Kapha dosha

is the force responsible for the structure and stability of the body. This dosha is made up of water and earth elements. A person of Kapha nature’s qualities reflect it’s elements. Kapha is heavy, cold, moist, static, smooth, and soft. Kapha creates these qualities in the body and mind.

(We all should have a balanced amount of Kapha) but when Kapha increases over it’s natural amount in the body, it’s primary symptom and complaint is swelling and having an abundance of mucus. Since Kapha governs structure, other symptoms include weight gain, lethargy, sluggishness, stagnation, depression, dullness, swollen joints, heart ache.

Appetite:

The appetite of a person with a Kapha imbalance reflects the slow and sluggish qualities of Kapha. Food tends to move slower through the digestive tract and the appetite tends to be consistently low. Skipping a meal is not a big deal to the Kapha person.

Digestion:

Digestion for the Kapha reflects their heavy and static nature and is usually a bit on the sluggish side.

At times constipation can occur.

Sweat:

People of this constitution tend to sweat a lot due to the greater amount of water in their constitution. However the sweat may have a pleasant odor to it, even a sweet smell to it.

Temperature:

People of Kapha nature tend to run cool and clammy.

Skin:

skin tends to be soft, dense, and smooth. When out of balance, it can be sticky and clammy.

Menstruation:

Menstruation tends to be an average to a heavier flow. Cycles tend to run pretty regular and at times can run a bit longer than usual. It is usual to have some swelling of the breasts for the Kapha type.

Sleep:

Sleep for the Kapha tends to be heavy and not easily disturbed. It can be difficult for a person of Kapha dosha to wake up and want to get out of bed in the morning due to the excess earth element present.

kapha physical qualities in a person through an Ayurvedic perspective kappa dosha
 

kapha balancing diet

BELOW IS A QUICK CHART TO SET THE MOOD…

PLEASE READ ON BELOW FOR MORE INFORMATION AROUND A PACIFYING KAPHA DIET

 
kapha dosha balicing diet. what to eat during Kapha Season
 

Kapha balancing herbal offerings

EMBRACE DOABLE SHIFTS

IT’S NEVER A GOOD IDEA TO TAKE EVERYTHING ON AT ONCE

A kapha-pacifying diet is a practice more than it is a series of absolutes. We can’t expect ourselves to wake up tomorrow morning and eat a perfect Kapha balancing diet everyday but learning about what to eat to help create more balance in our lives is really empowering and then we can give it a go. In Ayurveda, we practice the 30/70 rule where we really try to do our best 70% of the time and then 30% of the time we are allowing ourselves a little room to make mistakes so that we can further learn and grow.

Following a kapha-pacifying diet is not a matter of living by a strict set of dos and don’ts, or letting our minds get to strained, burdened, and overtaken in the details. It is so much more doable to pay our attention to the proactive overarching patterns. At the end of the day, any and all self work to help bring you more balance should be considered a win.

We are human and we typically enjoy food that is kapha-aggravating, so next time this happens…notice how you feel when you do eat it. Does it increase the presence of kapha symptoms in your digestive tract (sluggishness, excess mucus, lethargy, and heaviness all around in the mind and body)? Is there anything that you can do to serve some of this food in a more kapha-pacifying manner—by reducing the quantity and by adding some specific herbs and spices (like cayenne, ginger, black pepper, turmeric, coriander, cumin, fennel, or rosemary), And if so, do these adjustments change the way you feel and your overall experience?

Isn’t it exciting to think that you can put to use your growing awareness to inspire small steps forward? Meanwhile taking the time to journal and keep tabs on how your health and overall well-being are improving over time. As you put in the work to bring balancing through your Ayurvedic diet and lifestyle changes, it is likely that your overall health will improve.

QUALITIES TO FAVOR

Ok. Now that we’re on the same page about how to approach this, we’d like to introduce the qualities that you’ll want to favor in your diet and the qualities that will tend to be inherently kapha-aggravating. Kapha tend to be steady, stable, heavy, slow, cold, and soft so eating foods and using spices that help to neutralize these qualities—foods that are pungent, bitter, warm energetically and physically, and astringent in taste can help to balance excess kapha. This page gives you a closer look at how you can begin to recognize the qualities of different foods. The intention is to give you a more intuitive grasp of what will reduce kapha, without having to constantly reference lengthy lists of foods to favor and avoid.

