Ayurvedic Spring
The ultimate Spring diet & lifestyle guide
Spring is nature’s new year. It is the season for self-expression, expansion, creation, cleansing, and beautifying yourself and the environment. It brings about a sense of lightness and the desire to move more. This is our body’s way to transition from the heavy Winter into Spring. Seasonal transitions are essential for releasing what was accumulated and aggravated during the previous season. If we don’t prepare the system for the next season, our body and mind will become more susceptible to imbalances.
Although warmer than Winter, Spring is still cool. It is also moist and stagnant. When water and dirt mix, they form mud that feels sticky, heavy, and cold to the touch. This mud resembles the mucus formed in the body during winter. If ignored, mucus may manifest as a cold, cough, allergy, or asthma, which is why it is crucial to clear it out. There are some simple things that we can do to bring us in balance and harmony with nature, and to make us feel good during Spring, and throughout the year.
Knowing your Dosha (body type) can help you better understand your nature, which will clarify why you tend to prefer one season over another. Take the Dosha Quiz to find out.
Download the complete Spring Grocery List PDF sheet of all the foods you can enjoy during this season
Kapha Reducing Diet
Mucus will become excessive if we continue to eat a heavy diet, which was meant to counteract the light and drying winter air, with moist, oily, rich, and sweet foods. However, during Spring, we are looking to lighten up and cleanse the body from excess weight and buildup of fat tissue by reducing the quantity and changing the qualities of our meals.
The main characteristics of Spring are dampness, coldness, heaviness, and stagnation, similar to those of Kapha Dosha, which consists of the earth and water elements. The Ayurvedic principle ‘like increases like, and opposites bring balance’ suggests that we reduce or avoid any food or activity that brings coldness, heaviness, and moisture to the body and mind, and to embrace those that induce warmth, dryness, lightness, and mobility during the spring season.
Some of the signs of too much dampness in the body include seasonal allergies, difficulty breathing, lethargy, heaviness, weight gain, candida and yeast overgrowth, clogged sinuses, laziness, low energy, sticky stools, intense cravings for sugar and carbohydrates, mucus buildup, or pale skin. Dampness can also affect the mind, resulting in low drive, depression, hypersensitivity, numbness, foggy mind, over-attachment, emotional eating, etc. Here are some tips and ways to balance out excess dampness and enhance your well-being.
Rasa (taste)
According to Ayurveda, there are six flavors. Each flavor has the ability to support or deplete the body, depending on how, when, and in which quantity it is consumed. The six tastes also affect moisture levels in the body: pungent (spicy), bitter, and astringent are more drying, while salty, sour, and sweet increase fluids; therefore, we should minimize their consumption during Spring and favor the first three.
Pungent (spicy) – ginger, chili peppers, black pepper, radish, mustard, cinnamon, cloves
Bitter – leafy greens, cabbage, neem, olives, sesame seeds, turmeric, cumin, coffee, tea
Astringent – beans, apples, green bananas, cranberries, most vegetables, lentils, quinoa
What to avoid?
Avoid foods that are overly salty, greasy, cold, very acidic, wet, slimy, sticky, sweet, rich, and creamy. These tend to aggravate the system and increase dullness in the body and mind. These foods may include some of your favorites –
Sweets, pastries, ice cream, cheese, milk, yogurt, fatty cuts of meat, deep-fried foods, yeasted bread, sticky rice, ripe banana
Download the complete Spring Grocery List PDF sheet of all the foods you can enjoy during this season
So what should you eat?
The Spring diet is naturally lower in fat and proteins and consists mainly of liver-supporting roots, sprouts, and greens. During this time of the year, the body tends to retain more water. These excess fluids help flush out toxins, often through the liver, where they get processed. However, if we don’t consume enough bitter roots and greens during this time of the year, the liver becomes overwhelmed, and the body doesn’t recover or detoxify efficiently.
Your spring diet should consist predominantly of leafy greens, vegetables, sprouts, and herbs, either roasted or slightly cooked. It should also include lentils, low-starch grains, lots of warming spices like ginger, cloves, black pepper, and turmeric, and lean protein sources like mung beans, chicken breast, and fish. Caffeinated beverages, such as coffee and tea are stimulating and have diuretic properties, beneficial for reducing excess moisture and stagnation in the body. Eat food that is light, warm, and dry, and use cooking methods such as roasting, baking, and grilling, instead of boiling or steaming, to get rid of excess fluids.
Kapha Reducing Lifestyle
Just like diet strongly affects us, so does the way we live. Ayurveda recommends syncing your schedule with nature, the changing seasons, and planning your days according to The Ayurvedic Clock.
Spring arrives as warmth begins to increase, and the trapped rain waters start to steam out of the earth, creating a lot of humidity within and around us. This dampness increases the quality of Tamas, or inertia, in the body and mind. Spring is the time to exhort more energy, move, sweat, and get stimulated. It is also the time to consume less, fast, cleanse, and get rid of what is no longer serving you, either physically or emotionally, be it food, feelings, relationships, habits, or possessions. Applying these principles during Spring will help you feel lighter and maintain balance within yourself. Here are some helpful lifestyle tips: