August 29, 2024 • 21 mins
Can understanding your body's needs revolutionize your health? You may be eating all the "good" stuff, but is it really doing you good internally?
Unlock the secrets of Ayurvedic principles & transform your relationship with food in this enlightening episode with our guest Divya Alter. We journey through the core tenets of Ayurveda, exploring how geographical location and climate profoundly influence food compatibility.
We illustrate the importance of choosing foods that align with your environment. We dive deep into the Ayurvedic concept of body type, stressing the necessity of considering the time of day, season, and stages of life when planning meals. We highlight the importance of balancing your current "dosha" (vikruti) over your birth dosha (prakriti) to ensure optimal health. According to Ayurveda, a person’s health is based on their dosha — a balance of the five elements of the world -air, earth, space, water, & fire. Tune into a discussion that underscores the role of digestive strength (Agni) in making informed food choices and how personal self-awareness is key to understanding your digestive health. By recognizing signs of improper digestion, like gas and bloating, you can better tune into what your body needs. We also explore the idea of "sathmya", emphasizing how foods familiar from childhood impact digestion and comfort.
This episode serves as an impetus for you to rely on your heightened self-awareness, and offers practical insights into personalizing your diet for better health. Discover how deeply cultural & geographical aspects shape your dietary preferences & comfort foods, making Ayurveda a uniquely tailored approach to wellness.
For an in-depth perspective, listen to full recording from S2Ep 16.
LEGAL DISCLAIMER: This podcast is for informational purposes only. This is not to be construed as medical advice, nor is it a substitute for medical advice. Please consult your physician for case by case needs.
Buzzsprout Get your podcast launched!Start for FREE
Enjoy PIOR Living products
Enjoy PIOR Living products at a 20% discount and free shipping on orders over $75 Code FLF20
Two Brothers Organic Farm India
Buy Organic products with code FLF10 at checkout from TBOF India for a 10% discount.
OurPlace Cookware
Shop versatile, aesthetic cookware sets/appliances from OurPlace.
Disclaimer: This post contains affiliate links. If you make a purchase, I may receive a commission at no extra cost to you.
Videos on YouTube channel.
Follow host Vai on socials - Instagram , YouTube, LinkedIn for thought leadership content.
Head to my website for enlightening blogs & service offerings.
This podcast comes to you from Listen Ponder Change LLC, founded by Vai Kumar.Every support the show contribution is much appreciated !!
Subscribe https://www.buzzsprout.com/1436179/support and help us amplify our voice and reach!
Mark as Played
Transcript
Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
Divya Alter (00:00):
What Ayurveda is is the science of life.
It's meant to be applied inyour life, so make it better.
Well, ayurveda speaks about 18categories of food compatibility
aside from well.
One of them is what to combinewith what, right.
But compatibility extends to,as you mentioned, the location,
(00:22):
the geographical location.
Desha is called in Sanskrit, sogeographical location also
involves the climate.
So you mentioned you were inSouth India, you went to visit
your family in South India.
Now compare the climate ofSouth India to New York.
Very different, right.
So if I wanted to eat SouthIndian food in the middle of the
(00:45):
winter, that in New York City,that would be incompatible.
If I'm really craving the SouthIndian flavors, I would use the
spice combination with theginger, the mustard seeds, the
curry leaves.
You know those spicecombinations.
But I will make the food easyto digest in the location that
(01:08):
I'm in, maybe I'll use localvegetables of course I'll use
local vegetables.
I'm not going to import southindian vegetables, but I would
consider these.
It's like okay, let's makesouth indian style meal, but it
will not be exactly the same wayyou eat it in South India
(01:28):
because the ingredients aredifferent, the climate is
different, like that.
Then another category is kala.
Kala means time, and time canmean time of day, time of year,
like season.
It can mean also time in yourlife.
So we all know our diets changeas we go through different
(01:50):
stages in our life.
So when you eat is alsoimportant, and dosha is another
category.
So eating according to yourdosha or your, your constitution
, what's the predominant doshain your body?
