What is Pitta imbalance?

“Of all the fires, love is the only inexhaustible one.” —Pablo Neruda

What are you in love with these days? Love brings peace and ease into our lives which can be a great antidote to the intensity of Summertime.

I have been loving sharing so much about Ayurveda and Mindset recently! It has been such a joy to lead the Summer One Habit to Thrive Challenge over the past 4 days.

We have been talking quite a bit about Pitta Dosha, the energies of fire most predominant in the Summertime.

Fire has the capacity to be many things: destructive, beneficial, transformative, or alluring.

At this point in the summer, especially if you are somewhere with intense heat in the environment, you may be seeing evidence of Pitta Imbalance. We most often see the fire energy playing out in the sites of Pitta in our bodies: irritation in the stomach, liver, eyes, and/or skin. Or maybe you see it more in Pitta effects on the mind: anger, judgement, frustration, perfectionism, or excessive ambition.

Does any of this sound familiar?

Today we will focus on food.

Here are some basic suggestions for cooling your Pitta through food:

- Focus on foods that are sweet (fruit, grains, summer squash, nuts), bitter (leafy greens), and astringent (swiss chard, beans, lentils, okra).
- Cook your meals at home to avoid inflammatory oils used at restaurants. Avoid low-quality, hydrogenated or partially hydrogenated oils in general
- Avoid foods that are spicy (hot peppers, salsa, curry, wasabi), salty (chips, crackers), or sour (vinegar, citrus, tomatoes)
- Avoid or reduce alcohol, caffeine, and sugar as they are overheating.
- Use small amounts of unrefined, organic coconut oil for cooking as it is more cooling.
- Drink a small amount of aloe juice each day (1-4-1/2 cup).
- Drink room temperature teas with cooling herbs like mint, sage, lavender, or mugwort.

Try some of these things out this week, and I will be back next week with some tips for lifestyle practices.Love yourself enough not to let the really hot 🔥 (late summer) get the best of you.