Pitta dosha

is the force within the body responsible for digestion and metabolism. This dosha is made up of mostly fire and a little bit of the water elements. A person of Pitta nature’s qualities reflect it’s elements. Pitta is light, slightly oily, unstable and sharp. Pitta creates these qualities in the body and mind.

We all should have a balanced amount of Pitta) but when Pitta increases over it’s natural amount in the body, it’s primary symptom and complaint is fever or running too hot. Since Pitta governs digestion, other symptoms include excess heat: diarrhea, anger, irritability, oily skin, stinky sweat, headache, feeling judgmental, feeling the need to over work.

Appetite:

The appetite of a person with a Pitta imbalance reflects the hot quality of pitta. A person with a strong digestive fire tends to crave and need more food. The appetite is usually strong and consistent. When a meal is missed, a person of pitta nature becomes irritable and even angry.

Digestion:

The heat of Pitta Dosha increases the acids in the stomach and this can lead to hyperacidity and burning indigestion. There can be a tendency toward loose stools and or diarrhea and if there is gas, it is usually strong in odor.

Sweat:

People of this constitution tend reflect their hot and sharp qualities, they sweat more than others as a means to cool off. People who have a pitta imbalance tend to have a sharp and strong odor.

Temperature:

People of Pitta nature tend to run warmer than others.

Skin:

skin tends to have a red or ruddy complexion. Pitta imbalances are prone to hot rashes. Red and oily acne is present for some people of this constitution. Hair tends to run a bit on the oily side and needs to be washed more often.

Menstruation:

Menstruation tends to be on the heavier side due to the excess heat in the blood. Cycles tend to run pretty regular and are usually never missed. Pitta Dosha people tend to bleed for anywhere between 3-6 days on average.

Sleep:

Sleep for the Pitta is usually light but well. They tend to sleep hard and fall asleep as soon as the head hits the pillow. People of pitta dosha usually rise early and with ease, ready to take on the day. When pitta is really out of balance, over thinking/ planning may keep them up at night and make their sleep more irregular.

 

Pitta balancing diet

BELOW IS A QUICK CHART TO SET THE MOOD…

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

 
 

Pitta balancing herbal offerings

 

EMBRACE SLOW, DOABLE SHIFTS

A pitta-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 pitta 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 3o/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 pitta-pacifying diet is not a matter of being rigid and living to a strict set of dos and don’ts, or letting our minds get to obsessed 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 pitta-aggravating, so next time this happens…notice how you feel when you do eat it. Does it increase the presence of pitta symptoms in your digestive tract (heat, burning sensations, heartburn, or loose stools)? Is there anything that you can do to serve this food in a more pitta-pacifying manner—by reducing the quantity and by adding some cooling herbs and spices (like cilantro, coriander, cumin, fennel, or mint), lime juice, avocado, or coconut? 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 pitta-aggravating. Pitta tend to be oily, sharp, hot, light, and spreading, so eating foods and using spices that help to neutralize these qualities—foods that are dry, mild, cooling, grounding, stabilizing, and dense—can help to balance excess pitta. 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 pitta, without having to constantly reference lengthy lists of foods to favor and avoid.

Favor Cool over Warm or Hot

This idea can be practiced by eating foods that are cool in temperature or that have a cooling energetic—and by using cooling spices generously. Most spices are heating in nature, so pay careful attention to the ones that balance pitta (you will find this list down below). Raw foods are usually naturally cooling and pitta tends to be able to handle them better than the other doshas; so mixing in an assortment of raw fruits and vegetables will generally be supportive—especially in the warmer months. Keeping this in mind, it is always best for all doshas to make sure that we are eating cooked, warm meals. They are easiest for the body to digest. For people of Pitta constitution, it is best to minimize your exposure to fiery hot dishes, foods with a sharply warming energetics, excess alcohol, and caffeine. All of these naturally increase internal heat.

Favor Dense, Grounding,

and Nourishing Over Light

While the heavy quality is the true antithesis to pitta’s lightness, Ayurveda teaches us that very heavy foods, like deep-fried foods, are not supportive of our overall health. It’s better to ground pitta’s lightness and heat with foods of sustenance. Eating foods that promote a stabilizing source of energy and nourishment is best for Pitta Dosha. These foods will naturally taste sweet so most grains, milk, root vegetables, seeds, and cooling oils are good examples. Having excess pitta can cause a sharp and sometimes insatiable appetite, so it’s equally important not to overeat. Highly processed foods such as canned foods, ready-made meals, and pastries often lack prana, they are considered heavy, and should be minimized as much as possible.

