Ayurvedic living Archives - Healthy Happy Life Secrets

Indecisive Vata Traits Keeping You Stuck

Indecisive Vata is one way to describe how Vatas act often. This could be new news to you. It was new to me too up ’til 2008 when I learned about Ayurveda.

Indecisive Vata often is confronted with this or that path choices that can create anxiety. — Indecisive – which path will you take?

…That’s when it clicked and made sense as to why I had indecisive and other Vata tendencies.

You can read my back story here about when I went to go get help for my immediate Pitta mind-body symptoms. And I also came out with knowledge and awareness on why certain Vata ways were natural to me. I’m naturally a Vata with some dominant Pitta mind, but like all of us… sometimes tired Kapha kicks up.

…And whether you tend toward uneasy, annoyed, or listlessness it all ties back to your balance.

If you’re wondering if you have Vata traits, this article shares more and how you can benefit from knowing.

Growing up, I always felt hesitant about small decisions. Do I want an orange or crackers? Do I want pink or blue to wear? This could easily be chalked up to the fact that most of us like more than one food or color. …or I’m a female, so being indecisive is typical.

But in reality it’s not about the color, food, or gender. Or even about how you were raised.

It’s about our natural makeup, that’s unisex. We have Ayurvedic orientations called Vata, Pitta, and Kapha inside us. Or wind, fire, and earth if that’s easier to remember. 💨🔥🌎

Earth, Wind, and Fire is already taken. 🥁🎹🎺

And we’re more dominant in one or two of those names in body. And same goes for the mind. Putting those two parts together, you get the mind-body connection that affects so much of our lives and behaviors.

Indecisiveness is one way that’s mostly a mind situation that you can easily pinpoint from an Ayurvedic lens.

When you can do that, you can restore the healthy balance back in awareness to your calm and confident decision-making.

Being decisive all around not only saves time, but leads to better decisions and outcomes.

How Being Vata Indecisive Can Hurt

At the heart, indecision is second guessing your first decision that comes from gut instinct and clear minded processing. So in a way, being Vata indecisive is being confronted with a brain fog moment.

Indecision can lead to worry that Vatas lean into already. And that state of mind can lead to staying stuck in a cycle of unproductive thoughts playing as an undercurrent in the back of your mind. 🌊That’s added stress that doesn’t need to be there.

Feeling anxiety also can cause indecision as body symptoms make it more difficult to clearly process thoughts.

Vice versa, indecision can lead to anxiety (that’s another common Vata trait).

Depending on the body symptom severity, anxious feelings lead to poor decisions and outcomes.

It numbs awareness of what is real.

And making matters worse, that pause can linger and keep you frozen from making a decision or in “fight or flight” that can cost.

For small things like daily preferences, that’s not such a big deal… but if it’s deciding on taking a right or left or making a quick life threatening decision, that can be concern- elevated.

Vata indecisive traits can compound into feeling uncertain about other areas in your day when those moments could be better spent enjoying yourself or even better… being in the moment in peace and mindfulness.

That’s when stress melts away for whatever is in your life eating at you. Those anxious feelings are traded in for feeling calm and joyful.

That’s the ticket for your healthy and happy life. 🎟️

And that can be your norm or new norm! I know because my life did a 180-turn from stress to peace when I got rid of the triggers. I became self-employed.

And I became more clear-headed… more like a human and less walking around like a busy Bot. There are too many of those already roaming our internet spaces.

How to Get Back To Your Vata Mind Balance

And in learning from my balanced seasons where I could disconnect and detox, I’m more decisive.

I’m my balanced Vata (the way that is naturally greater and my optimal best) 🧘🏻‍♀️

I don’t teeter back and forth. I can catch myself in the act of hemming and hawing and doing what I know to do to restore any Vata imbalance that tries to creep back in.

It’s not difficult or unnatural. It’s simply being intentional daily doing the specific balanced steps that turn the tide around for a better life. 👣

No one is doomed to the “I’m just indecisive” label. That’s putting a stamp of acceptance that’s not the way it has to be or stay.

And you can start by doing these two balanced healthy steps:

1) Get self-awareness in the moment so you can be next step-intentional.

2) Then, breathe the calm back into your mind-body as soon as you can so you can feel the calm pause in the next moments.

Finding ways to have a calmer life, I believe is underrated. And not what Western culture aims for although we’ve wised up post-2020.

As mentioned, calm allows for clearer, confident decisions.

Calm is also better for your healthy outcomes.

But if you don’t have that life now because of situational triggers you can’t avoid, then restoring daily when you can with what you do have as calming resources will be the next best way.

Use your surroundings: calming activities and scents, music, yoga, and a nature walk.

Do this daily and often.

They’re not time wasters. It’s like taking care of your teeth. It’s always minutes well spent investing in your daily smile. 😁

If you feel you’re daily Vata indecisive for what to do (such as jumping from task to task), get back to your breathing awareness.

