Ayurvedic living Archives - Page 14 of 15 - Healthy Happy Life Secrets

Real Life vs. Virtual World – Balance Life 80/20

Real life vs. virtual world is a reality today. We felt this during the pandemic when we were on lockdown and had opportunity for more virtual connection. Real life was maybe more home and or outdoor focused.

real life vs. virtual world tips includes healthy home eating — Avocados 🥑 are nutri-delicious and you can grow an avocado plant easily from a healthy seed as a heathy real life activity! 🌱

And the lessons we learned were mostly from our own experiences. They shaped us in our hybrid worlds today in 2025 and beyond.

Today we’re balancing real life vs. virtual world digital life where AI is the new digital movement.

It’s a brand new era of possibilities.

Figuring out your balance is where you will get the best reward and living 80/20 real life vs. virtual world is going to be your healthiest best.

You grow when you get out and meet people instead of staring at digital screens. You may be more productive and scalable on your screen reaching more people, but the connections you make with in-person connections will be higher quality.

They also help you have a happier life and get more restful sleep as you’re not staring at blue screen lights non-stop.

Below I provide some ideas and tips from my own self-discovery of an 80/20 balance from 2020 where I clearly saw the contrast and learned useful real life vs. virtual world digital balance lessons.

Co-working spaces are opportunities to make connections and water cooler chat in real life. Zoom and video conferencing are still opportunities to meet more people in different places.

Adding those two meeting opportunities enriches lives and promotes growth in your life and community.

In the Blue Zones regions around the world (with the highest number of vibrant 100 year olds on the planet), community is a common factor.

Conversations happen in community and provide opportunities.

Offline (real life), I once had a office coworker from another department who had over a dozen healthy plants in her office and as a conversation starter I said to her, “the air in here must be really good!”

She pointed out the growth of specific plants (they were her babies), and how wee-small they were when her daughter was born and now off in college.

Proximity was an opportunity to connect and provide opportunity to tear down department communication walls.

That also inspired me to bring in my own house plant as you can never have enough metaphors in life for growth.

And today you may have your work-from-home living situation. And over time, that can get lonely. That’s also when real life vs virtual world connections have the most benefit.

Lessons Learned From 80/20 Real Life vs. Virtual World

If you want to live more balanced, get more good sleep and enjoy this life while not missing seasons. And if you want to get up earlier, rearrange your bed so that it’s closest to the window. Turn the shades so that natural light comes in at sunrise. That transformatively helps to biohack your circadian rhythm naturally.

When I did this, I noticed I got up 1-2 hours earlier every day appreciating sunrise. Getting sunlight in and through your eyes, wakes you up!

Create boundaries so you can have the balanced, 80/20 happy life you want.

You can count how many days you’ve left your house. And if it’s less than 4 per week, that’s a sign that you’re less than 50% doing real life with others.

And you find that you’re flip-flopped or less than 20% in the real life vs. the virtual world (80% plus), you definitely want to evaluate and change some things so you can “stop and smell the roses” and enjoy your foods, that are not in digital cookies. 😊

That’s what I found my life was becoming back in our social distancing world days.

And now that we are socializing again, it’s still not the same as in the past.

It is reported that Gen Z generations living in this increasingly heavy digital world are reporting their sleep is suffering. Unlike younger and older Millennials (Xennials), they weren’t all born before the internet so they only know the Web 3 and beyond worlds.

These days not having digital boundaries is definitely affecting any of us, so it’s good to be aware.

Counting and gauging your overall daily hours online is a healthy, first-step awareness exercise.

This brings me back to the point of finding the best balance that’s achievable.

Keeping a calendar helps to check your real life vs. virtual world balance. And if you keep a printed calendar on-hand then you rely less on the digital world.

Getting inspiration to go back to at least 60% real life vs. virtual world is a healthier balance, no matter what your type of work is, for an overall happier life. Aiming for at least 4 days where you get out of the house.

Besides running errands, you could sign up for events or volunteer so those are built into your schedule.

Your time on Zoom counts as virtual hours. Meeting for coffee in the real world has a different effect than seeing someone on a Zoom screen.

Connecting to people in the virtual world saves travel time and the value is the idea exchange, growing further, sharing, and collaborating newborn opportunities and ideas with people around the world.

So balancing the two worlds (real life vs. virtual world) is tricky.

During 2020, counting hours helped me to become aware of my own behaviors, and helped influence me to add back real-world life hours and joy in a safe physical environment.

One thing is I learned how to use the manual setting on an SLR camera that’s been sitting in a closet for almost a decade dying to be used properly.

Since applying learned camera lessons, I’ve been excited to take photos again in real life.

Another example is, I learned how to use the dough hook that comes with the Kitchen Aid mixer, where I was able to make all types of low-sugar brunch desserts and foods that I missed when I was at real life brunches.

