Embracing Balance: Nurturing Your Well-being during the Fiery Season

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The Accumulation of Fire:

In Ayurveda, when the elemental energies or doshas accumulate and become imbalanced, they can manifest as various symptoms. If left unattended, these imbalances can lead to chronic conditions and diseases. Derived from the Sanskrit word “tapa,” meaning heat or becoming hot, pitta represents the energy responsible for bodily metabolism, digestion, absorption and body temperature regulation. It encompasses all processes of metabolism, action and transformation within us.

Aggravation of Fire:

When the fire element or pitta dosha is in excess, imbalances related to metabolism, action and transformation result. Excess fire or pitta dosha can result in acid reflux, nausea, excessive hunger, overactive metabolism, loose stools, profuse sweating, blood sugar imbalances, skin inflammation, and irritability. Individuals residing in hot and humid climates, those with a predominant pitta constitution, or those experiencing high levels of stress and overwork are more prone to pitta imbalances. 

Alleviation of Fire:

The golden rule to restore balance in Ayurveda is “like increases like, and opposites decrease.” Late spring is the appropriate time to introduce qualities that reduce excess fire or pitta dosha. Cooling, calming, grounding, slow, and neutral qualities all reduce excess fire or pitta dosha. This preventive approach maintains the balance of the body’s fire element or pitta dosa throughout the late spring and summer months. 

Nutrition Tips for Late Spring:

  • Incorporate refreshing foods that lighten the body and keep the system cool.

  • Cooling herbs include cilantro, dill, thyme, mint, and fennel should be used liberally.

  • Embrace cooling vegetables such as beets, summer squash, and corn.

  • Fresh greens with a bitter taste cleanse and cool the blood.

  • Seasonal berries provide astringent properties that tones the tissues.

  • Reduce or avoid pitta-aggravating foods such as coffee, fermented foods, alcohol, salty and/or fried foods, citrus fruits, and sour dairy products.

These recommendations can benefit both preventive care and disease management. For the best results, consult a trained Clinical Ayurvedic Specialist who can guide you through this transformative journey. Embrace the wisdom of Ayurveda and allow the supportive and nourishing qualities of the season guide you towards holistic health.🌿✨

#Ayurveda #BalanceWithin #HolisticWellness #NurturingHealth #PittaSeason

Please check out the recipes on our Pinterest Page.

Cardamom Ginger Grape Elixir

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This elixir both cleanses and nourishes the blood. Grapes are, in Ayurveda, “King among fruits.” This fruit (the red ones) can nourish the rasa dhatu while cooling the rakta dhatu, making it an ideal rejuvenator for the blood. Adding digestive spices brings a cleansing bonus to the upper digestive tract. Enjoy this juice often in hot weather, around the menstrual cycle, or to balance too much heating food from the day before.

Indulge in a delightful elixir that not only tantalizes your taste buds but also nourishes and purifies your blood—introducing the Cardamom Ginger Grape Elixir, a refreshing concoction designed to bring balance and rejuvenation to your body. Prepare to be captivated by the Ayurvedic wisdom behind this elixir, as it harnesses the power of grapes, known as the “King among fruits,” to nourish your inner vitality. Combined with digestive spices, this elixir offers a cleansing bonus for your upper digestive tract. Whether it’s to beat the heat, harmonize your menstrual cycle, or restore equilibrium after a day of indulgence, this elixir is a true elixir of vitality and rejuvenation. Get ready to sip your way to revitalized well-being.

Click for full recipe

Mealtimes Easier for Families

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If you have a selective eater, feel like you’re constantly making multiple meals, or need new mealtimes ideas, this message is for you. 

As a pediatric OT (Shannon!) and Naturopathic Doctor (Janine!) and parents to learning eaters (3 kids each), we understand the challenges firsthand.  We have teamed up and are excited to share this FREE Mealtime Guide for Families.  

We created this to help make dinner time easier for you and support your learning eater on their journey to trying more foods.  We want to be considerate of your learning eater’s needs and the needs of the rest of your family without being a short-order cook.

 Inside the guide, you’ll find valuable information and meal ideas to help make mealtimes more enjoyable. It’s full of meals we regularly serve to our families (all of the pictures inside are meals that we served our kids).  The meals are created in ways that meet the needs of everyone: the adults at the table and our most selective eaters at the same time, and provide our selective eaters with lots of exposure to food in different ways.  

 Not only that but downloading the guide will also give you access to 6 weeks of information and strategies dropped straight into your inbox. 

This guide will give you the tools and knowledge to make mealtimes a more positive and enjoyable experience for your whole family.  You can download this free resource here!

I Encourage My Kids to Play With Their Food. Here’s Why You should, Too.

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Introducing New Foods to Picky Eaters

By: Shannon Rolph, OT Reg. (Ont)

Last year, my daughter came home from school telling me all about the new things she had learned about food. She learned what taste buds are (“those little bumps on your tongue”) and that it takes 10 times trying a new food before your taste buds might learn to like them. This seems to be the general rule floating around about getting our children (or ourselves!) to enjoy a new food – this magical number 10. And for some people may be accurate. The range that’s most seen in research is 8-15 exposures. However for some of our more sensitive kids, the number of exposures required may be much higher.

If you need to expose your child to apples 20 times before they accept it – what does this actually look like?  A ‘food exposure’ does not necessarily mean that your child actually tastes the food. An ‘exposure’ really is just an opportunity for your child to learn about that particular food. What does it look like on the outside? Does it look different on the inside? What does it feel like? How does it smell when it’s raw – what about when it’s cooked? Does it make a crunchy sound? These exposures really allow our children to explore all the sensory properties of food. They allow our children to build up a mental picture of what the food might feel like or taste like so that they feel comfortable with the food. Only once our child feels comfortable will they attempt to taste it.

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How can you build up your child’s exposure to new foods? One research study found that even looking at picture books can help your child feel more familiar with a food.1  My personal favourite is finding ways to play with new foods. I love playing with food for a few reasons: most importantly, kids are designed to explore their world through play! Secondly, learning about food while playing really takes the pressure away from the experience – this allows them to interact with the food without any worry that they will be expected to put it in their mouths.

You can encourage play with food at or away from the kitchen table. Maybe you help your child create a forest of broccoli and cauliflower for their toy dinosaurs to play in, or use carrot sticks as logs for toy dump trucks or loggers. If you’re feeling really brave, you could even try purees of different coloured fruits and veggies as paint. Perhaps you’ve served something for dinner and your child has no interest in trying it. Can you encourage an interaction with the food that’s fun and playful? Who can make the loudest snap with their snap pea? Who can build the biggest tower of orange segments? Can you build a log cabin with your celery sticks?

Most importantly, even if your child reports they don’t like a food, don’t decide to never serve it to them again. Keep giving them the opportunity to learn about foods, and the opportunity to surprise you! One of these days you might find the lunch box returned with the veggies gone!

1. Owen LH, Kennedy OB, Hill C, Houston-Price C. Peas, please! Food familiarization through picture books helps parents introduce vegetables into preschoolers’ diets. APPETITE. 128:32-43