Kapha Archives - Healthy Happy Life Secrets

Weight Loss Diets for Kapha Body

Weight loss diets are a prime topic for many of us these days. Healthy eating and dieting is front and center especially with age and slower metabolisms that’s common in a natural Kapha body.

This was my Sunday brunch. Recipe on the saffron shrimp white omelet below. 🍤

Let me first start by saying that food is a passionate lifestyle for me where tasty and healthy is a food pairing marriage from heaven.

…I started out as a buttery hotel food catering professional and moved into more healthy olive oil menu event planning in Mediterranean restaurants not too long ago.

Even though I’ve retired from those corporate industries, the experiences live daily in me and is my way of life I live and breathe. And why I’m writing and researching on the topics daily.

…I also do believe you can eat deliciously daily like a healthy foodie and still keep your consistent healthy weight whether you’re a Vata, Pitta, or Kapha.

There are challenges, especially for natural Kapha bodies where a slower metabolism is common.

I have some tips and strategies in this article for changing ways without giving up tastes.

And finding a good sustainable and healthy way of eating is still front and center the best way. That hasn’t changed much.

What has changed is that good weight loss diet plans are constantly changing because research changes that informs us.

The diet meaning here is the little “d” word as in what you eat and not the big “D” diet word of focusing on what not to eat that weight loss diets often focus on.

I like to focus on the positives for healthy change. When you focus on positives, you can more easily move on.

And as we evolve toward the future, we get better researched information that show up as health trends.

So most of what we’ve done in the past is not our fault. We’re fed information we believe that can become obsolete and no longer useful.

People don’t automatically change, but the research changes our behaviors and then that changes our culture and people’s behaviors as a whole.

Then as we evolve, the new information can be contradictory to past examples.

One controversial example today is healthy fats we learn are now good for weight loss diets because they help keep us feeling full.

We know today that it’s not just how many calories in and how many calories out, as all calories are not created equal.

Healthy fats aren’t the lowest calories in the house but healthy fats are healthy macros.

From last week’s blog article, you can listen to my healthy fat journey I had over the decades compared to today’s healthy fat foods list.

Compared to my catering days, we’ve come a long way!

Oh, and then there are the developing research areas. One evolving research example is that some foods that cause our bodies issues are high glycemic load carbs that spike insulin.

This one I embraced in the Inflammation-Free Diet book that I picked up decades ago. Since then, research in those areas has evolved and happy gut health has exploded.

Those were pre-mind-body balance days.

And so often it’s a mindset change choice we get to make with certain types of foods as we have built relationships with our foods that are hard to shake off.

Changing food mindsets not because of taste changes preferences, but because of wanting to live healthier lives is a good healthy push start.

When I started out as an adult, low fat foods were hailed for weight loss diets and healthy benefits. All fats were considered fats and bad.

So one college summer I ate all low fat foods as what I learned from the research at the time for weight loss Diets (with a big “D”).

I moved to the beach and worked at nearby ocean seafood restaurants.

Being a care-free summer when most of us want to eat lighter anyway in Pitta season, I thought that would be a good opportunity to get super slim.

I was skinny fat in today’s standards. I’m naturally a Vata body, but we all have our relative sizes in our one-and-only-body we get to live in and make decisions for.

My strategy then was avoiding all high fats (including healthy fats that we didn’t know about). I was scanning nutrition facts on labels for fat content.

Pasta was and is one of my fave foods that passed the test.

So, I went on a mostly pasta diet.

I ate pasta and a certain low-fat cookie in a green box that was popular at the time. I don’t see them around today.

It took just a few weeks for me to see that I had gained weight I never had before.

Most of us know those yo-yo diets where you gain all the weight back and then some more. That’s what happened to me.

So using percentages I had gained about 10% when I was trying to lose about 5%.

The principle is the same for anyone in their body so there’s no healthy comparing between people. The healthy way is to choose for your body.

And weight cycling can happen easily when you start to crave all the foods you’ve known to love, but aren’t eating. 🥲

I was a newbie at weight loss plans. So I didn’t have any experience with food willpower.

I just loved all foods and they loved me back without question. It was unconditional love that I didn’t feel in other areas of my life.

…and once I got a taste back into the real world of tastes again, I couldn’t stop.

And that’s how it is for most of us where certain foods are addictive.

These days, we can use low-carb, healthy fats and healthy proteins to point us in the better direction.

