Thai Carrot Cream Soup

Creamy, elegant, decadent and invigorating is the description I can give to this soup. It  goes very well with beet salad, and a fresh green salad. This really is all you need to feel satisfy. You can also change the amount of carrots with beets, parsnips or sweet potatoes. At the end is a rich soup that satisfy all doshas.

Ingredients:
3 big organic carrots
1 large parsnips
1 cup of water

Ginger and Lime Sauce

This fearless Thai flavored sauce takes 5 minutes to make and can be used in many dishes, salads and dips. This warming sauce can be prepared ahead and kept in the fridge for 5 to 10 days. You can also serve it cold as a strong dinner complement. You can substitute the  olive oil with coconut milk, almond milk, or sesame oil.  I like to make mine with coconut milk if I am using it immediately.  If I want it to be preserved longer in the fridge, I use sesame oil. This sauce is an excellent digestive medicine for Vata and Kapha doshas. Pitta can make this sauce with coconut milk to balance out its heating properties.

Makes: 1 ½ cups

Ingredients:

3     small green limes

2     small garlic heads

½ cup     ginger

5 tsp     palm sugar or jaggery-sugar cane

2 tsp     sea salt

1 cup     oil or coconut milk

3     small hot red chili peppers

Directions:

Cut the limes in half and the ginger in small pieces.  Put them in the blender with the rest of ingredients and blend for 3 minutes at a high speed or until forming a smooth sauce. Bottle in a glass jar and refrigerate. 

Hot ghee

The medicinal properties of chilli and ghee are extensive and good for all doshas. The secret is how to combine them and use it in your daily cooking in a balance way. This sauce can last for many years and use in your daily cooking. Excellent for vattas and kapha doshas, and surely a temptation to my pitta friends.

Ingredients:
2 cups of melted ghee
1/4 cup paprika
1 cup red chilli powder.

12 Foods to use with caution in children

* Roasted nuts or popcorn should not be eaten until after the six-year molars have come in. Such foods, when not properly chewed, can become lodged in the digestive tract and cause severe problems.

* Soy milk is a concentrated protein food. It is too heavy for most children, so use only under doctor's orders. (The same should be applied to soy-based infant formulas).

14 Power food for children

•       Almonds increase Pitta and Kapha, and reduce Vata.

•       Bananas are an ideal first food to feed your child. They are high in vitamin A and potassium and, when not overripe, high in calcium. The stringy white lining of the banana peel is especially nutritious.

•       Basmati rice means “fragrant pearl”. It is the grain most easily digested by all. It is the food for the gods. By itself, it holds one of the highest quantities of absorbable protein; combined with split mung bean, it forms a complete protein.

How to introduce new food to children

The first solid food given to a baby will determine what that infant will desire later on. If you primarily give your baby sweets, oil, or salt, he or she will always crave that.

Below are some general guidelines to help you and your family make a transition to an energizing whole foods diet. Make these changes gradually. In Ayurveda, there is a saying that when letting go of a food that is no longer supporting you, “decrease it by one quarter, by one quarter, by one quarter.” For example, if you wish to reduce or omit salt, begin reducing your daily salt intake by one quarter.

Vitamins, children and ayurveda

Under normal conditions, Ayurveda suggests children receive their vitamins through foods and herbs because they are easier to digest and absorb. Each dosha requires a few vitamins, so naturally some will become depleted more rapidly. If vitamin pills or liquid are taken, take them with coriander or cardamom to help digestion and absorption.

Teaching Good Eating Habits to Children

Love and good food bring out the best in a child. Providing a nurturing environment, loving nourishment, and wholesome food are fundamental for your child to be healthy, happy, “wholly”, AND as smart as possible.

Eating a variety of fresh fruits and vegetables, whole grains, legumes, protein along with avoiding overly processed, refined, and chemically laden foods will enhance your child's intellectual, physical, emotional, and mental development.