We often forget, yet another Vata common trait. Not picking on Vatas as we’re a creative, enthusiastic bunch… but in your remembering moment (or in the slight gap pause), recall there is calm balance and no anxiety.

Let the weight of the world you live in go by letting all that out in deep inhale and exhale breaths. That’s an activity you can do anywhere, anytime… and wise to do all the time.

Set a reminder if that helps. ⌚️

And when you do your breathing exercise, you’re able to work your way out slowly in the gap or one moment at a time.

And this date recipe that you can make for your daily self 😊 can help restore your Vata especially if you add the orange and cinnamon tastes.

Print Recipe

Date Cookies

You can make these ahead of time and in any oven including an apartment oven. And enjoy.

Ingredients

coconut flour and plain flour combined
a few pats of butter (or coconut oil)
chopped dates
water as needed
orange zest and cinnamon (optional)

Instructions

Prepare and chop dates filling. Tip: since dates are sticky, it's easier to use a serated chopping knife with edges. Add cinnamon and orange zest if you'd like more Vata sweetness.
Mix cookie ingredients: flour, butter or oil, and water as needed to make a cohesive cookie dough disc. You can make this in advance and freeze the dough if you like.
When dough is slightly cooler than room temperature is the ideal temperature to work with this dough. Roll out cookie dough to about 1/4 to 1/8 inch thick (doesn't have to be too thin).
Add date filling to center of dough.
Roll up and cut into small, even pieces.
Bake on 350°F for about 12 minutes or until golden brown.

Kapha Body Type Obvious Signs

Kapha body type is found in those with hearts… yes, that’s all of us, but not all of us are natural Kapha bodies. Gaining Kapha obvious signs and awareness-knowledge helps us in our daily lives.

Raspberries are good for heart health and even mimic heart shapes 🫀These whole wheat raspberry pop tarts celebrate heart health month. 💗

Whether you’re a natural Kapha body type or not (that you’ll learn more about in this article), you can have a Kapha imbalance as all of us have some Kapha in us.

Kapha is the earth and water 🌎 in us (that sometimes carries mud and creates sluggish seasons in our lives!).

…And likely, someone close to you is a natural Kapha. You may have friends and relationships with many Kaphas who in-balance make great friends, but outta balance can rub off in not-so-great ways you’ll learn more about below.

…But for the most part, Kaphas are loving people at heart so we can lean toward those positive traits. 💕

Backing up just a ‘lil, you may not be so familiar with the Kapha body type description because it’s part of our newer age and Ayurveda today is a common approach among eastern way cultures where it started.

Thousands of miles away in America where I grew up and live, it’s catching on, but not everyone is aware. There, we learned about pear and apple body shapes as descriptors. And endomorphs (Kapha), mesomorphs (Pitta), and ectomorphs (Vata) body types… sound familiar? Body types were often illustrated with doodle images in magazines.

Today, a sturdy planted elm or a full fruit blossomed tree can be another Kapha body type description if you want to take it outside for nature descriptors or into your Ayurveda Tree yoga pose that has caught on like wildfire in the Western hemisphere.

And, of the three dosha body types (Kapha, Pitta, and Vata), Kaphas can usually withstand and endure tougher conditions like palm trees, that you can mimic in Swaying Palm Tree pose.

Kaphas are like palms 🌴 that are enduring in nature.

Or, you can show off your Kapha body soul with firmly planted feet in a majestic Mountain Pose if balance poses a challenge in your Ayurvedic moves. ⛰️

Other obvious Kapha body type characteristics:

Kapha body type can be described as solid and larger frame (compared to the Pitta and Vata body types).

But there are other natural characteristics, like: dewey skin (moist) and a colder internal body thermostat. They share cooler body temps in common with Vatas.

That’s why it’s good to have a thick, comfy hoodie or warm blanket close by that comforts especially on wintery nights, wet days, and dreary weather outside.

Often, Kapha lazy sides rule. Hibernation during the colder months warm the soul, along with deep sleeping.

A Kapha body type can carry a daily sinus life and a regular cough-as Kapha. Sleeping with breathing difficulties is also common, along with waking up with chest to head congestion since the body was laying flat.

And these are other noticeable common signs (tell-tale even amongst strangers):

A Kapha body type gains weight easily. Kaphas tend to have larger frames. And most noticeable on the outside to a Kapha body, is the tendency to add weight and fit in larger clothing. They also tend to digest slowly and store more fat easily as another sign.

Kaphas tend to walk slowly. Others (Pittas and Vatas) walk faster ahead. It’s easy to chalk this up to longer legs, but the Kapha slower pace is not just body-part related. It’s also Kapha mind connected to the way each likes to do life in their Kapha body type if Kapha dominant overall, and taking life in stride. Think of the relaxed coastal lifestyle vs. fast city dweller life.

Which btw, a natural Vata mind and Kapha body is more anxious and a Pitta mind in a Kapha body takes life faster.

