🥗Much of the wisdom of Ayurvedic nutrition rests on the tip of your tongue, literally! Taste is a natural guidemap towards proper nutrition. Our taste buds do much more than simply identify tastes; they unlock the nutritive value of foods and provide the initial spark to the entire digestive process.
Ayurveda identifies 6 Tastes by which all foods can be categorized: Sweet, Sour, Salty, Bitter, Pungent, and Astringent. The body naturally desires tastes that balance its doshic makeup and shuns tastes of an aggravating nature. Ayurvedic nutrition recommends including all 6 tastes in each meal, while favoring those tastes that bring greater balance to your particular constitution. Ayurveda sees rasa, or taste, as a tremendously powerful therapeutic tool that determines not only how we experience our food, but ultimately, the overall flavor of our existence.
Taste is assigned a much deeper significance in Ayurveda. It is considered critically important in determining the effect that various foods, spices, therapeutic herbs, and experiences will have on our state of balance—body, mind, and spirit.
🥬Astringent taste results from the combination of Air and Earth and is dry, cooling, and heavy by nature.
🥔It is the least common of all the 6 Tastes and can be found in legumes (such as beans and lentils), fruits (including cranberries, pomegranates, pears, and dried fruit), vegetables (such as, broccoli, cauliflower, artichoke, asparagus and turnip), grains (such as rye, buckwheat, and quinoa), spices and herbs (including turmeric and marjoram), coffee, and tea.
🥬Astringent taste is not as cold as Bitter taste but has a greater cooling effect on the body than Sweet taste.
Astringent taste is classified more in relation to its effect on the tongue than its actual taste. It creates a puckering sensation in the mouth (such as cranberries) 🍒or a dry, chalky feeling (such as many beans). Foods like broccoli or cauliflower have a mildly 🥦Astringent taste that is less detectable. Dry foods such as crackers and chips, most raw vegetables, and the skins of fruits also have Astringent qualities.
••Taste is made from the same five elements that make up the dishes in our body.When your doshas are out of balance, these six tastes can help you repair this imbalance••
ASTRINGENT TASTE DOSHIC AFFECTS ON OUR BODY
⬆️VATA ⬇️ PITTA & KAPHA (increases Vata, decreases Pitta and Kapha)
🥦🍆Bitter taste is composed of Air and Ether and is light, cooling, and dry by nature. It is found in green leafy vegetables (such as spinach, kale, and green cabbage), other vegetables (including zucchini and eggplant), herbs and spices (like turmeric, fenugreek, and dandelion root), coffee, tea, and certain fruits (such as grapefruits, olives, and bitter melon).
🍆While Bitter taste is often not appealing alone, it stimulates the appetite and helps bring out the flavor of the other tastes. Bitter taste is a powerful detoxifying agent, and has antibiotic, anti-parasitic, and antiseptic qualities. It is also helpful in reducing weight, water retention, skin rashes, fever, burning sensations and nausea. 🥦Bitter foods also help mental purification by freeing you from passions and sultry emotions. It’s best for Pitta, good for Kapha, and least beneficial for Vata. ••Taste is made from the same five elements that make up the dishes in our body.When your doshas are out of balance, these six tastes can help you repair this imbalance•• BITTER TASTE DOSHIC AFFECTS ON OUR BODY ⬆️VATA ⬇️PITTA & KAPHA (increases Vata and Pitta, decreases Kapha)
🌶Pungent taste derives from the elements of Fire and Air and is hot, dry, and light. It is the hottest of all the 6 Tastes and is found in certain vegetables (such as chili peppers, garlic, and onions), and in spices (like black pepper, ginger, and cayenne).
🌶In small amounts, Pungent taste stimulates digestion, clears the sinuses, promotes sweating and detoxification, dispels gas, aids circulation, improves metabolism, and relieves muscle pain. 🌶 stimulates digestion, improves appetite, clears sinuses, stimulates blood circulation, and heightens the senses. Pungent food may help you think quickly and clearly 🌶 Too much pungent food, however, can make you overly critical. Pungent foods will aggravate Pitta quickly and balance Kapha. Vata handles pungent tastes best when they are combined with sour, sweet, or salty foods. ••Taste is made from the same five elements that make up the dishes in our body.When your doshas are out of balance, these six tastes can help you repair this imbalance•• PUNGENT DOSHIC AFFECTS ON OUR BODY ⬆️ VATA, PITTA ⬇️KAPHA
🧂Salty taste is composed of Fire and Water and is hot, heavy, and moist by nature. It is found in any salt (such as sea salt and rock salt), sea vegetables (like seaweed and kelp), and foods to which large amounts of salt are added (like nuts, chips, and pickles)
🧂Due to its drying quality in the mouth, it may seem counterintuitive to think of Salty taste as moistening. The element of Water in its composition, however, relates to its water retaining quality. 🧂Salty taste falls somewhere between Sweet and Sour tastes with regard to its heavy and moist qualities. While Sweet taste stimulates the greatest water retention and weight gain in the body, Salty taste will have similar effects when used in excess by any of the doshas 🧂In moderation, Salty taste improves the flavor of food, improves digestion, lubricates tissues, liquefies mucous, maintains mineral balance, aids in the elimination of wastes, and calms the nerves. 🧂🧂Due to its tendency to attract water, it also improves the radiance of the skin and promotes overall growth in the body. ••Taste is made from the same five elements that make up the dishes in our body.When your doshas are out of balance, these six tastes can help you repair this imbalance•• SALTY DOSHIC AFFECTS ON OUR BODY ⬇️VATTA ⬇️ PITTA AND KAPHA
Ayurveda recognizes six tastes, each of which has a vital role to play in our physiology, health, and wellbeing
🍋Sour Taste is composed of Earth and Fire and is hot, light, and moist by nature. It is commonly found in citrus fruits (such as lemon and limes), sour milk products and fermented substances (including wine, vinegar, pickles, sauerkraut, and soy sauce)
🍋Used in moderation, Sour taste stimulates digestion, helps circulation and elimination, energizes the body, strengthens the heart, relieves thirst, maintains acidity, sharpens the senses, and helps extract minerals such as iron from food.
🍋It also nourishes all the vital tissues (dhatus) except the reproductive tissues (the exception being yogurt, which nourishes all the tissues)
••Taste is made from the same five elements that make up the dishes in our body.When your doshas are out of balance, these six tastes can help you repair this imbalance••
SOUR DOSHIC AFFECTS ON OUR BODY
⬇️Vata ⬆️ pitta and kapha
Sour (decreases Vata, increases Pitta and Kapha)
Ayurveda recognizes six tastes, each of which has a vital role to play in our physiology, health, and wellbeing
🍭Sweet taste results from the combination of Water and Earth and is heavy, moist, and cooling by nature. 🍭Sweet taste is also found in milk and milk products, most grains (especially wheat, rice, and barley), many legumes (like beans and lentils), sweet fruits (such as bananas and mangos), and certain cooked vegetables (such as carrots, sweet potatoes, and beets).
🍭Sweet taste naturally increases bulk, moisture, and weight in the body. For this reason, it is excellent for building the body’s seven vital tissues, blood, fat, muscles, bones, marrow, and reproductive fluids. 🍭Sweet taste also increases saliva, soothes mucous membranes and burning sensations, relieves thirst, and has beneficial effects on the skin, hair, and voice. ••Taste is made from the same five elements that make up the dishes in our body.When your doshas are out of balance, these six tastes can help you repair this imbalance•• SWEET DOSHIC AFFECTS ON OUR BODY ⬆️KAPHA ⬇️ VATA AND PITTA (Sweet decreases Vata and Pitta, increases Kapha)