I invented new smoothies, dips, and Magic Bullet blender recipes

And I discovered new food varieties! Like, I didn’t know there was a Cara Cara orange variety until I infused them in my low-sugar orange scones.

If you’re a Vata like me, you can see and appreciate nature changing and evolutions in the world through food variety.

And when adopting enhancements in your adapting life, you probably have progressed more in your life than you give yourself credit for.

Here are some additional positive examples that happened (that are still relevant and you can try!):

2020 Pantry Stock (Real life vs. virtual world)

I learned how to stock and keep a supply of grocery goods in a closet pantry for convenience (and just in case), that saves time.

While pulling out older items, I took the time to read the nutrition labels and intentionally deciding to keep some of the “bad foods” that’s readily available when we didn’t know if a food shortage could exist.

…They are still joyful foods for kids and we do live in a real world where it’s good to be sensitive to the world’s food insecurities in community, compassion, and empathy, in a kinder-giving and patient world we’re living in and becoming.

Having a pantry helps make you appreciate the real world vs. virtual world.

When you leave your digital device and healthy food interweb searches, you get to compassionately learn that food banks have lines and where more expensive healthy meal planning is not the main goal of the average American household.

And when I think back to Pop Tarts or a bag of Tootsie lollipops (off the charts in sugar content), I stop healthy judgment, and feel grounded from my humbled beginnings.

These have been popular treats since I was a little girl and taught me to change my ways in 2020 where eczema had a life in me. And since then found the better anti-inflammatory eating ways one baby at a time that’s more like a weekly 7 day eczema diet plan to eliminate any flareups today.

I eat less sugar baking my own desserts which is healthy and something I may have never pursued on my own. 🍥

You just never know how tough situations can pan out and bring in better ways… that you organically learn about living through those seasons one day at a time.

And daily to keep focus, whether you use Post-Its or Trello boards (or digital similar tools) for life productivity, those micro choices shape and shift your 80/20 balanced life.

What tool you use isn’t what’s so important, as much as how they serve you and keeping an 80/20 real life/digital balance.

And that’s the same reason why I have a yoga mat permanently laid out on the floor.

It’s convenient and one less step that can prevent me (and you) from doing a productive and healthy habit.

It’s easy to get distracted in our blending real life vs. virtual world where we balance life-work-and everything else.

A benefit of doing the balance is you stay very relevant to all the changes around you and the world.

Balancing helps to not go extreme in either way.

It allows us not to get left behind in the process of who we could become in this world and also what’s happening in the world.

Catching some of the daily news is helpful but not watching or reading for hours is healthy. We keep using what we learn to benefit our experiences.

And blocking out all social media isn’t necessarily healthy while looking at your devices first-thing in the morning isn’t either. So finding that happy medium balance of 80/20 helps.

Here are a few learned tips to view social media and digital communication (in case you’ve been living out mostly in the real world!):

Have patience with tools that drop communication and people not replying back because of busy real, and digital life overwhelm reasons. You can be pleasantly surprised how waiting can lower your blood pressure (it has mine).

We didn’t tolerate slow tech issues a decade ago (faster was a goal), and now we’ve mellowed out. Catch yourself from taking no replies back as a personal rejection to you (always believe it’s a technology glitch, other party personal overwhelm, and not your human glitch!).

Girl, I don’t know you as a reply to a stranger’s DM in social media, is no longer the kinder way you should respond to people reaching out to you in our sensitive #metoo society. Have no judgment.

Some people are unaware as no adult today was born with social media as a daily norm. We’ve all committed to a social media faux pas or two (even if we’re not aware). Kindly react or let someone they know (not you, a stranger to them) respond to them.

And yeah, spam is still spam to a stranger, so unfollow as needed without thinking the Universe is going to take that as your negative energy. Just think, you’re helping spammers (who could be a bot 🤖) figure out who their people are and that so happens to not be you, someone who cares.

Don’t be afraid to reach out with good intentions. Friend circle divides have been broken. It’s now…. do we have anything in common even if it’s just a mutual engagement on a conversation thread? Don’t overthink. Just post and reply authentically so people know you exist.

If you have kind-hearted intentions, don’t feel regret or question whether you should I have posted or commented? Be brave. Sometimes you only get one chance and then the time has passed.

In network meetings, make a habit to act like that could be the last time you see any one person even though there are future meetings scheduled. You just never know and opportunities don’t wait.

Social media is encouraging all of us to embrace each other, our vulnerabilities and differences. Being fearless, collaborating, and taking initiative are how you make inroads and meaningful impact.

You may even discover an interest, passion, or purpose in the process! When you listen to other people’s journeys and how they discovered their calling, you realize that they didn’t set out to do what they do.

They found an opportunity and that took them to their next step action that provided the next step clarity. And years later they have blossomed and can look back and re-tell their passion origin story.

Create discipline for time and space. I found myself pulled into podcasts, social media, Zoom, and other conversations when I wasn’t fully present.

