Vata season greets us with crisp mornings, temperature changes, and the harvest of root plants. Detoxing at this time of year reboots your digestive system in preparation for the winter months. Why not reboot for your environment too?

Start with your home

You spend a lot of time in your home. Home is a reflection of who you are, from the furniture you chose, to art on the walls, and to the items in your pantry.  Home is a container for your identity in regards to beliefs, energy and emotions.  As you cleanse and rejuvenate your physical body why not update the energy of your home?  An easy way to shift energy is by smudging. The Deepak Chopra Institute recommends smudging with an Ayurveda Inspiration.

How do I incorporate an Ayurveda inspiration into the smudging ceremony?

1. Create a vision. What is your endgame?  What actions do you need to take to get there?
2. How do you want to feel in your body in your bedroom or office (ie content, peaceful, productive, less stress, anxiety)?
3. What do you need to let go of to accomplish this?
4. What do you need more of?
5. Do you need to communicate with others for support to achieve this?

What is smudging?  Smudging is a ceremony used by Native Americans to clear away negative, stagnant energy from the body, as well as, their personal living space. Smudging involves the burning of sage, cedar, sweetgrass, etc… Sage can be placed in a bowl or you can purchase or make your own smudge stick.  

Let’s smudge

1. Open the windows to the room that you are smudging (bedroom/office) to ensure proper ventilation so that the energy in the room is free to leave.
2. This ceremony begins with smudging yourself. Light the smudge stick until the bundle produces a fragrant smoke that you can pass around yourself from head to toe.  Beginning at your feet carefully lift one foot then the other, allowing the smoke to circle your feet. Proceed up your legs, torso, around your arms and head. Breathe in and visualize the smoke lifting away all negative emotions, thoughts and energies. See and feel your inspiration and the visualization you created.
3. After you have smudged yourself, the Native American ceremony continues by directing the smoke in the 4 directions.  Starting from the east, move the bundle from the floor upwards toward the ceiling, allowing the smoke to permeate the corners. As you move towards the south, west and north maintain your visualization of creation as the smoke clears away all negativity from your space.
4. When you are finished stub out the embers of your sage stick. Please in a ceramic bowl or conch shell.

Change Your Clothes with the Seasons

As you store your summer wardrobe and weed through last fall’s clothes you’ll probably be making a decision as to what to keep and what goes. Instead of relying only on a visual inspection, take a page out of Kon Mari’s book, The Life-Changing Magic of Tidying Up: The Japanese Art of Decluttering and Organizing, and incorporate Ayurveda’s uses of the senses.

Try It On, Does it Still Fit?

1. Use the words of inspiration from your vision statement and put on each garment.
2. Stop, take a breath and ask yourself how does this feel and fit; will I wear this all day?
3. Do these colors and textures give me joy and spark or are they old, tired and tattered?

As your identity shifts, your clothing will too.  Listen to your intuition and don’t second guess. Into the donation bag old clothes will go.

Switch up Your Smoothies For Tea.  

In Autumn, we need warmth and nourishment from root vegetables and teas to balance the dry, cold and windy characteristic of Vata. If making daily smoothies is already in your habit repertoire, preparing CCF tea will be an easy transition.

What is CCF Tea?  

Cumin, coriander and fennel- these powerful spices contribute to the absorption of nutrients which stimulate digestion and the lymphatic system. It doesn’t matter which dosha you are, CCF Tea pacifies all three. Laren Gernady, an Ayurveda Health Counselor from the Kripalu Center calls CCF Tea the “Ayurveda Miracle Tea”.

The Benefits of the Seeds of Good Digestion:

Cumin – Stimulates agni (digestive fire)

-Contains antioxidants and iron

-Soothes inflamed mucous membranes in the digestive tract

-Improves bowel elimination

*Lauren Gernady explains that cumin pacifies both vata and kapha doshas.  She notes that pittas may notice an increase in fire due to this spice’s heating nature.  The coriander and fennel work to balance the heat.

Coriander – Relieves gas and indigestion

-Decreases skin ailments like eczema, rashes and inflammation

-Calms muscles spasms

-Reduces inflammation and joint swelling associated with rheumatoid arthritis

Coriander:

Fennel – Strengthens agni without aggravating pitta

-Stops cramping

-Increases mental alertness

-Helps with IBS

-Contains phytoestrogens to assist with hormonal imbalance

-Helps flush your lymphatic system

Tea Time CCF Recipe

½ teaspoon cumin seeds

½ teaspoon coriander seeds

½ teaspoon fennel seeds

4 cups of filtered water

Directions: Bring water to a boil and add seeds.  Reduce to simmer for 5-8 minutes. Strain and pour into a thermos and sip throughout your day.  Drink CCF Tea hot. CCF tea is a diuretic so do not drink after 6pm.

