Try an Ayurvedic Diet for Pitta Types to Solve Stomach Issues, Plus a Spinach Pancake Recipe

Imagine if you were born with a guide for living your healthiest life.

A guide with the best food, climate, exercise and career suited for you. A guide showing you how to be in harmony with yourself and the people around you.

Well, Ayurveda is the free, open-source cliffs notes to living that you’ve been waiting for and following an Ayurvedic diet for Pitta body types is an easy way to solve stomach disorders and mood swings.

Ayurveda is the ancient medical system of India.

Ayurveda organizes the human physiology into three different metabolic body-types or “doshas.” If you don’t know your Ayurvedic body-type, take the quiz here.

The three doshas are: Vata (air & space energy), Pitta (fire & water energy) and Kapha (earth & water energy). The doshas are found in every single living being on the planet, including the homo sapiens.

Are you a Fiery Pitta Woman?

A poster-child for Pitta.

Body-Type

• Athletic build, average height and weight, mesomorphic

• Fair or ruddy skin, often freckled

• Light colored eyes

• Aversion to sun and hot weather

Physiology & Personality

• Strong digestion

• Tendency to become angry or irritable under stress

• Prone to stomach disorders and skin flare ups, skin irritations, rashes, acne, rosacea

Intense is the best word to describe a Pitta type.

Pittas are fiery. Pittas radiate tejas, or “inner radiance.” Pittas take command.  Pittas make exceptional lawyers, doctors, political and social leaders, humanitarians, and CEO’s.

See those eyes? That’s Pitta power!

Five Things Only a Pitta Woman Will Understand

1. I don’t get how people can show up late to a meeting. There’s nothing I resent more than having my time wasted!  

2. I need to know when we’re having lunch. And no, I can’t wait another half an hour to eat. 

3. Um, I’m definitely not flying to Miami in June. I can’t stand the freakin heat.

4. Why do I always have IBS? I can’t even with this stomach stuff anymore.

5. I'm always right. And if other people got that, their lives would be so much simpler.

When the Ship Goes Down, Hitch a Ride with Powerful Pitta

Pitta is fire and water energy (with fire dominating). Fire and water do not always get along but Pitta makes it work.

Pitta people can get frustrated or angry, and often struggle with some sort of inner conflict. That said, Pittas are pros are transforming pain into purpose. If the ship’s going down, grab onto the coattails of a Pitta. She/he will not only find a way out of chaos, but will write a new and exciting chapter from previous struggle.

The Unbelievably Easy Way a Pitta Loses Her Temper

Pittas will always need to be on top of their tempers. The mind-body system of Ayurveda explains that Pittas will always need to be on top of their tempers. In eastern medicine, managing ones mood and temper begins with what we put in our mouths. Eating an Ayurvedic diet for Pitta is the first step in calming your inner fire-ball.

Pittas Can Digest Anything ...... Or, Yeah Right?

Pitta is about the alchemical processes of transmuting one element into another element. Pitta directs digestion, metabolism, hormone levels, and maintaining a stable body temperature.

How does your body take a raw, cold, crunchy apple and extract a sweet, warm, pectin goop that keeps us alive? Pitta.

In the human body, Pitta resides in the gastrointestinal (GI) tract. When our agni (digestive fire) is strong, we are able to digest loads of information and food. When agni is weak, we get run down by inflammation, acidity or a sluggish digestion. Ever notice how most teenagers can eat anything? Spicy pepperoni pizza with soda and chips, no problem?

When we hit puberty, we hit a “Pitta growth stage of life,” and the peak of our digestive fire. But, as we enter our 30’s, our digestive engine shifts from a being a Dodge Ram to a nit-picky Saab.

Pittas have a higher metabolic rate than other body type.

Thus, Pittas have a large appetite for food, sex, adventure, achievement and success.

In turn, Pittas' detoxification pathways move: they pee, sweat, and secrete more sexual fluids than other metabolic types.

It’s Super Pitta to:

• Be ravenous if lunch or dinner is half an hour late

• Be super punctual and resent having your time wasted

• Walk like the boss you are

Pittas out of balance:

• Are hyper-critical, argumentative and dissatisfied with life

• Have heart-burn, loose bowels, IBS or other digestive disorders

• Have skin rashes, acne, rosacea, or chronic allergies

Six Common Ways Pittas Mess up Their Digestion

1. They eat too much.

2. They drown their dish with spicy sauces.

3. They drink ice-cold drinks and chomp on ice.

4. They go back to the kitchen right before bed for one more bite. 

5. They go for the coffee, wine, hard alcohol or drugs. And go for more.

6. They eat their emotions instead of expressing them.

The Proven Pitta Formula to Keep your Digestion Purring Like a Calico

Keep it Clean

• Your nervous system and digestion are highly sensitive. Caffeinated beverages crash your energy and alcohol is lighter fluid for your digestion. Think twice about stimulants.