Favor Light and Airy over Dense and Heavy

Foods that embody the light quality are the opposite needs to kapha’s heaviness. Lightness can be determined both by the weight of a food and also by how dense it is. Fruits and vegetables are typically light, so a diet that is built around an abundance of fresh fruits and vegetables—preferably cooked—is a wonderful start.

A small amount of raw fruit maybe ok in moderation, kapha is also balanced by salads and other raw vegetables when seasonally appropriate (usually in the warmer spring and summer months). Green or black teas are quite light, especially when compared with coffee.

In general, foods that are heavy for kapha include hard cheeses, nuts, cakes, pies, wheat, most flours, breads, pastas, red meat, and deep fried foods, which are also excessively oily (see below). Eating too much in one sitting also leads to excess heaviness, so it’s important to try not to overeat. A good rule of thumb is to fill the stomach one-third full of food, one-third full of liquid, and to leave one-third empty for optimal digestion. Very heavy meals and highly processed foods also tend to aggravate the heavy quality in kapha and are best reduced or completely eliminated.

Favor Warm over Cold

The warm quality can be attained by eating foods that are warm in temperature or that have a warming energetic—and by using heating spices generously. Cooked foods tend to offer a warmer energetic and are typically easier to digest; so cooked food is preferable to raw—especially in the colder months.

Kapha does best to drink room temperature, warm, or hot beverages and often benefits from sipping hot water throughout the day as well. If you like that, you can also try sipping warm water with a dab of raw honey in it; honey is both heating and detoxifying. On the other hand, it is best to reduce or minimize foods with a cooling energetic, cold and frozen foods or drinks, carbonated drinks, and even leftovers that have been kept in the refrigerator or freezer.

The cold quality is inherently increased in these foods, so freshly cooked is best. Consuming large quantities of raw fruits and vegetables can also be quite cooling, so it is best to enjoy these foods in moderation and when seasonally appropriate (i.e. primarily in the warmer months). But again, you have to be realistic about what you can take on, and a green salad or healthy leftovers is generally going to be far more kapha-pacifying than a freshly-cooked but heavier meal eaten out.

Favor Dry over Moist or Oily

Kapha’s oiliness is offset by exceptionally drying foods like beans, white potatoes, dried fruits, popcorn, and an occasional glass of dry red or white wine. When cooking, it is important to use as little oil as possible. You can even play with substituting water for oil to prevent sticking. Do your best to minimize oily foods like avocado, coconut, olives, buttermilk, cheese, fried eggs, cow’s milk, wheat, nuts, and seeds. It is also important not to over-hydrate because kapha can and does retain water easily. So do your best to drink only the amount of fluid that your body requires, according to your climate and activity level. In addition, reduce your consumption of especially moist foods like melons, summer squash, zucchini, and yogurt, as these can also be too watery for kapha.

Favor Rough over Smooth

There’s a reason that fruits and vegetables are sometimes called roughage; their fibrous structure gives them a very rough quality. This is why kapha responds so well to eating large quantities of fresh fruits and vegetables. That said, these foods are often much easier to digest when cooked, so be careful not to overdo raw foods, and adapt your enjoyment of them according to the season. Some foods, like broccoli, cabbage, cauliflower, dark leafy greens, and many beans, are exceptionally rough and are therefore wonderful for countering kapha’s smooth, oily nature. Conversely, eating foods and preparations that are smooth in texture—things like bananas, rice pudding, hot cereal, milk, cheese, and the like—can quickly aggravate kapha.

HOW TO EAT

When it comes to pacifying kapha, how we eat can have a profound impact on our degree of success, so this is an especially useful place to focus, if the prospect of radically changing your diet feels overwhelming right now.

As most people with kapha digestion know, kapha’s love of food and tendency toward emotional eating can easily lead to overindulgence. For this reason, kapha does well to stick to three square meals each day, and sometimes, just two meals are sufficient. Eating at consistent times from one day to the next also helps to strengthen the digestive fire while regulating the appetite. You can further counteract sluggish digestion by chewing a slice of fresh ginger (about the size of a nickel) with a pinch of sea salt, a few drops of lime juice, and about 1/4 teaspoon honey about 30 minutes before both lunch and dinner. This helps to prepare the digestive system to receive food and to process it effectively.