Save time by blending in bulk:  Add ½ cup of cumin, coriander and fennel seeds to a glass jar.  Shake well to mix. Each morning add 1 ½ teaspoons of this blend to the boiling water.

Bask in Your Fall Reboot

Put on your favorite autumn clothing, a soft sweater and yoga pants, or a long sweater and leggings. Get cozy in your favorite chair or spot in your room.  While drinking your warm tea breathe in the aromas of the sage as it burns out the past. Envision your new self. Notice the colors, textures, aromas and sounds that accompany your inspiration. You got this! Now enjoy the best fall ever.

To find balance in the midst of this changeable season, Vata needs deep rhythm. This could look like a consistent routine of daily habits that help set the pace for ease and grace during the coming months. Or it might look like new rhythmic ways of nourishing yourself with easily digestible foods that help ignite your digestive fire while grounding your inner spaciousness.

To tap into your best autumn rhythm check out this simple and versatile soup recipe which includes activating spices and earthy seasonal veggies – a satisfying meal that helps feed your autumn fire.

But first, let’s explore more deeply deeper how this recipe helps balance the vata qualities of autumn.

Like Attracts Like While Opposites Balance.

One of the ways we can balance Vata is by including foods that have the opposite qualities of this dosha. Since Vata is known to be cool, light, dry and rough, the opposite qualities we should include in our diet are foods that are warm, oily, soft, and sticky.

What you choose to nourish yourself with can greatly support balance during this dry windy season, or instead invite the subtle energy of Vata to become sporadic in a way that compromises your health. You may notice when this imbalance occurs with disruptions in your sleep or mood, physical achiness, and spending more time in the restroom. So then how do you avoid this imbalance? To optimize balance add in deep rhythm by eating at a consistent time every day and by choosing foods that offer these grounding and balancing qualities.

Spices and Agni

Agni is the digestive fire within your belly. With strong Agni comes the ability to fully digest and assimilate your food and year-long vitality and health. Spices and herbs are great kindling for this fire because they contain robust flavors that signal the body to produce specific fluids that support your digestion. This is important because autumn is the ideal time of year to boost the immune system which resides largely in the gut.

Seasonal Veggies

Choosing to eat seasonal and local produce helps you attune to nature’s rhythms. In the northern hemisphere think of the squash, tubers and other veggies that are growing close to the ground this time of year. The earthiness of these veggies is very stabilizing for the subtle qualities of autumn and Vata. Now onto the recipe!

Autumn Balance Soup

Ingredients

2 cups of your favorite squash (winter squash varieties need to be peeled)
1 small yellow onion
½ bulb fennel
2 stalks celery
5 baby purple potatoes
2 carrots peeled
1 Tbs ghee (coconut and olive oil also work)
1/2 tsp fennel seeds
1/2 tsp cumin seeds
1/2 tsp coriander seeds
Vegetable broth or filtered water
1 lemon or lime
Your favorite fresh herbs chopped
salt to taste

Directions

Wash your veggies and chop them into large 1/2 inch pieces.

In a large pot toast the seeds in the ghee for 2 minutes or until they begin to pop. Add the onion, celery, carrot, and fennel and sauté on medium high for 2 minutes. Add potato, squash and enough filtered water to cover the veggies. Bring to a boil and reduce heat to a soft simmer for 20 minutes or until the veggies are soft. No need to cover the pot.

Let the soup cool for a few minutes then add it to a blender that does not completely seal. I recommend using a vitamix. Blend until it’s a smooth consistency. About 20 – 30 seconds does it in a vitamix.

Season with salt to taste and serve with fresh lemon juice and fresh herbs.
This soup goes well with a side of steamed rice.  You can double and triple this recipe as needed.

As you enjoy the creativity, clarity and spaciousness of fall remember to ground yourself into a new rhythm. Seasonal soups like Autumn Balance are the perfect way to create deep nourishment as we move into the last months of the year.

