According to Ayurveda, Spring (kapha season) is the time to start incorporating more fresh greens and raw vegetables into our daily meal plans.  But if your digestive fire (agni) is low, you’re a vata type, or have had increased stress…….you may have difficulty digesting and assimilating these types of foods.  Raw foods do pack a powerhouse of enzymes and nutrients, but they also require a good strong digestive fire to break them down.

So how can you increase your greens and aide your digestion at the same time?  This recipe fits the bill!  Loaded with lots of digestive spices, and made into a soup, the vegetables are easy to digest because the blender has already broken them down into an easy to digest form, but also retains the nutrients.

And, it tastes delicious……isn’t that why we love to eat?  We love to stimulate our senses and taste buds!

Green Curry Soup

Servings: Two
Ingredients:
1 1/2 cups filtered or spring water

1 cup tightly packed chopped spinach

1 cup chopped broccoli stalks

1/2 cup chopped leeks

1 avocado

1 carrot

4 – 6 soaked sundried tomatoes

1 clove garlic

1 tbsp miso paste

1 tsp himalayan or celtic sea salt

1 tbsp coconut oil

1 tbsp cumin

2 tsp tumeric

1 tbsp tamari or nama shoyu

1/2 – 1 tsp cayenne pepper

Preparation:
Blend the water, spinach, broccoli and leeks in a blender until smooth.  (I recommend a Vita-mix blender, for the best textured soup.  Visit: https://secure.vitamix.com/acb/stores/4/?COUPON=06-004346&store=1 ).

Add the remaining ingredients and blend again until smooth. You can adjust the spices to taste.

This can be served chilled in the summer or in winter it’s nice to warm it up a little. If you are warming it on the stove, to preserve the enzymes, keep it on the lowest heat, stir constantly and make sure it doesn’t go over body temperature by dipping your finger in. It should be just warm, not steaming hot.

I like to garnish with a dab of organic plain yogurt or flaxseed oil and top with some crunchy kale chips.

There are many reasons to eat a local and seasonal diet.  It supports local farmers and also what is most easily digested and assimilated by your body at that specific time of year.   This results in better, more complete nutrition, fueling your body with the nutrients it needs.

This recipe is perfect for Fall…….I just happened to have an abundant harvest of Butternut squash from my garden so it is the perfect time to find new ways to use it.  Of course, here in Western New York even though it is closing in on Vata season, we’ve had a lot of rain which makes it appropriate to balance Kapha needs as well.  The seasonings can be adjusted to your “dosha” (constitution)……Kaphas would most likely want to add a little fresh ginger. 

For many Vata types it is difficult to tolerate “raw” foods, but this recipe gives the benefit of raw, living foods with an abudance of enzymes, without straining “agni”, your digestive fires.  It provides the sweetness that balances Vata,   without processed or refined sugars.  Kapha types could even add a little cayenne or chili pepper for a spicey twist.

The variations are limitless.   Have Fun, Play with your food!

Butternut Squash Cookies

4 Cups peeled Butternut Squash, chopped into medium sized chunks

1 cup raisins

juice of one orange

1/2 teaspoon nutmeg

1 teaspoon cinnamon

3 tablespoons raw honey  

Blendthe chopped squash in a food processor and transfer to a bowl.  Blend the raisins and orange juice in a food processor and add to the squash mixture.  Add the remaining ingredients to the bowl and mix thouroughly.  Drop by tablespoon fulls onto a lined dehydrator tray.  Flatten each cookie till they are 1/4 inch thick.  Set dehydrator to 100 degrees and leave in for 12-15 hours.

Processing note:  The first time I made this recipe I didn’t own a Vita-mix  blender so I  processed everything in my food processor.  I had a small Ronco dehydrator, without a thermostat or timer.  Don’t let the appliances stop you from trying this recipe.  Although I highly recommend investing in your health with a Vita-mix blender, ( http://snipurl.com/sbrdt ) and an Excalibur dehydrator, you can still successfully make the recipe without these items.  I lined the Ronco dehydrator with parchment paper.  Processing the foods in the Vitamix makes for a very smooth and thin mixture, so I added some ground golden flax seeds to thicken the mixture.  When processing in a food processor it makes for a chunkier “dough” and a chewier cookie.  Either way they are delicious and nutritious.  The Vita-mix and Excalibur allow for the highest quality and nutritional integrity in living whole food nutrition.

The first step in staying healthy is to develop an awareness of the potential causes of disease, and tune into your  body…….listening to the messages it is giving you.   Yet, here is another level to consider when applying the idea of self healing.

Ayurveda can sometimes feel like mastering a science coarse…..here is my best to give you the simple layman’s version so you can have the best information to make the best choices for your own body and self care.

If you have questions contact me, you are not alone, I’m excited to help you.

What if you haven’t taken the time or been taught how to develop this awareness, to modify the cause and to apply the opposite qualities to restore balance?  What should you do to restore balance? What can you do if you are experiencing illness and what to use Ayurveda to heal?

In Ayurveda, the principle of opposites is helpful at almost every stage of disease but once a disease has developed it becomes necessary to use techniques for cleansing and purifying your body of accumulated and excess toxins.

This is the process of eliminating Ama.

When doshas (your mind/body constitution) becomes aggravated because of poor diet, unhealthy lifestyle, negative emotions or other factors, it first affects the body’s biological “fire”, (referred to as Agni)…….which governs digestion and assimilation, (judging by all the adds on TV for Nexium, Prevacid, etc…..there’s a whole lotta folks that have aggravated Agni).

When your fire becomes weakened or disturbed food is not properly digested.

The undigested, unabsorbed food particles accumulate in the gastrointestinal tract and turn into a toxic, sticky substance called Ama.

In the third stage of disease, spreading, Ama clogs the intestines, over flows into other body channels such as blood vessels, and leaks into the body’s tissues, causing disease.

The presence of ama in the body can be felt as fatigue, heaviness, and lethargy.   It can induce constipation, indigestion, gas, diarrhea, stiffness in the body, aches and pains, mental confusion or dullness.

According to Ayurveda, disease is actually a crisis of ama.  So the key to preventing disease is to help the body eliminate toxins and prevent ama.

 If you are experiencing any signs or symptoms of disease ask yourself…..Got ama?

Consult with an Ayurvedic or holistic practitioner that can help you with detoxifying your body so you can enjoy a life of energy, health and vitality.  This is your natural state of being.