During meals, it is very important to eat in a peaceful environment and to give your full attention to the act of being nourished so that your body registers satisfaction. This will help reduce overeating and emotional eating. Fast foods, sweets, and excessive amounts of bread and other comfort foods can be especially kapha-provoking. While you will likely not succeed in avoiding all kapha-aggravating foods, their detrimental potential can be minimized by making sure that they are served warm, in small quantities, and with the support of heating herbs. Lastly, because kapha digestion is generally a bit boggy, periodic fasts or cleanses can be very helpful—especially if you tend to be able to sustain your energy over long breaks between meals. A short fruit or juice fast (think apple or pomegranate), or a longer monodiet of kitchari can be very supportive.

SUGGESTED MEALS

BREAKFAST

is often somewhat optional when kapha is elevated. Kapha benefits tremendously from the unforced, overnight fast between dinner and breakfast. If the appetite has not returned upon waking, it’s likely that a light breakfast of fresh fruit or tea will suffice. If breakfast does feel important to you, consider:

  • A substantive serving of fresh fruit: stewed apples, a fruit salad—choose fruits like apples, apricots, berries, mangos, peaches, and strawberries, a fruit smoothie, or some freshly juiced fruit.

  • Another option would be muesli with warm rice milk and a slice of rye toast

  • Add herbal, green, or black tea to any of these breakfasts but be careful not to over-decorate them; a dab of honey and/or rice milk is likely enough.

LUNCH

Ideally, lunch is the main meal of the day, meaning it’s the largest and the most nourishing. Build your lunches around consuming lots of steamed and sautéed vegetables, and complement them with beans, appropriate grains, non-yeasted breads, a suitable meat, or an occasional egg.

  • A simple vegetable soup made with vegetables like onions, garlic, broccoli, celery, carrots, green beans, and asparagus, and a slice of rye toast.

  • Our Kapha Khichari with added veggies and a side of sautéed dandelion greens with lemon and mint.

  • Green chile soup (non-dairy) with black bean tacos. Include black beans, sautéed onions and bell peppers, shredded romaine lettuce, cilantro, salsa, and a squeeze of lime juice and serve over steamed corn tortillas.

DINNER

Dinner is ideally significantly smaller and lighter than lunch. Soups and stews are often a wonderful choice because they are warm and nourishing, even when light. A smaller serving of lunch can often work, too. For some, especially when weight loss is indicated, it’s best to forego dinner altogether in favor of a healthy breakfast and lunch, or to eat a more substantial breakfast and make dinner the ultra-light meal of the day.

  • Potato leek soup with a small salad and a stimulating dressing, like lemon-ginger.

FRUITS

Favor

  • Apples

  • Applesauce

  • Apricots

  • Berries

  • Cherries

  • Cranberries

  • Figs (dry)

  • Grapes (red, purple, black)

  • Lemons

  • Limes

  • Mango

  • Peaches

  • Pears

  • Persimmons

  • Pomegranates

  • Prunes

  • Raisins

  • Raspberries

  • Strawberries

  • Bananas

  • Cantaloupe

  • Coconut

  • Dates

  • Figs (fresh)

  • Grapes (green)

  • Grapefruit

  • Kiwi

  • Melons

  • Oranges

  • Papaya

  • Pineapple

  • Plums

  • Rhubarb

  • Tamarin

  • Watermelon

AVOID

  • Bananas

  • Cantaloupe

  • Coconut

  • Dates

  • Figs (fresh)

  • Grapes (green)

  • Grapefruit

  • Kiwi

  • Melons

  • Oranges

  • Papaya

  • Pineapple

  • Plums

  • Rhubarb

  • Tamarin

  • Watermelon

VEGETABLES

FAVOR

  • Artichoke

  • Asparagus

  • Beet Greens

  • Beets

  • Bell Peppers

  • Bitter Melon

  • Broccoli

  • Brussels Sprouts

  • Burdock Root

  • Cabbage

  • Carrots

  • Cauliflower

  • Celery

  • Chilies

  • Cilantro

  • Collard Greens

  • Corn

  • Daikon Radish

  • Dandelion Greens

  • Eggplant

  • Garlic

  • Green Beans

  • Horseradish

  • Jerusalem Artichokes

  • Kale

  • Kohlrabi

  • Leafy Greens

  • Leeks

  • Lettuce

  • Mustard Greens

  • Okra

  • Onions

  • Peas

  • Peppers, Sweet & Hot

  • Potatoes, White

  • Radishes

  • Rutabaga

  • Spaghetti Squash

  • Spinach

  • Sprouts

  • Squash, Winter

  • Tomatoes (cooked)