Favor Dry and Dense Over Oily or Liquid

Pitta’s nature and tendency toward creating excess oil allow for drying or astringent foods like beans, potatoes, oats, pasta, popcorn, and most vegetables to be supportive unlike the other doshas. When cooking, use a moderate amount of a high quality oil or ghee. Try to minimize especially heating and oily foods like eggs (egg whites are better if you eat eggs), hard cheeses, olives, nuts, sour cream. More examples will be listed below. If given a choice between a soupier meal vs. one that is denser and a little bit on the drier side (not too dry of course), opt for the latter. An good example couple be to have baked tofu served over steamed greens and rice rather than say tofu miso soup.

Favor Mild over Sharp

Sharp flavors like pineapple, pickles, vinegar, and sharp aged cheeses are better replaced with milder, gentler tastes, like those found in apples, cucumbers, lime juice, and soft cheeses. Similarly, stimulants such as caffeine, nicotine, and hard alcohol are too sharp and penetrating for pitta. Do your best to substitute more stable and sustaining sources of energy.


How to Eat

When it comes to pacifying pitta, how we eat may be just as important as what we eat, so this is an especially useful place to focus if the prospect of radically changing your diet feels overwhelming right now.

As most people of pitta constitution know, pitta’s sharp appetite can lead to feeling hangry and skipping meals is usually not an option. Pitta does best when sticking to a regular eating schedule and to eat three regular meals each day. In general, eating at consistent times also helps to balance a person with a high digestive fire.

It is important to eat in a peaceful environment and to give your full attention to the act of being nourished so that your body appreciates and registers the food accordingly. This will help to prevent overeating, which is a common side effect of pitta’s voracious appetite. As we talked about above, the aggravating potential of many pitta-aggravating foods can be minimized by making sure they are taken in small quantities and served with cooling garnishes (like cilantro, coriander, cumin, fennel, mint, avocado, and coconut.

Suggested Meals

Breakfast

Breakfast is not to be skipped when pitta is elevated. The best pitta balancing choices are sweet, high in carbohydrates, and yet offer sustained energy.

  • A balancing breakfast example could be a date and almond shake made from soaked dates, soaked and peeled almonds, and boiled milk (or a substitute) blended together with cardamom and a pinch of cinnamon.

Lunch

Lunch is the main meal of the day, so it should be the largest and the most nourishing. A wide variety of appropriate grains, beans, and vegetables are great building blocks for lunch.

  • Seasoned tofu and steamed collard greens over wild rice. Sauté the tofu in sunflower oil and stir in some of your favorite pitta pacifying spices. Garnish the greens with olive oil, freshly squeezed lime juice, ground coriander and black pepper.

  • Red lentils made with cooling herbs like cilantro, mint, or fennel, with buttered whole grain bread (use unsalted butter), sautéed purple cabbage, and a green salad. Add vegetables like carrots, celery, and onion to your soup. Sauté the cabbage in ghee with cumin, coriander, turmeric lime juice, and a splash of maple syrup.

  • Whole wheat pasta, pesto, and fresh vegetables (like bell peppers, broccoli, carrots, celery, green beans, mushrooms, zucchini, or black olives). Garnish the pasta with crumbled chèvre, olive oil, and cilantro. Serve with a small green salad and soup.

Dinner

Dinner is smaller and lighter than lunch, but it also needs to sustain pitta’s active metabolism. A simple but nourishing meal or a slightly smaller serving of lunch can work well.

Fruits

Fruits that pacify pitta are sweet and somewhat astringent. Dried fruits are typically also acceptable, but are best in small quantities, so as not to further accelerate pitta’s tendency toward rapid digestion. Fruits to avoid are those that are exceptionally heating or sour (like bananas, cranberries, and green grapes). When trying to balance pitta, learning to distinguish between these tastes and choosing sweet fruits over sour ones is always very helpful.

Fruits and fruit juices are best enjoyed alone—30 minutes before, and ideally at least 1 hour after, any other food.

This helps to ensure optimal digestion.

