Ep 39 - Ayurvedic Summer Foods, Better Hydration, Cooling Pitta and Sadhaka Pitta

Ep. 39 – Ayurvedic Summer Foods, Better Hydration, Cooling Pitta and Sadhaka Pitta

Summer is the season of Pitta dosha in Ayurveda. While warm weather invites us outdoors, it also naturally increases heat within the body and mind. The result? Digestive discomfort, inflammation, irritability, skin flare-ups, acidity and a greater tendency towards impatience or rigidity.

In this episode, I explore how Ayurveda approaches summer nutrition and share simple, practical ways to support your body during the warmer months.

Rather than following rigid food lists, you'll learn how to understand the qualities of food and make seasonal choices that feel supportive, sustainable and realistic.

Towards the end of the episode, I also introduce one of my favourite Ayurvedic concepts: Sadhaka Pitta—the aspect of Pitta connected to our heart, mind, determination and willpower—and why learning to soften may be one of the most powerful Ayurvedic practices during summer.

In this episode you'll learn:

• Why summer naturally increases Pitta dosha
• Common signs of excess heat in the body and mind
• Foods that naturally help cool and balance Pitta
• Why eating your hydration is just as important as drinking it
• The benefits of bitter greens during summer
• Cooling herbal infusions and floral teas to support hydration
• Why ghee remains one of Ayurveda's most nourishing fats—even in summer
• How coconut can become a beautiful seasonal ally
• Why portion sizes matter more during hot weather
• Three foods and drinks to be mindful of in summer:
  • overly intense flavours
  • alcohol
  • caffeine
• Why rigid Ayurvedic food lists often miss the bigger picture
• What Sadhaka Pitta is and how it influences our thoughts, emotions and relationships
• A simple reflection that can help soften frustration and conflict during the summer season

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Transcript

Welcome And Summer Food Focus

Speaker 0:02

Hi and welcome to the Lean on Ayurveda Podcast. Here we explore how the ancient wisdom Ayurveda can help us gain a deeper understanding of our body and open the gateway to finally feeling better.

Speaker 1 0:21

Hello and welcome to episode 39. My name is Vitote, I am your host, and today we will be talking about foods, Ayurvedic foods that are good for the summer season, or in Ayurvedic terms, foods that are pita friendly. We'll cover topics like Ayurvedic food lists, what foods to increase, and what foods to avoid, to feel better during the summer months and to have less issues in the fall. I will also talk about a very particular type of pitta dosha, which is called sadaka pitta, and that can especially affect our behavior during summer months. So I'll explain this type of pitta because there are different types of pitta. So we'll be focusing on this particular one towards the end of the episode, and I will tell you a little bit about how you can work with it.

Consultations And How To Support

Speaker 1 1:42

And before we dive into the episode, I want to remind my past clients that they can book a follow-up consultation with me through the calendar link, which is available in the show notes. And if you're curious about working with me one-on-one, I have a three-month program called Awaken Your Health, which is a personalized Ayurveda journey tailored to your specific needs. So you can book a call with me to discuss whether this type of program would be the right fit for you. The call is free, it is fun and it is insightful. At least that's what my clients tell me. So you can do that by checking the link in the show notes. I have um less time slots during the holiday months as I'll be taking some time off, but you'll definitely be able to find something that works for you, even if you live um in a different time zone. One more thing, I get feedback from some of you how much you appreciate various episodes of this podcast. Thank you so much for reaching out. And if you do appreciate this long form content that is reaching you for free, that I'm curating for you, please do leave a review on whichever platform you're listening or share this podcast with others. The review and share, reviews and shares really help support my work as more people can then discover it. And it's a lovely thing to do in return when we take value from somewhere.

