Food is thy medicine

What does this mean from an Ayurvedic sense? 

As I progress in my Ayurvedic studies, I reflect often on my own understanding of food, of health and of wellbeing. In 2020, I had my own bout with COVID. It hit me so hard. I had the red rash on my elbows, I started to feel the onset of a cold and then on a Friday, I remember waking up with the absolute worst taste in my mouth. I confirmed through a test that I was positive for COVID. Having an incredible fever (and after having not had anything like this in so long I couldn’t immediately discern what was happening to my body), I lost my sense of smell and taste (this returned about 3 months later). My energy levels plummeted. We know all these experiences, many of us likely had our own bouts that were similar. What was different for me was the response of my Ayurvedic Practitioner when I reached out for care. She said in disbelief, ‘you’re so healthy to have gotten this’. 

A bowl with fresh food items on a table. 

And from the outside and perhaps even compared to many others in our population, this may be true. I was teaching a handful of yoga classes each week, I was teaching academic classes at the community college, I was working for a local government so despite the many positions I had, I had a decent amount of flexibility in my schedule. I was active, especially because of the yoga classes I taught. Here’s the deal though, I also would occasionally (and by occasionally, it was likely 1x a week atleast) that I would stop at a Wendy’s drive thru after teaching yoga to order a frosty and fries for dinner. I would grab Chick-Fil-A after class or anytime I just didn’t want to cook. I also have been known to eat cold cereal with a cold milk alternative (oat was my preference) for dinner more than 1x a week as well. My meal times lacked a consistent schedule, so my body wasn’t always ready to intake food, which can cause digestive issues. 

Ayurveda teaches me a different level of ‘body awareness’ that I didn’t get from my advanced yoga training. Ayurveda teaches me a different level of ‘mind awareness’ that I didn’t get from all my training and coachings in Cognitive Behavioral Techniques (CBT). I may understand how to comply with the directions of cues from yoga classes, I can contort my body in really amazing ways and I may also feel remarkably different at the end of a yoga session….I also understand my thoughts and feelings better and can discern different outcomes based on my own mental state. However, if I’m not fueling my body with the ‘right’ foods, I am potentially leaving my body system vulnerable to something like COVID. 

A rendition of the brain, a symbol of the cognitive behavioral reference from above. 

What do I mean about food as medicine then? 

I think there are different layers of understanding when it comes to food. And the different layers come from our own education and experience with food, our access to food and our level of motivation when it comes to our own health. 

Food that is given or provided. 

1. This can be what we give to kiddos, they have little autonomy in what they consume and/or may be really picky about what they consume 

2. Food that is provided to those in prisons, serving in the military, public school lunches, and in shelters

I do think parents want to and in fact do, provide the best quality food they can for their kids, with the means they have. However, I think in other situations (listed above), food is provided that is cheap, fast and often prepared in a manner with very little thought or care. 

A young child holding a bowl of cereal. 

We consume food because we know we need to it

1. We get wrapped up in our day to day, we work stressful jobs, we take care of other people over ourselves and we forget to fuel ourselves. 

2. We think ‘it’s better than nothing’ 

3. Like me as described above, we eat cold cereal for dinners, fall prey to the latest diet trends like juicing, veganism, salads all day etc. 

In this sense, I often think we shovel food in without giving it much thought. We know we need to eat and we either don’t have the taste for it (this is called aruchi in Ayurveda and is classified as a disease or roga) or our digestion is such that it slow (called agnimanda) and our own digestive strength is weakened so we don’t have the drive to take in much or what we take in isn’t the best or doesn’t get digested well. 

We consume food based on cravings of the mind rather than cravings of the body. 

1. Our mind will seek extremes. Our bodies seek balance. How can this play out? I have a craving for cookies (mind). My body craves sweets (this is a reflection of the elements, the sweet taste comes from the earth and water elements). Sweets that are supportive for the body (and mind) are foods like yams, sweet potatoes, basmati rice, carrots etc. 

About to be baked cookies.

I used to be a vegan and I remember meeting some besties for sushi one night. One of my friends ordered the raw salmon roll and my mouth was literally watering. I wanted that and my body needed it. My Ayurvedic Practitioner later would give me the permission I needed to eat meat. Rather than this faulty sense of justice I had in positively impacting the world through not eating meat (sushi roll or otherwise) I was depriving my body of something that it really needed. I started gradually adding meat back into my diet and I still consume meat today. 