And this is where modernAyurveda gets very confusing,
(02:12):
because even yesterday one ofour servers at the restaurant
she's really passionate aboutAyurveda and she's like so I'm
Pitta Kapha, so how do I eat formy dosha?
And I said it's very importantto consider what your
predominant dosha of yourprakriti, your constitution, is,
but you have to consider whatdosha is, the balance right now
(02:34):
for you.
So which is the vikruti?
Vai Kumar (02:37):
Yes, exactly Okay.
So prakriti being the one atbirth and vikruti being as of
right now.
Divya Alter (02:44):
Yeah.
So this is a mistake.
People say they would say oh,I'm with vata pitta, so I have
to eat vata balancing foods tillthe rest of my life.
And when they get, let's saythey get the flu and they have
coughing balance, they'recongested, they're coughing, you
know, they feel heavy, sleepyand they keep eating vata
pacifying foods.
(03:04):
It's not going to balance them.
So it's very important.
That's why in my books, both ofmy books I explain the next
category is agni your digestivestrength.
Not just digestive, but yourmetabolic strength as well.
So if you have weak digestion,then you need something a little
(03:28):
more pungent, a little moresour, to increase your digestive
fire.
And that becomes more importantthan your prakriti, your dosha,
because you have to work on theimbalance to bring you back to
your original balanced state.
So it's not just eating foryour dosha, it's eating
(03:49):
according to season, yourstrength of digestion.
Another one that I really loveis satmya.
Satmya means the foods thatyou're accustomed to since early
childhood.
So, for example, you tell mewhat is one food that you're
accustomed to eating since earlychildhood, growing up in India.
(04:11):
That's not so common in the US.
What is one food?
Vai Kumar (04:15):
Well, I guess I would say eating the amount of times
that I would eat rice orrice-based products.
Divya Alter (04:23):
Okay.
So your body is accustomed todigesting rice really well, and
that's very prominent peopleeating in the South, because
that's where rice grows a lot.
Now, like somebody like me, Igrew up in Bulgaria.
Rice was not a big part of ourdiet.
We had a lot of wheat, andwheat grows in cooler
(04:46):
temperatures, cooler climates.
Wheat can grow all over theworld, but especially in the
North, even in India.
You see, in North India theyuse a lot more roti or
flatbreads than rice.
I mean, my body is trained toeat rice.
I love rice, I can digest it,but growing up I didn't have a
lot of rice.
So for me it's easier to digestwheat than rice.
(05:07):
And when I get really stressedout, my comfort food is
something baked or bread,something like that, something
with wheat, because itimmediately calms me down.
That's my comfort food.
And for you, probably, yourcomfort food is related to some
dish with rice.
Vai Kumar (05:23):
Oh, absolutely Any day you know yeah.
Yeah, everything rice, anythingyou name rice.
Divya Alter (05:29):
Right.
So for some people for themit's easier to digest soy
products, for others not simplybecause they grew up with these
foods and other people didn't.
So glass noodles it's not mysatmya, it's not compatible with
what my body is used to.
And of course you can develop,you can become accustomed to a
(05:51):
food that you didn't grow upwith.
It usually takes about sixmonths.
So let's say you move toanother country and you're
trying to become accustomed tothe local diet.
It usually takes six months forthe body to start fully
digesting the local foods.
Vai Kumar (06:07):
Because it is just recognizing something new that's
coming in and it's trying toadjust to it.
Okay, so it's interesting andit's a topic of discussion that
can be had for hours together,but definitely for me, eating
rice versus eating oats orquinoa or something and one of
(06:28):
my good friends in India she is,you know, an integrative
practitioner.
She would always remind me hey,it's not the oats that you need
to go after, it's not thequinoa that you need to go after
, and it's not even millets thatyou need to go after, because
that wasn't something that wewere doing on a daily basis.
So, though the world recognizessome of these as superfoods,
(06:52):
nowadays, I think you know, itjust becomes very significant to
eat what we were accustomed to.
So what about world cuisine?
Say, let's take Mexican cuisine.
There's a lot of bean andcheese and things like that,
right?
So what would you say to that?
Divya Alter (07:13):
Yeah.
