Ayurvedic diet for winter (with kitchari recipe)

Food influences the physical and mental state. Although the best diet is one that responds to the constitutional individual characteristics and at the moment in which you live, it is possible to make some almost general recommendations that adapt to the passing of the seasons.

In autumn and winter it is advisable benefit from a diet and toning practices. The elderly, pregnant and postpartum women, children, and exhausted people benefit from an anti-vata diet that includes dairy products, especially yogurt, cottage cheese, clarified butter, and buttermilk, according to the traditional medicine of India.

Invigorating Ayurvedic recipes with plant foods for the winter

If you consume a vegan diet or dairy products do not agree with you, you can substitute them with other vegetable food that can also be part of the toning diet, such as sesame, almond, olive and avocado oils, as well as nuts and seeds (cashew, almond, walnut, pine nut…).

The whole grains, especially brown rice, oats and wheat, strengthen the body and make it more resistant to respiratory infections and other typical winter disorders.

Kitchari, an essential dish in the cold months

To prepare a kitchari, a dish that purifies, strengthens and balances the doshas (the energies that move the body), a legume is mixed with a cereal, seasonal vegetables, ghee and spices.

A very good combination is mung beans with basmati rice, but the ingredients can be adapted to personal tastes, to the foods available in the season, to the constitutional characteristics of each person and their state of health at the time.

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The legumes –black beans, chickpeas, soybeans…– are recommended in general, but should be taken in moderation. The diet is completed with restorative fruits such as dates, raisins, figs, and pomegranate and black grape juices.

Others toning foods are the onion, the mushrooms, the sweet potato or the potato.

The spices They are essential in Indian cooking and also have a strengthening action. Garlic, ginger, cinnamon, pepper, cardamom, cloves, fennel, and cumin invigorate.

Ayurvedic kitchari recipe

Ingredients:

1/2 cup basmati rice 1 cup dal mung beans (halved) 6 cups water 3 cm fresh ginger, chopped or grated Sea salt 2 teaspoons ghee (or a vegetable fat such as coconut oil) 1/2 teaspoon coriander in powder1/2 teaspoon cumin powder1/2 teaspoon whole cumin seeds1/2 teaspoon mustard seeds1/2 teaspoon turmeric powder1 pinch asafoetidaHandful of fresh coriander leaves1 and 1/2 cups of mixed vegetables

Preparation:

Carefully wash the rice and mung beans separately. Cook them together with 6 cups of water, with the pot covered, for about 20 minutes.While cooking, prepare any vegetables you like and cut them into small pieces.Add the vegetables to the rice-mung bean mixture and cook for another 10 minutes. .In a separate saucepan, sauté the seeds in the ghee (or coconut oil) until they pop. Then add the other spices. Mix to release the flavors. Add the sautéed spices, salt, and chopped fresh cilantro.

You can take it with an infusion adapted to your constitution:

Vata infusion: equal parts ground ginger, cumin, and coriander.pitta infusion: equal parts ground cumin, coriander, and fennel.Kapha infusion: equal parts ground ginger, cinnamon, and a pinch of cloves.

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