My Sattvik Plate

  This Sprouted Masoor and pumpkin daal is like a warm hug to your soul in a bowl..makes you feel well grounded and nourished !  As per Ayurveda cooked Pumpkin is very balancing for all doshas especially the fiery Pitta and dry Vata. It is a rich source of potassium and vitamin A. It is very good for inflammation, kidney stones, skin disorders, infections, blood pressure, detox and the list goes on. It helps protect heart and circulation due to magnesium.  It is a storehouse of many anti-oxidant vitamins such as vitamin A, vitamin C and Vitamin E.  This recipe of Sprouted Masoor and Pumpkin is made with simple good for you ingredients and one of my  to go recipe to use pumpkin.  INGREDIENTS  : 2 cups chopped pumpkin 1 cup cooked sprouted masoor dal (u can use any dal of your choice) 1 tsp turmeric powder 1/2 cup coconut 1 tblspn Jeera 1 tsp black pepper handful of curry leaves 1 tblspn each roasted urad and mustard seeds salt to taste STEPS : Bring tw...

  We all welcome the first showers after the scorching summer sun. However, the coming of monsoon also means low immunity and low digestive power. The Ancient science of Ayurveda has practical tips to boost immunity and stay away from viral infections as well as monsoon diseases.  With monsoon comes mosquitoes, fumigating the house with dried neem leaves in the evening is excellent to keep mosquitoes away.  Vata dosha tends to aggravate in the monsoon. This can be curbed by taking hot water baths. Oil bath at least once a week with equal quantities of neem oil and sesame oil. Massage your body with this oil, wait for at least 30 minutes and wash off with hot water. This keeps skin infections away and also helps with blood and lymph circulation.  Trim your nails real short, as long nails are a perfect hideout for pathogens, including viruses and bacteria that get trapped under that.  Raw food and salads should not be consumed as they may contain germs even when w...

  How often do you find yourself with indigestion after a meal? Or even worse, knowing that you have eaten way too much or too rich and excessively heavy foods? Reaching for the antacid is hardly the answer, with antacids there is yet another burden on your body's whole digestive system.  Refined, Processed and Manufactured foods are acid forming in the body - that is when digested they form acidic residues in the blood stream.  Eating predominantly alkaline food is far easier on the whole digestive system since it matches the ph of the blood which runs between 7.35 and 7.45. Within a few weeks of eating alkaline foods you will look and feel lighter, your energy levels will have soared, your concentration and memory sharpened, and the quality of your sleep will have improved dramatically.  Eating alkaline means consuming fresh foods as close to nature as possible- Sattvik food - organic whole foods, predominantly vegetarian, with small amounts of legumes and whole gr...

Ayurveda has the concept of Tridosha - Vata, Pitta and Kapha, the vital physical energies that decide the basic nature of an individual.  Vata is not gases or joint pain but is the principle responsible for all type of movements in our body.  Pitta is not bile, but rather it is the principle of fire, the energy of heating or metabolism.  Kapha is not mucus or cough but it is energy that forms the body's structure, principle concerned with growth, adhesion, cohesion etc.   All people have all three doshas, but one of them is usually primary, one secondary and the third is least prominent. Just as everyone has an individual fingerprint, everyone has their own energy print - a proportion of vata-pitta-kapha that is uniquely his or her own.  Health depends on maintaining this proportion in balance. When out of balance, they are the cause of disease.  These Tridoshas are responsible for the huge variety of individual differences and preferences, and they in...

2023 has been declared by the UN as the International Year of the Millet.  Millets have been a part of our traditional Indian diets for centuries. Millets are not just tasty but are packed with health benefits and help address health issues like diabetes, cholesterol, and weight loss. Millet is a highly underrated yet easy-to-grow sustainable crop suitable for any arid soil. They can be easily grown in regions where other cereal crops, like wheat, struggle because of their resistance to difficult growing conditions. Millets on the other hand require little water and ground fertility making them a sustainable and earth-friendly crop . Millets are a powerhouse of nutrition and contain more dietary fibre, iron and calcium than wheat or rice.  Research had shown millets as good defence in the fight against diabetes. Millets have a low glycemic index, which means such foods have lesser impact on blood glucose levels than foods that are higher up in the index.   The Barnyard mi...

  Trigunas - Sattva, Rajas, Tamas are the three basic qualities of our existence. Sattva is clarity, awareness, intelligence, divinity, balance, stability.  Rajas is Passion, movement, attachment, ego, desire, enthusiasm. Tamas is interia, illusion, laziness, heaviness, inactivity, materialism.  The Trigunas are present in every person in different proportions. Without Tamas one would not sleep, without Rajas one would lack dynamism and without Sattva life would be uninspiring, lacking the higher human qualities.  The food we eat has enormous influence on us physically, mentally, emotionally and spiritually. Food that is fresh close to nature,  nourishing vegetarian and made with love promotes a clear mind and is Sattvik. A predominantly Rajasic diet that is high on spices, caffeine, garlic, eggs, meat, alcohol, food made in anger, fried food destroys the mind-body equilibrium, feeding the body at the expense of the mind.  Tamasic foods is highly processed,...

"April Showers brings May flowers" is a phrase used so often during the month of April. The last bits of snow turns to rain as temperatures begin to climb and with that Spring brings about a myriad of transformations. Tiny green leaves and buds appear on the branches of the once barren trees, daffodils and tulips adorn the garden with beautiful colours, bright blue skies, green grass, waking up in the morning to melodious chirping of the birds, the touch of warm sun on our skin. Ahhhh the joys of spring I have been waiting for since the severe long dark months of winter. Such a joyous transformation is brought by the 'Agni Tatva'. Agni tatva is the energy that transforms one form to another. The Sun the biggest source of Agni tatva is the source of energy that is responsible for life on the planet.  In our body Agni tatva is 'Jataragini' - the digestive fire. The energy that transforms food to fuel for our existence. Pitta dosha controls digestion in the gut a...