How these traits complement good Kapha body type sides:

As already mentioned, Kaphas prefer to embrace a relaxed, slower paced life that’s healthy and less stress to the body. So that can lead to a longer life if other health and wellness areas are self-care maintained.

…And this leads to a Kapha body type who lives more calm ☺️ than anxious Vata types 😦 or competitive Pitta Type-A’s. 😠

Mind you, none of the body types are better than the other per se, but being overall healthy is the best of all dosha worlds.

Kaphas also have a higher tendency to forgive other people as being sympathetic. And they have good memories (…a memory like an elephant 🐘), so they can make good reminders. Other types like Vatas, not so much as more forgetful.

And these help to support the idea that Kaphas often make great friends because they’re nice at heart, supportive, loving, and likable.

Kaphas are common among us and are often our funny, light-hearted entertaining friends we like to have fun and laugh with.

We love our balanced Kapha friends because in those moments they let things roll off their back and not bother them. They don’t take life too seriously like score-counting Pitta counterparts or worry wart Vatas.

Other body types wish they could be like the Kapha body type. They can get their superpower things done in ease. They don’t sweat the small things.

Now, these are the downsides that an imbalanced Kapha body type can exude:

Kaphas can be clingy in relationships where too much of a good thing can be cloying and smothering.

And as mentioned they tend to metabolize slowly, and accumulate pounds easily (“look at food and gain weight”).

Accumulation can also carry into their lives as hoarding, clutter, or disorganization. When someone has too much Kapha (or imbalanced Kapha), these are typical signs.

A Kapha body type can also tend to hold in feelings and not express sad or other hurtful feelings that eat on the inside. This can stay as trauma to the body and mind in the mind-body connection. They can be more sensitive to criticism than Vatas and Pittas.

But the great news is an imbalanced Kapha from an accumulated seasonal situation (and not a health triggered one) can be restored with specific lifestyle tweaks using the 5-senses.

Our human bodies are intuitive and have built-in natural preferences. To optimize our lives, we can learn the internal body language and uncover what those are to restore ourselves and our lives. You can do this better when you know whether you have a Kapha (Pitta or Vata) body imbalance or a combination, and know what to do when imbalanced for each for starters.

You can also complement Ayurvedic lifestyle tweaks with hormonal or aging health imbalances. Solutions (such as healthy foods) are both headed in the healthy direction, so there are overlaps in natural prescriptions.

Taking small action in those healthy guided directions help turn the tide sooner to get back to the happy-go-lucky and calm temperament that is natural to a Kapha body type and the sides everyone around you loves…

And by taking care and nipping-in-the-bud accumulating imbalances that accrue easily in our busy Western and comparing cultures, you can avoid unnecessary potential depression, infections, and obesity. ❣

Awareness, daily restoration, and prevention can change the trajectory toward better healthy outcomes, daily life enjoyment, and longevity.

Since the body communicates with us through feeling-good and healthy vs uncomfortable (or body symptoms), we can use those clues to gather more information from our bodies.

Here are some habit examples that can restore the 3 most common Kapha imbalances:

Clear chest and nasal congestion or excess phlegm. Mucus is actually a way for your body to protect you from foreign body invaders like allergens (and sometimes over protect with daily allergies).

One natural symptom remedy is: you can breathe in ACV steam like our older and grandmother generations taught. If you feel the sting in your passages, then it’s working.

Shower steam is also good. You can also use and sniff essential oils like peppermint and eucalyptus that will help open up the passages.

A neti pot is also a good way habit that cleans out your passages naturally. You may want to do this regularly during heavy pollen season or year-round weekly (or bi-weekly). Use warm water and sea salt for best cleansing effect. You can prevent nasty sinus infections from this one cleansing move.

Prevent weight gain and maintain a consistent healthy weight. When it’s colder, warm comfort foods are desired. Use healthy ingredients and consider making your own homemade soups and stews. Balance with plant-based foods such as beans, alliums, and indole veggies. And start the day with fiber like asparagus, bananas, oats, and whole grains.

You can have cook prepared veggies and salads ready-to-go on the side. You can also decide to have something “green” at every major meal.

And still focus on healthy proteins as the star of your meal that’ll keep you feeling full longer so you don’t feel the need to snack all day.

Beating tiredness. Start your day with water. Get caffeinated and enough sleep. Intake enough Vitamin D and sunshine especially during colder months that doesn’t do Kaphas any favors.

Lessen blue light at night from devices and wear blue light blocking glasses that our grandmother’s ages didn’t have. Listen to uplifting and get-you-moving music ring tones that can also be your wake-up alarm.

And if you want to optimize sleep and lose weight, intermittent fasting is one biohacking trick that helps in those areas and many other health longevity areas especially if you’re living and adjusting to your beyond 40s new normal body.

Fasting would’ve been frowned upon in our grandmothers’ eras where that would’ve been seen as starvation. But we’ve wised up to know our cultures are abundant in food and we’ve grown beyond the “exercise more and eat less” mantras.

