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Hello my dear ones,
Welcome to March and National Nutrition Month ...PLUS we are in "Kapha season".
Nutrition and Kapha season, coincidence-I think not!
First, lets talk about the bio-energy of Kapha.
Remember, your body is made up of all 3 of the doshas/bio-energies (vata, pitta, kapha) and the qualities of Kapha season are cool, heavy, slow and damp, so you may find more of these qualities in your own body in Springtime like cool hands and feet, feeling heavy, sluggish and slow, and increased moisture like clogged sinuses and snotty noses. These qualities will be with us until the warmer days of Spring arrive. The seasonal shift to Spring is rumored to be arriving earlier this year (the groundhog said so!) so it's time to start preparing. The 7 days at the end of a season (approx. March 11-18) are called rtusandhi, and Ayurveda recommends during this time to start using foods and changing lifestyle habits to make these seasonal transitions easier on your body.
You can start by choosing foods this month that are warm, light and drying- the opposite qualities of Kapha season. Think warm, cooked foods, brothy based soups with veggies, tasty cooked sprouts and bitter vegetables (dandelion, arugula, kale, mizuna, mustard greens, nettles, bitter gourd and bottle gourd), use warming spices in recipes like ginger, black pepper, cayenne, garlic, wasabi, cloves... and begin to avoid heavier, wintry foods like wheat, dairy, heavy meats and sugar. You will be the best judge of how to adapt your diet for the upcoming season, so go slow and see how your body responds by making small changes as you go over the next few weeks! And if Winter returns for a few days during Springtime...it's okay to go back to wintry foods to feel warmed, nourished and grounded those days!
If you want to learn more about your innate doshic qualities, and shifts to make for Spring, then take this quiz to see what your unique combination of doshas reveals about you right now. Share your findings with me if you want to!
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