Favor

  • Apples (sweet)

  • Applesauce

  • Apricots (sweet)

  • Berries (sweet)

  • Cherries (sweet)

  • Coconut

  • Dates

  • Figs

  • Grapes (red, purple, black)

  • Limes

  • Mangos (ripe)

  • Melons

  • Oranges (sweet)

  • Papaya

  • Pears

  • Pineapple (sweet)

  • Plums (sweet)

  • Pomegranates

  • Prunes

  • Raisins

  • Strawberries

  • Watermelon

Avoid

  • Apples (sour)

  • Apricots (sour)

  • Bananas

  • Berries (sour)

  • Cherries (sour)

  • Cranberries

  • Grapefruit

  • Grapes (green)

  • Kiwi

  • Lemons

  • Mangos (green)

  • Oranges (sour)

  • Peaches

  • Persimmons

  • Pineapple (sour)

  • Plums (sour)

  • Tamarind

Vegetables

Vegetables that pacify pitta are sweet and either bitter, astringent, or both. Many vegetables include some combination of these tastes; so experimenting with a wide variety of vegetables is a great way to diversify your pitta pacifying diet. Pitta can digests raw vegetables better than vata and kapha, but mid-day is often the best time of day to have them because digestive strength is at its hightest (it’s also known as the pitta time of day). The only vegetables for pitta to reduce or avoid are those that are particularly spicy, heating, sharp, or sour—like garlic, green chilies, radishes, onion, and mustard greens.

Favor

  • Avocado

  • Artichoke

  • Asparagus

  • Beets (cooked)

  • Bell Peppers

  • Bitter Melon

  • Broccoli

  • Brussels Sprouts

  • Burdock Root

  • Cabbage

  • Carrots (cooked)

  • Cauliflower

  • Celery

  • Cilantro

  • Collard Greens

  • Cucumber

  • Dandelion Greens

  • Green Beans

  • Jerusalem Artichoke

  • Kale

  • Leafy Greens

  • Leeks (cooked)

  • Lettuce

  • Mushrooms

  • Okra

  • Olives (black)

  • Onions (cooked)

  • Parsley

  • Parsnips

  • Peas

  • Peppers (sweet)

  • Potatoes

  • Pumpkin

  • Radishes (cooked)

  • Rutabaga

  • Spaghetti Squash

  • Sprouts (not spicy)

  • Squash, Summer

  • Squash, Winter

  • Spinach (raw)

  • Sweet Potatoes

  • Watercress

  • Wheat Grass

  • Zucchini

Avoid

  • Beet Greens

  • Beets (raw)

  • Corn (fresh)

  • Daikon Radish

  • Eggplant

  • Garlic

  • Green Chilies

  • Horseradish

  • Kohlrabi

  • Leeks (raw)

  • Mustard Greens

  • Olives, green

  • Onions (raw)

  • Peppers (hot)

  • Radishes (raw)

  • Spinach (cooked)

  • Tomatoes

  • Turnip greens

  • Turnips

Grains

Grains that pacify pitta are cooling, sweet, dry, and grounding. Grains are usually the staples in our diets, and overall, pitta benefits from their sweet, nourishing nature. You’ll also notice that many of the grains that benefit pitta are rather dry; this helps to offset pitta’s oily nature. When it comes to balancing pitta, avoiding grains that are heating (like buckwheat, corn, millet, brown rice, and yeasted breads) is the most important guideline.

Favor

  • Amaranth

  • Barley

  • Cereal (dry)

  • Couscous

  • Crackers

  • Durham Flour

  • Granola

  • Oat Bran

  • Oats

  • Pancakes

  • Pasta

  • Quinoa

  • Rice (basmati, white, wild)

  • Rice Cakes

  • Seitan

  • Spelt

  • Sprouted Wheat Bread

  • Tapioca

  • Wheat

  • Wheat Bran

Avoid

  • Buckwheat

  • Corn

  • Millet

  • Muesli

  • Polenta

  • Rice (brown)

  • Rye

  • Yeasted Bread

Legumes

Legumes are generally astringent in taste and are therefore largely pitta pacifying, so feel free to enjoy a wide variety of them. Beans that are not appropriate for pitta are those that are especially sour or oily and, not coincidentally – also heating

