Spring Cleanse Prep: Ayurvedic Diet & Tips for Vata, Pitta, and Kapha
February is a time of transition for your diet...
As your body eases out of winter and embraces the joy of spring, we want to ensure your shift sets you up for a year of health with these Ayurvedic tips for Vata, Pitta, and Kapha.
If Ayurveda is a new concept for you, follow our JBYF Podcast here, to learn more and discover how to restore balance for yourself. You may want to consider our Ayurvedic Yoga Teacher Training to deepen your knowledge.
Nevertheless, this is a time of great shifts for all doshas. From relationships, careers, families, and friends, the season of the past is shedding its layers to welcome spring and summer.
Discover your Dosha to learn what routines and foods work best for to get you back into balance.
Learn more about Ayurveda by becoming a member or taking our Ayurveda Yoga Teacher Training course with us so you can learn more about how to care for yourself and others through a safe, natural, and consciousness-based approach to holistic wellness.
Climate
February tends to be cold, heavy, cloudy, and wet. The ground is saturated from the winter rain and/ or snow and even the falling snowflakes seem wetter in February than in other winter months. Snowstorms leave behind walls of snow before the month's end and those in snowy environments anxiously await the first droplets of the effervescent spring. Wherever you live, you may begin to smell the sweet Jasmine, witness the buds of flowers pushing up from underground, cherry blossoms welcoming the sun, and rosebeds awakening, as we do here in New Orleans. When you do, you'll know that spring's promise is already emerging.
200-Hour Ayurveda Yoga Teacher Training
Learn the basics of Ayurveda, yoga’s sister science, along with the Hatha yoga lineage, adaptive sequences for special mobility such as Chair and Aqua Yoga, nutrition, lifestyle, and meditation to name a few. Click here for more details.
Jai Bhakti Yoga believes in providing an accessible and equitable way for all financial backgrounds to invest in their future. More information about our payment plans can be found here.
Teacher training is not just a program to make you a yoga teacher, it is a life-transforming journey that will shift your paradigms and cultivate a consciousness-based approach in all aspects of your life. Save 30% off your ENTIRE tuition by using coupon code JBYF30. (Good on monthly payments as well).
Temperature Change
Temperatures begin to fluctuate in late January and your body shifts from building insulating fats to releasing them. The body releases fat to cleanse and prepare for the warmer weather ahead. The best time to start a new shift in your diet or to commit to a weight loss routine is typically around the late winter and early spring.
You may notice a loss of appetite for a short time along with dark and stickier stools during this period. This is a sign your body is purging the liver to begin the weight loss process. If Kapha is aggravated, you may experience flu-like symptoms fatigue and lethargy. If you tend to lose your appetite, try fasting from grains and sugar for a few days.
Some of our clients become alarmed when they lose their appetite, however, this is seasonal and it will support winter weight loss. “February is a time of year for fasting in most cultures, from the Christian observance of Lent to Native American traditions. Spring fasting helps cleanse the blood after a long winter of fatty, heavy foods” (2022, Joyfulbelly)
To help your body through this time, use the spring cleanse tips below for Vata, Pitta, and Kapha. Use the Diet According to Your Dosha blog to help you choose the foods that will balance your dosha this season. Read below for more tips on balancing your dosha.
JBYF Membership Program
If you want to simply get started, a great way to *get a yoga starter kit for free is by enrolling in one of our membership programs. You will receive your yoga starter kit 30 days after registering. Get access to classes, discounts on retreats and teacher training, and special perks for being a sustaining member.