If you don’t need to enter them (e.g. not scheduled on your calendar), then keep staying productive with your main focus task. It could be an activity or it could be staying creative that could be a strategy.

For non-essential tasks, if it’s not a good time or you’re not receptive, come back to those non-real time recordings and listen when you can pay attention to get the most benefit.

Real Life, Work-Life Balance :

I’m very specific and serious about getting high-priority, creativity, and deep-thinking mind activities done in the morning as I protect those golden hours. It’s the natural planner in me.

Then as night falls, I become more flexible about how I feel and anything I do is additional. This leaves wiggle room for being less rigid (quality over quantity).

Like: 8-10 hours work, 6-8 hours sleep, and 8 hours leisure.

Being structured and flexible shapes you into a well-rounded person (generalist), empathetic to the world that’s more needed than ever, and then you add your uniqueness and talents (specialist) to the mix.

You can find your balance and rhythm to do both, in your staying flexible, open, and intentional life.

And if you work or spend most your time at home, creating boundaries is super important. Closing an office door, turning off the television, or shutting down a laptop helps.

Create different room zones that divide activity. Have a special nook for your journaling and reflection time, and a separate area where you exercise.

Even if you’re in tighter quarters like a city apartment or bedroom, you could set a pillow or mat on the floor by the window and that gives you a new perspective.

Defining time and space is more important than the perfect physical space or a large space.

What used to be called “me time” a decade ago (that could sound selfish if over-indulgent), is now prized as self-care in our aware world to what helps to create a successful life. See how the world is coming around 😊

So, keep restoring your inner you and peace, and making micro habit shifts to improve your vitality and grow the relationships around you.

When you healthily re-enter the digital world that never sleeps, you can add more value to your virtual spaces, tribes, and groups.

Set your timer or stack one of your habits.

You can show up adding value and sharing your real-life natural gifts, talents, and mutual interests

And when it’s time to switch back to your balanced 80% real-life (work-life-sleep) routine, put your devices back to sleep. 🛏

Because devices and imbalanced lifestyles, can put you feeling out-of-sorts. Your mind and/or body can feel like it’s in a mood funk from your usual balance, but you can restore your body-mind type imbalances.

I share what I learned from top-to-bottom in one stressful season where I turned to modern Ayurveda ways as a solution that costs you practically nothing and you can do conveniently in your surroundings (even if your home is in a busy city in the Western world) once you know what to do.

Overcome Performance Anxiety: Examples in “The Great British Baking Show”

In my life, I first noticed my performance anxiety early on when it came to test-taking time in school.

Since then I figured out that performance anxiety comes from panic, perfectionism, and overthinking. Those all had one thing in common – my mind.

That’s where it all started when I believed I wasn’t prepared enough.

That set my subconscious mind sending unclear messages that left me in an internal nervous frenzy and blowing up into anxiety and panic, which further prevented productive rational conscious thinking (and maybe this has happened to you also).

All through childhood, I grew up achieving ideal perfectionist standards that aren’t so easy to shake off as an adult, even with constant reminders.

But doing it imperfectly and progress over perfection is the better mantra way, that has also changed in schools.

In school terms, that’s being a “C” student and passing, over being an excellent “A” student as the only successful path.

A few years ago, I may have cringed at that thought. But we’ve turned into a more empathetic world that allows us to be brave and follow Nike’s long-running ad advice, just do it.

There are still times when you’re asked in your work to strive for perfection. On those occasions, you’re asked to nail the performance or delivery, and you’re not gonna turn down the ask if it’s your employer.

But if it’s self-imposed, then that’s something to be observant about and look out for.

You can ask yourself why you didn’t hit send or complete the intended task imperfectly. That’s what I do as checks and balance along with believing, love is in detail (the positive side of perfectionism).

In our gray decision-making world and in finding our own individual balance, we can get better at when to turn it on or off for different scenarios.

In a test-taking performance environment, overthinking test questions and re-writing subjective essay answers can hurt a test taker.

Usually, your gut instinct and the first thought are better than second-guessing. If you’re not sure, stick with your first guess.

When you combine these complex dimensions of growing panic, aiming for perfectionism, and overthinking, those elements mixed together are a recipe for performance anxiety and a test-taking disaster (and in my scenarios all I could do was hope for the best and move on).

Performance Anxiety on The Great British Baking Show Competition

On the topic of combining and mixing, in The Great British Baking Show series, the invited competitors are challenged to create great bakes, that require overcoming performance anxiety on top of great talent and skill.

They’re the nation’s best bakers.

If the contestant can wow the judges week after a week staying in the competition, stay calm, keep emotions in check, and not lose his or her marbles, they move onto the final rounds.

By the final week, nerves can grow for each contestant, as you would expect. The final ones that get in their heads with worry and anxiety are the ones that end up making mistakes and messing up because of their overriding emotions and minds sending mixed messages.