🌱 If healthy intermittent fasting is something you would like to learn more about, get the free comprehensive guide to start and sustain your IF or fasting lifestyle that works for all body types in bio-individuality.

Print Recipe

Here is a Whole Wheat Raspberry Pop Tart recipe for your tart cravings with a light healthy sweet bite. 💕

Easy Whole Wheat Raspberry Pop Tarts

Course Breakfast

Cuisine American

Ingredients

Raspberries
Whole wheat flour
1 tbsp or 1-2 pats of butter
Warm water (enough to make pastry workable enough to shape a disc that can be rolled ou 1/4" thick)
Homemade raspberry Jam

Instructions

You decide how much you make.
Make the pastry dough and roll out to about 1/4" thick.
Cut out rectangles.
Add jam or fruit filling to bottom and cover with top rectangle like a sandwich.
Use a fork to crimp the edges together.
Bake on 325°F. For wheat flour, it's best to take a listen or tap to see if baked done as color stays consistent throughout baking process.
For jam: crush raspberry with bowl and spoon or mortar and pestle and add a small amount of water.

5 Best Vata Season Tips to Love This Autumn

Pandan Whoopie Pies

Course Dessert

Cuisine American

Ingredients

2 Egg whites
1/4 cup fine almond flour
Pandan
Pistachios (optional)
monkfruit sugar or white sugar
Greek yogurt (for filling)

Instructions

Whip up meringues with egg whites and add monkfruit sugar or sugar, almond flour, and Pandan.
Bake on 300°F for 12 minutes. Do not overbake. Tip: flip tops over to bottom if edges begin to brown and use top shelf of oven.
Let cool. Make top and bottom sandwiches with Greek yogurt and decorate with pistachios (optional).

transitioning into vata season with pandan yogurt cakey whoopie pies. — These healthy frog green Pandan Whoopie Pies are decadent sandwiched with Greek yogurt, white chocolate, almond flour and pistachios and in celebration of Cake Week of The Great British Baking Show. I’ve added a healthy (but tasty) vertical cake to my list of baking projects! 🍥 Proof that pandan has grown into the modern, Western baking world. 😊

And below, I have some tips on how you can evolve and make the most of your Vata season with autumn mind-body balance tips.

We know we’ve hit a naturally changing season when daylight savings time hits and we fall back in time (and then give back an hour in spring forward).

But before these time clock changes, our healthy bodies naturally start to transition into the upcoming season. And our daily preferences change much sooner. Mostly because the stores and media around us have started their promotions on the first weekend before the new season starts.

And when we are ready, we get ourselves ready for a new season…

We change up our home candles, spices, and teas. And we opt for warm drinks over cold drinks. We also like burnt, spicier shades of browns, reds, and oranges compared to the bright whites and colors of summer.

We subtly shift from light caramel lattes to pumpkin spices. And we feel it in the sea air in the last days of summer.

And for Vata bodies (maybe that’s your dominant dosha), the mind-body can feel most balanced during the Vata season. And for any of us we want to lean into this season. And there are easy changes to help our Vata balance.

Vata Season – Surroundings Change

We lean into Vata season with a change in home décor that can cost nothing like bringing in pine cones or adding a splash of color inspired by the changing of the trees and leaves outside.

I like to pull out different cornucopia color coffee table books or magazines (…remember those?) that have the colors I’m looking for.

So it doesn’t have to cost much of anything except bringing out your creativity and the resources around you. That can help you get closer to your inner child when in those days that’s how everyday was when you wanted to do more.

And maybe that includes rearranging books and decor on bookshelves, and creating new table centerpieces. Some people like to change up their bedroom or wall colors too.

And maybe you have a second getaway place you call home like a cabin retreat, that can be very nourishing as you move away from the summer beachy vibes.

You can look at your new surroundings and inspiration, and feel warm and cozy inside, like you get from a crackling lit fireplace, but it’s still too warm outside for that!

5 Vata Season Body Shifts

1. Warm

In Vata season, we start preferring the warm drinks, but not the hot ones. We prefer warm drinks to start the day, and that gives our soul a small boost to enter the day with optimism.

In the shower, we may feel very relaxed with the therapeutic water pitter patter comfort of warmer water drops, but your skin could still be screaming for cooler jet streams because it’s still hot outside (and you’re part Pitta!).

2.Dry

Vata bodies also shift into their natural dry, wind-like features. Maybe your lips, lizard dry feet, or another part of your body feels the transitioning effects. Even though you may have felt the dry effects during the heated summer that’s another cause.

And Vata season, all around us we see proof as nature is withering into the season.

3. Tastes and smells

And we have certain flavors that we go to that give us seasonal joy. A good reminder for us is when we already know our preferences in food, tea, drinks, and spices. Because we can reach for those with little extra decision effort and maybe they’re on hand already.

