Conscious Eating Part 6

Symptoms of a kapha derangement include a sense of heaviness, drowsiness, constipation, itching, skin disease, dullness, inertia, depression, edema, swelling of joints with fluid, and excess mucus production in the eye, ear, nose, throat, and lungs. Kaphas have a tendency toward upper respiratory infections, colds, and flus. A kapha person can be thrown out of balance by eating too much sweet, cold, damp food, such as ice cream. Their imbalance is worsened by cold, damp weather. They are put in balance by warm, dry weather and warm, dry food. They are made better by plenty of exercise, heat (such as a sauna), a mucusless diet, plenty of raw food, periodic fasting, and a warm, dry climate. Avoidance of sweets is important for kaphas because of their tendency toward a "sweet" complacency, inertia, and a "stuck in a rut" lifestyle, which sweets amplify. Natural, raw, unprocessed, nonfiltered honey is a notable exception to the sweet danger, for a little bit of honey helps to heat, nourish, and rebalance kaphas.

Those who tend to unbalance toward kapha are sensitive to cool and damp weather. In India, where the change of seasons is distinct, many people with asthma get worse in the rainy season, which is a cool and damp time of year. Because of my own kapha tendencies, I do not eat watermelon in the morning or after the sun goes down. These are the times kaphas are most easily unbalanced. In fact, if I have too much of any fluid or watery fruit in the morning I may get a slight acc.u.mulation of fluid in the nose which will go away if I sit in the sun for a few minutes. When I have eaten watermelon at these kapha-vulnerable times, even in the summer, I feel an immediate mucus buildup within a half-hour. It took me a long time before I figured out that a raw diet alone was not enough to balance the tendencies for kaphas to produce mucus. By getting into the sun or heat, such as a sauna, and using a little cayenne in the morning, this tendency to have too much fluid and mucus has faded away.

The above case is instructive in that the timing of foods is important. The same watermelon taken during the pitta time of day, which is 10 AM2 PM, feels quite balancing, especially if I have been out in the summer sun. Because of this, the only time I even consider having watermelon is during the hot summer. This is one example of how one balances food, environment, and dosha.

Summary of Ways to Unbalance Kapha People.

Become a couch potato by overeating fatty, oily, fried foods, getting no exercise, and napping after meals.

Eat at least one sweet, oily dessert and lots of ice cream and other dairy products each day while watching TV.

Overeat and concentrate on sweet, oily, salty, and cooling, frozen, chilled, and watery foods. Eat an excess of wheat bread and pastries.

Avoid all exercise.

Suppress all creativity and do one's best to become inert mentally and physically. Createno waves in your life or job and do a lot of repet.i.tive work.

Use tranquilizers to excess and hypnotics.

Avoid all emotional expression and all conflict.

Live in a wet, humid, cold climate.

Be a collector.

Become deeply involved in ritual and orthodoxy.

Summary of Ways to Balance Kapha People.

Lead an active, creative, and stimulating physical, emotional, and mental life. Have daily exercise and stimulating friends and work environment. Minimize TV viewing.

Eat foods that are warm, dry, pungent, bitter, and astringent. Minimize sweet, salty, oily, heavy, and sour foods.

Eat an 80% raw-food diet.

Eat the minimum to feel satisfied.

Minimize fluid intake to three or four cups per day.

Express your feelings in the moment.

Throw away the turtle sh.e.l.l you wear and try to interact with the world.

Maintain only those spiritual practices that keep you in contact with G.o.d's divine nature and purpose for you.

Pitta Dosha.

Images of Pitta Dosha People.

THE ARCHETYPAL ANIMALS OF THE PITTA DOSHA are the tiger, cat, and monkey. A football quarterback who is balanced and well-coordinated, a warrior, and the stereotyped image of a hard-driven, insensitive corporate leader are all archetypal examples that portray the pitta person. For females, the proverbial "Amazon woman" comes close to representing this archetype. The "hot-blooded" teenager is another image. The elemental image is fire. Fire is hot, intense, fluid, and light. It burns you if you get too close but is inspiring at the right distance. Pittas are hot in every aspect of their lives. The key word-image for pitta is intense.

Physical Characteristics of Pitta People.