Food items as medicine.

Eating food because it is aligned best with the concept of time

1. Time can be in reference to the time of day that you consume items (ex: lighter meals for breakfast and dinner as this is kapha time, a more nourishing meal at lunch when pitta is high). 

2. Time as a reference of where you are in your cycle of life (ex: older adults are in vata stage so may do better with more nourishing meals). 

3. Time in terms of the season (ex: in vata/fall season, it is already a drier time, its windy, cooler etc, having meals that are heavier, oily, nourishing will provide more balance). 

Timing in Ayurveda is very important. And I think this is where food can start to become more medicinal. As we start to better sync up with nature, we start to understand that our bodies are also the nature. We are nature. When we eat our foods to align with the times around us, we are better supporting our bodies already built in capacity to digest, process and restore. 

A pile of clocks.

Eating food because it is fresh, cooked and easy to digest. 

1. We understand that fresh and cooked food not only tastes better, it is also more easy to digest. As food is more digestible, it has the ability to replenish and nourish our bodies. Food becomes a way to build up depleted dhatus (tissues) in our bodies. 

Fresh and cooked food requires dedication and time to prepare for meals properly. This is a big shift for many of us who are eating on the go, who eat ‘whatever is in the fridge’ or whatever everyone else is having even if that isn’t going to be best for you. This is food as medicine! 

Intentionally consuming food/spices that will provide balance for your body and mind 

1. In Ayurveda we learn there is a different dominance of elements in each food item, different tastes and different qualities of the food as well. 

2. If you experience excess heat in your body or you’re feeling fiery in general, adding cayenne, black pepper, or even more sour items like sauerkraut, cold yogurt can increase the acidity and heat in your body. On the contrary, if you were to add in something like coriander, cilantro, cardamon, fennel to meals you are adding items with more cooling qualities (hence you start to alleviate the heat in your body). 

3. Now if you’re experiencing stagnation, sluggishness you may consider adding in something more like ginger as it has usna (heating) qualities and we know heat causes things to expand. And the expansion may be helpful in getting things moving in your body and mind. 

This also means that you have an understanding of your own body constitution and imbalances. That you understand that eating tortilla chips (I have a giant bag still in my pantry) when you have vata imbalances and its vata season… will cause even more dryness in your system. You opt for freshly made tortillas instead. This is food as medicine. 

Freshly cooked tortillas. 

Growing your own food, knowing the farmers who grow your food, thanking the land for food etc. 

1. What a gift to know where your food comes from and even more of a gift to give thanks to all those (soils, plants, animals, etc) who provide food! We start to understand we really are all a one world family, that the life of one being provides health for another. 

2. That the apple on the tree outside will be converted into an apple within my body and as I exhale, I give life to the plants around me. 

What an exchange! This is food as medicine. This is healing. This is living. This is thriving. 

If you are ready to make a leap into a deeper understanding of your own health and the foods around us, I’d love to meet you! Feel free to email me (createherwithkate@gmail.com) or book a free 30 min with me today! 

Seasonal Soup Recipe

Hi Friends! Looking to stay warm and nourished this fall?! Here is one of my favorite recipes! This is from The Ayurvedic Vegan Kitchen, by Tayla Lutzker! I offer my own preferences from her recipe in the book: 

A person is using a ladle to dish out some soup in pink bowls. 

2 tsp coconut oil (or ghee if you have little/no ama) 

1 tsp brown mustard seeds (or yellow) 

1 tsp turmeric 

1 small leek, chopped (or a few green onions) 

1, 2 inch piece of fresh ginger, peeled and minced (omit if you have excess heat in your body) 

2 cloves of garlic (omit if you have excess heat or pitta/rakta imbalances) 

6 c veggie broth or water 

2 c of peeled and cubed butternut squash (you can use other similar squashes!) 

1 ½ c cubed carrots and/or potatoes (or yams) 

6 shiitake mushrooms (or any mushrooms you would like) 

¼ bunch of kale (optional) 

½ tsp salt

⅛ tsp cayenne (skip if you have excess heat in your body) 

Juice of ½ lemon (skip if you have excess heat) 

1 tsp olive oil (optional)

Crisp kitchen with white counters and cabinets and orange pans. 