Favor

  • Adzuki Beans

  • Black Beans

  • Black-Eyed Peas

  • Garbanzo Beans (Chickpeas)

  • Kidney Beans

  • Lentils

  • Lima Beans

  • Mung Beans

  • Mung Dal

  • Navy Beans

  • Pinto Beans

  • Split Peas

  • Soy Beans

  • Soy Cheese

  • Soy Flour

  • Soy Milk

  • Soy Powder

  • Tempeh

  • Tofu

  • White Beans

Avoid

  • Miso

  • Soy Meats

  • Soy Sauce

  • Urad Dal

Dairy

Dairy products are grounding, nourishing, and cooling, so many of them are balancing for pitta. Those to avoid are exceptionally sour, salty, or heating. As a rule, dairy milks (cow’s milk, goat’s milk, sheep’s milk, etc.) should be taken at least one hour before or after any other food. For this reason, avoid drinking milk with meals. Almond and rice milks are good substitutes, if you need to combine milk with other foods, or if you don’t digest dairy milks well.

Favor

  • Butter (unsalted)

  • Cheese (soft, unsalted, not aged)

  • Cottage Cheese

  • Cow’s Milk

  • Ghee

  • Goat’s Milk

  • Goat’s Cheese (soft, unsalted)

  • Ice Cream

  • Yogurt (homemade, diluted, without fruit)

Avoid

  • Butter (salted)

  • Buttermilk

  • Cheese (hard)

  • Frozen Yogurt

  • Sour Cream

  • Yogurt

Nuts & Seeds

Nuts and seeds are usually pretty oily and heating, so most of them are not balancing for pitta. That said, there are a few types of nuts, and several seeds that are acceptable in small quantities; these varieties tend to be less oily, and are either mildly heating or cooling in nature.

Favor

  • Almonds (soaked and peeled)

  • Charoli Nuts

  • Coconut

  • Flax Seeds

  • Halva

  • Popcorn (buttered, without salt)

  • Pumpkin Seeds

  • Sunflower Seeds

Avoid

  • Almonds (with skin)

  • Brazil Nuts

  • Cashews

  • Chia Seeds

  • Filberts

  • Macadamia Nuts

  • Peanuts

  • Pecans

  • Pine Nuts

  • Pistachios

  • Sesame Seeds

  • Tahini

  • Walnut

Oils

Despite being oily in nature, pitta does well with a moderate amount of oil – as long as it is cooling. The very best oils for pitta are sunflower oil, ghee, coconut oil, and olive oil.

It’s also important to keep in mind that toxins tend to concentrate in fats, so buying organic oils is always important.

Favor

  • Coconut Oil

  • Flax Seed Oil

  • Ghee

  • Olive Oil

  • Primrose Oil

  • Sunflower Oil

  • Soy Oil

  • Walnut Oil

Avoid

  • Almond Oil

  • Apricot Oil

  • Corn Oil

  • Safflower Oil

  • Sesame Oil

Spices

Most spices are heating by nature and therefore have the potential to aggravate pitta. The spices that you will want to incorporate should be either cooling or mildly heating to help to maintain a balanced digestive fire without provoking pitta. For example, the cooling qualities of cardamom, cilantro, coriander, fennel and mint help to calm pitta’s heat. Cumin, saffron, and turmeric, though heating, also offer some particularly valuable pitta pacifying properties.

Favor

  • Basil (fresh)

  • Black Pepper (small amounts)

  • Cardamom

  • Cinnamon (small amounts)

  • Coriander

  • Cumin

  • Dill

  • Fennel

  • Ginger (fresh)

  • Mint

  • Neem Leaves

  • Orange Peel

  • Parsley

  • Peppermint

  • Saffron

  • Spearmint

  • Tarragon

  • Turmeric

  • Vanilla

  • Wintergreen

Avoid

  • Ajwan

  • Allspice

  • Anise

  • Basil (dry)

  • Bay Leaf

  • Caraway

  • Cayenne

  • Cloves

  • Fenugreek

  • Garlic

  • Ginger (dry)

  • Hing (Asafoetida)

  • Mace

  • Marjoram

  • Mustard Seeds

  • Nutmeg

  • Oregano

  • Paprika

  • Pippali

  • Poppy Seeds

  • Rosemary

  • Sage

  • Salt

  • Savory

  • Thyme

  • Trikatu