A pitta person usually has a medium-framed, well-balanced physical body of average weight. Pitta people tend to deposit weight evenly over the body and can gain or lose weight easily. A pitta-type person is physically graceful and strong, and their physical structure reflects this. The skin of a pitta person is usually light or coppery and sensitive to the sun. They have many freckles and usually become sunburned before they tan. Skin problems are an integral part of a pitta person. The pitta person's skin can become irritated easily and is p.r.o.ne to rashes, inflammations, and pimples. These tendencies can become much worse in the summer.

The heat of the pitta makes them warm-bodied and warm to the touch. Their tendency to perspire, even in cold weather, makes them sometimes have sweaty palms. Their heat is reflected in red hair or light-colored brown or blonde hair. Early baldness or the hair changing to white or gray at an early age is an indication of pitta. Nails are strong and rubbery with a pink hue because of their warm blood under the skin. Pitta eyes may be hazel, green, reddish brown, or light blue. There may be a charismatic fire in their eyes that radiates out in all directions. Pittas have medium-size mouths with teeth that are p.r.o.ne to cavities and gums that tend to bleed. Pitta tongues and mouths are p.r.o.ne to canker sores. Body heat may manifest so strongly that the tongue may be deep pink to red or even bleed at various times. A sour or metallic taste may occur in the mouth early in the morning if there is an imbalance.

Pitta people have strong digestive fires and good appet.i.tes. They are the least affected by poor food combining because they digest so well. A good appet.i.te is common. They may become irritable if they do not eat when they are hungry. Eating usually calms them down. Pittas usually like cold drinks. Their bowel function is regular and frequent, but may feel hot on excretion. Stools may be yellow or orange. If this stool color is too intensely yellow or orange, it suggests a pitta imbalance. Because of their innate heat, pitta women bleed more heavily and for a longer time during menses. The menses blood is usually bright red. During menses, pitta women may have moderate cramps and loose stools.

Until they overheat, pitta people enjoy vigorous exercise. Pittas do not need exercise as much as kaphas. Pittas can fatigue more easily After a good workout they will usually be hungry and thirsty as compared to a kapha, who may not be hungry at all. The pulse of a pitta is regular, full, and strong with a medium speed of about 70.

The sleep habits of pittas are generally regular and problem-free. They do not have insomnia unless there is particularly excessive stress or too much work worry. They sleep lightly and wake up alert. They do not need as much sleep as a kapha person. Pitta dreams are active, intense, often in color, and often vividly remembered upon awakening. Their dreams may involve being chased or chasing someone, as well as themes of much heat or light.

Food Needs of Pitta People.

The best diet for a pitta is bland raw food. They are the most sensitive of the three doshas to toxins in food, air, and water. It is most important for them to eat organic food and drink only filtered water. Other polluters, such as alcohol, coffee, marijuana, and cigarettes, also throw them out of balance. Sweet-, bitter-, and astringent-tasting foods, which are cool and heavy, are the most balancing. Spicy, oily, salty, and sour foods tend to unbalance pittas. Overeating is another big hazard for pittas since one of their major tendencies is acid indigestion. Pittas do best on a low-protein diet since protein, especially from flesh foods, creates a metabolic stimulation and heat of about 30%.

Psychophysiology of Pitta People.

The pitta personality is ambitious, intense, and compet.i.tive. The abundant fire in their makeup is reflected as a tendency to anger easily. The mind of a pitta usually has good comprehension and intelligence. At work, they know how to pace themselves. They tend to live by their watch and do not like people wasting their time. They are good managers and executives and exhibit great leadership qualities. They naturally tend to take command of situations. Whereas vatas may be the ungrounded theoreticians, the pittas are the engineers who manifest the plan or idea on the physical plane. Unlike the kaphas, they have minimal interest in the day-to-day running of a business. They are not the sustainers the kaphas are. The essence of the pitta mind works visually, and there is usually no difficulty visualizing or remembering a scene. The pitta memory is good. Like the kaphas, they do not easily forget a slight.

