Vata-Pacifying Diet

If you've been told you should focus on balancing vata one of the best things you can do is incorporate vata-pacifying foods into your diet. Vata is balanced by a diet of freshly cooked, whole foods that are soft or mushy in texture, rich in protein and fat, seasoned with a variety of spices, and served either warm or hot. These foods calm vata by lubricating and nourishing the tissues, preserving moisture, and maintaining warmth—all while supporting optimal digestion and elimination. What follows are some specific principles that we hope will empower you in discovering a vata-pacifying diet that will work for you.

Tastes to Favor

Vata is pacified by the sweet, sour, and salty tastes and aggravated by the pungent, bitter, and astringent tastes. Understanding these tastes allows us to make better choices whether or not we have an extensive list of Vata-Pacifying Foods handy.

Emphasize

Sweet

Favor naturally sweet foods like fruits, most grains, root vegetables, milk, ghee, fresh yogurt, eggs, nuts, seeds, oils, and lean meats. The sweet taste is the foundation of a vata-pacifying diet. It is the predominant taste in most of vata’s staple foods, and also vata’s primary source of nutrition. Emphasizing the sweet taste does NOT require us to eat large amounts of refined sugar or sugary-sweet foods. In fact, doing so tends to exacerbate vata’s tendency to over-exert and then crash. Naturally sweet foods tend to be grounding, nourishing, strength-building, and satisfying.

Sour

Favor sour additions like a squeeze of lemon or lime juice, a splash of vinegar, a side of kimchi or sauerkraut, a bowl of miso, a slice of cheese, or a dollop of sour cream. Sour fruits like green grapes, oranges, pineapple, and grapefruit are also appropriate when eaten separately from other foods and in moderation. These make great vata-pacifying snacks. The sour taste is generally not the centerpiece of a meal; instead, it tends to complement and enliven other flavors. The sour taste awakens the mind and the senses, improves digestion, promotes energy, moistens other foods, and helps to eliminate excess wind (think gas and bloating).

Salty

The salty taste is almost singularly derived from salt itself, but favoring the salty taste does not mean that your food should taste as if it’s being cured. Salt is already over-emphasized in the typical Western diet, so simply being mindful of including savory flavors and ensuring that your food has some salt in it will likely be sufficient. Ayurveda recommends a quality sea salt or Natural Mineral Salt over common table salt. Salt stimulates the appetite and digestion, helps retain moisture, supports proper elimination, and improves the flavor of many foods.

Minimize

Pungent

Pungent is a spicy, hot flavor like that found in chilies, radishes, turnips, raw onions, and many especially heating spices.

However, in moderation, most mild spices are quite vata-pacifying. You will find a rather comprehensive list of herbs and spices to favor and reduce in our resource on Vata-Pacifying Foods. The pungent taste is hot, dry, and light; too much of it is extremely drying to the system, exacerbates the rough quality, and can therefore disturb vata.

Bitter

The bitter taste predominates bitter greens (like kale, dandelion greens, and collard greens), and is also found in foods like bitter melon, Jerusalem artichokes, burdock root, eggplant, and chocolate. The bitter taste is cooling, rough, drying, light, and generally reducing or catabolic—all qualities that tend to aggravate vata.

Astringent

The astringent taste is basically a flavor of dryness—a chalky taste that dries the mouth and may cause it to contract (picture biting into a very green banana). Legumes are classically astringent in taste—adzuki beans, black beans, black-eyed peas, chickpeas, pinto beans, soybeans, and so forth. The astringent taste is also found in some fruits, vegetables, grains, and baked goods—things like apples, cranberries, pomegranate, artichokes, broccoli, cauliflower, lettuce, rye, rice cakes, and crackers. The astringent taste is dry, cold, heavy, and rough in nature, making it understandably aggravating to vata.

Suggested Meals

Breakfast

Breakfast is a critical meal when vata is elevated. After an overnight fast, vata needs real nourishment. A hearty breakfast is generally very stabilizing to the entire system when vata is elevated, provided it is not too heavy for one’s digestive capacity. A power-packed meal of eggs and buttered toast is always a winning choice for vata and can be served with sautéed veggies or fresh avocado, if desired. Hot cereals—things like oatmeal, rice porridge, cream of rice, and cream of wheat—are also excellent choices. For a richer, creamier breakfast, the grains can be cooked in milk (or a substitute), or you can add a bit of hot milk after cooking. To make this meal even more vata-friendly, garnish it with ghee, sliced almonds, and flax seeds, sweeten it with honey or maple syrup, and add warming spices like cinnamon, nutmeg, ginger, cloves, and cardamom. Another delectable breakfast is a date and almond shake made from soaked dates, soaked and peeled almonds, and boiled milk (or a milk substitute)—blended together with warming spices like cinnamon and nutmeg.

Lunch

Ideally, lunch is the main meal of the day, meaning it’s the largest and the most nourishing of the three. Hearty grains, steamed and sautéed vegetables, breads, soups, and stews are excellent building blocks for lunch. This is also the best time to enjoy a small salad if you must have one. Try something like: Urad and yellow mung dal with cardamom and naan. If you like, garnish this meal with cilantro, cucumbers, and a dash of yogurt. Kitchari with crispy okra fries. Rice pasta or gnocchi with pesto, black olives, pine nuts, cheese, and a side of marinated beets. If you like, add a small green salad tossed with an oily but stimulating dressing—such as a lemon-ginger vinaigrette. Butternut squash soup, a hearty bread, and a side salad.

Dinner

Dinner is ideally a bit smaller and lighter than lunch. But to soothe vata, it needs to offer adequate nourishment. Soups, stews, or a smaller serving of lunch often fit the bill. Try: Avocado fried rice and a buttered tortilla. Baked and buttered sweet potatoes with minestrone soup, and green beans. Sweet potato sabji.