Melt your oil in a medium pan over medium to high heat. Add in the mustard seeds and turmeric, stir continuously. As the mustard seeds pop, add in the leek, garlic and ginger. Stir continuously for another minute. Add in the remaining veggies and broth. Cover and bring to a boil. 

Once boiling, decrease heat to low and simmer for 15 minutes. Once the squash is tender, remove from heat and stir in the salt, cayenne, lemon juice and/or olive oil. Set aside for another 5 minutes. Then serve! 

Soups are a great meal for dinner, enjoying a lighter meal at night aligns with the time of day where we can start to feel a bit more sluggish (kapha time: 6-10pm). 

Falling for Fall

As we pass into the Fall Season here in the Western hemisphere with the Fall Equinox on 9/22/24, we enter into the vata season. In Ayurveda, there is an understanding of the elements: earth, water, fire, air and ether. Everything in existence is some combination of these elements. From these elements, there are the doshas. Doshas are energy principles that can be seen in us/our bodies, in the seasons, in our life cycles and in our 24-hour cycle. 

Colorful fall foliage with the colors reflected in a still lake. 

Why does this matter? How does it apply to our day to day? 

An important concept in Ayurveda is our prakriti, or our constitution. Best understood, this is the unique combination of the doshas in our body that is set at conception. While we all have all 3 doshas, some of us have one dosha more dominant, some have two more dominant (most common) doshas or some have a more equal spread of each dosha. There is also our vrkriti, this is our current state. This is the state where our imbalances may exist. The idea in Ayurveda is to continually come to our own balanced prakriti. And we do this through understanding how nature works, the cycles of nature and by using the practices called ritucharya (or the lessons of each season). 

We know what the elements are, how do the elements align with the doshas? 

From earth and water, forms the energy of kapha. Kapha is the energy of stability and nourishment. From fire and a little bit of water, comes the energy of pitta. The energy of transformation. Finally, the elements of air and ether form the vata dosha. Vata is the energy of movement. When we view the doshas as seasons, we understand that kapha, with its elements of earth and water, represents the season of spring. The cold of winter is melting, things become muddy and can become stagnant. However after a long winter, there is nourishment provided from the qualities of water and earth. As the sun starts to shine brighter, warmer  and longer in the summer, we see pitta. The heat dries the land of the mud and flooded waterways, transforming the landscape! The dryness takes over in fall, as kapha has been completely burned away. When we experience less intense sun, more wind, and cold. This is the season of vata. 

Beautiful trees with pink leaves are reflected in water. 

If you feel more restless, depleted in this time… and if you notice some erratic or inconsistency in your bodily systems at this time. That is the nature of vata!

A few tips to help in this season: 

• Introduce warm, moist and heavier foods like soups, stews and even pasta. 

• Enjoy nuts, butter and natural cheeses (these are good sources of fats and are examples of ‘heavy’ foods from above). 

• Slow down, the period between the summer solstice and the winter solstice is known as Visarga (release), take time to reflect on things you want or need to let go of. 

• Favor sweet, salty and sour tastes with your food items. 

• Adding in a balancing pranayama (breathwork) practice like nadi shodhana (alternate nostril breathing) will be lovely. 

A buddha statue surrounded by lotus petals and candles. 

As trees shed their leaves with ease, may the fall season be a reminder of how good it feels to let go.

Many blessings this season my friends! 

5 Tips for a better monthly cycle!

I know many people with periods who struggle with their cycle. Dreading its onset for a variety of reasons: moodiness, exhaustion, bloating, gassiness and more. If this is you, have you considered that you don’t always have to feel this way during your cycle?! And while many of these symptoms are common, they aren’t necessarily normal. 

What I’ve learned in my own development of wellness is that changes to help my cycle also mean that I am making changes to promote my health in general. These changes may seem very basic- they are. This is one of the gifts of Ayurveda… Many of the ways to bring about balance are simple. Just because they may be simple and basic does not mean they are easy to implement and continue! We are raised in this very instant gratification manner… if I have ailment Z, I should be able to do/take X and be totally fine. But honestly, does the reward come from a quick fix or from all that you learn when you slow down, be present in your body and notice all the subtle changes that come along with making lifestyle shifts? 

