add fresh cilantro (in my bowl so I do not cook the cilantro) to the mac & cheese. I am pairing it with a salad of local organic greens from Birdsfoot Farm, fresh greenhouse cukes from Martin’s Farmstand, and organic-raw red peppers & carrots from the Potsdam Food Coop. These fresh, raw foods bring in lightness (air & ether). The salad dressing is homemade with organic olive oil, Martin’s apple cider vinegar, yellow mustard (fire element), and fresh herbs from my garden. If I added hot pepper flakes to the mac & cheese - more Fire element.
Breakfast Example: So today I had a slice of whole grain raisin toast with lots of butter. I made a strawberry banana smoothie, ingredients for (2) 2 cup servings: • Local, raw, organic goat’s milk, 1 ½ cups • Thawed strawberries from Martin’s 2021 • ½ banana • Raw, local, organic egg • 10 drops vanilla • Cinnamon & ginger powder • Cilantro • Local, raw honey
Goat’s milk is warming. It is not cooling and mucous forming like cow’s milk. I suspect cow’s milk from A2 only animals and in its natural raw & organic state would be less cooling and mucous forming. When we hybridize animals, factory farm raise them, then pasteurize & homogenize their milk… well, it drastically changes the energetics of the food and how it interacts with your body and energy. Milk is high protein & fat as well as milk lactose (carbohydrate). Bananas are heavy earth energy. Strawberries are lighter Earth with lots of water, air & ether. Eggs: grounding fat & protein. Vanilla: air & ether with some mild grounding earth tones. Cinnamon & ginger adds some fire. Cilantro: air & ether. Honey: just plain good medicine that balances all I am not a big fan of smoothies, at all. It is a chewing issue. Damn Sick of Smoothies: a PDF eBook I wrote 6 or so years ago because I was tired of the smoothie trend and it’s impact on many health related issues. I will update this PDF file with vagal nerve, mouth-brain-gut, info soon. We need to chew our food very, very well to stimulate mouth, brain, gut pathways. Chewing is a big factor in creating satiation so you are satisfied for several hours. Slug down a smoothie for breakfast and see how quickly you get hungry again. Take that same smoothie and chew each “bite” 20 times and your satiation will last you well through to lunch time. Take the same ingredients but use yogurt instead of milk, add some nuts for chewing crunchiness, and again you will feel more satiated with chewing. Don’t swallow yogurt without chewing it. With chewing, you have actively stimulated mouth to brain to gut neural pathways (yup, again it is vagal nerve stuff here). Chewing well is the Yoga of eating. Creates rest & digest mode, tones vagal nerve, and supports keeping you in constant calm.
Note: Yoga Journal & Ayurveda.com links are not my information. Copyright© Paula Youmell, RN, Wise Woman Nurse