Kapha
Kapha season is from late winter to early spring due to its damp, heavy, and sticky gunas. These erratic wet and cold climates tend to last from February to mid-May. As the winter snow melts, and temperatures become slightly warmer, the nectar of trees, moss, and nature begins to create a new internal landscape that reflects Mother Nature awakens from her slumber. Spring is a time when your body begins to heat up, melting fat along with toxins (ama) away from the tissues (dhatus) and into the blood (rasa). This heating that flows through the tissues, develops into “sweet, rich, and congested” blood. This congestion thwarts the movement of our nectar inspiring lymphatic stagnation. The richness of the blood creates more mucus throughout the spring and especially flares up during “allergy season”. Those with a Kapha constitution will naturally “feel heavier” and “more sluggish” in February. A Kapha pacifying diet with plentiful greens and a sour (Amla) taste will keep Kaphas feeling light and refreshed.
Pitta
When our bodies begin to shed the excess stored fat of winter, this is known to put a bit of strain on the liver. The liver, is the primary organ of fat metabolism. During the later winter, a congested liver makes Pitta individuals feel especially frustrated, irritable, explosive, and easily upset. A quick release of this frustration is to invite aromatic herbs such as peppermint, tea tree, and eucalyptus which can inspire release in the liver and alleviate tension throughout the body. Pitta pacifying diets tend to lean towards foods with sour (amla) & bitter (tikta) tastes, which will decongest the liver and provide relief.
Vata
Late winter and early spring are right in alignment for Vatas. The warming temperatures and increasing moisture balance Vata's cold, rough, and dry tendencies. Putting on fat is a struggle for Vata individuals. Their bodies typically won't have much leftover to release into the bloodstream. The most important focus for Vata individuals to do in February is to keep warm internally and externally. Warm and light foods for Vata along with some roots such as carrots, sweet potato, and mushroom soups, or cooked beet and spinach salad with chia seeds and goat cheese are delicious additions to Vata diets.
Use the Free Ayurvedic Diet Workbook to determine what foods are best for your dosha.
Start by doing 1% a day. Change one thing, notice what the changes are, and how it affects your digestion, and give it some time. Maybe it’s reducing the intake of carbonated waters and drinks, added sugars, or processed foods. The more conscious you are with the foods you take in, the more conscious you will be in the choices you make, and in turn reduce the amount of Pragya Aparadh (mistake of the intellect), Rajastic, and Tamastic foods and substances and thus, increasing your Ojas (vibrancy) within the mind-body.
Join us for our 222 Lent 40-Day Challenge to Achieve Your Goals by doing 1% A Day. It’s a Free Challenge and open to everyone. We tend to do this challenge as a 5-Day challenge at the beginning of the year, but sometimes, a little community support is needed to reach our goals. Join the Private Facebook group Goal Getters here, sign up for the challenge here, and be sure to introduce yourself and share with us what you need support with.
Let’s Talk About Food
If you are making a purchase of any churnas to pacify Vata, Pitta, or Kapha from our favorite Ayurvedic Herb site Banyan Botanicals, be sure to use code 15CHRISTINA and save 15% off your entire order.
February shifts your diet as you begin to transition out of winter and into spring. The diet begins to get lighter and the cleansing season soon begins. Vata individuals will still need hearty ingredients on cold days, such as root-based foods like potatoes, turnips, rutabaga, beets, radish, carrots, etc. These hearty ingredients will need the addition of sour-tasting and bitter foods to cleanse the liver gently.
When it comes to integrating grains, buckwheat, and rye are ideal. “They provide the warmth needed for winter, but are diuretic and drying for Spring” (2022, joyfulbelly). February is known as the time of increased manda agni and appetite, in general, tends to reduce or vanish altogether for Vata/Pitta and Kapha/Pitta types. The dietary guidelines for February are more about what not to eat than what to eat. For many, it's time to begin moving toward a Kapha pacifying diet.
A pungent (Katu) taste increases your circulation for cleansing. Cultural foods such as South American and East Asian foods introduce pungent spices that also boost metabolism and clear out congestion. Cumin is an ideal spice offering natural warmth and dryness. Kapha and Vata types can introduce cayenne and chilis to fire up digestion and remove any remaining winter sluggishness. Turmeric is warming and has cleansing properties that improve circulation and thin the blood, cleansing the lymphatic system as well as all the vessels and tissues. Its ability to move the blood dries dampness and increases heat.