So bean and cheese is anothervery heavy to digest combination
and it can be incompatible foryou if you have weak digestion.
Yes, bean and cheese I meaneven cheese and bread is very
heavy to digest.
Wheat and cheese it's sodelicious.
I mean we have the pizzas.
Every culture has some kind ofcheese and bread dish or bean
(07:34):
and cheese.
It is incompatible if you haveweak digestion.
That's why you have to becareful.
And so let's say, you eat beanand cheese dish and you feel so
tired afterwards as if yourwhole energy was drained from
your body.
So it's because all the energygoes in the stomach to break
(07:55):
down this very heavy food thatyou just ate.
That's an indication thatthat's not the right combination
for you.
But if you're a constructionperson and you're doing heavy
physical work and you use a lotof energy, then you'll be
craving bean and cheese andyou'll feel very happy.
Vai Kumar (08:14):
So it's a matter of how much you're able to utilize
whatever you have had, and itdepends on the amount of
activity that you're able to docorrect.
Divya Alter (08:26):
Yeah, it also depends on the portion.
So I always tell my studentslet's say you go to a dinner
party and it's a very nicedinner and you see something
that's incompatible, you know itwill be very heavy for you.
You can honor the host byhaving like a couple of bites.
You can have small amounts.
So if you have a small amountof incompatible foods they will
(08:49):
not affect you so much.
And then the other solutionthat you mentioned earlier is
the use of spices.
So because spices havetremendous digestive properties,
if you cook with a lot of spicethe incompatible foods will
become less damaging.
But you have to know there'salways a price to pay.
(09:11):
You may not pay the price rightaway Exactly, but the buildup
from undigested and from notdigesting fully incompatible
foods it starts to build up inthe body.
It can start hardening yourarteries.
It can start building aroundyour waist area and you're
starting gaining weight there.
(09:31):
It can build in your colon.
Everybody who's donecolonoscopy and seen what comes
out of the colon it's like okay,that's the undigested food that
you may have eaten years agothat's still stuck in there.
And this undigested food iscalled ama.
It can grow into amavishu,which is reactive, toxic ama,
(09:54):
semi-digested food that becomesthe breeding ground for disease
and inflammation.
So when I tell people withchronic inflammation, I always
tell them you have to really payattention to the combination of
foods, because if you're notdigesting them you're just
perpetuating the inflammatoryprocesses in your body.
Vai Kumar (10:18):
And when an inflammation becomes the
breeding ground for very serioushealth problems, inflammation
becomes the breeding ground forvery serious health problems,
and you pointed out very nicely,divya, you have connected it
all.
And we talked about Indiancuisine, we talked about Mexican
and just to reiterate, ayurvedaneed not necessarily be related
(10:41):
to Indian cuisine alone,correct?
The Ayurvedic principles can beincorporated and you can cook
any type of world cuisine andyou, coming from Bulgaria, I
guess you know we canincorporate it into any kind of
cuisine, correct?
Divya Alter (10:54):
Yeah, of course.
See, one of the main principlesof Ayurveda is using the local
ingredients, the foods that growlocally.
So Ayurveda it came from theland of India.
Ayurveda gives very detaileddescriptions of individual
ingredients, herbs, what theylook like, what is, what are the
(11:14):
properties, etc.
Authors of the Ayurvedicclassical texts.
They described the herbs andfoods that were grown locally.
Right, they couldn't travel toMexico and examine quinoa, for
example, which grows in SouthAmerica.
They couldn't travel toBulgaria and examine the local
(11:38):
herbs.
They just described what wasgrown locally, in the same way
with cuisine.
They just described what wasgrown locally, in the same way
with cuisine.
One of the main precepts ofAyurveda is to use local food
because it's grown locally.
That food that uses the waterthat you drink, the sun that
shines on you, the climate, theair that you breathe, that food
(12:01):
will be most compatible to you.
Vai Kumar (12:03):
Because it already recognizes your body, recognizes
something that's coming in.
Divya Alter (12:09):
Yes, exactly.
So how do you use local foodsand apply the Ayurvedic
principles?
You apply the Ayurvedicprinciples of compatibility.
