“When diet is wrong, medicine is of no use. When diet is correct, medicine is of no need.”  ~ Ayurvedic proverb

Winter Diet According to Ayurveda
​The word “diet” used in the above proverb does not mean food restricted plans that we’ve all tried before. The ancient science of Ayurveda promotes the correct “diet” or food choices for each individual, depending on the current season and any current health imbalances.  Food medicine looks different for everyone, and we all need to take back our power and listen to our intuition around what we put in our body. Instead of googling what to eat or asking someone else, ask yourself “What am I craving right now?”  If your first choice is a sugary substance, that is an ignorance of intellect (i.e. I know I do not need that second cookie, but I’m having it anyway) and needs to be addressed.  The idea is that you see blueberries, for example, and your mouth waters or you think about green beans and must have them.  This is your body telling you that there is something in that food that your body is lacking and needs.
For this winter season (known as Vata in Ayurveda), there is a tendency for the body to be constipated and produce dry skin, so we want to bring the body back to balance with warm/cooked foods like soups and stews as well as protein in the form of nuts and seeds. Small amounts of fish can be a beneficial protein as well, if that is part of your diet.  Ayurveda aims to teach you what to eat by paying attention to what is naturally abundant in nature this time of year.  All bodies work uniquely, therefore, there is no one-size-fits-all diet or food list.
Top Tips for an ayurvedically-balanced winter season:

• Sauté a small amount of spices in ghee or high-quality oil (i.e. sesame or coconut). These standard spices can be ginger, cumin, coriander, cardamom, turmeric, black pepper, and salt.  Once you start to smell the spices in the pan (about 30 seconds), the spices are waking up and releasing their benefits.
• Cut up veggies that are grown locally and in season and add them to the pan of oil and spices. For the North East, this means carrots, sweet potatoes, winter squash, etc.
• Eat less salads, cold foods and drinks, and crackers.
• Be creative with your meal. Make each meal a relaxing experience with three deep belly breaths before you start your first fork-full of food.  This prepares the body to digest with ease.
• According to Ayurveda, “If you eat standing up, death looks over your shoulder!”

​Faith Miller is an Ayurveda Health Counselor in New Egypt, NJ.  For more Ayurveda tips, workshop schedule, and a deeper dive into your personal Ayurveda journey, contact Faith Miller at faithmiller@comcast.net and visit www.Ayurveda.YogaWithFaith.com.

You can find this blog and more at Plant Based Nation.

[Terms you’ll need to know before reading on]
Ayurveda: Ancient Indian science designed to uncover the root cause of illness and bring the body back to a state of balance and maintain this balance as the seasons change.  Ayuh= “life,” Veda = “science” or “sacred knowledge.”  Therefore, Ayurveda translates as “the sacred knowledge of life.”
Ghosted: The practice of ending a personal relationship with someone by suddenly and without explanation withdrawing from all communication.
Ghee: Clarified butter (Yum!)
 
My name is Faith Miller and I am an Ayurveda Yoga Specialist.  I subscribed to the Ayurveda lifestyle many times and quit it almost as many.  The road to where I am today was confusing, frustrating, and expensive; but I met a ton of people and learned how to listen to my body.  This gave me the knowledge and tools to act on my instincts (“go with my gut,” if you will).  Being that Ayurveda is the sister science to yoga, I knew I needed to learn about it once I received my yoga certification in 2013.  What I didn’t know was I’d be spending heaps of time and money in Ayurvedic practitioners’ offices and studying out of state to become an Ayurvedic professional years later.  I’d like to take you back to all of the Ayurvedic encounters that I had and the lessons learned along the way to inspire a journey of your own through Ayurveda. I’d love to hear your stories around Ayurveda and what you think could be done to improve the current Ayurveda Consultation model. Send me an email at faithmiller@comcast.net.
 
My first Ayurvedic practitioner was soft-spoken with a collection of flowy dresses.  She spoke so esoterically, I was lost halfway through my appointment.  I was unable to relate or keep up with her “deepness.”
 
[Let me pause here and say, I have a deep respect for the practitioners I have encountered, but didn’t quite connect with all of them.  I believe it is deeply important to have a positive connection with your Ayurvedic professional to ensure you can get exceptional support and feel comfortable asking any question.]
 
Back to the first encounter, I had a few sessions with her and even though we had interesting conversations, I always left her office with lots of questions.  Feeling deflated, I drove home with questions like, “Why am I doing all of these things in the morning that she suggested?” or “How will this help me?”  Then I became annoyed. “Easy for her to do these 20 things in the morning!  She works for herself and makes her own schedule, but I have to be at work at 8 am!” or “This is overwhelming, forget it, I don’t have the energy to do anything on this list.”  If you can’t tell by now, that relationship did not bring me ease and joy, so I ghosted the practitioner and the practice.
 
