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Spring has arrived to chase winter: renewal, lightness & joy

5/14/2018

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Spring is magic. Nature is waking up and everywhere life is accelerating. After the cold, wet and dark winter comes spring, warmer, softer and liquid. The earth is warming up. Winter ice has melt. Gentle rains soak the earth, that is now moist. Life is resurfacing everywhere. The seeds germinate, the flowers bud, the insects buzz, the leaves unfold. Despite our separation from nature, we are deeply affected by this gentle agitation around us. Spring is a season of birth, renewal and growth, a time when the earth manifests latent potential in all things. Our physiology feels this natural opportunity for a new beginning, for a great cleaning of accumulated imbalances, and a rejuvenation of our tissues. We emerge from a long winter sleep with a renewed sense of joy and inspiration.

In Ayurveda, spring is a season characterized by heat (or at least less cold versus winter), moisture and softness. Moisture increases and makes us slower. Kapha in Sanskrit means "what blooms in water"; it looks like spring no? Thus, Spring tends to increase kapha. With the end of winter, a little kapha buildup is somewhat normal for most of us. Spring to crown everything can increase even more kapha. But in the same way that persistent ice and snow melt in the spring, the accumulated kapha liquefies. This process can be either a revitalizing event or trigger a number of health problems (allergies, sinusitis, cold, slow lymphatic circulation ...). With a seasonal diet and lifestyle balancing for Kapha, enhancing lightness, sharpness, dryness and warmth in our lives, we can support our physiology in its natural process of spring renewal and revitalization. However, spring is a transition season and therefore changing, so a spring routine is not meant to be rigid. Indeed, the local spring climate tends to fluctuate between a cold and dry winter weather and warmer and wetter conditions, which means that a given day could aggravate the kapha but also the vata. From mid-spring, temperatures rise, and the Pitta can also get worse. Obviously, these models vary depending on where you live and the nuances of your local climate. Adapting your daily spring routine is a great way to honor the subtle variations of the season.
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5 good Ayurvedic reflexes for spring

1/ I eat light, simple and anti Kapha food
When the days warm up, your appetite diminishes and you look for more lightness in fruits, fresh vegetables and salads. It's the way your body tells you it's time for a spring cleanup. In fact, spring is a perfect time for cleaning with a monodiet or a detox. A monodiet of apple or pomegranate juice of 3 days is ideal for the season. You can also support your body's natural desire to purify smoother by promoting pungent, bitter and astringent tastes and by eating warm, light foods that are relatively easy to digest to stimulate digestive fire, maintain warmth, liquefy mucus and evacuate the excess moisture. Drink some hot drinks, with some honey in the day. Structure your diet by eating lots of fresh (but not necessarily raw) vegetables and a variety of legumes. These foods are astringent and often a bit bitter. Reduce heavy or liquid vegetables such as avocado, cucumber, olives, sweet potato, squash or zucchini. Start your day with a light breakfast of fresh fruit and tea. Light lunches and dinners of cereals and steamed vegetables and legumes are often perfect choices. Eat a lot of bitter green vegetables, cabbage family vegetables (cabbage, broccoli, cauliflower, etc.), and spicy foods like green peppers. Eat the young sprouts that grow all over the countryside (spinach, purslane, lamb's quarters, yarrow, wing, bear's garlic, nettle, mallow ...) in salad or pesto! Tofu and poached or hard eggs are also suitable in the spring. Use very little oil or ghee when cooking. Minimize your consumption of dairy products, especially in the morning. Rice milk and almond milk are good substitutes. Avoid excessive oilseeds, bread or fermented foods.

2/ I say yes to novelty
Breathe in something new in our life! The goal: get rid of your Kapha winter cocoon and reboost you. How? Start a new activity. Do not hesitate to embark on a crazy adventure. Want more spirituality in your life? Get into meditation or yoga. Rather attracted to manual activity? Full of DIY possibilities exist between cooking, baking, painting, drawing, scrapbooking or knitting that is 100% destress. If you have a few days in front of you and a little money aside, spring is also a fabulous time to afford a little trip. This allows a real break after the winter to rest and come back motivated and inspired.

3/ I take time outside & connect to nature
In spring, nature teems with life, buds and young shoots come out with the sun. At the time, the pagan holidays of the spring equinox were meant to connect us to nature and drive out the winter darkness. What does it mean for you? It is not a question of organizing a Sabbath and dancing naked around a bonfire but rather to ventilate your mind by spending time outdoors. After hibernation, go out and spend time in nature. You can organize a great picnic or hike a day. Do you have a garden? So why not plant a young tree with your child? Or go for a walk together to gather young shoots for a pesto. If there is no garden, you can always plant aromatic herbs in your kitchen or on your balcony.