You can use local herbs, likeculinary herbs, for example, and
because of good transportationglobal transportation we have
(12:29):
access to all the Ayurvedicspices as well.
So we have access to turmericand to cumin and cardamom and
cinnamon and all that, so we canuse those as well.
But you can create differentflavors based on your local
cuisine, and that's anothercompatibility that's so
important the satmya remember.
So you cannot force, let's say,somebody from Sweden for example
(12:53):
I live in Sweden up north Veryheavy diet.
They use a lot of heavy creamin their diet because it helps
them with the cold temperatures.
But you cannot force somebodywho grew up in Sweden to eat
Indian food.
You know it's not their,they're not accustomed to it.
Another category ofcompatibility is called hridja
(13:16):
palatability, something that youreally like.
So it can be the healthiestfood for you, freshly prepared
and everything.
But if you don't like it, it'snot going to be healthy for you.
So you have to make local foodtasty and approachable to people
and you can totally apply theAyurvedic principles to any kind
of cuisine.
Vai Kumar (13:35):
Okay, and just to touch upon that fact or that
example of someone living upnorth trying to eat tropical say
you mentioned South Indian foodin the peak of winter in New
York City, so what exactly is analternative?
Or how does anyone tweak,living in a cold temperature,
(13:56):
trying to eat something which is, you know, perhaps their usual
traditional stuff, say, like atropical type of food?
Divya Alter (14:07):
Let's go with the example for New York.
In the middle of the winter I'mnot going to eat coconut, which
is very typical for South Indiaand the South in general.
So coconut is very cooling.
It produces coolness in thebody, cools you down and in the
winter when it's so cold, youdon't want to eat cooling foods
(14:28):
unless you really heat it.
So coconut is also heavy.
So we need heavy foods in thewinter.
But if it's so cooling, thenI'll wait for the summer when I
really enjoy drinking coconutwater, making coconut chutney,
fresh coconut chutney and makingthese beautiful coconut
desserts.
So I really enjoyed that.
(14:51):
But in the winter it will beincompatible, and so vice versa.
So in the middle of the summerI'm not going to eat heavy stews
.
You know the heavy beans stew,something that's really heavy
grounding.
No, we crave light foods in thesummer.
Right, we enjoy fruits, salads.
(15:14):
We crave lighter foods becausewe don't feel eating heavy in
the summer.
Vai Kumar (15:19):
What about raw versus cooked food?
And what about, say, sprouting?
Divya Alter (15:23):
So again raw food needs extra fire to be digested.
If your digestion is weak, thenyou're not going to fully
digest the raw food and getbenefit from all the nutrients
that it has.
So that's another thing.
A lot of people have weakdigestion.
They eat raw foods and theyfeel terrible.
They get more bloated, theyfeel ungrounded, not satiated
(15:47):
like that.
But if you have strongdigestion, especially in the
summer, raw food is great andthen sprouting.
So think about nature.
When does everything begin tosprout?
Spring?
It's in spring, yeah.
So sprouts very light, they'revery airy in nature.
So the best time to eat sproutsis in spring, which is now.
(16:10):
But they're also very airy, sothey will aggravate your vata
very much.
That's why I like to make mungbean sprouts, but I lightly
saute them first with a fewspices.
I have a sprouted mung beanrecipe in my new cookbook.
Enjoy your Balance.
(16:31):
But then it's easy to digest.
It will not make you gassy.
So if you're getting gassy andbloated after you eat, that's
another indication that you'renot digesting the food fully.
Vai Kumar (16:43):
Okay, okay and again, anything you know.
So what is the answer to anyonethat says hey, how do I?
Even you talked about whateveris called dosha, which is the
body constitution you know,which can be something that you
were inherently born with,versus what is the current state
of affairs right now withsomeone's body?
(17:04):
So how does someone identifywhat will really suit them and
how do they know whether theyneed more of the air element,
whether they need more of thefire element, which is the pitta
, and then the kapha, which isthe earth, correct?
Divya Alter (17:22):
Earth and water.
Yeah, I mean, the best thing isto see an Ayurvedic doctor or
practitioner.