With Ayurveda, we are in it for the longer journey! 

All of this to say, here are 5 things I’ve been doing over the last few months that have led me to have my first cycle in many many months where I was surprised I started (I wasn’t early, I just didn’t have the normal pre-cramping cramp party that I’m used to) my cycle, I had minimal cramping and my emotions seemed to be relatively level! 

1- Regular meal times. 

I cannot ‘stress’ this one enough. When your body knows when to expect food and the food times are connected to the circadian rhythm, you will be able to better take in the food, the food will be processed in a more optimal manner and this means all the body functions will be more optimal. When our digestion is working optimally, most other functions in the body will be able to take care of things on their own. Our bodies are meant to heal themselves! Sometimes a little adjustment in our meal times is all we need. Though there can be more refined guidelines based on your current situation, the optimal meal times are breakfast before 8, lunch at 12 and dinner around 6. 

Do you have regular meal times now?

2- Rest on the days just before your cycle and the first few days of your cycle. 

Those of us with periods are gifted in having this monthly cleanse. Yes- gifted! I am working on viewing my cycle as a gift and it really does help! Back to my point, if we think about doing a cleanse, it means our body is already doing extra work to get rid of what we don’t need. We don’t need to add anything more strenuous to this. Taking time to rest, this may mean allowing yourself to sleep in, to have days where you aren’t on the go constantly, to have quiet time or whatever else is supportive for you. Vata is the dosha that governs our cycle and if vata is out of balance, as the Queen of the dosha, it can throw off the other doshas and impact our health in many ways. Rest, grounding and nourishment are the way to help keep vata in line and working optimally. 

Take rest when you need it! It is an urge that should not be ignored. 

3-Cut out (or significantly limit) the caffeine, specifically coffee. 

This may be a really unpopular one but hear me out! I have had an ebb and flow relationship with coffee (I haven’t really drank much caffeine outside of my lattes), cutting it off completely after I had gotten COVID in 2020 but eventually I started drinking it again daily. Then I switched to decaf and now I have had one decaf latte in the last 2 months (maybe even longer than that honestly) and I know it has helped. Here is why this is important. According to Dr. Claudia Welch, author of the amazing book Balance Your Hormones, Balance Your Life, coffee tends to have an affinity with breast tissue and often can have a negative impact on other reproductive tissue. Coffee is estrogenic in nature and this causes issues in our reproductive health. Now, here are some additional considerations. In Ayurveda, we learn about different qualities of our consumable items and these qualities impact our bodies in the digestive process. Coffee, in whatever form (lattes, cold brew etc) is heating and astringent (drying) and it is also mobile. Decaf or normal caf- here is why knowing these qualities are important: if you tend more towards vata, vata/pitta or pitta constitution or have these types of imbalances, then coffee can cause even more disturbances in your health. The quality of heat comes from pitta, drying and mobile comes from vata. Like increases like, so if you already have heat, dryness and an airy nature, coffee will amplify this. If vata governs our period, we want to give opposites to balance it out. If you aren’t ready to give up coffee just yet, consider adding opposites to it like steaming whole milk, drinking only ½ c a day or even ½ a few times a month (whatever is reasonable), adding cardamon to your coffee or adding in ghee and making a bullet coffee. 

Even limiting your intake by a little bit is a start! 

4- Develop a practice of pranayama. 

Over the years, I have learned that my yoga practice needs to be tailored to me day to day. Some days, I am able to take on a much more active hour+ long practice but most days I need something more gentle. And some days, because of how active I am with my dog (hiking and long walks) 15 minutes of deep breathing is what I need. Consider adding in alternate nostril breathing. This practice brings balance to the masculine and feminine energies in our bodies, it helps move prana around our body and is very soothing. I’ll share more about my pranayama practices for your period soon! 

Note- you do not need designer clothes, a meditation cushion or a cool background to breath deep! 

5- Reduce stress. 

