NOURISHMENT ETHOS
Ayurveda, like nature, teaches us how to be adaptable. We are all about using food inspired by that change for optimal wellness
Ayurveda, Ayur (life) Veda (science or knowledge), is a five thousand year old holistic healing science that recognizes the intimate connection between the body, mind, consciousness and environment.
Its approach to diet and lifestyle is inspired by the natural world around us. Imbalances and illnesses are considered preventative when eating & living in harmony with our environment. Food practices & routines that follow circadian & seasonal rhythms move with energy, reduce stress & strengthen our mental, physical & emotional health.
MIND BODY CONNECTION
The mind and internal landscape not only impact your food choices but also inform the functioning of your bodily processes. This is why it’s important to relate to your food and your body vs just following rules. Addressing the roots of your relationship to food is the foundation for transforming it into your medicine.
An Ayurvedic approach to nourishment, determining what and how to eat, is based on its understanding of health as holistic harmony within and without. Vitality is achieved by sustaining a cohesive relationship between the universal building blocks of life, the 5 elements.
All of life is composed of space, air, fire, water and earth in varying patterns. This is what creates the individual’s unique constitution and the diversity of life’s experiences such as landscapes, foods, seasons, climates, times of life, emotions and everything in between.
WHAT KIND OF NOURISHMENT IS AT THE HEART OF OUR FOOD PRACTICE?
A cyclical diversity of whole plant foods, a relaxed system & good digestive capacity…
This is not an exclusive list, but rather my focus towards supporting your food habits and digestive health. There is an abundance of seasonal plant foods that grow around us. They provide the minerals, vitamins & diversity of nutrition we need to replenish homeostasis and feed our bodies as a whole system. They also naturally align us with our own rhythms of change and balance us within the qualities of our environments.
CREATING BETTER FOOD FOR YOU AND THE PLANET
Local and seasonal foods is a way of eating that gives back to our collective environment, community and regenerative farmers. Considerate of a whole system, all food is sourced as close to home and the harvest date as possible. Valuing real food and real people, vital and pure energy.
COOKING WITH GRAINS & LEGUMES
Let’s talk about fiber…
Natural fiber is found only in plant foods (with the highest fiber content found in pulses!) This is fuel for your gut bugs, providing a thriving inner ecosystem that goes on to feed the mitochondria inside your cells (generator of energy necessary for all of your body’s functions i.e., your prana & vital life force)
Cuisines all around the world have their own variation of flavorfully balanced dishes using whole grains and pulses. The combination of complimentary proteins (methionine in grains + lysine in pulses) provides our essential amino acids & a crop pairing that benefits the health of our soil. Here’s the balance of this combination from an Ayurvedic lens!
the rice or grains, recognized as sweet & composed of earth and water, provide a nourishing and building effect which balances
the beans or legumes, recognized as astringent & composed of earth and air, providing a lightening and reducing effect.
Beans and other astringent & fiber rich foods scrape our body of toxic build up so that we can properly absorb and assimilate nourishment from what we ingest. In other words, these foods stoke our digestive capacity through feeding our gut bugs, protecting our gut lining and removing accumulation that blocks our bodies natural detox and regenerative processes.