I’m following along with this better directed macros plan. And not my former macaroni plan. 🍝

I’ve seen the improved results as compared to decades ago where I learned that calorie counting is hard work.

No More Hardwork Calorie Counting

Calorie counting is hard work and exercising to burn calories is even harder work.

Today we know it doesn’t pay off consistently in the long run like eating healthy regularly that can be very enjoyable.

So saving ourselves the trouble from learning better information is a better weight loss plan.

What helps the most is giving your body what your natural body wants.

Some healthy foods are universally healthy to most bodies and some are unique often told by the story of our individual body’s tastes and preferences.

Ayurvedic food categories for our balances and imbalances are more predictable, where we crave certain tastes (sweet, sour, bitter, or salty) that are found in healthy foods.

We can make the natural switch to following our Ayurvedic preferences.

I compare it to getting off an alarm clock that’s like processed foods. An alarm is not when your body naturally wants to get up or do the activity you’ve set the alarm to.

If you naturally follow your body’s time instincts, you become naturally attuned to time changes and circadian rhythm that’s like the eating healthy balanced way.

Finding your subset healthy food list is a healthy balance. Many of the foods are also anti-inflammatory grocery list foods.

And if weight loss is a goal of yours, also focusing on keeping veggie fiber carbs balanced at the top of the list helps.

If you’re a balanced Kapha body, then also lean into bitter tasting and astringent foods for weight loss diets (again the little “d” diet for what you do eat).

If off-balance, that’s where we can get into trouble until you restore balance. It’s easy to tell if you’re off balance with clues around you and a simple body balance quiz.

Healthy Weight Loss Diets

If you eat mostly healthy foods, you also slowly turn your taste buds to healthier choices.

You desire the healthy foods and crave less of the bad. It’s your lifestyle choice that makes your healthy intentions and changes your tastes.

…Like sugar habits that you can transform starting with plant-based breakfasts (I’m living proof 😊). I’m all about low-sugar baking that pleases the Vata sweet tooth.

Healthy ingredient and food substitution is a good weight loss strategy, that also develops creativity skills as a side benefit.

And when you prep, cook, and make your own goods you have more control over what you put in your body. You’re rewarded for the time and effort you put in. 🎉

…Cooking and baking daily, I’m in better shape today than I was last year, definitely from college years, and anytime in between…

I’m feeling nostalgic today because I wrote this Un-Diet Guide twenty plus years ago that I found.

I wasn’t blogging or writing anything else back then. So coming up with a 73-page manual with recipes was interesting at the very least (…maybe even strangely prophetic for my interests today).

Un-Diet Guide for weight loss diets.

Today my evolved manual would include sustainable healthy living meal prep habits and fasting once a week (but no yo-yo fasting habits).

When you stay consistent and keep your favorite celebrational food habit in moderation, you don’t yo-yo or go overboard one day when the stress situation arises or willpower gives in.

Then there’s no obsessing and making our binge food dreams happen. I learned that the hard way (and maybe you did too on your food journey).

Overall keeping most meals, snacks, and days as eating healthy real foods gives us our best results.

And when you choose your ingredients for meals and dishes, you do a couple of healthy things:

You become more intentional about what you source and put in your body. Every ingredient and amount you’ve sourced and researched. You know on some level what you’re putting into your body.

You also get to try new foods to bring in more rainbow variety, new flavors, and aromatic spices to your life.

That’s exciting to me (…you too?).

Never being bored with foods is a healthy norm.

You never grow out of loving food because there’s always a healthy substitution to turn to.

We’re not meant to be bored or avoiding eating. Our hunter gatherer forefathers didn’t live that way.

They were inventive and foraged for new tastes and ways.

Finding Your Lose Weight Food Diet

Wherever you are on your journey for trying new foods, it helps to carve out time to be food mindful.

When I first started out baking and cooking daily, I had to adjust to carving out time to think about meals and sniff spices.

My motivation was eating but also creating colorful plates.

I always enjoyed that part of my job in catering where I got to decorate food with food. It’s fun to play with your food.

In the same way, you can think of food as a creative outlet and the cherry on top is you get to eat and share it at the end.

You can’t do that with all other passions, like say making paintings that you either need to find a place to hang or else find a way to pass them onto others.

Embracing food passions can be an easy creative outlet.

