Tag: ayurveda

The function of kapha is the body lubrication (water element) and the body shape (earth element).

Qualities:

• Heavy: big bones, big muscles, chubby, gaining weight is easy and loosing weight is difficult, tendency to gain weight on thighs, legs, buttocks. They need a light diet, not a lot of carbohydrates and fat, more fruit, vegetables and proteins, avoid meat and chicken, is better to eat fish and eggs, better to avoid milk and dairy products,   try to drink warm water and to fast sometimes.
• Slow: they tend to talk slow, walk and work slow. They need an active lifestyle, their metabolism is slow, is better if they eat spicy (ginger, chilly, …) to stimulate metabolism. If the do fast is better not to do the intermittent fast, better to eat in small portions every 3 hours.
• Oily: they have a lot of oil in the body but is not disturbing like in pitta, the skin is normal, normal hair, if they absorb extra oil they put it in the body weight. They need small oil and fat, the mustard oil is ok.
• Stable: physically and mentally stables.  Loving, forgiving. They need daily physical activity, regarding yoga is better ashtanga, vinyasa, dynamic meditation.
• Dense: thickness of bones and muscles, due to water and earth. 
• Cool: water element, they don’t love cold and humidity, they love hot and dry weather. They need to eat sweet like honey, that is good in hot water to lose weight, under 60 °C cause over it loses his properties. For them is preferable to decrease sweet, sour, salt flavors, and use astringent (dry), pungent (spices), bitter (light) flavors like green salad, green smoothies.

This dosha refers to the power of cohesion, is the container in the body for the other two doshas. If it is not balanced manifests through excess of plasm that becomes mucus, and can causes overweight, edema, lung diseases, swollen, glands and other kapha disorders.

Kapha needs the other two doshas cause water that is cold or doesn’t move cannot sustain life.

The function of this dosha is the external metabolism  regulated through the digestion and the internal metabolism regulated through the cells. If the digestion works well it’s possible that the internal metabolism will be good as well.

Qualities:

• Hot: hot temperament, they need mental clearness. Fast digestion, if they don’t have food  they will get angry, from 3 to 5 meals for day (3 big and 2 small). Often they are intolerant to lactose. They don’t like too strong light; they have early greying and loosing of hair; hot spices are not good for them, like chilly, ginger, garlic.
• Oily: oily skin, oily hair, easy to get skin problem, high cholesterol. They need less oil and fat in the food, small amount of dry fruit. Yes for pumpkin and sunflower seeds, coconut oil, sunflower oil, ghee.
• Light: medium build, they are subjects to gaining and loosing weight easy (+ or – 3 kg), they gain weight all over the body, they have more muscles than fat.
• Intense: strong personality, perfectionist, organized, workaholic, demanding, critic, ambitious, competitive, analytic <– the body part more strong is he mind. They need vegetarian food, sattvic food with a natural and sweet taste.
• Fluid: liquid part of pitta is the swear, blood, gastric liquid. They need less tea, coffee, alcohol, food with a small acid component.
• Smelly: is possible that they have a strong smell, and they swear a lot,  swear with a strong smell, a sulfuric component.  They need in the food less onion and garlic.
• Sour: besides the lemon they don’t love other sour flavors.  They can eat sweet and natural aliments, astringent, bitter; not processed sweets, not a lot of salt but the rock salt is ok, and pungent flavors.

Menstruation: the cycle can be sometimes shorter than 28 days, with a lot of blood, long lasting.

Pitta governs digestion on mental and spiritual level as well, that refers to our capacity to digest emotions, impressions and ideas in order to arrive at a perception of truth.

The element is fire, but this dosha contains an aspect of water too. It depends upon vata for the movement element and on kapha for the support, like the fire requires air and fuel to burn properly.

The prakriti is defined since the born of a person, even if is not always the same during the life cause of imbalances and particular stages of the life, in fact ayurveda indicates that during the puberty is predominating the kapha, then till the age of 50 is dominating the pitta, and last int the old age is vata the dominating dosha.

There are 7 types of prakriti:

one dosha (1-2 % of the population)

1. vata

2. pitta

3. kapha

two dosha (most common, 95% of people)

4. vata-pitta / pitta-vata

5. vata-kapha / kapha-vata

6. pitta-kapha / kapha-pitta

three dosha (only 1-2 % of people)

7. sum= tri-doshas, every dosha in a 30-40%

There are three energies or qualities that governs prakriti: sattva, rajas, tamas.