But for a Vata who prefers variety and the preferences change daily, cinnamon and ginger does not. And those are good to lean into during Vata season.

Also, orange scented candles as in orange fruits, but could be orange color too. There are so many options in candles these days that I have to specify. 😊 Because pure orange citrus calms the nerves and that helps with Vatas who are feeling naturally anxious in their body when triggered, unlike Pittas and Kaphas who don’t understand.

4. Colors

The changing fall leaves help to inspire fall colors. Out in California where I have family and friends, to me it never feels like fall because the lack of deciduous trees with shedding leaves.

And I always feel “off” like something inside is missing even if I’m only there for a short visit and seeing the lovely evergreen palm trees and coastal vibes.

And my body calls for the changing landscapes of parks and cooler temperature vineyards.

5. Activities

Fall is a great transitional period to start a physical routine again like hiking, pickleball, or YOGA. That’s my favorite.

I’m back in classes and I’m gonna share with you my lessons old and new in the coming few weeks! It’s an anniversary for me as I started going to Hatha yoga classes regularly in the Vata season after I had my Ayurvedic epiphany. 🧘🏻‍♀️

And even if you’ve just left the happy-go-lucky and vacation summer days, and headed back to busy fall, find time to get your alone time in yoga or meditation wherever suits you best.

That will help you ease into the season, and ground and round out the rest of the year. And gear up for holiday time and a new year that’s getting closer.

And finally…

Get An Vata Season Empowered Reset

The change in season gives us a reason to reset.

We don’t really need a reason because every day is a new start, but a new season like Vata season is a good reminder.

So we can a start new project, have new goals, and a way to remember the same season last year.

Our body cells don’t forget. I learned this experientially in a yoga class when years ago I took a break and my muscles remembered.

And you can consciously activate your brain cells by going down memory lane.

What were you doing this same time last year? I’m sure there are areas that were 180 degrees in another direction when you check.

Maybe you moved or something in your work or relationship changed. You’ve made great strides, so you should pat yourself on the back for all your soft and recognized accomplishments.

You empower yourself with healthy thoughts.

Photos, journal entries, and other personal external things can conjure up happy memories and thoughts that bring nostalgia and joy as you go through the transition of the season.

Make some new routines. Maybe some end-of-year goals. Now is a good time so you can make impact on this year’s progress. Just a thought. 💭

Are You Out of Balance? Kapha Awareness (Part 3)

Kapha awareness can help you with choosing longevity boosting foods and activities. Pita bread has a lower glycemic index (helps anti-inflammatory) than many breads if you’re not willing to give up your bread… bread can still be a good thing! Easy pita bread recipe below. 🍴

Acting anti Kapha in energy and awareness using activity preferences and natural environment to build up physical activity so you can live long like in the Blue Zones. — If you’ve been spending time doing CARDIO for health and maybe Kapha awareness, listen up! These 100 year olds don’t rely on treadmills, but natural daily terrain and these life-giving activities that are shared in the “Live to 100: Secrets of the Blue Zones” documentary movie.

In hot months, we are far away from Kapha season, but good to always have Kapha awareness that can hit us anytime of year.

Natural Kapha season is in the coldest months of the year (winter thru early spring) and we normally bundle up and eat more to keep us warm. It’s part of our natural evolution that falls after Vata autumn season… (you can learn about imbalances with Vata anxiety vs nervous feelings in last week’s Part 2 in this Ayurvedic series).

In Kapha awareness season that’s what this week’s article is about, we also naturally gravitate toward warm comfort foods as we know the cool light foods are Pitta Season that can cause Pitta mind body inflammation.

And if we’re having a Kapha body heavy season outside of natural Kapha season, that can put us out of balance and add more stress on our body keeping score. We know we’re Kapha imbalanced if we’re overeating or run toward processed or fatty foods more than usual.

In the Western world and especially America where I live, junk food is affordable, convenient food. Our societal environments aren’t supporting our longevity.

The opposite and healthiest populations with the largest number of Centenarians are in Loma Linda USA and the other Blue Zones (founded by Dan Buettner and described in his Netflix documentary, Live to 100: Secrets of the Blue Zones).

But most areas in the U.S. or the world don’t live those naturally active lifestyles with built-in healthy eating strategies.

In most areas in metropolitan America and where I live, buying and preparing healthy foods takes more time and effort than the convenient, processed food options that are in your face on the road.

These are a couple key takeaways as to why you should care:

For one, eating those less healthy options, add up to weight gain and accumulating a less healthy body that’s keeping score; and are linked to and can lead to chronic inflammations down the road as statistics show.

But another point is that it’s not always just a body issue… it’s a mind and body challenge because the mind is what influences us (the choice makers) most as to what to put in the body. There’s a mind-body connection and on the more surface level it starts with our thoughts. That’s what I learned in Ayurveda.