I realized early on that I wasn’t the home kitchen maker that wanted to make complicated dishes.

Being easy and creative for me was not following a recipe if I didn’t have to.

So early on I didn’t create recipes at all. But now I embrace them as a way to share easy baking steps and shortcuts.

And I believe there’s always room to change ingredients, amounts, and methods.

Because even if you use the same ingredients and amounts provided in a recipe, so many factors could change your bakes…

Like temperature in the oven, outside temps, and materials used. …and especially how much love you put into your dishes.🧡

If you create when you don’t feel like it or on half-empty energy, your dishes will reflect and not be alive.

The myth that baking relies on recipe precision is a myth. Great baking I’m familiar with is an art and a science that you feel good about.

That’s where I came up with cooking this 15-minute Sunday brunch Saffron Shrimp Egg White Omelet dish that you can tastefully make and is good on a low-carb weight loss plan. 🍳

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 or another ayurvedic body type (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 dosha is the earth and water 🌎 in us (that sometimes carries mud and creates sluggish seasons in our lives!). The other elements are wind, fire, and air to complete the five elements.

Pittas are fire and water and Vatas are wind and air (or space). So as you can see with the water commonality, Pittas have more in common with the Kapha constitution than a Vata dosha body.

One area that’s a common distinction is that to naturally balance Kapha, this usually involves weight loss while Vata balancing is on the other end of the spectrum.

It doesn’t take a lot to find someone close to you that you can determine 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 ayurvedic 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.

A Kapha body type is more like a palm tree that can endure and thrive in an ecosystem where they're planted.

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 sinus or 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 lifein 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:

Kapha people 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 sinus problems, 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 if you keep up with it!

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.

🌱 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.

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.

Print Recipe

Here is a Whole Wheat Raspberry Pop Tart recipe to brighten up any tart days and sweet cravings. 💕

Easy Whole Wheat Raspberry Pop Tarts

Course Breakfast

Cuisine American

Author Brandy @ Healthy Happy Life Secrets

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 out about 1/4" thick)
Homemade raspberry Jam or your favorite 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.

Self-Care Wheel for Kapha Imbalances

Self-care wheel with love, spiritual, sleep, and energy at the helm.

Self-care wheel balance is heck-yeah! needed in the colder months when our unleashed Kaphas are in full-force…

Wheels in motion take you to where you want to go. A wheel can go slowly or fast, but no matter what speed its default is to move forward (unless you purposefully choose to reverse). And, this article is about moving you forward and bettering your life this season. 🎡

If you understand the nature of Ayurveda as our natural healthy design, then you’ll be able to use that insight for better self-care and restore natural seasonal imbalances.

Like on the exterior, if you have super dry skin every winter along with a skinny frame, then you’re likely a natural Vata body (and not a Kapha body). If you tend to hold extra body weight and metabolize slowly, then Kapha is your natural way. Both feel the cold extremities as traits.

And as natural as having a Kapha body, some of us are more Kapha minded. Or we get imbalanced with tired Kapha moods.

That’s sometimes how I feel in the mornings (when Delta sleep is more like it!).

We can have a Vata body and a Kapha mind (and vice versa) as a simple example. And, there are 9 organized combinations if we want to keep it simple. Because you may be one born dominant in two body or mind ways (doshas). And mind and body connect in the daily mind-body connection to how you think, act, and feel.

The good news is you can positively impact and gradually change what you don’t like by your lifestyle choices. It’s nature vs. nurture where nurture is what you’re living today.

…You don’t have to settle for what you’re born with as lesser personality and traits you want to change.

Genetics is a tougher one to influence and turn the rudder on, but not impossible… and lifestyle tweaks and choice prevention can completely change a lesser situation or a higher probability likelihood.

And so, this article is meant to help you connect-the-dots and live your best life you can today with better lifestyle choices!

I’m focusing on Kapha here because all of us have a little of Kapha going on and that can be heavy in this seasonal time of year (where we hear more cough-as life). 😷

But here I share what I learned circa 2008 that has stuck with me, and what’s newer that I applied starting in 2023 to support healthy daily living intentions and prevention.

…And we know a healthy body translates to a better happy day where we get to do more and make more choices on our terms!

Letting in self-care influences give us more daily joy and balance. When you add better sleep, energy, spiritual, and love self-care into the equation, those move the needle forward. 🧭

A self-care wheel just like that can be the practical guide toward priorities tipping away from the heavy Kapha mind that makes it hard-to-get-going in the morning… or that makes you feel more depressed during colder seasons.