How to balance your Kapha dosha child

Our Kapha children are blessed with a strong, healthy, well-developed body. They tend to have strong muscles and larger-than average, heavy bones. Because their larger frames are dominated by earth and water, they tend to gain weight and have difficulty taking it off.

Kaphas also tend to be blessed with a sweet loving disposition, with a stable solidity to them.

How to balance your Pitta Dosha Child

The child with a Pitta body type is of medium build and height, with coppery skin and possibly reddish hair. Moles and freckles are common on Pitta skin, which also tends to be oily and warm.

Pitta children tend to have an average body temperature that is higher than that of other children, so they can feel quite warm while others feel cold. They have a low tolerance for hot weather, sunshine or hard physical work. The summer is the most challenging time for them, so this is the time when extra care should be taken.

How to balance a Vatta dosha child

Vata children have light flexible bodies, so they tend to be slim or underweight. There delicate skin tends to be easily dry, rough or extra sensitive to soaps or other products. You may find your Vata child has cold hands and feet due to poor circulation. Vata children have variable appetites and thirst as well as variable digestive strength, and therefore often experience digestive difficulties and problems with absorption of nutrients. Because of the dry, light, and mobile qualities of the dosha, adding the opposite to their diet and lifestyle works best. Your Vata child really appreciates routine since the mobile qualities of the dosha disturb the air and the ether. Implementing Vata diet and lifestyle works best for them.

Getting to know your child dosha

In order to know your child’s dosha you need to keep in mind that there are two aspects to consider. One is the Prakruti of the child which is determined in the moment of conception. The other aspect is the Vakriti which is the present dosha according to age and any dis-balance. It is also ever changing.

4 Lifestyle keys for children balance

If you are a mother, you easily know that a child without routine is a confuse child. Ayurveda point certain times during the day and a few tips to make that routine flow for both of you.

Daily Rhythms/Sleep

We also have daily cycles of doshas in addition to the dosha seasons.  They happen twice a day. The first cycle begins when the sun rises:

5 a.m. to 10 a.m. – Kapha time

10 a.m. to 2 p.m. – Pitta time

2 p.m. to 6 p.m. – Vatta time

3 factors that influence your doshas

1)    Age (Three Stage of Life) and the Doshas

We evolve through three different stages of life, each related to the functions of the dosha that predominates during those years.

Childhood is the Kapha stage. The body grows and builds and constantly demands nourishment to develop strong tissues. Symptoms related to disturbances of Kapha are more common in the childhood stage (i.e.: colds, mucus and congestion). Dry and warm foods will help greatly.

Quik understanding of the 3 doshas

Vata or Winter

Vata is a combination of air and space (ether). In winter the qualities of nature are light, dry, mobile, subtle, cold and rough. So as a result, Vata has similar qualities.

The functions of the body that involve movement and which are all-pervasive, are performed by Vata. The Vata functions are body movements, blood circulation, respiration, excretion, speech, sensation, touch and hearing. In emotions, it manifests as fear, anxiety, grief, enthusiasm and natural urges. In the physical it relates to the formation of the fetus, sexual urges, and retention. Vata is the lead dosha and influencing the other two doshas and when imbalanced causes 60% of diseases.

Spotting your child dosha

Who are your children?

Have you ever wondered about the difference in children from their interest in sports to their hair color or that some are thinner or put on weight easily? No two children are the same.

In Ayurveda there are three basic body types (doshas), and for children, each kid-type will be more susceptible to certain conditions and behavior traits if there is an imbalance.   

The three basic kid-types (doshas) are:

Vata – the magic elf

Pitta – the invincible warrior

Kapha – adorable teddy bear

Parenting with ayurveda

Ayurveda holds the secret to keep your children healthy, balanced and happy. Ayurveda is the traditional holistic system of healing that has been practiced in India for over four thousand years. The term Ayurveda comes from the Sanskrit  “ayur” meaning “life” or “longevity”, and, “veda”, meaning “knowledge” or “wisdom”; it is therefore often translated as “knowledge of living” or “the science of long life”.