They check your balls, theyexamine you and they can tell
you exactly what's out ofbalance and what you need to do
what foods, what remedies, whatexercise and all that.
They can personalize all thisfor you, but that's kind of rare
(17:43):
, um, that's why I'm sopassionate to help people learn
self-awareness, to actually stopand feel okay, how do I feel
right now?
Am I cold?
Am I, am I hot?
Do I heavy?
Do I feel lightheaded?
So, by practicingself-awareness and you connect
(18:08):
to those elements in your body,then it's like oh yeah, I'm not
really hungry.
It's time to eat lunch, but I'mnot really hungry.
What should I do?
That's why I love teaching.
What Ayurveda is is the science of life.
It's meant to be applied inyour life, so make it better.
Well, ayurveda speaks about 18categories of food compatibility
aside from well.
One of them is what to combinewith what, right.
But compatibility extends to,as you mentioned, the location,
(00:22):
the geographical location.
Desha is called in Sanskrit, sogeographical location also
involves the climate.
So you mentioned you were inSouth India, you went to visit
your family in South India.
Now compare the climate ofSouth India to New York.
Very different, right.
So if I wanted to eat SouthIndian food in the middle of the
(00:45):
winter, that in New York City,that would be incompatible.
If I'm really craving the SouthIndian flavors, I would use the
spice combination with theginger, the mustard seeds, the
curry leaves.
You know those spicecombinations.
But I will make the food easyto digest in the location that
(01:08):
I'm in, maybe I'll use localvegetables of course I'll use
local vegetables.
I'm not going to import southindian vegetables, but I would
consider these.
It's like okay, let's makesouth indian style meal, but it
will not be exactly the same wayyou eat it in South India
(01:28):
because the ingredients aredifferent, the climate is
different, like that.
Then another category is kala.
Kala means time, and time canmean time of day, time of year,
like season.
It can mean also time in yourlife.
So we all know our diets changeas we go through different
(01:50):
stages in our life.
So when you eat is alsoimportant, and dosha is another
category.
So eating according to yourdosha or your, your constitution
, what's the predominant doshain your body?
And this is where modernAyurveda gets very confusing,
(02:12):
because even yesterday one ofour servers at the restaurant
she's really passionate aboutAyurveda and she's like so I'm
Pitta Kapha, so how do I eat formy dosha?
And I said it's very importantto consider what your
predominant dosha of yourprakriti, your constitution, is,
but you have to consider whatdosha is, the balance right now
(02:34):
for you.
So which is the vikruti?
Vai Kumar (02:37):
Yes, exactly Okay.
So prakriti being the one atbirth and vikruti being as of
right now.
Divya Alter (02:44):
Yeah.
So this is a mistake.
People say they would say oh,I'm with vata pitta, so I have
to eat vata balancing foods tillthe rest of my life.
And when they get, let's saythey get the flu and they have
coughing balance, they'recongested, they're coughing, you
know, they feel heavy, sleepyand they keep eating vata
pacifying foods.
(03:04):
It's not going to balance them.
So it's very important.
That's why in my books, both ofmy books I explain the next
category is agni your digestivestrength.
Not just digestive, but yourmetabolic strength as well.
So if you have weak digestion,then you need something a little
(03:28):
more pungent, a little moresour, to increase your digestive
fire.
And that becomes more importantthan your prakriti, your dosha,
because you have to work on theimbalance to bring you back to
your original balanced state.
So it's not just eating foryour dosha, it's eating
(03:49):
according to season, yourstrength of digestion.
Another one that I really loveis satmya.
Satmya means the foods thatyou're accustomed to since early
childhood.
So, for example, you tell mewhat is one food that you're
accustomed to eating since earlychildhood, growing up in India.
(04:11):
That's not so common in the US.
What is one food?
Vai Kumar (04:15):
Well, I guess I would say eating the amount of times
that I would eat rice orrice-based products.
Divya Alter (04:23):
Okay.
So your body is accustomed todigesting rice really well, and
that's very prominent peopleeating in the South, because
that's where rice grows a lot.
Now, like somebody like me, Igrew up in Bulgaria.