…Where growing up, we called this the SAD season (seasonal affective disorder). I went through this every February in my teens and early 20 years (when one that age should have had more energy). Lack of supplemental Vitamin D and sunshine affected the happy hormones we didn’t know much about back then. Winters were colder in the mid-Atlantic region where I grew up.

But, today we have more self-care knowledge and winters are warmer, and sometimes 70 degrees in some regions. So you can use the better products and circadian rhythm advice out there to your self-care wheel advantage.

…Plus, my healthy lessons learned (that btw get better with age 😉). Below is the skinny on what could help you get the self-care wheel balance you’re needing today.

✨ And these are some obvious Kapha Signs to look out for 👀that may be affecting you (and your self-care wheel):

Kapha Sign #1 (Sleep/energy):

Sleep and energy together because they are so closely knit together. 🧶

Do you find yourself needing more sleep in the cold weather seasons? Or maybe you’re consistently tired?

And that’s a bummer because less sleep means less time enjoying the day or being productive. Not enough sleep, you also lose free time and can lack energy as downsides.

Number of sleep hours are important, but better quality sleep is the better biohack way. And I share the best biohack routine I know and practice below. ⬇️

But for most days, when you get enough sleep, your body wakes up feeling energized. (Sleep + energy = 🤸🏻‍♂️)

You get better connected, cohesive thoughts. Because your body was able to fully recharge its batteries the night before.

Your daily energy ⚡️ is directly affected by how well you sleep. We all know that… and that’s why alarm clocks and caffeine are so popular in the morning.

…And getting less blue light in our eyes at night is up there too as newer healthy artificial habits.

We can also affect the energy systems inside us with better lifestyle choices, like: healthy food and drink choices, when we consume, and exercise.

Energy is not just physical and movement. Or calories.

…It’s also energy in the mind. Our minds can be slow and lethargic and that can be part of a Kapha imbalanced mind.

But there are other signs too… like, we’re not connecting energetically with others (who are energy).

We can have an invisible positive magnetic or negative repelling energy. That’s something visible in your life to consider that often gets missed in relationships and the community around us.

✅ Tips for daily sleep/energy ⚡️self-care wheel balance:

Give yourself more energy. You can listen to music that puts you in an energetic mood, get blood pumping through your veins doing your exercises, and doing a new activity that stimulates your mind. And give yourself daily healthy mind-body energy food.

Kapha Sign #2 (Spiritual):

When our Kaphas are off balance, there’s a domino effect, affecting: feelings, thoughts, and how much of our lit spiritual selves we let in. And these impact our daily actions.

The actions (or inactions) that accumulate pounds, things, emotions, and piles of things as examples are obvious exterior signs. They’re processed deeper in mind-thoughts that change our feelings and moods.

To change, it’s easier to look at the exterior signs (as mirrors and clues) to our inner going-ons that creates our world, so we can get more grounded and tap into our inner power.

If you find the clue that you’re accumulating in some way, the deeper source could be because you’re wanting to be alone and building up a wall from others. Or you’re just plain tired from picking up toys and piles, and cleaning up.

…The source isn’t as important as knowing that those are classic Kapha awareness imbalanced signs. And since we don’t want to exude growing unhealthy behavior that accumulates, we can change choices…

So, look around… have you accumulated things or have you stopped putting things away as much? Do you have unintentional messy piles, clothes, or toys left out for another day?

“Disorganized” and “clutter” (descriptions that can harshly rub like an abrasive scrubber as the elephant in the room) — usually go hand-in-hand because it’s the same mind feeding the non-serving abrasive message.

…And this can leave feelings of shame that can gradually turn into self-loathing if allowed. That’s sobering, but helpful because then we can be aware and fix what isn’t healthy.

✅ Tips for daily spiritual 🌟 self-care wheel balance:

Practice letting go. Ignore your heavy Kapha thoughts as this derails you from your this season’s purpose. This can sound challenging if you’ve never exercised this right to ignore any of your thoughts, but it’s so liberating!

Rewrite not-so-great thoughts if you never have (and do it over and over again if you have). Nip it in the bud when the thoughts arrive.