Most foods with bitter tastes tend to be cold but Fenugreek is different because it is unusually hot and bitter. Fenugreek stokes the fire, driving out cold, wet, and heaviness. Add it to your meals, tea, or to your herbal formulas.
Another ingredient to consider is fresh ginger. Ginger is a mild detoxicant and digestive with the ability to break up congestion and keep your blood moving.
Some schools of Ayurveda like to use the mantra, “Beets, beans & greens.'' Beets are the ideal food for February cleansing because they are light yet hearty. “Beets are cholagogues, which means they flush the liver and gallbladder of bile” (2022, Joyfulbelly). They offer a healthy remedy for a congested spring liver.
If you're looking for a good beet recipe, try our Beet and Spinach-cooked salad with goat cheese and balsamic vinaigrette topped with sliced almonds and mushrooms or carrots.
Fiber-rich content foods encourage healthy elimination. Foods such as chickpeas and black beans make especially good choices for the February shift and seem to taste sweeter (Madhur) in this season than they did in winter.
Eat your greens - kale, collards, broccoli spinach, and chard are all mild bitters that are hearty enough for winter but cleansing enough for early spring.
Here are a few more foods to include in your February cleansing Diet:
Pickled garlic is one way to get both sourness (amla) and pungency (katu).
Vinegar is sour (amla) and cleanses the liver. Garlic moves stagnant blood.
Lemons are great on top of your dishes to promote spring detoxing
I would encourage purification with one to three-day kitchari cleanses. My favorite organic Kitchari set is from Banyan Botanicals. Use coupon code 15CHRISTINA to save 15% off your entire order.
Be sure to give us a follow here on IG and FB, as well as to subscribe to our free YouTube channel.
If you would like to support us, become a Founding member for $29 a month using code JBY20.
BALI Ayurveda, YOGA, and Cultural Wellness Retreat September 1-7th, 2023
Join us this year in Bali, Indonesia to discover the art of the heart. Learn how to paint Batik, explore the rice fields, snorkeling in Nusa Lembongan, learn the art of making Balinese offerings, and so much more.
Space is very limited
Single and Shared occupancy is available.
Keep showing up, and doing just 1% each day and you will achieve the results you seek for your mental, emotional, and physical, well-being.
Watch the live Podcast here on Instagram
Now it’s your turn to make a quantum shift in your life and I want to help you achieve your goals this year by sharing how doing 1% each day will get you there.
Join the 222 LENT 40 DAY Challenge
1% A Day to Achieve Your Goals
It all begins with making a choice.
What is it, that you want to focus on right now? (Big or small)
Join our Facebook Group: Goal Getters starting 2/22 and join a community of individuals on a similar journey to achieve their goals. I will be with you each step of the way.
Get your Free Smart Goals and Vision Boards Workbook by clicking the button below and joining the challenge.
Herbs for February
We have been focusing on the importance of liver cleansing. Foods and how we prepare them also work in conjunction with the herbs with which we season them. Bitter herbs are the focus and can be found in teas such as Liver and Lymph Cleanse Tea which targets both the liver & lymphatic system. Bitter ghee is Ayurveda's top formula for a spring liver cleanse, ideal for all Pitta imbalances. Bitter ghee contains Guduchi, a warming bitter that balances all three doshas, cleanses the blood, and destroys toxins.
Joyful Belly is one of my favorite Ayurveda websites and educational resources to get you started on your Ayurvedic wellness journey. Here is an excerpt from their Spring Cleanse Blog with some solutions to support you along the way.
Gallbladder stagnation appears as a slightly dark or greenish hue around the eye in a Kapha-Pitta constitution. Low-grade liver toxicity and gallbladder stagnation may be experienced as mild discomfort under the right rib cage. The herbs contained in joyful belly’s Gallbladder Tonic are traditionally used to promote healthy gallbladder function, decongest and cleanse the fatty liver, balance bile chemistry, stimulate circulation, and improve fat and cholesterol metabolism. This tonic contains Bhumyamalaki, which is Ayurveda's #1 liver-flushing herb.