They can have the greatest talent and high skills under low-pressure conditions like baking at home, where they could create perfect masterpiece bakes.

But when put in a stressful lab environment and varying conditions, those most affected in performance are often Vatas. The natural Pittas and Kaphas are generally better built for stamina and competition settings. Continue reading “Overcome Performance Anxiety: Examples in “The Great British Baking Show””

Workplace Balance Ayurvedic Tips To De-Stress

Workplace balance tips below can save you. And using Ayurveda in your work space can create a better work calm and stress-less zone.

A kitchari meal with egg is an Ayurvedic balancing meal. Recipe below. 🌱

This article has the perspective of Ayurveda workplace balance tips for the Western world modern office that can be stressful. And no a disco ball like this one I worked in is not needed. 😉

Despite its window view and disco ball, this was a tough office environment.

If the work could have been taken outdoors in nature that would have been more calming. Or even a photo of outdoors can help calm.

An example of a nature image you could have at your office desk.

And help create a collaborating and harmony environment that’s beneficial for productivity. In political organizations that have management hierarchies, finding those ways are the keys to mind freedom and better work life balance.

Because office relationships drive the bus for your success.

If you’re brave or want to develop your personal leadership skills, getting in tune with your co-workers can be worth the time and effort.

Taking your nose off the work grind and looking up at what’s going on around you no matter how busy you are, can pay off and change the way you see your work.

It could be the difference between your work happiness or dissatisfaction.

Learning to live balanced in your personal life plus incorporating Ayurveda workplace balance tips add up to your overall happiness.

Here are the 7 Ayurveda workplace balance tips to calm stress:

The first 5 tips are to benefit you and your surrounding co-workers (that apply to you too if you’re the boss!). The last 2 are for your edge-up with your higher-up boss manager.

1. Meetings. A subtle thing you can do is create a calm surrounding around you.

When you’re in inter-office meetings, bring your calming scents either in your coffee or tea mug, or wear subtle scents if others don’t have allergies that you’re aware of.

Beverage scent allergies don’t exist. Even people who don’t drink coffee don’t mind the brewed coffee scents, as they’ve gotten used to the aromatic smell.

Adding rose water in your coffee (…betcha that’s a slightly new one for you!) will help to calm you and the stressed worker next to you.

Match the desired beverage to the people you expect to be in your meeting.

You can also wear a subtle hint of patchouli or bergamot perfume scent.

…I know this can sound a ‘lil silly to be so coordinated. But why do you think when you walk into a nice spa or luxury hotel, the room you’re in smells so lovely and calming?

(The answer is, it changes how guests perceive their hotel property experience).

Being an ex-hotelier, I know the ways they try to win back return customers with subtle mood changers and amenities.

Scents help you and others stay calm and centered, and help to create a positive energy field.

On that note, keeping your smartphone in your pocket or a small bag from distracting notifications and silently vibrating phones can be what you need for a little peace moment.

You don’t see a phone in the yoga studio, so in the same way, you can treat your daily meetings with yourself like meditation breaks or an off-the-grid intentional focus session.

2. Your workspace. At your desk, play calming music like light classical music if you’re allowed to have music or sounds running in the background.

Like white noise, you can drown out some of the unimportant conversations and noises around you.

If you play relaxing sounds like ocean waves that can be too relaxing, you’re likely to put everyone to sleep including yourself.

Invite your manager to have meetings at your desk or space so you have the “home-court advantage,” as they’re coming to you and you’re not interrupting them.

Before their visit and preparing for unexpected visits, be sure you have an inviting space.

3. Have visible calming props. Watercolors paintings or pictures are good, such as Monet lilies and you can easily find a variety of blank cards or calendars from a gift and cards novelty store, that you can frame or rest on your desk.

It’s a similar to Zoom backgrounds where there’s an unspoken ambiance that’s created.

Pictures of your life are good for you, but they are distracting to others after they’ve seen them the first few times.

Competitive Pittas especially are very visual people. Many go-getting office workers are Type-A Pittas, so they will tend to look at your calming image choices and your surroundings.

Some other balancing items: bring in a perfectly round edible orange.

The California navel orange color and scent are good for calming worry-anxious energy.

And the scent from one fresh rose can soothe an angry-irritated mood. 💐

4. Take stressed co-workers out for tea or coffee. If you normally do lunch at your desk, taking a 15-minute break for tea or coffee with a co-worker is a good excuse to casually get to know them a little better.

If you’re short on time, bring them a new tea bag from home that they’ve never tried. For a Vata imbalance especially, this is going to be good and comforting, especially if it has cinnamon tones.

Next time you travel, find and collect unique souvenir treats that don’t have a short shelf life and you can offer up as a treat for “a better day.”