You can save time, money, and effort that your brain would otherwise send you to go spend on… like I’d be happier if I had ___ shopping item, ___ life, or ___ relationship.

Feeling content can do wonders for you if you can do that step.

Many years ago, I discovered that I didn’t have to accept my random thoughts that entered my mind. I could decisively ignore and even peacefully disagree. How was that the first time?… very weird.

…But when I practiced that habit, my life changed and I didn’t let the beaten down tracks play over and over again. The better track connect-the-dots and stops fictitious endings from forming.

With those positive step actions, I could walk away and then my better moods came back.

I could change my moody feelings and re-direct my perspectives. And you can too if that’s what you want…

Where and how are you on your mind and thought journey?

Here are the simple steps 👣

Recognize the thought: negative, unproductive thought (alert!)

The action: walk away

The walk away feeling: freedom vs. ego smothering protection and feeling bad about something, people, or myself

Repeat.

Kapha Sign #3 (Love):

Getting back or having healthy self-love is most important in matters of love and relationships. That’s how we also attract healthy relationships.

But, heavy imbalanced Kapha minds can have extremes: acting prickly toward people or relationships. Or acting needy and dependent to those who don’t reciprocate. These do the opposite of attracting (and sometimes wrongly attract opposites).

Smothering (or semi-mothering) can make others feel like a boundary is crossed, and can easily destroy a relationship.

When we expect others to make us happy, we set ourselves up for disappointment. So focusing on loving ourselves first allows us to energetically have an authentic overflow of love that pours out to others.

In self-care, we used to call this Me-Time that has become Me-Too as a form of love and healing.

✅ Tips for daily love ❤️ self-care wheel balance:

Be kind to yourself and your body, and tell your mind: “I am enough.”

Repeat saying to yourself: “I am loved” as a daily mantra.

******************************************

🧡 And FINALLY, from my newer lessons learned on the self-care wheel:

In 2023, I started intermittent fasting in my life for healthy gut reasons. But I found in my self-experiment (that I journaled about)… it also improved daily sleep, energy, and gave lighter mind-thoughts.

On those IF nights, sleep is better because the body doesn’t need to go to extra work to process food ontop of all its miracle daily resetting functions (…and why we need sleep in the first place!). And the liver doesn’t have to work hard to process beverages other than the mostly water clear kind. I like herbal teas.

So building in a weekly routine practice, I experienced not needing as much sleep and improved sleep quality.

👣 If you want to know how to optimize IF and Kapha metabolism for all the daily healthy benefits (and biohacking your body’s health), you can learn and read more about my journey.

Mountain Pose Yoga Journey For Kapha Stimulation

Mountain pose yoga is a great way to get you into your daily groove in more ways than one.

Mountain steps are often uneven like these where you can practice your mountain pose yoga at the mountain top. — This is a 340 natural mountain step challenge 🎉

Mountain Pose for starters can be a morning pose to wake up your body. You can do wherever you have a floor or ground to stand on.

Standing tall with hands in the air helps additional blood circulation and Ayurvedic Kapha stimulation especially when you’re in a tired season (that can rob any imbalanced Kapha mind-body of excited feelings).

This article is about how to use Mountain Pose yoga this season, both in yoga and climbing your mountain top or hill.

Yoga Mountain Pose

To get the most out of your yoga Mountain Pose, swoop swan dive arms gracefully down like your arms are eagle spanning wings. And then forward fold your hands to your yoga mat or your ankles grounded on the floor. 🦅

And then weightlessly reverse swan dive your arms back up into the air. That’s a good way to be purposeful in your daily moves.

Mountain Pose yoga can be part of your Vinyasa flow.

It’s a way to finesse your ways as you grow, and is a good metaphor for personal growth moves with intentional motion today.

Repeat your Mountain Pose, but next time, coordinate your deep breaths, with inhales up and exhales down in going up and down your pose. This keeps you purposefully engaged from head to toe.

Remember this Mountain Pose and your breath practice when you’re outdoors on a walk, hike, or journey up a mountain.

This outdoor practice is a great way to get energy flowing when you’re lacking energy, need new calm headspace, or just a ‘lil motivational push. It’s great exercise for your entire body.

And when you challenge yourself to get up a mountain if you’re nearby to one, you’ll get all the mind-body benefits.

If you’re feeling tired, stop and take a sip of water to refuel. Look around at your surroundings in awareness and mindfulness. Maybe do your stretching Tree Pose.

