Tomatoes: Ayurveda hates them… or does it?

Ayurveda says ‘no tomatoes’, right? Well, it doesn’t actually.  Here are the facts.  There is nothing written about tomatoes in Ayurvedic literature Tomatoes, solanum lycopersicum, came to India with the Portuguese several hundred years ago but Indians didn’t really use them in cooking until the 20th century. Therefore, tomatoes weren’t Read more…

Fasting – what does Ayurveda say?

Everyone is talking about fasting. There is so much (sometimes conflicting) information out there about fasting, what does Ayurveda have to say about it?  And how can fasting be personalised to our individual constitutions? Find all the answers to these questions here. Ayurveda has a LOT to say about fasting Read more…

Shadow Work

Self-sabotage

Self-sabotage shows up a lot in my Ayurvedic consultations.  “I know what to do, I just don’t do it”.  This is often followed up with some self-criticism about failing to have self-discipline.  I see this pattern in myself too, in many areas, one current example being “I want to go Read more…

Menopause – important life transition not an illness

Thankfully the menopause is getting a lot of airtime now, and so it should.  It has been a source of shame and misunderstanding for too long.  How do we view the menopause in Ayurveda? Menopause essentials Let’s first recap the menopause essentials.  The accepted definition of the menopause is the Read more…

Live life in balance

Your guide to dosha imbalance

I’m feeling these symptoms, what do they mean? Do I have a dosha imbalance? Or do I feel pretty balanced? Each dosha has its qualities so the simplest way to gauge a dosha imbalance is to see which of these qualities is getting increased for you. For example, your skin Read more…

Disease stages

Use your clever early warning system

Our bodies want to stay alive.  We have many amazing ways to self-regulate bodily processes to remain stable and continue to live.  Much of this goes on without our awareness; tiny adjustments occurring on a minute-by-minute basis.  But what happens when things start to go awry? The body goes through Read more…

Yoghurt

Manage your channel blockers

Some things are easy to digest and some things are difficult.  And then there are some which are very difficult (abhishyandi). Knowledge of these makes a huge difference to how well you digest, absorb and assimilate nutrients and thus how healthy you are.  Foods that are heavy to digest are Read more…

quick purge

Cool inflammation with the ‘quick purge’

Chronic inflammation, skin diseases, digestive and liver disorders, arthritis, long term poisoning[1]. Stubborn conditions for which there is often no conventional cure.  For these, Ayurveda offers the highly effective virechana (medicated purging) and its speedier relative, the quick purge. Medicated purging is one of the 5 panchakarma procedures, which together Read more…

Quench the flames of pitta this summer

I love the summer.  Being a vata-predominant, not-well-covered body type, I find myself cold for 90% of the year in the UK.  So come summer, my whole body relaxes and I feel like a basking lizard absorbing all the warmth and sunlight to keep me going for the rest of Read more…