Why Summer Elevates Pitta

Speaker 1 3:30

Alright, so let's dive into the pitta-friendly foods. Summer is the season in Ayurvada when Pitta dosha is expressed. And what that means in practice is basically that there is, since Pitta dosha is made up of mainly fire and a little bit of water, that access heat that is present in the environment and in our bodies, this is the season when that excess heat gets expressed through symptoms. It can also be expressed throughout the whole year. But this is the time when there will naturally be more of it. So that makes us more prone to heat-related symptoms. And just as a reminder, pitta symptoms are of inflammatory nature. So anything that is inflammatory in the body will be related to that excess heat element, and also anything that feels like it's inflammatory in our minds, likewise, pitta dosha will be what is causing it from the Ayurvetic perspective. Balancing these um elements, so you know the the doshas are made up of elements, right? Of the five basic elements, and balancing balancing them, bringing them back to the baseline that is appropriate for us as an individual is is an art. That is the premise of Ayurveda, that is the field of Ayurveda, and and there are many tools that it offers. Balancing our doshas through food, through what we consume, is just one of those gateways. Okay, but it is a very important one. So today we'll be looking at what foods are most appropriate for this season when pitta is likely to be higher. Any food item that we may consume, or any beverage that we may consume, will have particular qualities that can be assigned to it. So, as an example, cow's milk will have qualities such as heavy because it is um dairy is heavy to digest, uh it's very nutritious, um, hence it is more difficult to break down for our bodies, it will have a cooling quality, and it will also have a sweet taste to it. And all of these qualities they will have a particular effect on our doshas. So we can put food into categories. We can put foods into categories that support Pitta, so that means that they balance pitta when pitta is too high, so these would be foods mainly that are cooling to the system, and we can also have foods that are by nature pitta foods, right? So these are foods that feel fiery in nature, right? They will have a pungency to them, they will have, you know, these will be like um spices that are more um on the hotter side of the spectrum. So these will be foods that have a pattern that increases heat in our bodies, right? So today we will look at both at what foods are actually more appropriate now when pita is higher, and which foods we should be, you know, keeping an eye on. And if we consume them, just making sure that we do so moderately. I'll also say that this episode is not meant to be exhaustive, it's just meant to give you some ideas in a simplified way that you can apply right away, like at your next meal as you make choices for yourself.

Eat Your Hydration First

Speaker 1 8:27

So, at first, let's have a look at things that are balancing to the fire, right? So these will be things, these will be food items that bring to the table qualities that are opposing in nature to the qualities of um fire, right? So, first let me start by things that feel like common sense to us, right? The first thing that comes to mind for me is things that have high water content, right? So fruits and vegetables that um you know are very watery in nature, like that is the first thing that our bodies most likely will actually crave when temperatures start to go up. Things like cucumber or you know, watermelon, um, all types of fresh fruits. This is what nature gives us during this time. Nature is very wise, and foods that have a high water content in them in general, they will be easier to digest because they have a big portion of water, they hold a lot of water in them, right? So they will be less difficult to break down, less dense, and that is what um our body calls for. So this phrase, eat your hydration, is I think applicable for the whole year, but in the summer it's especially nice to remember that.