  • Turnips

  • Watercress

  • Wheat Grass

REDUCE OR AVOID

  • Avocado

  • Cucumber

  • Olives

  • Parsnips

  • Pumpkin

  • Squash, Summer

  • Sweet Potatoes

  • Tomatoes (raw)

  • Zucchini

GRAINS

Favor

  • Amaranth

  • Barley

  • Buckwheat

  • Cereal (unsweetened, cold, dry)

  • Corn

  • Couscous

  • Crackers

  • Durham Flour

  • Granola

  • Millet

  • Muesli

  • Oat Bran

  • Oats (dry)

  • Polenta

  • Quinoa

  • Rice basmati

  • Rice Cakes

  • Rye

  • Seitan

  • Spelt

  • Sprouted Wheat Bread

  • Tapioca

  • Wheat Bran

AVOID

  • Oats (cooked)

  • Pancakes

  • Pasta

  • Rice (brown, white)

  • Wheat

  • Yeasted Bread

LEGUMES

FAVOR

  • Adzuki Beans

  • Black Beans

  • Black-Eyed Peas

  • Garbanzo Beans (Chickpeas)

  • Lentils

  • Lima Beans

  • Mung Beans

  • Mung Dal

  • Navy Beans

  • Pinto Beans

  • Split Peas

  • Soy Milk

  • Soy Meats

  • Tempeh

  • Tofu (served hot)

  • Toor Dal

  • White Beans

AVOID

  • Kidney Beans

  • Miso

  • Soy Beans

  • Soy Cheese

  • Soy Flour

  • Soy Powder

  • Soy Sauce

  • Tofu (served cold)

  • Urad Dal

DAIRY

FAVOR

  • Buttermilk

  • Cottage Cheese (ideally from skim goat’s milk)

  • Ghee

  • Goat’s Cheese (unsalted, not aged)

  • Goat’s Milk (skim)

  • Yogurt (fresh and diluted)

AVOID

  • Butter

  • Cheese

  • Cow’s Milk

  • Frozen Yogurt

  • Ice Cream

  • Sour Cream

  • Yogurt (store-bought)

Nuts & Seeds

FAVOR

  • Almonds (soaked and peeled)

  • Charole Nuts

  • Chia Seeds

  • Flax Seeds

  • Popcorn (without salt or butter)

  • Pumpkin Seeds

  • Sunflower Seeds

AVOID

  • Brazil Nuts

  • Cashews

  • Coconut

  • Filberts

  • Macadamia Nuts

  • Peanuts

  • Pecans

  • Pine Nuts

  • Pistachios

  • Sesame Seeds

  • Tahini

  • Walnuts

OILS

FAVOR

  • Almond Oil

  • Corn Oil

  • Flax Seed Oil

  • Ghee

  • Sunflower Oil

AVOID

  • Avocado Oil

  • Apricot Oil

  • Coconut Oil

  • Olive Oil

  • Primrose Oil

  • Safflower Oil

  • Sesame Oil

  • Soy Oil

  • Walnut Oil

SWEETNERS

FAVOR

  • Fruit Juice Concentrates

  • Honey (raw and unprocessed)

REDUCE AND AVOID

  • Artificial Sweeteners

  • Barley Malt

  • Date Sugar

  • Fructose

  • Honey (cooked, heated, or processed)

  • Jaggary

  • Maple Syrup

  • Molasses

  • Rice Syrup

  • Sucanat

  • Turbinado

  • White Sugar

SPICES

FAVOR

  • Ajwan

  • Allspice

  • Anise

  • Basil

  • Bay Leaf

  • Black Pepper

  • Caraway

  • Cardamom

  • Cayenne

  • Cinnamon

  • Cloves

  • Coriander

  • Cumin

  • Dill

  • Fennel

  • Fenugreek

  • Garlic

  • Ginger

  • Hing (Asafoetida)

  • Mace

  • Marjoram

  • Mint

  • Mustard Seeds

  • Neem Leaves

  • Nutmeg

  • Oregano

  • Paprika

  • Parsley

  • Peppermint

  • Pippali

  • Poppy Seeds

  • Rosemary

  • Saffron

  • Savory

  • Spearmint

  • Tarragon

  • Thyme

  • Trikatu

  • Turmeric

  • Vanilla

  • Wintergreen

AVOID

  • Salt (minimize the intake)