Pitta Dosha and Diet
In Pitta the digestive fire is activated at noon and midnight. People with this dosha can eat fully during the daylight hours, because their Agni or the digestive fire always burns brightly causing a good appetite and a pronounced feeling of hunger, which should be satisfied without delay.
One has to remember that the proper nutrition can be seen as a medicine to some extent, able to balance the fiery nature of Pitta. For this reason Ayurveda encourages people with the predominant Pitta dosha to purposely develop certain eating habits.
What to Consider While Making a Pitta Dosha Meal Plan?
What should a Pitta dosha eat? There are enough foods to eat, but the main focus should be placed upon foods that are not too oily, moderately nutritious, have some sweet and bitter taste in them. If your predominant dosha is Pitta you need to exclude completely or significantly reduce dry, over fried and overcooked foods, foods that are too cold or too hot, hot spices, acidic and alkaline mineral water and fermentation products, including yogurt, strong alcohol drinks and yeast bread – these are the foods to avoid. Foods with spicy, salty and bitter taste should be eaten in moderate amounts.
Pitta Dosha Fasting
Should there be fasting if Pitta dosha is overweight? Actually fasting in general is contraindicated for this dosha, especially a prolonged one (more than a week) since it aggravates it. Some short periods of fasting are acceptable but preferably when your dosha is more or less balanced, otherwise you may experience difficulties and mood decline. Instead, you can arrange fasting days on raw fruits and vegetables.
Pitta should not skip a meal, especially lunch, which should be the main one. Before bedtime it is good to have a glass of hot milk with turmeric or cinnamon. It is very important to consume enough liquid (preferably pure water), avoid suppressing stress by food, and distractions during meals on extraneous conversations.
Tips for Balancing Pitta Dosha Lifestyle
Try to get rid of the internal and external aggression, learn how not to feel offended, carefully and quietly listen to other people, watch your emotions, keep them in check. Otherwise, anger and irritability will be your constant companions.
Keep in mind that summer is the Pitta season so it can bring some troubles to you. To avoid any difficulties during hot season, be peaceful, reduce the level of your activity, prefer places with cool water, bathe and swim. Enjoy the beauty of Nature and avoid scorching Sun.
Elevate yourself through the spiritual and charitable activity to better feel and empathize with people. Thus you will learn not to puff out your ego, reduce or get rid of vanity and self-love, stop overestimating your own importance.
You can balance Pitta dosha through yoga, which is actually recommended; you should not forget about meditation, deep thinking, and spiritual activities. This will reduce the gravitation towards excessive material activity and bring peace and satisfaction to your life.
Pitta Dosha and Exercise
Yoga is very beneficial to Pitta people; additionally or alternatively you can go for swimming, acrobatics, skiing, jogging, hiking, climbing and tennis. But these activities should be done during the cooler times of the day. Yoga can be practiced two times a day – ideally, but you can do it once if you have no spare time in the evening. Always do yoga on empty stomach. The best yoga poses for Pitta dosha are those that provide a massaging effect on the intestines: forward bends, such as Paschimottanasana, or twisted poses like Ardha Matsyendrasana. Postures that help overcome mental fatigue are also good. Doing meditation before going to bed is very useful as well.
Pitta times are from 10 am to 2 pm, and from 10 pm to 2 am, so avoid any conflict situations during these periods. Also reduce the overall level of your activity after 6 pm.
To fight the symptoms of imbalanced Pitta dosha, you can use some home remedy, for example, you can inhale the aroma of cinnamon, vanilla, sweet, sandalwood, daffodil, lotus, peppermint, nutmeg, jasmine, violet, rose and bitter orange.