This is the biggest tip and also likely the hardest. Everyone everywhere says this- reduce stress! What I have been sitting with is how much stress can accumulate in our bodies over years. If you had a stressful childhood, chances are there is some amount of that still with you now… if you have worked in a stressful job (and who hasn’t honestly), there is a chance you still have some of that stress. (For much more on this, I suggest reading When the Body Says No by Dr. Gabor Mate, he details so much more about this and it is fascinating!). So this isn’t about limiting stress for just a few days, it is about living your life in a way that even when stressors come along (however big or small), you are able to stay afloat. We typically have 2 options in situations- we can change our external environments (‘quit that stressful job, girlfriend!’ ‘Leave that crappy relationship, sister!’) or we can change our internal environment. Sometimes, we have to do both! However, if we have a mindset that tells us, regardless of the situation, ‘bad things always happen to me’ or ‘I’ll never be happy’, guess what, that will be your reality. And in those statements, you are also creating stress in your body! It’s like you are a welcome committee for bad things and you’ll prove yourself right. However, you can start to shift that! Developing an awareness of your internal dialogue will allow you the ability to take action and start to shift your own narrative (this is a premise from cognitive behavioral techniques, a skill that has been helpful for me). Once your internal narrative starts to shift, you will be able to make external changes needed so that your overall stress levels will start to decrease. This takes time. And this is something I find worth my time to do. 

Maybe we all just need to ride around in a bus again! 

So the key here isn’t a one and done sorta deal. It is a dedicated practice of bringing more ease to your body. Having more ease will mean better digestion. Better digestion means more balance to your entire body. More balance to your body means your cycle will start to improve! And if you are nearing menopause, these considerations will be even more helpful for your transition.

If you are ready to take your journey into a more healthy and balanced way of living, consider booking a session with yours truly! We will work together to develop small changes to your diet and lifestyle and gradually add in other considerations like herbs, yoga and meditation! Slide over the to ‘contact me’ page or book a free 30-minute call with me today!

New Offerings!

True story-years ago when I was still relatively new to my yoga practice, I would always cringe when we’d have wide forward folds. I was so self-conscious of how limited my range of motion was in this shape. It never occurred to me then that as I practiced more, my body could potentially become more limber, more flexible, more adaptive.

This is one of the many gifts of a movement based practice. It grows with you. It can grow in the way that maybe the movement allows for more space in your mind when your thoughts are fluttering around non stop (this restless mental energy is known as ‘rajasic’ in Sanskrit), intentional movement can help release some of that energy. Another gift is the gift of greater range of motion, which means longevity in your limbs. And honestly, to me, all of this means much more confidence in what you (and your body) can do. Our minds will try to tell us so many things (and for me sometimes my mind is really mean and limiting). 

What I can say is that now,  I am now able to fold so much more forward and it’s become one of my favorite poses.

Though we all have impurities, as the lotus rises from mud, we are all innately lovely, worthy and deserving of health. 

I share this because I’ve realized that yoga and Ayurveda both aren’t ‘one and done’ sorta practices. Yes, you can take a yoga class and likely feel a little (or a whole lot) better… yes, you can do a few Ayurvedic practices or do an Ayurvedic assessment and notice shifts (big or small)…. But for me the magic is in the longevity.

The preventative practices of Ayurveda (svasthavrtta) which have undoubtedly allowed me to move through challenging times with greater ease… the yoga poses that continually allow me to drop into my body and out of my mind for a bit. There is such magic here. The magic in the process. In the journey. Ayurveda has led me to know my body in such a deeper way. To feel into my food choices (will those dry chips actually feel good in my system when I have so much dryness internally), to experience how watching different things impacts my digestion (watching some political updates while making dinner may not be the best move for me), to understand that though we need to eat, eating while in grief can cause much sluggishness and heaviness. And it's not just the awareness of the detriments, it is then what you can do about it. That is truly a gift. We don’t have to succumb to dis-ease or illnesses, we can learn to recognize signs sooner and intervene in a meaningful way.  

Let's transform!

Are you ready for a deeper journey?? I’ve just updated my first package option! Join me for an ‘easy does it’ experience into Ayurveda for 1-90 minute consult and 2-45 minute follow up appointments over the course of 3 months. We will work together to build lifestyle, diet, herb and yogic practices tailored just for you! This will allow us to work together, intentionally and gently to introduce changes to help bring more balance, harmony and health into your life! Come just as you are!

My calendar is updated and I am excited to connect!