In last post we learned what is Kapha and what are the symptoms when it gets aggravated or increased.
Here are some tips to BALANCE the aggravated Kapha.
Seek stimulation. Since Kapha is inherently cold, heavy, and dense, the key to balancing Kapha is stimulation. Kaphas tend to cling to the status quo and routine, so they need the stimulation of new sights, sounds, and experiences.
Follow a regular daily routine, ideally awakening before 6 a.m. each morning. Avoid taking naps during the day.
Stay warm and avoid dampness. Kaphas are particularly sensitive to cold, damp conditions and benefit from heat. Use dry heat if you are congested—a common Kapha complaint. Using a heating pad under your back or a sunlamp at your chest is often helpful. Avoid exposing your nose, throat, and lungs to cold winter air if you aren’t feeling well.
Perform a daily garshan /dry massage your body to stimulate circulation.
Use an Ayurvedic neti pot to help prevent nasal congestion. The neti pot is powerful tool for nasal cleansing.
Clear your space. To avoid clutter from accumulating in your home, office, car, and other physical spaces, regularly clean out and give away things that you know you’ll never use.
Get regular exercise. This is the best way to avoid stagnation and the accumulation of toxins in the body. Focus on building endurance. Favor running, bicycling, swimming, aerobics, and competitive sports. You can also dance to energizing rhythmic music.
Use warm, stimulating aromas including cloves, camphor, cinnamon, eucalyptus.
Nutritional Guidelines for Kapha
According to Ayurveda, it’s important to eat foods that have a balancing effect on the dominant dosha or that will pacify (stabilize) a dosha that has become excessive or aggravated. Because Kapha is heavy, oily, and cold, favor foods that are light, dry, or warm. Foods with pungent, bitter, and astringent tastes are most beneficial for pacifying Kapha. Reduce foods with sweet, sour, and salty tastes.
Recommendations:
Try a liquid fast one day per week, ingesting only fresh vegetable and fruit juices, and pureed vegetable soup.
Reduce the intake of dairy, which tends to increase Kapha. You can use small amounts of ghee, golden milk, freshly cultured yogurt.
Avoid most sweeteners. Honey is one sweetener that can best pacify Kapha. Other sweeteners, however, should be avoided because they increase the Kapha dosha, contributing to problems such as blocked sinuses, allergies, colds, and lethargy.
Take a tablespoon or two (but no more) of raw honey every day can help release excess Kapha. Do not cook with honey though.
Honey should never be heated/ use while cooking food. It turns to be toxic once heated according to Ayurvedic nutrition theory .
Drink hot ginger tea with meals to help stimulate slow digestion and sharpen dull taste buds. Drink 2 to 3 cups of ginger tea daily.
Eat beans. All beans are good for Kapha types except for soybeans and soybean-based foods such as tofu, which should be eaten in moderation.
Favor lighter fruits such as apples, pears, pomegranates, cranberries, and apricots.
Reduce heavier fruits like bananas, avocados, pineapples, oranges, peaches, coconuts, melons, dates, and figs.
Eat lots of vegetables. In general, all vegetables are recommended but you should reduce consumption of sweet and juicy vegetables such as sweet potatoes, tomatoes, and zucchini.
All spices except salt are pacifying to Kapha. Use pungent spices like pepper, cayenne, mustard seeds, and ginger freely in your diet.
Reduce intake of all nuts and seeds. Favor pumpkin seeds and sunflower seeds.
Limit consumption of red meat. For non-vegetarians, fresh, organic white meat chicken, turkey, eggs, and seafood are acceptable.
Use small amounts of fats and oils. Best choices are ghee, sunflower oil, mustard oil.
In grains, favor barley, corn, millet, buckwheat, rye. Reduce intake of oats, wheat, newly harvested rice.
Mudra For Balancing Kapha :