Bitter Greens Plus Six Tastes

Speaker 1 10:14

The second category of foods that um I am including a lot more of during the season are greens that taste bitter. So, this is also true for spring for a different reason because um these are like usually the spring shoots, um you know, like the the first vegetation uh that that becomes available for us during the springtime, it will be green and bitter in taste, and that is wonderful for that stagnation that sometimes builds up over winter, so that's why we get it in spring. Um, that is because bitter is a taste that is light and cold, right? So in spring we do want that lightness of the bitter taste, and in summer, that bitter taste can help us bring the heat down because any vegetable, any herb that tastes bitter, it will have a cooling quality on the blood tissue. That is I'm generalizing here. There are always some exceptions, but in general, if you can get your hands on like fresh green herbs for cooking, right? So that is like coriander leaves, parsley, dill. Um I mean, you can just go to your local farmers market and see what they have available. Anything that is leafy and green in color will be helpful to keep healthy blood, and it will support our system when the external conditions are hot, and especially if you already see some symptoms that there may be some excess heat in your blood, so this is easiest seen through the skin if you're prone to rashes and breakouts of all sorts, for example, um, or if there are signs of acidity in your body, or if there are signs of inflammation, whether that's in the body or in the mind, then leafy greens, when digested well, uh, can be a beautiful thing to include more of in your diet. Just one thing I'll say is be mindful of the quantity that you are consuming, because if suddenly your meals become um, you know, if they suddenly become overwhelmingly green and bitter, as in you start eating raw salads all the time, that might weaken your digestive fire because it is a raw food, right? And in Ayurveda, we are always speaking about a balance between different tastes. So we need all six of the tastes, meaning that we need a sweet component, right? So something that is grain-based, some proteins can fall into this category. Um we need something, we need a salty component, we need a sour component, right? So this would be like you know, a little bit of pickle on the side, or just a little bit of yogurt, or a squeeze of lime, or a lemon. Um, we also need um some pungency, right, to our meal. That is also a taste that needs to be represented, so that gives it that extra fire for to stoke our agni, to stoke our own digestive fire, and helps with the breaking down of the meal. Um, and then that leaves us with some astringent taste and some bitter taste. So, this is all to say that um, you know, when our meal is overwhelmingly just like sweet, or when it's overwhelmingly bitter, like that is gonna be a problem over time, right? Um, because it doesn't contain other tastes that have a particular job to do in the digestive process. So, all of this to say, do include your green bitters, your leafy greens, but in proportions that are appropriate, right? So it doesn't become the whole meal that you're consuming, but it's a component of your meal. But in the summer, that component can be bigger than let's say in the midst of deep winter.

Floral Infusions For Cooling

Speaker 1 15:50

One of my favorite ways to support my body throughout um circumstances of higher heat is by using florals. Anything that is floral in nature, like fragrant as a flower, such as rose, hibiscus, jasmine, chamomile, they will have like these um food items or herbs will have a cooling quality. So a lovely way to include that in our diets is by making infusions, and you can either do uh you can either make a traditional infusion with hot water, or if you have some time, you could use just filtered water on top of rosebuds, for example, or you know, you can you can mix and match um whether you're using different florals that you enjoy, or mixing it with some other herbs, uh whether they're from your garden or from a herbalist. So some seasonal ones that go really nicely when we mix them with florals are lemongrass, for example, or nettle. So often these types of herbal infusions will also have a nourishing toning quality to them, and some of them can be um even moisturizing in nature, so bringing that extra moisture um through the polysaccharides, these gel-like polysaccharides, um, when we mix it with water. So, for example, um things like marshmallow root, licorice, aloe vera gel, slippery elm. So you you can use these together with um whatever florals you enjoy. Um, and the beautiful thing that happens when we mix different herbs, then there is like a synergy that happens in an infusion, and we're getting qualities that have um kind of married together as they were brewing together, right? And then the effect is overall more gentle and balanced, which this time of year is very welcome. So, we've already seen that eating our hydration, right? So, consuming fruits and vegetables that naturally have a high water content will be helpful for our digestion because they're easier to digest and they will hydrate us more. Also, what can be helpful is um consuming more um leafy and green herbs and vegetables, right, in an appropriate proportion. And another nice way to support ourselves is by making infusions of florals and some demulcent herbs, because then we get this overall cooling and hydrating effect, and infusions can be in a form of a hot water infusion if that is palatable to you. It can be a hot water infusion that you allow to cool, or you can even infuse in cold filtered water over time.

