There is a popular adage “you are what you eat” which health-conscious people will promote regularly. With the local economy booming, our city life gets more hectic and stressful. There is also the societal expectation for people to look good by keeping themselves skinny. With the lack of time for exercise, many office workers turn to adjusting their diet as the first step.
Many businesses also took this opportunity to promote organic food, body cleansing programmes and salads are offered in almost every restaurant in the central business district now. However, I believe we should identify and have a good understanding of our body types before jumping onto the ‘eat clean’ bandwagon.
There are 3 main body types (also known as doshas):
- Kapha – contains the Earth and Water elements, such body tend to store nutrients and the people are generally not very skinny.
- Pitta – contains the Water and Fire elements, such body type is very energtic and the people generally look fit.
- Vata – contains the Air and Space elements, such body type tend to absorb lesser nutrients and the people generally look skinny.
To choose a diet that fits your body type with sufficient vitamins and nutrients will keep the bodies and minds healthy.
For Kapha bodies, they do not need to eat a lot to feel full as their bodies store food well. hey can have a well-rounded diet by taking a small portion of bitter, astringent, sour, salty food like leafy greens, bitter gourd, dried food, crunchy fruit, beans, ginger garlic, salt, mustard etc.
For Pitta bodies, they are recommended to take more bitter, sweet and sour food. This includes leafy greens, bitter gourd, all grains, denser and sweeter fruits etc.
For Vata bodies, their bodies need to have more food in order to get the same amount of nutrients as other body types. They could take more sour, salty, sweet stuffs such as garlic, onions, juicy sweet fruits, diary etc.
As a general guideline for any body types, it is important to introduce dietary changes slowly and assess how the body feels and reacts. Finding a good balance in our own bodies instead of following a popular diet trend will benefit us more as different body types have different requirements.
– Sinyi on diet & nutrition (200hr YTTC/HathaAshtanga/Weekday/19Jun)