Buddha bowls are rich in macronutrients. Macronutrients are a variety of carbohydrates, proteins and fats that your body can use and digest to produce energy. These carbs, proteins and fats are found in vegetables, grains, legumes, and seeds/nuts. In bowl preparation, there is no ratio as to veggies, grains, and greens. Some chefs recommend ½ veggies to ¼ gains and greens. Top with seeds/nuts and/or condiment of your choice (lemon juice/pesto/sprinkle of cheese) and bon appetit!

My favorite Buddha Bowl is Quinoa, Beet and Arugula from allrecipes.com

Ingredients:
½ pound beets, peeled and sliced                    1 clove garlic crushed
1 cup quinoa                                                     ¼ teaspoon black pepper
2 cups water                                                      2 green onions sliced
½ cup olive oil                                                    3 ounces arugula chopped
½ cup red wine vinegar                                      Crumbled goat cheese on top

Directions:

1. Steam beets for 7-10 minutes or until tender.
2. Bring quinoa and 2 cups water to a boil, reduce heat and simmer until the quinoa is tender and the liquid has been absorbed, about 15 minutes.
3. Wisk olive oil, red wine vinegar, garlic and black pepper together.
4. Remove quinoa from heat and add ½ the vinegar dressing while fluffing the quinoa with a fork; reserve remaining dressing. Cover and refrigerate quinoa until cool.
5. Stir green onions, arugula, goat cheese, beets, and remaining dressing into cooled quinoa mixture. Toss lightly before serving.

You can also choose to build your own for your dosha :

Pitta’s Favorite:
Grain: Barley, White basmati rice, barley, and quinoa
Vegetables: Alfa Sprouts, artichoke, asparagus, broccoli, cabbage, cauliflower, kale and leafy greens
Beans: Black lentils, chickpeas, and mung beans
Nuts and Seeds: Sunflower and pumpkin

Vata’s Favorite:
Grain: Cooked oats, quinoa, and bulgar wheat
Vegetables: Avocado, beets, carrots, yellow squash, green peas and spinach
Beans: Mung beans
Nuts and Seeds: Almonds

Kapha’s Favorite:
Grain: Basmati rice, buckwheat, barley and quinoa
Vegetables: Alfalfa sprouts, artichoke, green beans, broccoli, brussel sprouts, cauliflower, carrots, kale, lettuce and other leafy greens
Beans: Mung beans, red lentils
Nuts and Seeds: Pumpkin and sunflower seeds

*Quinoa and Basmati Rice can be used for all doshas

Buddha bowls are delicious. Have fun building!

References:

• https://www.allrecipes.com/recipe/256834/buddha-bowl/
  (also check out grain salads, then add your own veggies)
• https://minimalistbaker.com/sweet-potato-chickpea-buddha-bowl/
• https://fitfoodiefinds.com/healthy-buddha-bowl-recipes/

Lower Your Lectin Intake

Not all plant foods are created equally. Some plants contain LECTINS. A single or group of proteins that act as the plants defense mechanism against predators, ie. hungry mammals that want to eat the plants. Lectins act as anti-nutrients in the human body preventing us from absorbing other essential nutrients from the foods we are consuming. In other cases, these proteins can really harm us, this depends on how sensitive you are to lectins and which specific lectin is at play.

You Can Still Eat Lectins, Just Follow my Tips!

Some of the foods that contain lectins are: beans, legumes, most nuts, tomatoes, seeded vegetables (which are actually fruits), and grains.  Whole grains contain higher levels of lectins, becauselectins are found in greater concentration in the outer bran.
It doesn’t mean we can’t eat these foods ever again. If you know how to lower the load of lectins that you give your body, you will be way ahead of the game. You will avoid damage to your body and you will be able to properly digest and absorb the nutrients in foods containing lectins. Read on for a few ways to reduce lectin toxicity and increase the digestibility and nutrition absorption of lectin containing plant foods.

• SOAKING: Reduce lectins in grains, beans and nuts by soaking them overnight preferably in baking soda water, rinsing them out a couple of times prior to cooking them.
• PRESSURE COOKING: For further elimination or reduction of lectins, cook these foods in a pressure cooker. Modern electric pressure cookers are a better and less scary option than the old fashion manual pressure cookers.
• FERMENTING: I love fermenting foods! This method has so many benefits, apart from helping us attain or maintain a healthy gut biome and digestion. The bacteria in the foods being fermented, pre-digests the food, doing the hard work for your digestive system while using those foods to feed themselves, this process significantly reduces the lectin content. It’s a win win!
• PEEL AND SEED: According to Dr. Steven Gundry(Read his great book on lectins,) the most harmful part of plant foods high in lectins, such as eggplant, squash, cucumbers and tomatoes is the peel. So remove the peel as well as the seeds which also contain lectins before you eat these foods.