Ghee And Coconut As Allies

Speaker 1 20:01

I also want to say a word about consuming good quality fat in Ayurvada. We always really want to encourage everyone to make sure that they are consuming appropriate amounts of good quality fat. And um, one more time, I will do a pitch for Ghee because Ghee is the supreme fat in Airvada, it is a fat that can be consumed all year round, it's excellent in summer as it is in winter, and is it is also excellent for all doshas in different amounts, right? So if you do have more kaffa going on, if you do have um a heavier body that feels more heavy, you can use less ghee. And in the summer, you can um perhaps switch it up with some olive oil instead. But if you're mainly working with vata and with pitta, do consider including ghee into your life daily, whether it's summer or winter where you are. Um, and also I wanted to share, I wanted to say a word about coconut and in this case coconut butter, since we're talking about fat. Um it is so coconut in general is cooling in its qualities. Um, it is really um such an illustration of how nature is incredibly intelligent because where do coconuts grow? They grow in places where people need cooling, right? Um, and so if it is very hot where you are, and if you do have it available. Drinking coconut water is a great way to hydrate. You can use more coconut milk in your cooking. You can use coconut butter. That is something that I've been doing this season, and I've been very excited about it. So I've embraced coconut butter this summer and I find it incredibly versatile. I find it um super uh useful when cooking, not so much as a cooking fat, but rather as adding fat when the meal is made, right? So whether it's a curry or um like I might cook with ghee, and then when a curry is made or a dal is made, I would then add some extra coconut butter. Um I have put it on my toasts, I have put it on my dessert, I have put it on pancakes, and I've been loving it because it provides that uncuousness and that delicious buttery texture with some sweetness of coconut and a bit of this crunchy texture, so it really feels very uh subtly dessert-like, and it is very nourishing, and it's kind of a nice, like I would probably not use that in deep winter uh because it would feel counterintuitive for me. But when you know, since the temperatures have been really high where I am uh this summer, it really does feel like my body really enjoys it. So um here's a little pitch for all things coconut. If it is hot where you are, that can become a good ally in your cooking in whatever form you find it most palatable.

Portions Matter When It Is Hot

Speaker 1 24:11

And one more thing I will say when it comes to um you know looking at things that will support our um that will support the pitta dosha during this time, um, it's important to say um that we need to be mindful about portions, okay? Because high pitta in the environment and in the body does not equal to high or effective digestive fire. Actually, quite the opposite happens. Um, for us to have good digestive fire, we need to have balanced pitta, okay? And when pitta is higher, then our digestive fire also has some consequences, it will become more sluggish, right? So that means our capacity to digest food will also be less. So that means um things like snacking or eating late at night will make it harder for our body to process the food that we put in it.

