Pitta Dosha

Pitta Dosha

How is a balanced Pitta person?

A typical Pitta person has a medium sized body, and a good appetite and doesn’t like to skip any meals. A Pitta person is dynamic and goal oriented. A balanced Pitta person is warm, very intellectual, fearless, and has a strong digestion.

How is an unbalanced Pitta person?

A Pitta person who is not in balance is often irritated, critical, impatient, stubborn, dominating and can get rashes. Typical health problems include inflammations, gastric ulcer, eczema, rage, insatiable hunger and thirst.

General Guidelines for Balancing Pitta

If you experience symptoms of Pitta imbalance, the general guidelines below will help balancing your Pitta. Find out the changes that you need to make in order to stay healthy.

Pitta

You need BALANCE! You need to balance your work, food, drinks etc Avoid tough deadlines Take some time off Don’t have too high demands Avoid heat. Avoid too much sun and hot emotions. Avoid too much spicy food Good food choices: red products, vegetables, oils, meat, milk, cream, rice, wheat, green leafy vegetables, turmeric, beans, lentils Exercise: You have a strong motivation and are very competitive and could use a more playful attitude in your workouts. Don’t push yourself too hard to avoid getting injured. Outdoors sports and team sports are preferred. Good exercise choices: Swimming, diving, canoeing, American football, baseball, basketball, ice hockey, skiing, running

Dietary Guidelines for PITTA

If you are a Pitta person, and have Pitta-related problems like feeling angry, irritated, critical, having rashes, eczema, inflammations, insatiable hunger and thirst, it could be a sign of an unbalanced Pitta. Pay attention to your diet and follow the Ayurveda recommendations:

• Include: sweet, bitter, astringent foods
• Include: oily, heavy, cold foods

If you need to balance your Pitta, try moong beans, olive and coconut oil. Asparagus, cabbage, cucumber, carrots, cauliflower, sprouts, celery and green leafy vegetables are also recommended. Barley, oats, white rice, wheat are beneficial for Pitta people. Sweet fruits like grapes, coconut, cherries, melons, mangoes, pomegranates, sweet oranges, plums, pineapples are great food choices. All sweeteners are good for Pitta. White meat is acceptable (chicken, pheasant, turkey). Milk, butter and ghee are food for pacifying Pitta.

• Avoid: pungent, sour, salty foods
• Avoid: dry, light, warm foods

Turmeric, coriander, cinnamon, fennel and cardamom should only be taken in small amounts as they increase Pitta. Chilly should be avoided. Reduce use of almond, corn, sesame oil, brown rice, and corn. Reduce intake of sour fruits, such as olives, under ripe pineapple, sour oranges and unripe bananas. Large quantity of honey should be avoided. Avoid red meat, seafood and egg yolk. Reduce use of cheese, yogurt, sour cream, and cultured butter milk.

Tastes decreasing PITTA	Food / herbs to eat	Tastes increasing PITTA	Food / herbs to avoid
Sweet	Peaches, sweet plums, grapes, melons, oranges, sweet potatoes, carrots, beets Milk, butter, rice, wheat bread, basil, licorice root, red cloves, peppermint, slippery elm, fennel. Avoid highly processed sweets such as candy bars and sugar	Pungent	Onion, radish, chili, ginger, garlic, asafoetida, cayenne pepper, black pepper, mustard
Bitter	Dandelion root, holy thistle, yellow dock, rhubarb, bitter melon, greens such as romaine lettuce, spinach, and chard fresh turmeric root, fenugreek, gentian root	Sour	Yogurt, vinegar, cheese, sour cream, green grapes, citrus fruits hibiscus, rose hips, tamarind, pickles, miso caraway, coriander, and cloves
Astringent	Unripe banana, cranberries, pomegranate, myrrh, goldenseal, turmeric, okra, beans, mace, parsley, lentils, broccoli, cabbage, saffron, basil, alum	Salty	Table salt, sea salt, rock salt, kelp, sea weeds

Below you will learn how to balance your Pitta, especially if you have problems with weight loss or PMS

Balancing Pitta – Weight Loss

If you are a Pitta person, you digest your food very well. You don’t have any problems burning carbs and sugar. Even so, some people with Pitta dominance have problems with their digestion. This can occur if you skip meals! Your body will start generating “ama”, a toxic byproduct generated due to improper or incomplete digestion. Your body that is used to burn food has nothing to burn now, and this can damage your stomach. It’s like an empty pot on a hot stove; this will result in a burned pot since there is nothing in the pot. If this continues you could get ulcer.

Pitta – Don’t skip any meals

It’s very important for the stomach to start the day with a breakfast. A lightly cooked apple or pear mixed with plums for breakfast is an excellent way to start your day. Porridge oats for breakfast is also recommended by Ayurveda. A Pitta person should eat three meals a day at the same hours.

Pitta people, who are overweight, often don’t eat on regular times and as a result the body will generate “ama” (as described above) and clog the digestion system. The body won’t be able to assimilate the nutrients and the body’s metabolism will not function properly, and this is why a Pitta person becomes overweight. So if you are a Pitta person and want to lose weight, don’t skip any meals, eat on regular times instead.

Pitta – Get balance in your life

A healthy body weight required a balanced life style. If you are a Pitta person you should go to bed early. If you stay up late at night, you will probably get an appetite for foods, snacks and drinks, and this will definitely add to your weight problem. So, if you want to lose weight, go to bed before 10 pm, before your energy cycle kicks in.

Balancing your life also means lowering your demands on yourself. Take some time off, so you won’t get caught up in your work all the time. Be around kids and play some ball. Taking some time off and having a playful attitude, will ease your mind and help your body to work harmoniously. If you manage to balance your life, you will automatically lose weight. If you are in balance you will not only lose weight but also avoid other Pitta related health problems like inflammations, gastric ulcer, eczema, and rage.

Pitta – Choose outdoor team sports

A Pitta person has a very strong motivation and is very competitive. It’s important that you ease up a bit and don’t take your training too serious. You could easily push yourself too hard and get injured. Try a more playful attitude in your workouts. Your hot personality would benefit from outdoor sports, since it helps cooling you down. Swimming, diving, canoeing, skiing and running are all good alternatives for you. Since you like team sports very much, training exercises such as American football, base ball, basket ball and ice hockey are all activities that fit your personality perfectly.

Balancing Pitta – PMS

Excess Pitta causes the following PMS symptoms: cramps, skin problems, irritability, anger, and heat. If you have these PMS symptoms, avoid foods with pungent, sour or salty tastes, according to Ayurvedic Diet.

PMS symptoms: cramps, skin problems, irritability, anger, heat

Avoid: pungent, sour, salty foods

If you are a Pita person, don’t eat foods like onions, pepper, cheese and chips to avoid PMS symptoms. According to Ayurvedic Diet, avoid pungent, sour or salty foods since these tastes make your PMS symptoms worse.

Pitta Diet for PMS – Include: heavy, cool, uncooked, sweet, bitter astringent foods

A Pita person should eat heavy foods and they should be cool and uncooked. Eat foods with sweet, bitter and astringent tastes, see examples below:

• Sweet foods: peaches, plums, grapes, melons, oranges, sweet potatoes, carrots, milk, butter, rice, wheat bread, basil, peppermint, fennel
• Bitter foods: greens (lettuce, spinach), chard fresh turmeric root, fenugreek, gentian root, rhubarb
• Astringent foods: unripe banana, cranberries, pomegranate, myrrh, goldenseal, turmeric, okra, beans, mace, parsley, lentils, broccoli, cabbage, saffron, basil

Original article and pictures take www.foodpyramid.com site