A couple of herbs you may want to consider integrating into your diet with the permission of your medical providers can be purchased at joyful belly is Blood Cleanse. This formula cleanses and purifies the blood while easing liver toxicity. Clean blood equates to clear, healthy skin, and a clear mind. Blood Cleanse cools and soothes the hot blood and is associated with fiery pitta dosha. Holy basil strongly supports healthy circulation to the skin, where lymph is most likely to be stagnant. Take Holy Basil if you want to focus on cleansing your lymphatic system.
Shilajit is an invigorating and powerful rejuvenative that completely dispels late winter sluggishness. It has a strong cleansing action as well. Kapha individuals can use it to increase metabolism. Use Trikatu spice for upper respiratory congestion in February. It will warm your chest and liquefy mucus.
Vata types will do well with sour herbs which are mildly cleansing to the liver yet also nourishing. Amalaki is said to stimulate the production of red blood cells, enhance cellular regeneration, increase lean body mass and support proper function of the liver, spleen, heart, and lungs. It improves the digestive fire, maintains a healthy blood sugar level, and is a rich, natural source of antioxidants. As a detoxicant, it assists internal cleansing and rejuvenation, and is also balancing to all three doshas (2022, Joyfulbelly).
Maybe you attempt 5 mins of the video, and then the next day, your one percent could look like following along for 8 minutes and one second, and so on. That one second toward your one percent on the second day is fantastic! I think you're catching my drift… on the third day, 10 minutes and two seconds is perfect.
Your one percent a day could also look like moving away from something slowly… one percent at a time.
The important thing to remember is that time accumulates, and you are worthy of the time you put into yourself.
Ayurveda utilizes the circadian rhythm as a foundation for its routine because Ayurveda is supported by the underlying foundations of nature.
There are certain times of the day, for instance, when we wake up and go to bed. In the morning, there is your morning routine, some have an afternoon ritual, and then there is an evening ritual. In Ayurveda, we call the morning routine, Dinacharya, which we covered in our Creating a Healthy Daily Routine According to the Ayurveda blog, along with its sister Blog Creating Healthy Daily Routines Dinacharya and Ritucharya. You can also listen to the podcasts Episodes 24.
Being in alignment with Self and having balance can take time and effort- but you are so worth it.
Starting Feb.22, I will be sharing a 40-day challenge version of our 5-day challenge that will help you achieve these goals. You will get an email each week that will give you 1% more to do so you can see instant results.
Be sure to join our online community mailing list at jbyfnola.org to join in on the challenge and get your free dosha quiz to discover your dominant dosha.
We will restructure the way we explore our new routines based on how we align with the circadian rhythm.
If you would like to support us, become a Founding member for $29 a month using code JBY20.
Be sure to give us a follow here on IG and FB, as well as to subscribe to our free YouTube channel.
You can also join us for a retreat to Bali by visiting our website and making a deposit of $597 to secure your spot.
Thank you for your support and we look forward to growing with you this year!
This week’s references:
Immel, J., (2022). Joyful Belly., Diet for February. https://www.joyfulbelly.com/Ayurveda/article/Ayurvedic-Diet-for-February/3218?ref=36264&inf_contact_key=ba4c7ffd87edc55ad45614ea4f5a4a42439ba9b9299d2556817aecd2c093d30d
We hope that you benefitted from our free-of-charge programs and services, for which a group of expert yoga teachers, ayurvedic clinicians, practitioners, consultants, and holistic wellness leaders volunteered their time and creative effort to support you so you can live your best healthy life. Continued electronic implementation, programming, and education require considerable expense to sustain online at little to no cost for you and the community. Will you Please consider giving to JBYF in acknowledgment of this professional contribution?
Thank you very much and live well.