My second Ayurvedic practitioner visit was with a lovely woman about a year later when I started to have more health questions and wanted answers around my struggle with digesting food and weight loss.  Even though this was a life-long reality for me, I knew I normalized the pains and irritability for too long.  I needed to take action.  This practitioner spent time teaching me about ghee, milk, foods for the seasons, and keeping the liver happy.  I left her office feeling supported and full of details to sort out on my own.  With pricey supplements and a cookbook, she showed me how to start taking better care of myself and I’ll be forever grateful. These sessions were helpful and insightful; but over time, I felt that I had reached my limit of healing and learning with her and needed a different approach; so again, I ghosted the practitioner and the practice.
 
It was time to try Functional Medicine.  An explanation from my doctor's website: "Functional Medicine is an integrative, science-based approach to health that focuses on overcoming and preventing chronic illness by addressing its root causes."  From NJ, I took a train to Philly every month for 6 months to learn what the tests said about my body.  I pooped in a paper tray, spit into vials, and got a ton of blood work.  With all the education and test results I received, I finished my 6-month package with an empty bank account, depleted adrenals, and the knowledge of what my body felt like when it was bloated.  After playing with eliminating foods and adding them back in, I had a better idea of how to be more aware of what my body was telling me. That was a huge shift for me.  This left me feeling like I had a better understanding, but still in the infant stages, of what optimal health looked like for me.  I was given the option to continue with the Functional Medicine program on a less interactive path for an additional mortgage payment, but decided it was time to part ways with the knowledge I learned thus far.  I appreciated the teachings of the program, but wished for more hand holding once the program ended.  Again, I ghosted the practitioner and the practice.
 
I was soon on my way back to the old habits of eating foods that disagreed with me and forgetting why I felt like an out-of-control gas bag.
 
My life went on and I found myself wanting to learn more about Ayurveda and combine it with the information I learned through Functional Medicine.  I still had so many health questions for myself personally and for my family and friends.  It’s interesting how you start to want to help others when you get a little ray of hope for yourself.  I had yoga students ask health questions after class and I’d be stumped, yearning to have a deeper education in Ayurveda to help them.  I knew that Ayurveda was the go-to practice because it talked about seasonal eating and practical ways to support the body to prevent disease. Having an enjoyment for control, I liked the idea of being able to prevent disease.
 
As Divine Universe intervention would have it, I met a friend that was enrolling in an Ayurveda program that would be perfect for my budget, schedule, and commute.  I immediately signed up and learned quickly that this was a new world of health and wellness, graduating in 2017 with an Ayurvedic Yoga Specialist certification.  I felt like I studied only the tip of the iceberg and had to keep going to really get comfortable with the teachings of Ayurveda.  I’m currently enrolled in the next level of training and will graduate in early 2019 with a certification as an Ayurvedic Health Counselor.
 
Since enrolling in this course, I’ve seen three more Ayurvedic practitioners.  All very different.
 
The third practitioner gave important insights into how mental health combined with physical health is key to finding balance.  I will continue to learn from this practitioner.  No ghosting here.
 
The fourth practitioner was a big disappointment, although I suppose you get what you pay for with a Groupon.  The practitioner read my pulse and squeezed my arm and leg fat, exclaiming, “This isn’t you! You retain too much water!”  You can imagine what that did for my already low self-esteem about my body.  I ended the consultation with an empty wallet, a bag of supplements that tasted terrible, and uncertainty for my improvement.  I defiantly ghosted the practitioner, but not the practice.  The difference now was I had the education that taught me I just needed to have patience with the practice.  This was not going to be a one-pill solution.
 
The fifth practitioner served as a new teacher with kind words and patient listening skills.  We talked for three hours about all my health concerns and he even smelled my breath while looking at my tongue.  This was new to me and grew my fascination with the body and the Ayurvedic practice.  I left the session without any supplements, but a very organized sheet of suggestions and an email where I could reach him, if needed.  I will be continuing my journey with him.  No ghosting here.
 
The over-arching theme in all of these sessions is to find an Ayurvedic professional that listens and explains the “why” and the “what” and doesn’t just want to sell you expensive herbs. I, personally, would love more hand-holding from a professional.  I’m fully aware that people have busy lives, but just a quick follow up a few days after a session would really help support my reasons for continuing with the practice and make sure I’m held accountable for being mindful of the seasons and how I treat my body.  I know I’m not the only person that would hesitate emailing the professional after a session for fear of sounding dumb or just not knowing how to articulate my needs.
 
I’d like to improve upon the Ayurvedic Consultation Model with my offer to you:
I am offering 3 different hand-holding packages to future clients as I progress through my Ayurvedic studies.  The details of these packages can be found here.  If you are interested in wanting more interaction with me and my Ayurvedic consultations, I’d love to hear from you.  Send me an email at faithmiller@comcast.net.
 
Namaste friends.