Three Things To Limit

Speaker 1 25:25

Okay, on what to avoid, um I want to leave you with just three tips today because I think it's always easier if we um have a limited amount of advice and then we go out into the world and apply it rather than us hearing an extensive amount of information which we're already exposed to, and then us not being able to remember much of it and apply it. So when it comes to what to avoid um when pitta is high, the first thing I will say is intensity. Okay, so when it comes to food, what what is that intensity? That is intense tastes. Okay, so pitta will drive us to reach out for things that have a very um that feel very intense to our palate, right? So if you're drawn to salty, like you will be drawn to things that become saltier and saltier, right? Our palate becomes accustomed and like the threshold is moved up, right? So um things like um crisps, I'm thinking of crisp right now because I'm recording this in in the midst of the football world cup, right? And I'm noticing that like the snacks that have the branding of the World Cup, um they are so incredibly intense. Like the potato crisps. If I were to put one in my mouth, like it's even difficult for me, like my taste buds don't know what's going on, like the taste is so intense, and um it feels like that there has been like this grooming process, and now these companies have arrived at tastes that are so incredibly intense on the salty side, on the pungent side, that it's like where else are they gonna go? You know? So I'm using this as an example of a summer snack that you know probably many many families are using right now. Notice what is your relationship with intense tastes. When are you um when are you craving like if if you have sweet already, like I want to make it sweeter, or when something is just slightly salty, I want to make it saltier, I want to make it spicy, right? So it's not to say that it's wrong to do that, but notice what is your relationship with it, and fun fact, pitas will hate bland food, they will think bland food is boring, and they will call bland food food that is actually regular food. But once we have gone overboard with this, like looking for intensity, then as I mentioned, like our threshold for intensity changes, right? And what we may have perceived as um you know something moderately salty will suddenly taste like it's it's absolutely bland and vanilla, right? So this is just an interesting thing to observe. When do you feel like your senses are driving you for more, right? More intensity. Um the second thing I will mention is alcohol, even if it's ice cold beer, whatever has alcohol will increase heat in the body, and if it comes in a form of a cold, like refrigerated drink, and if it comes in a form that is also sparkly, it will also influence vata dosha. Okay, so um, depending on what's going on in your body, this is a good one to um to witness, you know, what is your relationship with it this summer? What would you like your relationship with it to be? Um, and if you do decide to enjoy it, what um you know, like what is your threshold going to be? Um the third thing, the third item that I want to mention is caffeine. Sometimes in the summer we might not even notice how much caffeine we consume. Because, like when it's hot, we might go for things like icy coffee, you know, like an icy whatever it's called, um which doesn't always feel like caffeine, right? We don't perceive it as caffeine, we probably perceive it as something like a refreshing shake, but it is um like if we look at what caffeine is as a substance, it is a substance that is acidic in nature, so it is heating and drying to the body, which are the two qualities that we don't actually want more of during the summer, right? So, this is to keep in mind if you do choose to enjoy caffeine, um, then thinking about things like you know, having it with some milk or adding some cardamom to it can be good ways of taking the edge off for your body. And I would encourage anyone who is taking it to limit it to one cup in the AM, and also making sure that you hydrate yourself properly, whether that's with water or with a hydrating infusion, but um it will have a drying effect, right? So we do want to replenish afterwards.

Rigidity And The Food List Trap

Speaker 1 32:23

One thing I will say is that high pita is sharp in nature, just like a flame has a sharp quality to it, and what that does to us is it can make us feel like things should go a certain way. And when they don't go our way, that inner heat can turn into inner sharpness and it can push us towards conflict, whether that's with others or with ourselves. And summer is the most wonderful time to witness that part of ourselves that might feel a little bit rigid at times, right? This rigidity of wanting things to go our way. And one thing I did want to discuss is um this invitation for curiosity around softening this time of year. So sometimes clients will ask me for dosha appropriate food lists, and I have a lot of resistance in giving them those lists. First of all, um they don't need me to get the lists because they're widely available. Um but my point is that looking at a food list for a particular dosha is exactly the kind of thing that can drive us towards rigidity, it can make us less available to see context. I'll give an example. Um, tomato would be on the list of foods to avoid for pitadocia. And that being said, there will definitely be some individuals who need to avoid it, who have a very particular type of bitter imbalance. Um, and I am particularly particularly thinking here of um individuals who have a level of histamine intolerance. However, for most people, you know, especially this time of year, even if your dominant dosha is pita, um tomato is going to be the most delicious seasonal um seasonal food item, right? That many people really enjoy. And if we were to like really stick to a list, right, we might miss out on the context that actually if you go and get like a locally grown tomato that is super seasonal, that like grew up really close to where you live, and you eat it with enjoyment, um, you know, we might miss all of that just because it's on the list, and in fact, your body might do very well with that. Um, so that is why, in my opinion, um, you know, working with food lists in a rigid way is not where I want to see Ayurveda go. And especially this time of year when that rigidity can feel very compelling, right? When we want, we might want to get things just right, when we might want to make sure that things just go our way.

