Category |
Recommendations |
General |
For individuals with a predominant Pitta dosha, it is crucial to maintain a balance in their diet. Opt for cooler drinks and lukewarm or cold food to avoid overheating. To pacify the fire element of Pitta, choose sweet, bitter, and astringent tastes. However, it is best to avoid consuming excessive amounts of hot, spicy, sour, or salty foods as they can aggravate Pitta and cause imbalances. Therefore, it is recommended to be mindful and make conscious choices while selecting food and drinks to support the Pitta type. |
Cereals |
To pacify pitta, it's essential to incorporate cooling, sweet, dry, and grounding grains into your diet. However, it's equally important to avoid grains that have heating properties like buckwheat, corn, millet, brown rice, and yeasted breads if you want to balance pitta. Stick to the cooling and calming grains to keep your pitta in check. |
Beans / Dhal |
Add some variety to your meals by incorporating yellow mung beans and red lentils. These nutritious legumes are a great source of protein, fiber, and essential vitamins and minerals. Try adding them to soups, stews, salads, or as a side dish to elevate your meals and boost your overall health. |
Vegetables |
To balance pitta, choose vegetables that have a slightly sweet taste and a combination of bitter and astringent flavors. Avoid spicy, sharp, heating, and sour vegetables such as garlic, green chilies, radishes, onions, and mustard greens. These vegetables can aggravate pitta and should be limited or avoided altogether. |
Sweeteners |
Sugars are responsible for the sweet taste and can benefit Pitta dosha in their most natural form. However, it's important to note that refined white sugar is not supportive to Pitta dosha or any other doshas. Instead, opt for unprocessed sugars like maple syrup, dates, and barley syrup as they are beneficial for Pitta dosha. On the other hand, sweeteners like honey, jaggery, molasses, and white sugar should be avoided. |
Oils |
For those with a pitta constitution, it's important to note that while oils may seem counterintuitive, a moderate amount of cooling oil can actually be beneficial. Opting for sunflower oil, ghee, coconut oil, or olive oil can provide the cooling effects needed for a balanced diet. However, it's best to avoid oils such as almond, sesame, corn, and apricot, as they may exacerbate pitta imbalances. |
Nuts, Seeds |
High oil content in nuts and seeds may not be suitable for the pitta diet, but there are still some options that can be consumed in moderation to address the issue of reducing pitta from the body in a healthy manner. Some nuts and seeds that are friendly to the pitta diet include soaked and peeled almonds, flaxseeds, coconuts, pumpkin seeds, sunflower seeds, and unsalted and plain popcorn. Incorporating these options into your diet can help you maintain a balanced and healthy pitta level. |
Spices |
Spices are often known for their heating properties, which can potentially aggravate pitta. However, there are some spices that can be favorably included in your diet. These include basil, black pepper, coriander, ginger, fennel, mint, orange peel, saffron, peppermint, cinnamon, dill, cardamom, parsley, and vanilla. On the other hand, it is best to avoid certain spices such as bay leaf, garlic, mace, hing, nutmeg, mustard seeds, salt, sage, thyme, cloves, fenugreek, rosemary, and mace. By choosing the right spices, you can ensure that your diet is balanced and helps maintain optimal health. |
Fruits |
Fruits such as apples, apricots, berries, cherries, coconut, dates, pear, papaya, plums, pomegranate, mango, orange, melons, watermelon, strawberries, figs, and grapes are beneficial in removing pitta from the body. However, anything that tastes bitter among the specified pitta pacifying foods category needs to be discarded immediately. Consequently, one can enjoy a variety of sweet and juicy fruits to balance the pitta dosha in the body. |
Meat |
To reduce pitta in your diet, you can consume meats such as chicken, shrimp, rabbit, venison, fish (freshwater), eggs (white) and buffalo meat. However, meats to avoid include beef, egg yolk, duck, pork, salmon, seafood, sardines, lamb, fish (saltwater), tuna fish and turkey. Therefore, it is important to be mindful of the types of meats you consume in order to maintain a balanced diet. |