4/ I'm sorting!
The famous spring cleaning is totally anti kapha! You get rid of everything that does not serve you or is too used, of all your accumulation. The goal? Find space to feel lighter emotionally. Collect these surpluses and donate them to associations or resource centers, the space for you to create is a renewal for another person. Also think about airing by opening your windows a few minutes every day. A bit of fresh air to purify your home from the heaviness of winter and bring the lightness and joy of spring.

5/ I'm boosting my liver
In spring, the energy is mobile, moving upward and outward, like the flowers that stretch toward the sun. In the body it's the same. Your organization is a real power station that is going at full speed to clean everything up. But the liver is the recycling plant of the body and therefore the main actor of the detox. It purifies the blood of many substances that could be toxic to it such as nitrogenous waste, alcohol and wastes related to the catabolism of red blood cells.
In short, with all the fuss in your body, it is good to give him a little help too. Drink 3 or 4 herbal teas from ginger, rosemary, turmeric or dandelion. For the more courageous, the infusion of artichoke is very effective but its taste can discourage the most reckless!

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February Veggie Bowl

2/14/2016

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Today, we are going to be unconventional… On a Valentine day, as food bloggers, we are supposed to present some lovely meltingly chocolate cake or a fancy appetizer that puts you in a romantic mood.
But it doesn’t really feel like it. Right now, we are not looking for more candies and cakes but for some simple, tasty and regenerative food. A new approach to friendship and love?

The good news is the recipe that follows will probably be more useful to you than some glamorous Red Velvet Vanilla Cupcakes with a Poppy Frosting J
 
Inspiration for today’s recipe comes from the type of lunch Eloïse and I usually have during our working days. Every Wednesday, we meet to create new recipes. The day starts at the Edgar Quinet market where we can find very good quality products, sometimes organic, very often from the region. There, among fresh fruits and vegetables, we find inspiration for new savory and healthy recipes. Even if we like proposing easy recipes, food blogging requires creativity, sense of esthetics and originality. But what about unpretentious and genuine food?
 
This week, we decided to ignore rules J. Therefore, we are suggesting you a meal that we would typically eat in our day-to-day lives. A meal made of seasonal and affordable vegetables. But still, it is very poetic to us!
 
This bowl is made of beautiful Swiss chards cooked with ras-al-hanout, Moroccan style carrots (chermoula) and a delicious raïta sauce. Roasted sunflowers give this bowl a crunchy and tasty touch!
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February Veggie Bowl
Serves 2

Swiss chards
1 bunch Swiss chards, sliced
2 onions, diced
2 garlic cloves, chopped
2 tbsp olive oil
1 tsp ras-el-hanout*
1 pinch black pepper
Some sage leaves
 
In a wok, heat the spices in oil. Add garlic, onions and sage. Let brown for a few minutes.
Pour the chards. Add some water (½ to 1 cup should be enough). Cook for 10 minutes over medium heat.
 
* If you do not find ras-el-hanout, you can mix some of the following: coriander, turmeric, cardamom, ginger and cloves.
 
‘Chermoula’ carrots
1 pound /600g carrots, sliced into rounds
2 garlic cloves, chopped
1 tsp paprika / cayenne
1 tsp cumin
1 or 2 tbsp olive oil
1 tbsp fresh chopped cilantro
 
In a saucepan, heat the spices in oil. Add garlic and let brown for a few minutes, over low heat.
Pour carrots. Add some lukewarm water (1 cup). Cook covered for 15 minutes. Add cilantro at the end.
 
Raïta
200g soy yoghurt
½ lemon, juiced
1 tsp mustard
¼ tsp pepper
¼ tsp turmeric
1 tbsp olive oil
Salt
 
Pour all ingredients into a bowl. Mix with a spoon.
 
Seeds
150g sunflower seeds
1 rosemary sprig
 
In a pan, pour seeds and rosemary leaves. Let brown for 2 or 3 minutes.
 
Arrange the bowl the way you like. Play with colors. Enjoy!
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What does Ayurveda say about this?

A simple meal, digestible, warm and satisfying. These are the watchwords for this winter season. Winter is the kingdom of Kapha with which it shares the same qualities. In most places, it's colder, cloudy, foggy, rainy or dry and heavy. We just want to curl up at home and hibernate. Because winter is colder, many people may also experience symptoms of Vata if they already have an imbalance, especially in late winter when the wind is back and when the climate is irregular. Therefore, adopting a diet to pacify Vata and Kapha is important during the months of January and February.

What are the attributes to look for? A warming food, more liquid, spicy, digestible and nutritious.

Why nourishing and satisfying? Because in winter our appetite is increased and it is normal. Indeed, cold temperatures close pores and superficial connective tissue. This reduces the heat loss. The heat of the peripheral system is then gathered inside the body, in the stomach thereby increasing the digestive metabolism and therefore the appetite.

In terms of taste, we will focus on more balanced flavors incorporating the 6 tastes (sweet, sour, salty, bitter, pungent, astringent). The excess of sweet, salty and sour increases Kapha, while the excess of bitter or astringent increases Vata. We must therefore find the right balance and above all choose the right spices for the season :)

Thus, we have prepared this simple and delicious meal.