Rice was not a big part of ourdiet.
We had a lot of wheat, andwheat grows in cooler
(04:46):
temperatures, cooler climates.
Wheat can grow all over theworld, but especially in the
North, even in India.
You see, in North India theyuse a lot more roti or
flatbreads than rice.
I mean, my body is trained toeat rice.
I love rice, I can digest it,but growing up I didn't have a
lot of rice.
So for me it's easier to digestwheat than rice.
(05:07):
And when I get really stressedout, my comfort food is
something baked or bread,something like that, something
with wheat, because itimmediately calms me down.
That's my comfort food.
And for you, probably, yourcomfort food is related to some
dish with rice.
Vai Kumar (05:23):
Oh, absolutely Any day you know yeah.
Yeah, everything rice, anythingyou name rice.
Divya Alter (05:29):
Right.
So for some people for themit's easier to digest soy
products, for others not simplybecause they grew up with these
foods and other people didn't.
So glass noodles it's not mysatmya, it's not compatible with
what my body is used to.
And of course you can develop,you can become accustomed to a
(05:51):
food that you didn't grow upwith.
It usually takes about sixmonths.
So let's say you move toanother country and you're
trying to become accustomed tothe local diet.
It usually takes six months forthe body to start fully
digesting the local foods.
Vai Kumar (06:07):
Because it is just recognizing something new that's
coming in and it's trying toadjust to it.
Okay, so it's interesting andit's a topic of discussion that
can be had for hours together,but definitely for me, eating
rice versus eating oats orquinoa or something and one of
(06:28):
my good friends in India she is,you know, an integrative
practitioner.
She would always remind me hey,it's not the oats that you need
to go after, it's not thequinoa that you need to go after
, and it's not even millets thatyou need to go after, because
that wasn't something that wewere doing on a daily basis.
So, though the world recognizessome of these as superfoods,
(06:52):
nowadays, I think you know, itjust becomes very significant to
eat what we were accustomed to.
So what about world cuisine?
Say, let's take Mexican cuisine.
There's a lot of bean andcheese and things like that,
right?
So what would you say to that?
Divya Alter (07:13):
Yeah.
So bean and cheese is anothervery heavy to digest combination
and it can be incompatible foryou if you have weak digestion.
Yes, bean and cheese I meaneven cheese and bread is very
heavy to digest.
Wheat and cheese it's sodelicious.
I mean we have the pizzas.
Every culture has some kind ofcheese and bread dish or bean
(07:34):
and cheese.
It is incompatible if you haveweak digestion.
That's why you have to becareful.
And so let's say, you eat beanand cheese dish and you feel so
tired afterwards as if yourwhole energy was drained from
your body.
So it's because all the energygoes in the stomach to break
(07:55):
down this very heavy food thatyou just ate.
That's an indication thatthat's not the right combination
for you.
But if you're a constructionperson and you're doing heavy
physical work and you use a lotof energy, then you'll be
craving bean and cheese andyou'll feel very happy.
Vai Kumar (08:14):
So it's a matter of how much you're able to utilize
whatever you have had, and itdepends on the amount of
activity that you're able to docorrect.
Divya Alter (08:26):
Yeah, it also depends on the portion.
So I always tell my studentslet's say you go to a dinner
party and it's a very nicedinner and you see something
that's incompatible, you know itwill be very heavy for you.
You can honor the host byhaving like a couple of bites.
You can have small amounts.
So if you have a small amountof incompatible foods they will
(08:49):
not affect you so much.
And then the other solutionthat you mentioned earlier is
the use of spices.
So because spices havetremendous digestive properties,
if you cook with a lot of spicethe incompatible foods will
become less damaging.
But you have to know there'salways a price to pay.
(09:11):
You may not pay the price rightaway Exactly, but the buildup
from undigested and from notdigesting fully incompatible
foods it starts to build up inthe body.
It can start hardening yourarteries.
It can start building aroundyour waist area and you're
starting gaining weight there.
(09:31):
It can build in your colon.
Everybody who's donecolonoscopy and seen what comes
out of the colon it's like okay,that's the undigested food that
you may have eaten years agothat's still stuck in there.