💡And the aftermaths are in the mind-body connection (internal language). The thoughts, feelings, emotions, daily actions and reactions (in insecurities and fears) show up as symptoms on the body. The strange and uncomfortable body ailments we find on bodies are snowballed by our past thoughts and trauma we’ve endured.

A simple example is why a pimple shows up when you have stress. They start from our thoughts that show up on the face or body the next day or even sooner. And this same explanation is why someone with PTSD thoughts (aware or not) holds onto extra pounds.

…This connect-the-dots could be a revelation for some and one big reason why I’m so passionate about restoring imbalances for healthy reasons and daily happiness. 💕

And it’s not any of our faults, as more than 90% of our day is run on the subconscious mind level. We have the job to connect-the-dots in self-awareness and knowledge.

Sometimes this can be coming from a hormone imbalance where we don’t know when to stop eating. And a rule like eating to 80% of feeling full won’t help in those cases.

…But as decision makers for our actions and desires, we can set our own controls in place that don’t require excessive hardwork (like calorie counting or hours of exercise).

And those ways are not smart either because that’s not how our natural minds and bodies most efficiently work.

…If we tell ourselves, we can’t eat something, then our minds have a field day with us and we just want the eye-candy food even more (the “no ___” translates into energy toward the devil food cake or easy-greasy foods).

…And our bodies don’t want depletion of calories, it wants dense-nutrition.

And I can attest to this as I tried to live on pasta and low-fat cookies in my 20s… how did that work? 👎 …and what happened on the scale? 📈 …and like many of us who tried diets, it ended up like a yo-yo effect 🪀

Plus, restricted to changes in no longer being able to eat certain types or quantities of foods for the same quality of life we had is an uphill climb. That means we have to learn new habits if we don’t want to sacrifice our body’s health or how we look.

Finding better habits that work for us is the ticket to success in maintaining a consistent weight you’re happy with. And some may think, DUH, I’ve been trying that but it hasn’t been easy.

Finding a new perspective from your past is one of the ways out. For example, some want to live longer to see their grandkids grow up, and others value feeling or looking better and eating healthy is one of the strategies.

For me, I want to respect my body as the only one I got. And while weight gain isn’t my Vata issue, putting a hard stop on snacking all day and closing the kitchen is.

I can use this analogy… when I started drinking coffee in the morning, I found that my 2 cups habit led to an eventual bottomless mug.

And I’m a home baker who doesn’t naturally measure. But I naturally keep track of time, so I used that easy tracking.

…One day, instead of counting cups I decided to use a coffee clock as a more effective tool. 🕛

And anywhere you are in the world, you’re on a world clock. And that clock has a time. So I use 12 noon as my morning quitting time. And allow myself a light latte dessert drink after lunch.

And in that example, I’ve created a habit stack onto my lunch time. And a habit stick that works year-round.

Maybe you have the same dilemma with coffee o’clock around the clock, or its food o’clock all day and all night. I know that too as I would snack from the time I woke up… I mean, I had to put food in my belly so the coffee had a non-acidic soft place to land.

…And then I continued snacking in the late morning until late at night, and sometimes skipping dinner but still snacking. Mind you, my snacks are healthy nuts, popcorn, and nutritional foods 90% of the time. But snacking is snacking.

Eating something and whenever you want is putting your body to work.

And I did this every day 365 times a year, like most of us have been trained to do since we were young.

Until I did this one thing… I quit eating after lunch on 1-2 days a week. And again I used time as a tracker. And I learned that this was healthy.

And not what I was previously told needed to happen which was to snack every 4-5 hours I was awake. And not doing that, gave my body a well-deserved break from digesting

And after I did that for more than 6 months (8 months to date), my body got adjusted to this new way that’s metabolically good for the body and all its running parts.

I ending up eating less food. And I started seeing some tone to my torso. Hmm… not bad. But for me the best part is the simplifying my life part not having to think about eating good foods all the time.

…I started out my career in hotel catering and worked professionally with foods for a decade, so that’s always been HUGE for me. I’m passionate about foods.

But not having to prepare home meals all the time or find a snack substitution is liberating. Food is joy in my book, and taking a break for a day makes me appreciate the foods even more.

And, I use that non-eating time to be productive… and unlike a snack break commercial interrupt, get more things done besides stuffing my face. 😊

And as intermittent fasting is trending, research is demystifying that it’s healthy. Your body loves a good healthy trend. When our bodies carry too much weight it’s a heavy burden that can upset organ functions along our GI tract, heart, and pancreas creating insulin as a helper.

I shared my starting intermittent fasting journey earlier in 2023 that’s part of my weekly routine. No more uncomfortable what is that? stomach feeling. And we know the gut is responsible for over 90% of our happy hormones.

I allow my body to detox longer than through a night of sleep. And you can too if you’re a natural Vata, Pitta, or Kapha body.

And if you’re finding yourself holding onto extra pounds you’d like to shed off and have tried all the diets that brought you back to Square-One (or similar to my weight cycling diet experience, weighing higher months later), then IF is something you want to embrace as your last-stop try.