For a Pitta imbalance try bringing a lavender tea such as a lavender de-stress tea or a lemony flavor tea. Iced teas are good for irritated workers and even during winter, depending on their case severity.

For a Kapha, try a brisk Early Grey or If they love chocolate, bring them a piece. Chocolate is universally a happy gift. 😊

In a practical way, if you know that a co-worker is under a lot of stress or has recent demands in workload, then a stress-reducing tea is a thoughtful gesture.

You can also gift tea bags as a reason for conversation… and a great way to make work friends.

I know you’re wondering, “well… how do you know what balanced or imbalanced dosha(s) your co-workers have?”

In general, you’re better off just sticking with the basics with what they’ve told you they like or you see them with.

Everyone has traces of all the dosha profiles. And anyone can get imbalanced in any dosha at any time.

This is one of the core reasons why you can see a sudden mood or preference change in a co-worker when they say nothing is wrong as they may not know there’s anything different.

And why even if you’re paying attention and know what’s going on with them regularly, like with a cubicle mate friend that you visit often, you and they won’t always know.

And this is the same mysterious reason you prefer some foods, sounds, and activities now, that you didn’t like before. And then this changes again. It’s all connected.

You can call it a different season or mood, but your internal mind-body is always happening and changing, if ever so slightly like a second hand on a clock.

Your mind-body is always keeping score, so it’s good to practice Ayurveda workplace balance tips, habits, and ways, both at work and home.

Your mind-body is constantly revealing information about yourself.

That’s why the insight coming from the body balance quiz is invaluable for anyone in any season, and those you care about who is willing to dive deeper (like your friends… as you’re probably not gonna ask your boss to take a quiz unless you’re also friends).

5. Find a common interest with a core work group. Book clubs and fantasy football are common.

When you have a hobby, interest, or passion that you share in common, that creates a calm mind space.

Conversation creates harmony for workplace balance.

When you think of these work people that have a shared interest, you see them as humans and not just workers.

In one of my jobs, there were a group of women who liked scrapbooking photo albums (I think the hobby is still around and some of us have recent albums as proof 📔).

One attendee to one of the gatherings was a boss so we became work friends. So the dynamic changed and work was a better place.

That ice breaker made me see her in a different light, even though we didn’t discuss our common hobby when we were working.

6. Create a clean space for your manager to walk into. Clean and organizational tidyness shows respect for your workplace (where you’re working on “rented land”).

But, DO minimalistic-ally personalize. If you don’t have anything sitting on or around your desk, then you may not be occupying enough real estate.

If you’re too minimalistic, you will leave no mark or brand of who you are. And your manager can think you don’t have enough work to do. There’s a workplace balance needed with decor.

When you’re out, others may use your desk and it’ll look different when you come back.

This happens a lot with an Executive’s open office that is free of clutter or any personalization. And that’s up to you if you want that to happen.

When you make your workspace your second home, by taking up a little space, you create personal worth in your mind and can blend and balance your work-life better. You’re not just another employee.

Chair Facing Tip For Office Balance

How you situate your chairs in your office space matters. You want to a create a comfortable feeling space.

When you situate chairs facing the front of your desk where you sit, you’re in the power seat.

Anyone coming to see you feels like a subordinate. If you want to be collaborative, then you want them to sit more beside you. And even more open, they can see your computer screen and from your desk perspective. Rarely do you want your back facing the door.

If your manager comes to visit you, if they choose to sit, often you’ll usually see them either lean back or forward a little hunched to show they’re relaxed.

They’re the exception, as they’re never the subordinate in your workplace even if you’re more collaborative like in the tech industry.

7. If you want to have a meeting where your manager is more relaxed, arrange meetings with them late in the afternoon. This is a good opportunity if they say, “find a time on my calendar.”

As humans, we all get more tired as the day rolls on. By evening, we’ve done most of the important or urgent tasks for the day.

Stressed out managers (and micromanagers) are people too at the end of the day.

They look forward to the end of a long day as much as you do despite how they may come across.

You may encounter managers who are unprofessional, have a bulldog personality, or sharp edge. We’re all different in the workplace. And the workplace balance is finding how we work best together..

If you happen to find yourself in a defensive situation, and you sense a manager has had a bad day or week such as by acting grumpy or having irritated imbalance tendencies, acknowledge that, offer, and ask, “how can I help?”

Don’t worry that they would give you a list. That most likely won’t happen, at least not without huge thought. That would require more trust than they are willing to put on the line with just a conversation.

If they give you a general request, then do what they ask.

And in the case where they come back with a tall order, that shows that they respect you, you’re competent and probably worthy of promotion down the road. Plus, you get to learn something new. So it’s a win-win for you.

And in addtion to these tips you can implement right away to create a calmer (feeling) space and workplace, you can create a balancing spice kitchari work meal with rice and lentils.

A poached egg that’s easy to do (or egg whites) in minutes ontop of a kitchari meal could be the lunch that hits the spot.

