RITUCHARYA: Seasonal routine - Diet and Lifestyle regimen for Spring

Transcript

hello everyone namaste welcome to my channel vpk nutrition mind body healing with pushpa today we'll be talking all about diet and lifestyle that we need for a healthy spring season stay tuned [Music] [Applause] welcome back everyone uh today this episode i'm going to be talking about a seasonal regimen or ritual which is described in ayurveda now today happens to be holy that i'm recording this and so this marks the beginning of spring so when we think of spring we think of beautiful flowers colorful flowers coming up with looking at all the beautiful birds singing and also the snow from the winter and the ice if you live in a cold climate you see that melting and then we get more warm then heat and the temperature gets better in the spring temp so we're all looking forward to that spring because it gives you a new rejuvenation now again the the problem with that is again as we transition from one season to the next the the environment that changes so much and so does our body so we start responding to that with allergies and uh poor digestion and other problems so that's what we'll talk about today and so ayurveda says so whatever you see in the the in the individual is what you see in the universe so we adapt to the changing climate and change our lifestyle and our diet accordingly then we can also remain healthy during the season and have a smooth transition so what happens uh in spring is as the heat starts to increase and some drying starts to happen in the body so when that happens if there's a fluid built up or whatever congestion then this starts to melt and this starts manifesting as allergies sneezing coughing things like that so a lot of people what they do is they try to suppress these allergies but really speaking we should allow nature to take its course and go through that so that because this is nature's way of cleansing itself and cleansing your body so again when the diet comes you can always adopt a lot of things in the diet that will help you with the process now the first thing you have to remember is digestion i've always mentioned digestion is the most important in ayurveda more than the actual food itself so what happens here is a digestion is not very high the digestion is kind of moderate so naturally it you want to pick foods that are easily digestible which are light in nature and again this is the kapha melting season so you want to pick some foods that are pacify the kappa in the body so let's get into diet one by one first important thing is pick light and digestible foods number two we look at the taste so bitter pungent and astringent taste now for those who don't know what these are i have talked a lot about the taste the six days in ayurveda in previous videos and i will put the link in the description box please go back and watch them so you can get more i i mean get a better idea of what those things are now the third thing is avoid taste like sweet salty and sour because these have water element in them and so they could make it very heavy and hard to digest fourth thing is let's look at the foods itself so first of all when we take the grain group we want to and again this is uh said in ashtanga kardema chapter 3 they talk about picking old barley and wheat and things like that which are easier to digest again basmati rice is something that you can have that we get at the stores and these can actually be sauteed a little bit dry you know dry uh fried roasted a little bit it actually makes it a little bit easier to digest then you can also use other smaller grains like amaranth and quinoa and millet and things like that that we are used to nowadays now the second thing was legumes now the legumes again are astringent in nature they have the drying effect so first one easily digested is moong dal then you can pick chickpeas and rajma which is red kidney beans black eyed peas and then some lentils and all of these things are drying in nature of course if you have problems with gas and bloating you want to be a little bit more cautious as how much you eat of those of course eating spices will help you digest them better and then the third thing is fruits now at this time you would want to eat some fruits because it is getting warmer and fruits make you feel uh you know give you that energy and sweet taste in the mouth again fruits the smaller the fruits like the berries or strawberries blueberries blackberries all of these are good apples and pears are a little bit drying in nature again pomegranate is very good remember wherever you live pick the fruits in season as far as the juicy fruits try to avoid those like the oranges and also um bananas may be a problem and again um the melons and cantaloupe honeydew watermelon all of these things are too much water in them so definitely want to limit those keep those for the summer and again oranges are orange juice i already mentioned those so these are some things to avoid and again dates are very heavy coconuts can be heavy so you can limit those as well so vegetables again we will pick more of the bitter vegetables like the greens mustard greens collard greens kale uh spinach um chard and then again you can also pick vegetables like peppers which are also bitter in nature and pungent and then onions garlic those are good and then again radishes are also drying they have a stringent property in them whether it's white radish the the mooli we call it or and then of course the red radishes so these are all some good vegetables to eat during the season fourth thing is of course we look at dairy products dairy products again yogurt and cheeses can be very heavy in nature so that could not be easily digested of course you can do the buttermilk that i've talked about where you can beat it up with water or some spices and have it again during the data now the the kapha time is actually 6 to 10 in the morning and 6 to 10 in the evening so even the time of day is divided into pitta and kapha so the kappa time is morning so you don't want to eat very heavy foods in the morning or at night time that's why you avoid yogurt both in the morning as well as at night time and then of course the fifth thing to think about is fats and oils again limit that also because a digestion is not optimal then it's very hard to digest those heavy things in your diet then again if you're a person who eats meat again meat can be very heavy and difficult to digest so if at all you eat meat it would be more like eggs or some chicken and turkey like poultry and then of course fresh water fish and again smaller quantities definitely or avoid as much as possible and of course one thing that would really help with your digestion at this point is drinking warm water and also herbal teas herbal tea is like ginger lemon tea you can get those tea bags from the store or you can just add a few pieces of ginger and some lemon juice and drink it that way and then of course you can also have like honey water you can add a little bit honey to that as well or you can make these herbal teas like ccft cumin coriander fennel tea and then pep you can get dandelion tea which is a little bit of a drying nature so these are some things that you can try as far as diet is concerned [Music] so now let's talk about uh lifestyle again when it comes to lifestyle ayurveda talk gives you a whole day's routine called dinacharya now i'll make a different video on that but for today i just want to talk about the spring season how we can adapt of course first thing in the morning we always brush our teeth and remember to do the tongue scraping with a metal scraper whether it is a stainless steel or copper you can get those at the store at the whole foods or on amazon and you can just do that because that removes a lot of the micro toxins that we hold in the tongue this is the coating in the tongue it can be removed doing that and then of course when you take a shower we want to do a little bit of warm oil massage sesame oil massage which will calm down the vata if there is a problem with digestion and water as a problem and of course take a hot water bath after that now again ideally it recommends doing it every day of course if you're not able to and of course in winter is very important but definitely in the spring at least a couple of times a week would be helpful just to give that calmness and the other thing the third thing that you can do is urdu or taking some dry chickpea flour and putting that on your body because it serves as an exfoliant and also to remove any excess moisture in the body and makes your body feel a little lighter so we used to do that for babies but now this is something anybody can do and then the fourth thing of course is exercise is very important we want to get moving because that helps with digestion it helps with elimination and all of those things now the six to ten in the morning is a cup of time i told you i'm feeling a little sluggish probably the best time to get started with exercise if you can go for a walk or run or whatever you're used to doing whatever you're medically able to do definitely do that in the morning or do it in the evening between 6 and 10 because it's the same kapha time again to get you a little bit active then the for a fifth thing of course if you're used to you doing yoga surya namaskaram is very uh invigorating the 12 poses and if you're used to doing that you can do about three rounds it'll take about 10 minutes you can start your day with that and that would be great for the body hope you enjoyed today's episode and i've shared a lot of tips for diet and lifestyle to spring into spring and remain healthy so please try some of these things for this week at least try to pick one thing from whatever i said and try to follow it for the whole week because consistency is always the key again when it comes to clothes ayurveda even says dress in nice bright orange yellow pink colors just to you know go along with the vibrant nature around us and of course as you get to summer you can always tone down the colors to more white and blues and greens so have a wonderful week ahead listen to your body observe your mind and help yourself you