To fast or not to fast

-
If you eat according to Ayurvedic recommendations based on Dhinacharya or the Circadian cycle then you will be fasting every day and breaking your fast. How?  According to our relationship with the sun every 4 hours in the 24 hour cycle or predominant doshas shifts.

Starting at 6 AM to 10 AM the Kapha dosha predominates. It is the dosha of earth and water and is heavier. Therefore its best to get out of bed before 6 am to not feel heavy otherwise you will need some stimulating caffeine to wake you up.  

At 10 AM we move into the Pitta dosha as be get closer to noon when the sun is highest in the sky. From 10 AM to 2 PM our digestive fire is most active that is why Ayurveda recommends having our largest meal at this time. 

Then at 2 PM we move into the Vata dosha with air and space as the elements that create this dosha. This is good time for creative work.  Then at 6 PM we have a light meal and it is recommended to fast or not eat until we "break our fast" in the morning.  

During this 12 hour fast from 6PM to 6AM the Pitta dosha predominates starting at 10 PM.  At this time the Pitta dosha's various metabolic processes of transformation rebalance our physiology.  If are not asleep at this time it is much more difficult for this to happen and most likely we will get hunger at about midnight and eat something not allowing the detoxification and transformation to occur.

So no need to skip or eliminate meals to create "intermittent fasting" as you are doing a fast intermittently every 24 hours.  Skipping or eliminating meals breaks the routine and aggravates the Vata Dosha which is the leading dosha and causes all kinds of imbalances. 

Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

From Drugs to Herbs

-
Image
 I have been writing this blog for several years and realized that some people are now reading it that might not know me. Here is my story. My story as a healer started early in life. At 15 my first job was as a care aide for retarded children. Then working at children's hospital in Winnipeg as a pharmacy student and after graduating as a Hospital Pharmacist working in large teaching hospitals in both Winnipeg and Ottawa. Four years into my career as a hospital pharmacist I had a rude awakening at work one day. As I was handing a large bag of medications to a man, I looked at him and in that moment "saw" that his mind and the stress in his life was the root cause of his "dis-ease".  That led me on a journey of studying psychology, becoming a teacher of The Transcendental Meditation Program and eventually getting a Master's degree in education from Maharishi International University.  I continued working as a community pharmacist and expanded my scope to incl
Read more

To Drink or Not to Drink Milk

-
Image
  To drink Milk or Not to drink milk? ......That is the question. Milk is considered a nectar in Ayurveda.   It is the loving fluid coming form the mother’s blood carrying immunity and nourishment to the offspring   - whether cow, goat or human or whatever.   When we drink milk within 24-48 hours it nourishes all our deepest tissues. All other food that takes 30 days to reach the deepest levels of our physiology. In other words, to make Ojas or all the neurotransmitter and hormones that are essential for intelligent communication and transformation of all tissues, takes 30 days.   Yes, you heard me. What you eat today is not fully assimilated for about 1 month, whereas milk is assimilated within 2 days.   That is why it is considered a nectar. However there are certain rules around drinking milk.   Firstly the source must be of good quality.   The cows have to be well treated. The individuals caring for the animal but treat it with kindness and respect.   They do not take the baby calf
Read more

Detox Soup

-
Harsh detox protocols can be very dangerous and many modern day toxins are "hot" or can burn the delicate fine channels of elimination in the kidney and other tissues.  Shaka Vansiya Ayurved teaches that there are 4 categories of toxins. Ama or undigested food that is sticky and cold and we need hot spices to eliminate this type of toxin. So ginger and pepper and fenugreek and other heating spices would work well. However once that toxin has been sitting around for a long time it becomes hot.  We might call it a "free radical" in modern scientific terms. Shaka Vansiya Ayurved (now referred to as SVA) calls this Amavisha.  This type of toxin needs a different approach to detox. Before moving the toxins out of the body we need to bind them with mucilaginous food like barley, okra, tapioca, arrowroot, taro root and others.  I find zucchini and other summers squashes are most readily available, even though they are not extremely mucilaginous.  Then you can start moving
Read more