“They will soar on wings like eagles, they will run and not grow weary, they will walk and not be faint.” – Isaiah 40:31

Mountain climbing is a great way to accompany a mini-sabbatical journey. What’s interesting about each hike, is that there are different trails to choose from.

And every day, each trail is slightly different because the nature elements change… everything from the trees, sky, and ground you walk and rely on with each step.

Changing foliage reminds us that this moment is just a blink.

When you come back around, leaves and twigs have fallen and flowers and fruit change up the scenery.

Selecting a path or trail that suits you is fun. Take the hike that inspires you or sounds inspiring. The first time will always be a surprise. 🎉

Usually people who’ve never been on a trail, listen to what others have told them who have walked the trail. Sometimes it’s better to listen to your heart and nature as guides instead of other’s opinions.

Because we all interpret differently…

One time, I kept hearing the message about how much more difficult a specific trail would be. That reminds me of younger years when we didn’t have info. at our fingertips.

And so I avoided that one as a first-timer, so I could build up.

And then when I actually did the hike, I found it was the easier one than the long winded one. The “strenuous” reputation trail had hundreds of steps at the end, and that’s what was meant by “harder.”

But, steps to me actually shortcut the climb process because it provides interest and variety that keeps present awareness. So fully engaged, that feels like the process is sped up.

Mindful about your uneven steps, you’re already at the top before you know it.

The alternative is to take a longer trail path without a steep incline and as many steps. And that’s where natural Kapha tendencies differ from Vatas.

Know Your Individual Strengths

There’s a general fork in the road in body types.

Kaphas naturally prefer the endurance exercise which means longer courses and duration over steps that is perceived as work.

Vatas prefer the shorter, variety trail with different interest points that doesn’t seem like work.

And Pittas just want the challenge, so either trail is fine as long as there’s a little sprinting up and down the hill that wouldn’t hurt either. 😉

Each of us have our body strengths.

Climbing trails is an individual journey.

And in each season, we’re holding onto an imbalance even if just a smidge that we can course correct on our individual journey.

The first steps are the ones that can be mentally the hardest to get going on. And a part of you might be wondering: is it too late to turn around?

But when you focus on the baby steps of each step, it’s easier. You remove the blocks. And actually that’s what little kids on the trails do on their steps. They enjoy the climbing challenge and play with the immovable Lego blocks.

We need more of that in our everyday, where we look forward to trying a healthy challenge as part of our play.

It’s great natural exercise in the process.

With every step and turn, you can find your balance and appreciate how your body assets work for you.

Having a nudge motivation like seeing the mountain top view helps us get to the goal. The cherry on the top of the mountain doesn’t disappoint. And that’s a general consensus for all…

The ending is predictable. But the getting-there journey is not. The middle changes as you get different perspectives. And the next time, you’ve grown some. So you see life from a different lens and that can help you maneuver this season.

Balancing Kapha On Your Trail

If you’re needing a little push out of a tired mind that can make a tired body, on your trail, look for pops of color like fiery red leaves in autumn. Or berries on trees.

Wear a pop of color on your arm or shoes… (if you’re drawn to the bright or neon colors, that could be why as your body is intuitive). Just a pop of color though because bees are attracted to bright clothing and mountain air. 🐝 We can share the calm space.

Find a pine cone or forest fresh scent. Some natural bug spray scents have lemongrass and rosemary that help to wake up the senses. They’ll keep the certain bugs away and keep you awake.

Take energy food and water. Great snacks are nuts and energy bites. So, ready to get your Mountain pose on? ⛰️

Print Recipe

Gluten-Free Carrot Bread Squares

Course Side Dish, Snack

Cuisine American

Author Brandy @ Healthy Happy Life Secrets

Ingredients

1/2 cup gluten-free almond flour or coconut flour
1/2 cup oats
2 eggs
1 tbsp coconut oil
2 tsp honey
1/2 cup raisins and chopped walnuts (optional)
1 cup finely grated carrots
1/2 tsp of cinnamon, ginger, nutmeg each (optional)
2 tsp lemon juice
1 tsp vanilla extract

Instructions

Mix ingredients and bake on 350°F for about 40 minutes.

Homemade energy squares with: carrots, raisins, coconut, and apple cider vinegar.

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. 🍴

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

Author Brandy @ Healthy Happy Life Secrets

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.