  • Some carrots (cooked) with their sweet taste, their warming metabolic action and their catabolic effect on digestion and elimination (laxative). Cooked carrots decrease both Vata and Kapha. Carrots are alterative (they purify the blood), they protect the lungs, are a tonic for the lungs, skin and eyes. As alkaline food, they help to rebalance the acidity (illness, pain). In addition, cooking with cumin (spicy and bitter flavor) and paprika (spicy and sweet taste) exhales their action on digestion.
 
  • The chards with both sweet and bitter flavors, are warming for the metabolism and catabolic for digestion, which promotes digestion and elimination. Chards reduce all 3 doshas. They also have a diuretic action (good for removing Kapha accumulation in winter). They are rich in calcium, iron and magnesium, Vitamin A, C and E. The combination with garlic, onion and sage sublime their sweet and dense side (nutritive). Ras-el-hanout is a mixture of spices which composition tends to vary according to the recipes (same as curry). It still remains a carminative mix, antispasmodic and catabolic for digestion and elimination. Its spicy flavor - but not burning - blends perfectly with the sweetness of the chards.

  • For both recipes, we favored cooking with olive oil to honor our Mediterranean origins. This oil is preferably not heated or at very low temperatures (as it burns at very low temperatures). Cooking with ghee or sesame oil would be recommended by Ayurveda, but we just wanted its unique flavor. And finally, no one is perfect ;)
 
  • A creamy yogurt sauce, spicy and moisturizing to accompany these yummy veggies. Despite the soy controversy, it remains a very healthy and easily digestible vegetable protein intake. As we say in Ayurveda, any food (if organic, untreated ...) is good by nature. It depends for whom, how, when, and in what quantities. In all cases, it should be consumed organic and without GMO. Its cooling effect on metabolism can disturb Vata and Kapha if it is not combined with carminative and heating spices. That is why we have combined it with lemon mustard, turmeric, salt, pepper and rosemary.
    • Sour lemon with a heating effect on the metabolism.
    • Spicy and hot mustard
    • Olive oil has a sweet taste
    • Turmeric mixes the bitter, the spicy and the astringent tastes. In addition to its miraculous virtues, it gives a nice color to the sauce
    • The sweet and astringent rosemary, ideal to treat our winter ailments
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December, Celebrations & Kapha

12/22/2015

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In Ayurveda, we speak of three organizational principles that govern physiological and psychological functions of our body / mind / soul. They are three smart managers upon who depends our balance. They are the basis of the Ayurvedic system and have been codified long ago (between 15000 and 1500 BC according to the debates) when Physicists have worked to understand the different relations and links between the stages of matter and their modifications.
These three doshas are: Vata, Pitta and Kapha. They are also associated to the macrocosm (because the macrocosm reflects the microcosm / the body) and thus to the seasons, months, hours ...

Winter is the season of Kapha in all its beauty. In winter, life slows down (or at least it is supposed to, even if life in the cities do not necessarily allow it). In most places, it's colder, cloudy, wet, dense ... similar qualities as Kapha and will therefore contribute to its build up and provocation. Because winter is cold, it also tends to disturb Vata. My experience also demonstrated to me that climatic irregularities (alternating hot and cold days, rainy and beautiful) as well as stress and speed of life in cities push also Vata in winter. This often gives Vata pushing Kapha type of problems.

Pathological symptoms result in congestion (sinus), cough and all colds in general (flu, sore throat, stomach pain ...). Emotionally speaking, we can experience loneliness, heavy heart and sometimes a small winter depression due to the lack of light, the return to work, stress...

All this is logical, because these problems are directly related to the same Kapha sites in the body (stomach, lungs, pericardium (around the heart)) and emotionally to love & compassion. If you feel changes (slow digestion, not hungry, full sinus, weight gain, moral flat ...), we understand that our Kapha is increased and that must be balanced.

We must therefore adopt behaviors to reduce it such as:
- Avoid foods that increase Kapha and Vata
- Avoid excess too sweet, salty or fermented
- Eat at regular times
- Avoid drinking or eating cold (ice, drinks) or raw
- Try to go to bed earlier
- Although hedge
- If to spend more through sports or activities if possible friends
- ...
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However, winter is also the celebration of Kapha in this season full of festivities to warm up the heart. The Kapha energy is in loving, meetings friends and family, sharing. Kapha is a wonderful force, especially in this season and in those moments when we all wish to find ourselves surrounded by our loved ones. Thus, the winter allow us to increase our Kapha energy. In Ayurveda, we talk about our Ojas. This is comparable to fuel our body and our heart need to live. Indeed, most of the autoimmune diseases comes from a deterioration of the Ojas.

Thus, sharing moments with people we love, receiving and giving, and opening our heart allows us to create Ojas. Only like this, once recharged, we can undertake the next year.

Meery Yule,
Merry Christmas
Happy New Year to everyone

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