And this undigested food iscalled ama.
It can grow into amavishu,which is reactive, toxic ama,
(09:54):
semi-digested food that becomesthe breeding ground for disease
and inflammation.
So when I tell people withchronic inflammation, I always
tell them you have to really payattention to the combination of
foods, because if you're notdigesting them you're just
perpetuating the inflammatoryprocesses in your body.
Vai Kumar (10:18):
And when an inflammation becomes the
breeding ground for very serioushealth problems, inflammation
becomes the breeding ground forvery serious health problems,
and you pointed out very nicely,divya, you have connected it
all.
And we talked about Indiancuisine, we talked about Mexican
and just to reiterate, ayurvedaneed not necessarily be related
(10:41):
to Indian cuisine alone,correct?
The Ayurvedic principles can beincorporated and you can cook
any type of world cuisine andyou, coming from Bulgaria, I
guess you know we canincorporate it into any kind of
cuisine, correct?
Divya Alter (10:54):
Yeah, of course.
See, one of the main principlesof Ayurveda is using the local
ingredients, the foods that growlocally.
So Ayurveda it came from theland of India.
Ayurveda gives very detaileddescriptions of individual
ingredients, herbs, what theylook like, what is, what are the
(11:14):
properties, etc.
Authors of the Ayurvedicclassical texts.
They described the herbs andfoods that were grown locally.
Right, they couldn't travel toMexico and examine quinoa, for
example, which grows in SouthAmerica.
They couldn't travel toBulgaria and examine the local
(11:38):
herbs.
They just described what wasgrown locally, in the same way
with cuisine.
They just described what wasgrown locally, in the same way
with cuisine.
One of the main precepts ofAyurveda is to use local food
because it's grown locally.
That food that uses the waterthat you drink, the sun that
shines on you, the climate, theair that you breathe, that food
(12:01):
will be most compatible to you.
Vai Kumar (12:03):
Because it already recognizes your body, recognizes
something that's coming in.
Divya Alter (12:09):
Yes, exactly.
So how do you use local foodsand apply the Ayurvedic
principles?
You apply the Ayurvedicprinciples of compatibility.
You can use local herbs, likeculinary herbs, for example, and
because of good transportationglobal transportation we have
(12:29):
access to all the Ayurvedicspices as well.
So we have access to turmericand to cumin and cardamom and
cinnamon and all that, so we canuse those as well.
But you can create differentflavors based on your local
cuisine, and that's anothercompatibility that's so
important the satmya remember.
So you cannot force, let's say,somebody from Sweden for example
(12:53):
I live in Sweden up north Veryheavy diet.
They use a lot of heavy creamin their diet because it helps
them with the cold temperatures.
But you cannot force somebodywho grew up in Sweden to eat
Indian food.
You know it's not their,they're not accustomed to it.
Another category ofcompatibility is called hridja
(13:16):
palatability, something that youreally like.
So it can be the healthiestfood for you, freshly prepared
and everything.
But if you don't like it, it'snot going to be healthy for you.
So you have to make local foodtasty and approachable to people
and you can totally apply theAyurvedic principles to any kind
of cuisine.
Vai Kumar (13:35):
Okay, and just to touch upon that fact or that
example of someone living upnorth trying to eat tropical say
you mentioned South Indian foodin the peak of winter in New
York City, so what exactly is analternative?
Or how does anyone tweak,living in a cold temperature,
(13:56):
trying to eat something which is, you know, perhaps their usual
traditional stuff, say, like atropical type of food?
Divya Alter (14:07):
Let's go with the example for New York.
In the middle of the winter I'mnot going to eat coconut, which
is very typical for South Indiaand the South in general.
So coconut is very cooling.
It produces coolness in thebody, cools you down and in the
winter when it's so cold, youdon't want to eat cooling foods
(14:28):
unless you really heat it.
So coconut is also heavy.
So we need heavy foods in thewinter.
But if it's so cooling, thenI'll wait for the summer when I
really enjoy drinking coconutwater, making coconut chutney,
fresh coconut chutney and makingthese beautiful coconut
desserts.
