10 AYURVEDA PRESCRIPTIONS FOR SUMMER EATING

Ayurveda guides us how to live attuned to the rhythms of each season. Nature tends to provide us with the foods which combat the adverse effects of each season, and Ayurveda gives extra lifestyle practices to support us. Follow just some of these guidelines not only for a healthier happier summer, but to start to build balance and well-being for the often challenging Autumn and Winter seasons ahead.

1. Eat cooling foods that reduce inflammation and easy to digest foods.
2. Sharp, hot and pungent foods like ferments and most spices should be avoided. Ferments including alcohol sharply increase heat in body and mind.
3. Go for grapes or peaches to make your non fermented fresh drinks.
4. Your body can become easily dehydrated and lethargic due to summer heat. Use salt and stick to a generous intake of fluids.
5. Include in your diet, foods with a gel like consistency like okra, tapioca and chia seeds. These are soothing and lubricating for dehydrated tissues.
6. Summer is the time for carbohydrates. Choose simple, easy to digest carbs like white rice (brown may be too heavy), quinoa and millet and starchy vegetables like sweet potato, yam, carrots
7. Lighter proteins such as fish, egg whites, tofu and tempeh are best for summer.
8. The bitter, sweet and astringent tastes will help to keep the Pitta dosha pacified. For example, lime and iceberg lettuce.
9. Cooling herbs and foods like coriander, cucumber, and watermelon, cantaloupe and honeydew melons are also especially cooling and refreshing. Eat melons alone though!
10. Vegetables from your allotment like courgettes, squash, green beans and sweet peas are perfect seasonal vegetables to add to your meal.

AYURVEDA LIFESTYLE TIP FOR SUMMER:

Sitkari Pranayama:

Try this cooling breath technique. In addition to its cooling effects which make it perfect as a practice to pacify Pitta and to cool body and mind in the summer months, it is said to help balance the endocrine system. It is a great one to do during hot flushes!

1. Sit comfortably with your eyes closed.
2. Bare your teeth, with the mouth as wide open as possible, teeth together and tip of tongue curled back against the pallet.

• Inhale slowly through the gaps in the teeth, making a hissing sound as you do so.

1. Close the mouth and exhale through the nose.
2. Repeat 10 – 20 times.

You may first feel the mouth begin to cool, and then perhaps the head and brain, and then the body.

Please enjoy this technique. If you feel any adverse effects from any pranayama, you should stop the technique immediately. J