AyurvedIc Essentials
Recipes
Ayurvedic Eating Essentials
All eating for wellness begins with good quality ingredients. In Ayurveda, however, we go a little deeper - beyond just organic, farm fresh, locally sourced etc. and into the energetic/qualities of foods, ensuring what goes in is truely in harmony with our unique make up. Luckily, making the change to an Ayurvedic lifestyle doesn't involve you turfing out the entirety of your kitchen cupboards and starting again. Ayurvedic essentials, as you will see, are mostly just twists on every day ingredients that (when used regularly) harmonise the dosha, strengthen Agni and ensure more holistic fulfilment of the senses when we eat.
Key Ayurvedic Essentials/Twist on the 'original' include:
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adding dosha specific spices (to balance out the qualities of the meal and pacify dosha/boost Agni)
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replacing cooking fats (especially cheap vegetable oils) with nutritive, digestive enhancing, oils (preferably home-made ghee). Ghee is great for the Agni and supports all dosha types. Olive oil is good for pitta, sesame oil is perfect for Vata or Kapha types and warming mustard oil is Kapha on colder days.
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inclusion of kitchari or dhal (the lightest meal of all) to the diet more regularly to give digestive a rest and a chance to scavenge undigested food material
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adding fermented and gut biome promoting foods (such as takra and idli) to the diet to encourage good bacteria growth
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replacing processed wheat with other higher fibre, more protein dense, more easily digested and dosha balancing grains (such as rice, barley, bulgur wheat, buck wheat)
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adding Agni boosting (and delicious) chutneys to meals!
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replacing ice water/fizzy drinks with warm digestive tea
Clean Beets N Greens Kitchari
Beets 'n' Greens keep you fresh and clean! Struggling with Acne? Skin rashes? Volcanic eruptions of emotions? Or excess weight and digestive issues! It sounds like you could do with a gut and liver cleanse! What better (and more delicious) way to promote natural cleansing than with Faith's Beet n Greens Kitchari. Perfect all year round but is absolutely QUEEN come Spring Cleanse season.
All-Seasons Simple Tridoshic Kitchari
Ayurveda's ultimate healing food - kitchari - also known as a hug in a bowl is a soothing combination of soft mung dhal and rice mixed with digestive spices, vegetables and healthy fats. Kitchari is delicious, easy to digest, suitable for for all dosha, low in calorie, high in fibre, Agni strengthening and gut cleansing.
Kheer - Sweet Rice Porridge
Kheer (meaning milk in Persian), or Indian rice pudding, is a popular yet simple dessert made of milk, rice, cardamom and sweet ingredients such as dates or raisins. Kheer can be enjoyed as a healthy alternative to contemporary desserts or can even be enjoyed as breakfast in Autumn to nourish and soothe Vata, aid sleep and soothe dry skin.