I’ve put together my free ultimate IF guide, that has all the info. to get started all-in-one-place that you can check out for FREE.

And in free-ing Kapha awareness and celebrating our healthy Kaphas that make us lovely human beings, we can be aware of our Kapha mind imbalances that rob our peaceful moods.

We can get out of balance with our lazy moods that we can’t shake off easily. This can start from anything including overeating, being bored, discouraged, or wanting a more exciting, creative life.

…Or another sign is we act clingy or needy (and we have Kapha awareness on this since close ones have told us nicely to backoff).

…Or we start to accumulate things (opposite of minimalist) and they show up in our lives and we notice when we consciously pay attention in Kapha awareness.

And all these daily actions (or inactions) let us know that we have an opportunity to change our Kapha mind imbalances that affect our daily perspectives and outlook.

And Kapha awareness is the first step to get you out (and Ayurvedic awareness for any of the mind-body imbalances), so you can daily make healthy choices that help to restore your balances.

…Cleanup and prevention positively impacts your upcoming seasons and life, so you want to nip-imbalances-in-the-bud. 🌹

Here is a super simple recipe that you can bake in your apartment oven and/or during warm months where you want to keep the oven low.

Easy Pita Bread

Pita is a great accompaniment for meals. The same ingredients used in general bread making is used in pita bread making. The technique slightly varies that gives the desired hollow pita pocket.

Course Side Dish

Cuisine American

Ingredients

flour of choice (e.g. wheat and plain flour)
water
instant yeast
salt

Instructions

Mix ingredients and form a bread dough. Knead for a few minutes by hand is fine. Set in a covered bowl to proof rise. Then punch down dough.
Roll out dough to about 1/8 inch thick or as thin as you can without holes. This is different that most bread methods because you're uniformly flattening the dough.
Cut out your pitas. For mini-pitas, you can use a drinking glass to cut out. And then pickup and move pita with small cake decorating spatula to baking sheet. Alternatively, you can roll out dough on the baking sheet "as is" and pull up the dough scraps that won't be used (and you'll be left with the cut outs).
Bake on 350°F oven (good for apartment ovens) and keeping heat energy low. Then bake until puffed up and golden browned, depending on size.

Anxiety vs. Nervous – Are You Out of Balance? (Part 2)

Anxiety vs. nervous feelings can be better calmed with deep breathing but they show different body symptoms…

Wellness prescription if you’re feeling exceptionally Vata body: a comforting warm soup with calming mint for body aches 🌱

With back to school air and a new season, we can easily get out of balance. In transitions, we can have a Vata anxiety vs. nervous complex happening in our connected mind-body.

But we can lean into restoring our natural balance whether we’re naturally and mostly Vata mind-body. And below I share some valuable tips for your work, school, arising family situations, and other transitions you may be facing.

When we prepare for Vata season, our Vata runs the ship if we’re naturally mostly Vata or if Vata is our dosha balance we need to restore.

Naturally Vata bodies feel at home with outdoor cooler temps and leaves changing and falling. But external situations and transitions in a new season can especially cause anxiety and wreak stress havoc on our bodies keeping score.

And that can add to a strong Vata worry mind to stir up the Vata complex situation. If you’re naturally a Vata mind-body (that is, mind and body), all things equal, you’re naturally better with change than a Kapha mind-body who resists change.

But any of us can get the wind knocked out of our sails in life’s complex situations that shows us and our ever changing bodies what we’re made of.

And life has shown us young and old if we’re naturally Vata, by how we react with uncontrollable symptoms of panic or anxiety. These are classic signs of high Vata.

And if we keep that internal to us, then we can be high functioning but still Vata is our natural way.

And since this Part 2 week of the Ayurvedic series is about Vata, being aware of the obvious problematic anxiety characteristics below can save your from a season of aches and unenjoyment.

Some are more subtle. For example, one that can happen to any of us humans (with any dosha profile), is getting a headache even if it’s harmless and temporary.

One friend I was recently talking to said she had a specific headache feeling that she had experienced before. My first reaction thought was, did you drink enough water today? I know Vatas are on the dry side, and I know this person is a Vata.

…which by the way, I know everyone’s Vata, Kapha, Pitta (dosha) natural and imbalanced dosha current profiles based on a few simple answers, that’s 100% much easier to diagnose than a headache.

…unless it’s just lack of drinking water, which is what we discovered in this friend’s case that was immediately solved.

But some people won’t research these small body signs or they just pop a pill without thinking twice…

To me, as a health nut 🤪 in a sensitive body, knowing a snapshot dosha profile (balance and imbalance) is a lifesaver because some things are easily restored from that perspective that need no pills or medical intervention. But most Western world people aren’t daily Ayurvedic aware, and certainly not at a preventative level.

And in our lives, if we choose healthy and happy ways for our primary doshas, then we prevent less than optimal daily living. Joy could be ours sooner and everyday with an awareness in our lifestyle choices as culprits.