Kitchari with Poached Egg

If you want to add protein with your kitchari mixture of lentils and rice, adding an egg adds energy to your day. Coriander and cumin are cooling for Pitta balancing and ginger is good for digestion and Vata balancing. Black pepper enhances turmeric's anti-inflammatory effects and adds e a smokey subtle heat to the dish.

Course Breakfast

Cuisine ayurvedic, Indian

Author Brandy @ Healthy Happy Life Secrets

Ingredients

Ayurvedic spice mixture (coriander, cumin, turmeric, black pepper, ginger)
cooked lentils or mung beans
white rice
poached egg

Instructions

Cook your lentils and rice with spices.
Cook egg whites or poached eggs to top off your meal.

GERD Ayurveda Grocery List

GERD (gastroesophageal reflux disease) is no fun. It’s when acid comes back up. But GERD is treatable with food as I learned in my journey.

Because high acidic foods and wrong combination of foods (according to the gut if it could speak) are causes.

They can wreak havoc on your daily gut-feeling life that impacts your day and productivity.

If you’re food shopping and trying to make choices for your grocery cart, adding a stomach-friendly GERD and mood foods (Ayurveda) grocery list can enhance your eating life.

Lowering stomach acidity and finding enhancing foods for balancing your body is fun, healthy, and sometimes what’s needed.

If you have a condition like high acid (or more severely GERD) in your stomach, whether you’re a Vata, Pitta, or Kapha (or have any of these imbalances), you’ll be interested in what you select for your refrigerator and pantry.

And, you’ve come to the right place for a list below of safe foods to reduce GERD (or lower acidity) and increase balance (further below…)

Having a mix of fresh and pantry foods can give you a sense of calm, and especially if you have a backup supply of your favorite items because you leave any food comfort panic thoughts to rest …just in case you can’t make it to the store because of inclement weather or broken down transportation.

…Or there’s a run on a certain item that everyone and their brother needs. If in America, you may remember the toilet paper pandemonium during the pandemic crises?

So with a pantry, you can feel a sense of peace when you have an extra pasta box or evaporated milk on hand.

There are also so many gluten-free and vegetable options these days. You can whip up a fast meal… and this is vitally important for Vatas that can get low blood sugar quick when snack bars aren’t appealing or handy.

How You Can Use Ayurveda Next Time You’re Grocery Store Shopping

With Ayurveda living, you can enhance your current diet, with additional flavors and being healthy, such as building up your immune system with spices, mushrooms, and onions and lowering body inflammation (that can then help boost your mental health).

I come from over a decade of experience in my first career, orchestrating hotel and restaurant parties and events that focused on many Mediterranean ethnic dishes (Middle Eastern, Spanish, French, Greek, or Italian).

In those environments, daily food talk and language rolled off my tongue in conversations with past clients and friends.

Speaking of food plates that included curry, cumin, cardamom, cayenne, cinnamon, mint, cilantro, almonds, pine nuts, and pistachios. And hearing proper pronunciations to exotic ingredients such as za’atar.

…Maybe you’re not familiar or these are all your favorites, but can you imagine how these small additions could transform and bring a zestier life to a first or second course, or salad? You could be an inventive cook so then you know exactly what I’m talking about!

Additional ingredients can also add a dash of inspiring color and interest to an otherwise boring plate. A plate that is as much art as flavor, can wake up a Kapha imbalance.

Popular dishes have a common theme: unique and palatable flavors.

Those tastes are made with third dimension complex flavors. Sometimes a dish is just missing a ‘lil sea salt, but usually, a dash of spice will make the dish come alive.

Love is in the spice (and spices) of life. ♥

If you’re aware and knowledgeable, then you can add a flavoring taste that has healthy benefits and part of your daily routine.

Being Ayurvedically mindful is a way to add a “come alive” foodie-tasting experience with spices and pungent ingredients like garlic that are also known to be heart (and all-around) healthy.

On the softer and sweeter end of the spectrum, you can also add more exotic fruits into your smoothie or super sweet fruits like pineapple loaded with Vitamin C. And elderberry for immune support.

When you’re more focused on your simple yet sophisticated, balanced food diet (what would be good for you to eat), then you work on your body balance that affects your better moods and quality of life.

Eating and savoring your favorable foods can leave a smile on your face and remembrance of a good day you had.

11 Combat High Acidic Foods Must-Haves For a GERD Ayurveda Grocery List:

These are super balancing combat high acidic foods for Vata, Pitta, and Kapha doshas. And also for toning down (alkalizing) a high acid stomach.

Bananas

Strawberries

Apples

Almonds and Most Nuts

Avocado

Carrots

Mushrooms

Peas

Most Veggies

Bell Peppers

Flour-less bread (spelt, millet, sprouted grains)

Modern Wisdom For a GERD or High Acidic Foods Day

You can prepare for days where your stomach (or somewhere along your GI tract) is irritated if that’s a tendency you face.