Proper Cooking

Along with reducing lectins, proper cooking of foods is essential for optimum digestibility and assimilation of nutrients. Many people, like me, have a weak digestive fire, aka Agni, in Ayurvedic terminology. There are many reasons for weak agni, one of them being one’s constitution. When someone has a weak agni, it is somewhat difficult to properly digest the food we eat, especially when cold and raw foods are thrown into the mix.

Digestion is a process that requires lots of energy from our bodies, so we must strive to make the very exhausting task of digestion as easy as possible.

For the longest time I noticed that my belly would get very bloated after eating certain foods. One day, I noticed that this would happen especially when I consumed raw and cold foods like cold smoothies, acai bowls and raw salads. Since then, I’ve been lightly cooking my vegetables and even steaming the veggies I put in my smoothies. This has really helped me prevent getting bloated.

Lubricate Your Plant Foods

Now, after eating a carefully constructed plant based diet, I’m able to handle some raw vegetables every now and then, but I absolutely make sure I add plenty of olive oil or avocado oil and mix it in with my salad really well about 10 min before I eat it. I “marinate” my veggies because the oil breaks down the cell walls the longer it sits in on the vegetables.

One other reason to add plenty of good fats to our veggies is enhanced bioavailability of nutrient absorption, since many of the vitamins and minerals contained in vegetables require fat to be optimally absorbed and utilized.

Ayurveda very accurately suggests – we are what we digest– if we don’t make sure that our bodies properly digest and assimilate what we eat, it doesn’t matter if we are eating the purest of the foods, we won’t be able to completely reap the benefits of the foods we are ingesting.

Food Diversity

With so much availability and diversity of plant foods within our reach, it’s very surprising to me how little variety of plants make it into our diet. Diversity is very important! When we eat the same foods over and over, we run the risk of becoming nutrient deficient and developing food sensitivities. It is to our benefit to begin experimenting and start trying out new foods. Next time you go grocery shopping, buy a new vegetable that you’ve never tried before.

Last week when I went grocery shopping, I picked up a few sunchokes, a new one for me (by the way, at the end of the article I’ll attach a simple recipe for sunchokes). I’m so happy about these because they actually contain prebiotic fiber which is my gut microbes favorite food. Yay!

Fruits

Fruits have so many amazing nutrients and benefits for your health, but most of them are loaded with sugar. You might say, but it’s from fruits and they’re natural. Well, you can say what you want but, sugar is sugar and there is no way around it. As you may already know, consuming a diet high in sugar negatively affects your health. Sugar causes inflammation, weight gain, and other issues. You must consider the amount of sugar you consume daily. Don’t completely avoid fruit for the rest of your life. You just need to choose wisely and eat responsibly. Some of the fruits with the highest sugar content are: mangos, ripe bananas, grapes, pomegranates and all dried fruits, especially raisins. Berries on the other hand, are ones that contain significantly lower amounts of sugar and hold high amounts of antioxidants, so, start eating more berries! When in season of course.

A final factor to consider when adopting a plant based diet. Keep it simple and follow your internal GPS, aka your intuition, it knows how to best care for your body. Intuition + information, basic knowledge and common sense will help you fully reap the benefits of eating a great variety of plant foods provided by the mighty and abundant MOTHER NATURE.

You will feel supported, full of energy, more alive, lighter and more joyful adopting this way of eating and applying some if not all of the tips I’ve given you.

To your health, cheers!

My Favorite Recipe for Tandori Sunchokes

Crispy Rosemary And Tandoori Sunchokes (Aka Jerusalem Artichokes)

strong>Ingredients

• 2 tbsp ghee (or as much as you want)
• 1 tsp tandoori powder
• ½ tbsp dried rosemary or 3 sprigs fresh rosemary
• ¼ cup bone broth
• Salt + pepper to taste

Preparation

Heat ghee in a large skillet, over medium-high heat. Add the quartered sunchokes and the remaining ingredients. Season with salt and pepper. Cover and cook, stirring occasionally until sunchokes are tender (to test, stab with a fork), about 8-10 min.

Uncover skillet and cook until broth is evaporated and sunchokes begin to look crispy, about 5-7 min longer. Remove from skillet, serve and top off with a bit more ghee.