The 6 Tastes of Ayurveda: For each Dosha
Often when people think of Ayurveda, we think nutrition. And while it is a great part of the self healing science, it is only one of the pillars. Nonetheless, a simple shift in how we approach our nutritional choices - can have a great impact on the mind and body.
We know that each Doshas favors particular tastes that also effect the subtle energies in the body. By eating for your Dosha you are naturally balancing the Agni which affects the Tejas and the Ojas. Prana than can move accordingly through as nutrients get to corresponding organs.
We also have maybe heard of the brain-gut connection. What we put in the gut affects our digestion, regulation of toxins and of course, our mindset. As our Vagus Nerve connect our brain down to the spinal cord - if our nervous system is affected and we continue to eat against our Dosha; signals sent to the brain can keep us in a loop of discomfort.
It’s not secret that highly processed food provide little to no traditional value, but what if said you couldn’t eat broccoli due to a dosha imbalance? Some of you may jump for joy, others may understand why. Each food has a quality to it (like all things in nature including our mind, activities, emotions, etc) and taste. These three qualities are rajas (moving), sattvic (clear) and tamas (heavy/dark). The 6 tastes of Ayurveda are sweet (heavy, moist) , sour (hot, light) , salty (hot, heavy) , pungent (hot, dry), astringent (dry, cool) and bitter (light, dry). Ideally - when dosha’s are balanced in the body, we would favor all 6 tastes at each meal. However, if there is too much of a Dosha - like will attract more. So we would want to bring opposites in to balance.
A rajasic food would be something like garlic - where it’s energetics is heating and taste is pungent. A Pitta imbalance who already had a lot of heat in the body may favor something cooling for the GI tract and digestive process.
Let’s break it down further per Dosha:
Vata: Favors sweet, sour, salty
Pitta: Favors sweet, bitter, astringent
Kapha: Favors pungent, bitter, astringent
Examples of foods per taste:
Sweet - root vegetables, bananas, dates, figs, corn, rice, wheat, ghee, milk
Sour - lemon, tomatoes, cheese, grapefruit, butter, vinegar, yogurt
Astringent - parsley, chickpeas, broccoli, cabbage, lettuce
Pungent - ginger, onion, black pepper, cardamom
Bitter - coffee, turmeric, sesame, dark chocolate
Salty - celery, salt, sea vegetables
Take a moment to reflect on the tastes on how they affect your mind, body and even your emotions. Notice if there are seasons in which certain foods irritate you or make you feel more nourished.
If you don’t know your Dosha - it would be beneficial to have an assessment to understand further. However, as we know there are Dosha’s of the season and we can align ourselves to the principles of the Dosha of the season to help us gentle balance because we have all within.