So I really enjoyed that.
(14:51):
But in the winter it will beincompatible, and so vice versa.
So in the middle of the summerI'm not going to eat heavy stews
.
You know the heavy beans stew,something that's really heavy
grounding.
No, we crave light foods in thesummer.
Right, we enjoy fruits, salads.
(15:14):
We crave lighter foods becausewe don't feel eating heavy in
the summer.
Vai Kumar (15:19):
What about raw versus cooked food?
And what about, say, sprouting?
Divya Alter (15:23):
So again raw food needs extra fire to be digested.
If your digestion is weak, thenyou're not going to fully
digest the raw food and getbenefit from all the nutrients
that it has.
So that's another thing.
A lot of people have weakdigestion.
They eat raw foods and theyfeel terrible.
They get more bloated, theyfeel ungrounded, not satiated
(15:47):
like that.
But if you have strongdigestion, especially in the
summer, raw food is great andthen sprouting.
So think about nature.
When does everything begin tosprout?
Spring?
It's in spring, yeah.
So sprouts very light, they'revery airy in nature.
So the best time to eat sproutsis in spring, which is now.
(16:10):
But they're also very airy, sothey will aggravate your vata
very much.
That's why I like to make mungbean sprouts, but I lightly
saute them first with a fewspices.
I have a sprouted mung beanrecipe in my new cookbook.
Enjoy your Balance.
(16:31):
But then it's easy to digest.
It will not make you gassy.
So if you're getting gassy andbloated after you eat, that's
another indication that you'renot digesting the food fully.
Vai Kumar (16:43):
Okay, okay and again, anything you know.
So what is the answer to anyonethat says hey, how do I?
Even you talked about whateveris called dosha, which is the
body constitution you know,which can be something that you
were inherently born with,versus what is the current state
of affairs right now withsomeone's body?
(17:04):
So how does someone identifywhat will really suit them and
how do they know whether theyneed more of the air element,
whether they need more of thefire element, which is the pitta
, and then the kapha, which isthe earth, correct?
Divya Alter (17:22):
Earth and water.
Yeah, I mean, the best thing isto see an Ayurvedic doctor or
practitioner.
They check your balls, theyexamine you and they can tell
you exactly what's out ofbalance and what you need to do
what foods, what remedies, whatexercise and all that.
They can personalize all thisfor you, but that's kind of rare
(17:43):
, um, that's why I'm sopassionate to help people learn
self-awareness, to actually stopand feel okay, how do I feel
right now?
Am I cold?
Am I, am I hot?
Do I heavy?
Do I feel lightheaded?
So, by practicingself-awareness and you connect
(18:08):
to those elements in your body,then it's like oh yeah, I'm not
really hungry.
It's time to eat lunch, but I'mnot really hungry.
What should I do?
That's why I love teaching.
Popular Podcasts
Stuff You Should Know
If you've ever wanted to know about champagne, satanism, the Stonewall Uprising, chaos theory, LSD, El Nino, true crime and Rosa Parks, then look no further. Josh and Chuck have you covered.
Dateline NBC
Current and classic episodes, featuring compelling true-crime mysteries, powerful documentaries and in-depth investigations. Follow now to get the latest episodes of Dateline NBC completely free, or subscribe to Dateline Premium for ad-free listening and exclusive bonus content: DatelinePremium.com
On Purpose with Jay Shetty
I’m Jay Shetty host of On Purpose the worlds #1 Mental Health podcast and I’m so grateful you found us. I started this podcast 5 years ago to invite you into conversations and workshops that are designed to help make you happier, healthier and more healed. I believe that when you (yes you) feel seen, heard and understood you’re able to deal with relationship struggles, work challenges and life’s ups and downs with more ease and grace. I interview experts, celebrities, thought leaders and athletes so that we can grow our mindset, build better habits and uncover a side of them we’ve never seen before. New episodes every Monday and Friday. Your support means the world to me and I don’t take it for granted — click the follow button and leave a review to help us spread the love with On Purpose. I can’t wait for you to listen to your first or 500th episode!