Keep it Cool

• Play nice with others. You tend to be sharp. You’ll flow and connect more with others if you choose your words wisely and opt for being kind over being right. 

• Accolades and achievement come easy. Chilling out and doing nothing does not. Avoid burn out by prioritizing relationships and downtime. Slow down :)

• Workout only when it’s cooler out. Wear light-colored natural fibers. Hemp, cotton, linen are your threads.

Make Chlorophyll Your Best Friend

• Chlorophyll is in green plants. Green plants feed your blood “prana,” or energy.

• Enjoy lots of green juices, smoothies, salad, soups. Go green, go big.

Choose Beans over Meat

• Beans are cooling. Meat is heating. Your digestion does well with beans.

• Use white meats over dark or red when indulging.

Opt for Herbs over Spice

• Spice burns you out.

• Use cilantro, basil, mint, lemon balm, lemongrass, dill fennel cardamom, coriander instead of the pepper family.

Give Yourself a Daily Self Massage

• Rub yo’ self daily with sunflower or coconut oil. Focus on your belly.

• Shower or bathe in cool or lukewarm water; keep the hot tubs, saunas and steam rooms to a min!

Drink Water, Repeat.

• Water cools you down. Water is home-base for Pittas.

• Drink a glass of water at least once every hour and enjoy watery fruits like watermelon, cucumber, and grapes.

Ayurvedic Diet for Pitta: Cooling & Calming Foods

Pittas love to eat. If you skip a meal you get hangry. Don’t skip meals. You tend to eat more than your body needs. Overeating squashes your fire. Keep your digestion strong by:

• Enjoy fresh, sweet and cooling foods. Stay away from spicy, salty and sour flavors.

• Avoiding icy drinks, ice, cold food

• Red is the color of inflammation. Red-colored fruits and vegetables will easily inflame you, especially spicy or sour-flavored ones like cayenne pepper, tomatoes, and cherries.

• You need sweet flavors to chill out your edge. Choose smart sweets like fresh fruit, dates and grains like rice and oats.

• Honey heats you up so opt for maple syrup.

Best Spices for Pitta

• Cinnamon

• Fennel

• Coriander

 Best Cooking Oils for Pitta

• Olive

• Ghee

• Coconut

Breakfast

Breakfast can be light but enough to sustain you until lunch.

Breakfast ideas: Cooked fruit with oats, amaranth, or quinoa. 

Lunch

Lunch is the new dinner. Make lunch intentional. Sit down. Slow down. Even if it’s only for 15 minutes. It counts. Big time. Eat lunch between 12-1:30 and no later than 2pm. Make lunch heavy enough to make it to dinner by 6pm.

Lunch ideas: 

• Tabbouleh with cucumber and avocado

• Roasted brussels sprouts with barley

• Coconut and cilantro dahl

Dinner

Make dinner half the size of lunch. Enjoy the living bejesus out of soups and vegetarian stews with lentils. The healthiest most surefire way to lose weight is to have an earlier, lighter dinner.

Dinner ideas:

• Roast chicken with sweet potatoes with kale and ginger

• Turkey burgers with steamed broccoli

• Risotto with cauliflower, asparagus, and ginger 

Super Spinach Pitta Pancake Recipe

This is a healthy riff on Jamie Oliver’s recipe published in 2020. You won’t regret making it!

Serves: 6 | Cook Time: 20 minutes

Ingredients:

• 1 ripe avocado

• 3 1/2 oz baby spinach

• 1/2 bunch fresh cilantro

• 1 lime

• Extra-virgin olive-oil

• 1 large egg

• 1 cup chickpea flour

• 1 cup nut milk of choice or 2% cow milk

• 10 oz cottage cheese or hummus

Directions

1. Halve, pit, peel and finely slice the avocado, then place in a salad bowl with a quarter of the spinach. Pick the cilantro leaves and place into the bowl, then squeeze over the lime juice. Drizzle with 1 tablespoon of extra virgin olive oil, season with sea salt and black pepper, toss to coat and put aside.

2. Crack the egg into a blender, add the flour, milk, remaining spinach and a pinch of pepper, then blitz until smooth. Place a large non-stick frying pan on a medium heat, rub the pan with a little olive oil, then pour in a thin layer of batter, swirling it up and around the edges. Cook on one side only for 2 minutes, or until lightly golden, then stack up on a serving plate and repeat.

3. Top each pancake with dollops of cottage cheese and the avocado salad. Really delicious served with extra lime wedges for squeezing over, and a fried egg on top.

4. Instead of spinach you could use kale, bok-choy or a mix of herbs, such as parsley, mint, basil or tarragon.