Vata Pacifying Diet

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General Principles

  • Eat warm, soft, unctuous (oily), cooked foods.

  • Raw vegetables and salads should be generally avoided.

  • Drink room temperature or hot beverages.

  • Breakfast should consist of cooked cereal, cooked oatmeal, stewed fruits, or soaked fruits.

  • Avoid cold drinks and frozen desserts (such as ice cream, popsicles, frozen yogurt etc.)

  • Avoid light, dry, crunchy food.

  • Favor sweet, sour, and salty tastes.

  • Minimize bitter, astringent, and spicy (hot) tastes.

  • Yogurt, cheese, and sour cream should be eaten predominantly at lunchtime.

Favor the following foods:

Grains

Oatmeal (cooked), rice (especially basmati), wheat products.

Legumes

Red lentils, yellow split mung beans (green skin removed), whole mung beans.

Vegetables

Artichoke, beets, bok choy, carrot, celery root, cucumber, tender eggplant, okra, white pumpkin, radish, spinach, summer/yellow squash, winter squash (acorn, buttercup, butternut), sweet potato, tomato, zucchini.

Dairy

Butter, cream, ghee, milk (boiled and served hot), yogurt, soft non-aged cheeses (such as ricotta, cottage cheese and cream cheese), panir (homemade cheese from milk), sour cream.

Sweeteners

All sugar cane products, date sugar, honey.

Oils

All (ghee is the most preferred).

Nuts and Seeds (should be taken either roasted or soaked overnight)

All nuts except peanuts; seeds should be taken in small amounts.

Spices

Anise, black pepper (in small amounts) cardamom, cinnamon, clove, coriander, cumin, fennel, fenugreek, garlic (cooked/fried only), ginger, hing (asafetida), mustard seeds, rock salt or sea salt, tamarind; all other spices in small amounts.

Fruits

All ripe sweet, juicy fruits; apricots, avocado, banana, berries, cherries, grapefruit, grapes, guava, kiwi, lemons, melons, mangos, oranges, papaya, peaches, pineapple, plums, pomegranate, tangerines; dried fruits (such as dates, figs, raisins, and prunes) should be soaked in water until soft before eating; apples and pears only if sweet and juicy or stewed.

Non-vegetarian

All white meats.

Reduce the following foods:

Grains

Barley, buckwheat, corn, millet, raw oats, rye.

Legumes

All except yellow mung beans and red lentils.

Vegetables

Broccoli cauliflower, cabbage, celery stalk, green leafy vegetables, mature eggplant, onion, orange pumpkin, peas, potato, sprouts, orange squash, and raw vegetables.

Dairy

Ice cream, hard cheeses, powdered dairy products.

Sweeteners

Sugar substitutes.

Spices

Cayenne, chili peppers, raw garlic, and other very hot spices.

Fruits

Unripe fruits; cranberries, guava, persimmon.

Non-vegetarian

All red meat.