We’re creatures of habit programmed to do the same even if it’s to our detriment, unless and until we’re aware there’s a better proven formula or something worth making the change for.

And when we’re aware in this moment (and every waking moment), we get to feel sensitized and as best we can. And that takes us to a creative place! We ‘re running on a higher, conscious energy frequency. And that just makes me want to sing 🎶

I’ve grown in deeper spirituality, but I couldn’t tap into these higher places until I got out of the daily, imbalanced culture and corporate work lifestyles I was repeating in my life, that didn’t agree with me.

…It was like, I was air and earth mingling with oil and fire. It was only after I took some life risks that I could see I needed to run to fresh air to thrive. I had to step out from some of the proven ways and do things my way that didn’t have a guide.

And before that I saw signs that showed up as stress, anxiety, and worry. And if I didn’t remind myself of how those feelings felt when I had a good season, I would easily get roped back into those incompatible situations staring me in the face as my surrounding opportunities.

And I’m sharing this because I know that’s how it is for many of us who don’t want to turn down opportunities or fight what culture teaches us is respected (and sounds good on paper), or disappoint people who have influence in our lives.

Our feelings toward letting down is temporary, but our regrets in unhappy life choices is permanent. Maybe that’s just the encouragement you need to make a leap.

If we listen and say yes! to ourselves to taking higher risks, then we’re fulfilling our highest calling. And I don’t know what’s higher than highest… where if these were our last days on earth, we would still be showing up in those fulfilling areas that ease stress.

Occasionally feeling stress and nervous is healthy and means you’re trying in life. If you had no stress or life hurdles, that means you’re leading a life where there are no challenges or growth. And that would eventually become a dull life, leaving so much purpose-filling potential on the table.

Our goal is to have joy and not to have everyday stress (or in every fiber cell of being).

If it’s a season of anxiety vs. nervous situations, then finding an exit would be your better bet.

The difference I like to describe between anxiety and nervousness is that with nervousness you have a new opportunity ahead of you.

Many go into an interview with sweaty palms or a presentation with butterflies or summersaults in the stomach.

Those nervous feelings often disappear in the first few minutes after breaking the ice or at the start of the event, and then your body gets back to its normal rhythm.

Nervous situations get you one step closer to something bigger. You grow because you’re putting yourself in situations that looking back become your memorable lessons learned experiences. It gets easier over practice.

With anxiety, your anxiety doesn’t improve each time you are encountered with a similar situation. You aren’t meant to be in that situation and your body is screaming to get out, as though a bear were chasing you. 🐻 Sometimes your body is reacting to your old brain signals, and when aware you can rewrite those thoughts.

Your anxiety vs. nervous feelings are a good way to remind yourself next time you’re put in those decision moments of do I do this again or do I change course?

And here are some more characteristics to consider…

Vata Anxiety vs. Nervous Feelings

Anxiety intensity and duration: anxiety takes over (e.g. anxiety or panic attack). It can last for minutes, hours, or days, and settle in longer if no measures are taken to improve the situation. For example, if you’re in a new social situation, often the nervousness goes away after you find someone comfortable to talk to that’s different than high-functioning social anxiety feelings where you can’t wait to exit.

Anxiety feelings: there’s nothing good in anxiety except seeing that it’s a warning. The healthy goal is to get away from what’s triggering the anxiety, and not trying to overcome anxious feelings that are naturally pointing you in another direction.

Anxiety lingers uncomfortably in the foreground or background of the mind-body until the threat is completely gone.

Unlike a threat, a nervous response often turns into obvious relief and/or joy for putting yourself in the situation after it’s over. And leads to excitement or thriving on another favorable opportunity level.

Anxiety and Worry

If you have anxiety and worry running at the same, then that can be debilitating in daily functioning, like a physical symptom can.

Awareness is the first step to get you out so you don’t suffer a season. Re-shuffle your life, change route, or take bold risks.

But if you can’t get out of your situation, think of what you could gain out of the situation when you’re on the other side. Use your past situations as a reminder to what positively can come out of an anxiety vs. nervous or worrisome situation after the fact. 🌈 And use your anxious situations to victoriously learn how to be calm and get joy in any season.

✅If you want to see what your body is trying to tell you this season, take the 2-minute Body Balance Quiz. And if you recently did that or need more, a next easy 10-minute step you could do, is to get your personalized mind-body calm recipe.

Print Recipe

One-Bowl Orange Date Muffin For Calming Anxiety

If you're feeling anxious, the orange zest and dates will be great for you.

Course desserts

Cuisine American

Ingredients

3 finely chopped dates
3/4 cup flour (can combine with gluten-free flours) + 2 tbsp flour
1 egg
1/4 cup milk (or almond milk)
orange zest from an orange

Instructions

Combine ingredients. Bake on 325°F for about 25 minutes or until set.
Add orange zest for zhugh.