Vata bodies especially have nervous stomachs and sensitive stomach linings. Is that you?

Compound that with acid reflux (GERD), and this adds discomfort from the top to bottom (throat down).

You may even have a gritty taste from stomach acid bubbling up like baking soda reacting to lemon juice or vinegar.

That’s when you want to be cautious about the foods you intake, avoiding specific combinations, like yogurt and pizza (eaten together within short time frames) that can aggravate an already sensitive stomach.

And you have your unique body’s sensitivities you learned through trial-and-error and connecting-the-dots.

If you are leaning too much into your natural way or dosha, that could be a reason for your GERD episodes where you want to lower the acidity in your stomach (and cut down on high acidic foods).

Depending on the severity, you may opt to add small doses of your favorites in moderation for convenience’s sake. Ayurveda doesn’t require a strict diet, but health problems can.

Better to be disciplined for a few days in your diet to prevent a larger outbreak of symptoms or where all you can do is takes sips of water or broth. If you’ve been there before, you know what I mean!

A healthy action step (good for prevention), is taking in a tablespoon of apple cider vinegar (ACV) mixed with water (1:1 ratio).

The best kind of ACV has the ‘mother’ milky substance inside that you shakeup. You can wash the unpleasant taste down with water and lemon.

Or you can also wisely drink teas such as ginger, cinnamon, Kombucha, herbal tea, and green teas. If you have certain imbalances you’ll definitely prefer one over the other. For Vatas (many of us are): you can learn more about how to restore your Vata type.

And you can choose to switch from espressos to yerba mate or cold brew coffee.

By nature, coffee is acidic. And adding that ontop of high acidic foods in your gut can cause daily issues. Switching over to cold brew coffee will be less abrasive on your stomach if you don’t want to give up.

You could get creative and find teas that have half the amount of caffeine as an average cup of coffee. Your favorite chai or black tea cappuccino with frothed almond milk and a touch of Dutch-processed (non-acidic) chocolate cocoa or vanilla dusting, could hit the spot. Yummm to a Vata!

If you’re health-conscious you may have evolved your food balanced diet, added a few carrots, learned to love lean proteins like fish and chicken, or maybe even turned more vegetarian plant-based.

You used new healthy knowledge and let your environment’s resources help shape a better version of you.

Naturally, from your food experiences you can love pasta, bread, sugary floury foods (and maybe have an emergency stash, uh-huh. Vatas love to store up sweets like squirrels with nuts).

And if you stay on my blog journey with me week to week, I’ll share how you can make delicious (as-good, I think) sweets without all the calories or refined sugar (but definitely refined ingredients.. and organic-inspired!).

You may even be a cheese or cheesy-salty food addict if you don’t have a dairy-allergy. (I know my peeps… your pantry is my paradise too). 😊

And you change those ways as you have desires to make changes.

Reduce High Acidic Food Meal Ideas to Consider For your GERD Ayurveda Grocery List

You may find better low acidic grocery food options along your food journey, such as breads inspired by the Biblical ways to make flour-less bread, from ingredients such as millet, spelt, and sprouted grains.

You could make a smoothie with veggie green powder, spirulina, banana, avocado, apple. You can use healthier juices (V8 Healthy Greens is relatively lower in sugar), make your own low-sugar orange juice, or skip the juices altogether.

Or you could keep to the blending basics such as whole bananas, apples, pineapples, and berries.

Plenty of food and drink options to choose from. And our bodies naturally prefer variety and biodiversity.

But what about proteins (to add to your GERD Ayurveda grocery list)?

A safer bet for high acidity is chicken, eggs, or tofu. To get creative, you could make a chicken salad with mustard, grapes, celery, and curry, or an egg salad with mustard and alfalfa sprouts… or dreaming up a stir fry with tofu, mushrooms, and favorite veggies.

To make a savory (alkalizing) soup, you could consider a cauliflower/beet soup with ginger, curry, cinnamon, and organic unpasteurized milk (or almond milk if you like). And then when the high acidic foods level in your stomach goes down, you can consider adding or using coconut milk. …Just a few ideas to get you thinking. 💭

Vata Body Mind Type: Is This Your Natural Way?

Vata body mind is a way to define a body and mind type. As a Vata, I know most of us are naturally thin and have worry tendencies.

Are you a Vata?

If so, this article post is all about you. And if you don’t know what a Vata is, you can discover more below.

You have several identities in this world. I’ll share a few of mine…

Some are fun. You know those personality tests you can take (to learn about yourself and your friends).

Well… in the self-taking Enneagram test, I’m most closely a 7. We’re the happy enthusiasts. …Hoo-ray!

Maybe that’s why I created this place for others to glean off of my happy aura 😊.