Sadhaka Pitta And Softening

Speaker 1 36:22

This is a type of pitta that is that resides in the heart and in the brain, it is called sadhaka pitta. So this pitta is responsible for the implementation of desire, right? When we have a desire for something, and then we have the will to follow through. So there's a particular type of pitta that is responsible for that in our bodies and our minds, right? Residing in the heart and in the brain, connecting that desire to logic and action. And when overall heat is high in the body, that sadhaka pitta can also become out of balance, right? It can also become compromised, and that is when we might feel that rigidity come into play, right? When we might feel like we want to bulldoze over things, right? When we want to override, convert, or um, you know, wanting the other to be different, wanting the circumstances to be different, right? Why isn't he or she so and so? Um, and it's kind of like when we get the whatever means necessary thinking, right? So if we notice that in ourselves, one way to work with that is by inviting curiosity around softening. What if my words were 10% softer? What would softer look like in this particular situation? How could I carry out this action just 10% softer? And if this is already soft, what would softer feel like? Right? And this right here, this would be the best remedy for pitta. Not not eating the tomato, but softening our words, softening our thoughts, softening our actions. And when sadaka pitta is balanced, then we have clarity about what we desire, and we also have clarity around boundaries, right? Which battles are necessary to fight, which battles are ours to fight, and which battles we can let go of. Because if we don't have that clarity, if that sadakapitta is not balanced, then our life can either become, you know, a life where we don't do anything and we don't have any willpower, right? There is this like overwhelming sluggishness and lethargy, or the opposite, when life becomes one big battleground, and then we find ourselves fighting everybody's battles, right? And nobody wants that. Summer is a perfect playground for working with Sadekapitta because summer is full of disruptions, it's full of travel that disrupts our routines, it's full of visits of all sorts that inevitably don't go the way we want them to go, right?

A Real Life Summer Disruption Story

Speaker 1 40:17

Um, and I can share a personal example of how I've been working with Sada Capitta. We've been having a lot of family over. Um now actually for more than longer than a month, but these past two weeks have been particularly intense because we've had multiple family members with kids in our house. And that means to accommodate, you know, I had to move out my work working space and my altar space to a different location in my house. And this morning I was doing my morning practice, singing praises to the Davy in front of my altar. And I had one person come in, then they left. I had another person come in, then I had a couple of kids come in, and it was just like this revolving door. And I was thinking to myself, like, my first thoughts were like, Oh, I really miss having that solitude for my practice, and you know, that like nobody disturbs me, like that is how I would like things to be. But then I also caught myself in that thinking, you know, this is how I would like things to be, but this is not what is, and I have participated in inviting these people, I love these people, these people are my family, and this is not a battle that I'm going to engage in. I'm not going to, you know, like feed my frustration about not having space and not having my practices look a certain way because the circumstances are fundamentally different. So I'm letting myself have grace around, you know, my routine looking very different. So at a certain point today, I even started like smiling during my practice because I was thinking this is so comical. Like I'm doing this mantra practice that feels very integral to me from the Vedic tradition, and here I have people who have no idea about Vedic tradition, like coming in and out, and and then of course my head is spinning, like, what are they thinking? And uh what are they saying? And then I thought to myself, isn't it great that I am the weird one in the family? Isn't it great that like through me they get to see that this other world exists? How wonderful to be given the opportunity to be strange sometimes. Right? And this is a much softer way to look at the situation than you know me thinking, oh it's so unfair, I've been moved out of my space, and now I'm doing my practice, and the door was closed, and people keep on coming in and disturbing my practice, and what are they thinking and what are they saying, and and and spiraling in that direction. So this is just one um real life example from today, from my life today. Um, but I can guarantee that I will gather a ton of examples, you know, when we travel to see our families, because that will happen um in a few days' time. Um, and when we go to see family, when we visit family, that is prime, prime opportunity to work with our Sadhaka Pitta, right? And our desire to go for things to look a certain way, for things to be a certain way.

Key Takeaways And Closing

Speaker 1 44:40

So I hope that this episode was helpful. I hope that you were able to pick at least one thing that resonated with you, and you'll be able to go out into the world and implement it. And for now, I'm wishing you a beautiful start to your summer, and there'll be one more episode in two weeks, and then I'll take a short break from the podcast until the second half of August. But for now, I wish you a great day, and I look forward to reconnecting with you in two weeks' time.