These people are strong leaders who may tend to dominate those around them. They are outgoing and make friends easily. Pittas believe in fair play and have a warrior's courage. When in balance, they are happy, confident, and friendly. If angered, they tend to be hurtful or vengeful. They are also easily unbalanced by the toxic emotions of others, such as hostility, hatred, and jealousy. It is characteristic of them to become angry and hostile under stress. They tend to be impatient with those who do not catch on as fast as they. This tendency can lead to arrogance. The pitta fire is sometimes revealed in sharp sarcasm and an undertone of impatience. They are often dedicated to self-growth and may rise to leadership roles in tightly knit, intolerant organizations, whether they be spiritual, cultural, athletic, or business settings. They work well with energy and often spontaneously create a well-organized and balanced lifestyle. Their money is spent appropriately and not impulsively and excessively, as vatas might handle money.

Spiritual Challenge for Pitta People.

The central spiritual challenge for a pitta is transforming the tendency for anger and irritability into a feeling of calm and love. This does not mean the suppression of feelings as much as learning how to express emotions in a harmless way without judgment. To develop the awareness and expression of unconditional love is the culmination of this spiritual challenge.

How to Recognize an Imbalance in the Pitta Dosha.

When pittas are out of balance, their psychological symptoms tend toward vanity, intolerance, pride, aggressiveness, stubbornness, hatefulness, jealousy, and excessive anger. Chronically angry individuals are highly suggestive of a pitta imbalance. They may experience acid indigestion and sourness or burning in their mouth, eyes, skin, small intestine, and stomach. Other signs of pitta imbalance may be fainting, excessive perspiration, restlessness, increased thirst, desire for cold drinks, and even delirium. Excessive environmental heat may cause all of these symptoms. Heat stroke occurs more frequently in pittas than the other doshas. Other causes for a pitta derangement may be strong anger, grief, excess physical exertion, fear, and too much salty, pungent, acid, dry, or heating foods. Pittas are rebalanced by cool weather, nighttime, sweet foods, cold baths, and clarified b.u.t.ter (ghee). Although in the Ayurvedic system ghee is recommended for balancing aggravated pitta, I do not necessarily recommend it for general use because it is a dairy product and a cooked oil.

An example of a predominantly pitta const.i.tution is my son, Rafael. When we were in India on vacation he was in fine health until the hot season arrived. As the temperatures went above 100 F he began to develop heat rashes on his body, canker sores on his tongue, and generalized exhaustion. He also began to get colds. When the cooler monsoon season came, his health immediately returned to its prior excellent condition. In the same heat another woman was so pitta that she literally became disoriented. In her delirium she felt that she was going to die. She required a variety of cooling foods and homeopathic remedies to return her to normal functioning.

Summary of Ways to Unbalance Pitta People.

Live in a hot, dry climate, exercise in hottest time of the day, and wear tight clothing.

Avoid cool and peaceful places, relationships, and lifestyles.

Act out all aggressive, angry feelings and thoughts. Be a bully.

Work in a high-stress, compet.i.tive job.

Keep life as frustrating, warlike, argumentative, and agitating as possible. a.s.sociate with people who share and encourage these toxic behaviors.

Do not meditate.

Drink alcohol in excess and use marijuana, speed, and cocaine.

Eat large amounts of spicy, hot, oily, sour, acid-producing, and salty foods. Indulge in large amounts of red meat, tomatoes, hot peppers, garlic, onions, sour foods, yogurt, and caffeine.

Summary of Ways to Balance Pitta People.

Live in a cool and calming personal, social, and work environment.

Avoid excess heat, humidity, and steam in the environment, such as hot tubs and excess sun, as well as in all relationships and activities.

Meditate regularly and strive for peace with self, friends, and humanity.

Learn to express feelings and thoughts in constructive and supportive ways to those around you.

Focus on being in a state of universal, unconditional love.

Eat cooling, sweet, bitter, and astringent foods, with an emphasis on fruits and vegetables.

Eat a bland, 80% raw-food diet.

Natural Cycles and the Dosha Energies.

NOT ONLY CAN INDIVIDUALS BE DESCRIBED as being a particular dosha, but times of the day, the seasons, and periods in the life cycle (teenage, middle age, old age, etc.) also possess the dosha qualities. These natural cycles have an intimate effect on the energy and manifested qualities of the doshas.

Dosha Energies of the Life Cycles.