By the way, all the Enneagram types 1-9 are great (you’re still a complex individual and have potential traces of all the types). If you’re not familiar, Enneagrams are based on your general life motivations.

Any one enneagram type is not better than another, but I like to cheer mine on (and be happy for the happy type). As an Enneagram 7, we’re known to be the optimistic and positive people in this world.

This makes sense because I naturally gravitate without hesitation towards life’s pleasures enjoying beauty, fashion and gourmet foods.

…Which makes people that know me wonder, how I can be so deeply spiritual? I think of this combination as my superpower… being in this world, but not entirely of this world.

On the outside, like all of us, I’m just a person having a daily spiritual journey.

I found better answers inside from life’s challenges and life’s non-answers. In other words, in the silence.

I was actually born 90% Vata. “A who?”, you may ask if this is new to you.

That’s right, I identify as the Vata body-mind type in Ayurveda.

There are 3 types: Vata, Pitta, and Kapha. We all possess traces in varying degrees of each of these types and any of us can get off balance (irritated, anxious, lethargic, etc.) from these types.

Today I’m just focusing on the Vata type…

As a Vata, most of us are naturally thin or slender. A Vata can eat and eat and eat, and gain little weight.

There are people you hate or envy because of this (not really… but you get my drift). On the flipside, Vatas have thin bones and usually a more sensitive body.

We can take a warm bath and still feel cold especially in the winter.

Each body type has special features.

Another for Vata is, we epitomize the saying, “cold hands, warm heart.”

Our skin and hair stay on the naturally dry side. We use deep moisturizers and conditioners. And adult eczema can arise that’s manageable.

Outside of appearances, the Vata body-mind type naturally holds onto worry and anxiety. An area that I did not care to hold onto so I learned to transform.

In pure Vata fashion, we naturally bounce from task to task (sometimes too much), as multi-taskers are our middle names. We also prefer variety as the spice of life.

We have or like more than one type of any product or food type.

Based on all these descriptions above, I’m 100% Vata.

You learn in life though, you adapt to situations and can balance or counterbalance any natural body type, especially with all the resources and great products we have in the world at our fingertips.

So why am I sharing all of this?…

Because I believe you have a choice to make changes in your life for the better.

I wanted to get up 10 times while writing this, but I forced myself to stay put. I also wanted to wonder what you would think reading this. I chose to not worry about anything that’s not helpful, and just be productive despite natural tendencies because I learned the better way.

But I still care about feelings and how I come across with thin skin, that I learned to toughen up over the years and through life’s situations.

There’s a part of me that still wants to be the reserved person who doesn’t want to share who she is, but I put myself out there anyway as I know I can help others.

I challenge myself to be fearless. Because I know that there’s no personal growth without bringing light to weaknesses, and places I’d rather suppress.

Then I see dynamic people in this world and I couldn’t even begin to do the things they do in their physical abilities and skills.

And I naturally want to believe they are happy.

But they’re not, inside. And despite all they have.

They weren’t wired that way. But I was.

They live on what they know and their comforts. That’s not better or worse, it just is.

They have a choice to change parts of their lives if they choose.

As we all have choices relative to our lives and opportunities.

As long as we support one another as humans, and don’t judge one another, we can learn from each other and grow.

And that can be the greater world we are becoming in collaboration efforts.

If you’re a Vata (or think you’re one from my description above), high five and a big hug to you. I get you.

We naturally have anxious tendencies that can show up in the form of overwhelming feelings, heart palpitations, or nervous butterflies in the stomach.

You don’t have to live that way, as a regular way of being based on your thoughts and situations you can’t control.

I know this from my own learned past experiences.

Without anxiety awareness, you’re putting on a band-aid to calm the symptoms.

Breathing deeply and drinking plenty of water are super important habits to help soothe anxiety.

If you think you have anxiety in your life, confirm with this quiz, and get quick restoring tips and ongoing healthy and happy life balancing tip advice.

You too can change what’s not fully working. (Let it be easy… why live another day not being or feeling like your whole self?).

We live in an evolving world that changes whether we want it to or not.

…And there are lots going on.

But, I believe each of us can get ahead of anxiety and learn to manage and prevent anxiety in a healthy way.

Each situation is a teacher and a chance to find a remedy.

The statistics show our depressed society is growing.

Most women in America and maybe the world, don’t currently do or take the time to learn how to live healthy and happy in life’s busyness, despite all the resources available.

And, that’s where I hope I can shed light with my positivity, encouraging vibes, and sharing self-transformation lessons to help in this cause.

I encourage (and challenge you) to be your change for your life’s happiness.

You can learn all about the Vata, Pitta, and Kapha in this in-depth balancing mind-body article which btw, as an example I’m dominant in Pitta mind (in addition to a Vata mind) to add fuel to the fire.

And very likely, you have more than one dominant mind type. That’s what makes each of us complex, unique, and alike in this life. It’s as simple and complicated as that. 😊