Diet for Late Summer

Late summer regime

The late summer is the most challenging season due to: 1. the solstice and it is the longest day of the year indicating that the digestion is at its lowest strength of the entire year. 2. Vata is now going into aggravation from the early summer of accumulation. #. Pitta is now accumulating (not aggravated because summer is hot). The whole surroundings become green due to the development of grass and trees. The flowers are blooming. In the atmosphere, it is cold and damp. There are no thundering clouds, but the rain is more. Some places experience the monsoon. As we move forward, the whole sky is cloudy and there is a gloomy atmosphere. Due to Adana Kala (summer solstice), the strength of the body and power is diminished. The digestive capacity is at its lowest. The damp and cloudy atmosphere, make the appetite and digestion power poor. The cloudy weather is responsible for the increase in Vata due to Shita guna that is increasing from the hottest and dryest time of the year and the change in the direction of the winds.

The new rainwater is fresh, cold and the rivers flow so it is muddy and dirty and so is Amla Vipaki which is the reason for the accumulation of Pitta dosha (Sanchay). During this season the chances of diseases are more so one must keep his Agni as strong as possible.

 

The Diet

Cereals: Old Wheat cooked well like in flat bread/chapatis, rice, millet, Barley.

Pulses: Red lentil, Mung

Oils: Coconut or Peanut oil.

Milk Products: Fresh Buttermilk, Butter Ghee and milk (Goat milk).

Vegetables: Karela bitter melon, White onion, Methi fenugreek, snake gourd, broad beans, Sweet Potato, Cucumber etc.

Non-vegetarian: Meat of goat, deer, and rabbit.

Fruits: Mango, Pomegranate, Amalaki Gooseberry, Sweet Grapes.

Drinks: Well water, Lemonade, soups made up from meat broth.

Miscellaneous:
Honey. Honey water is very good in this season.
One should try to avoid being in the sun for longer period.
Exercise is once every 15 days. Very moderate. Low effort.
Sex is a minimum. One in every 15 days. This also means masturbation.
Bath in warm water baths. Massage is good. Perfume with essential oils or scented powders with the cloth after a bath.
Flower garlands are worn.
Stay in a dry place, not in a humid environment. With good ventilation. Day time sleep as well as sleeping outside the house or open air is avoided.

22 thoughts on “Diet for Late Summer”

  1. “Pitta is now accumulating (not aggravated because summer is hot).”

    Shouldn’t this be “because summer is dry”? I do understand the drought comes with the hotness though, so if the word “hot” was intended then please ignore me.

    Thank you for the post.

    Reply ↓

    • Pitta does not aggravate in summer like Western ayurveda teaches. Depending on who you read there is no consensus and alot of confusion as you will find if you read what is out there that pitta is high in the summer because summer is hot, which there is no reference to text, just what they were taught from their teacher. Vata, depending upon who you are reading will aggravate in autumn and winter and kapha aggravates in winter yet you are to eat a kapha balancing diet in winter which is also opposite of texts. Enough said. I lived in New Mexico when I went to the Ayurvedic Institute to study with Dr. Lad. I can say personally that pitta did not aggravate in summer there but vata did. Tricky to be the black sheep or the fish swimming up the river. This is the major problem with ayurveda in the West. Who has studied the actual texts? Who is not just parroting their teacher? Who is experiencing and learning from that experience based on proper knowledge? Who is not just prescribing triphala to everyone? 😉

    • Lol, now I understand. I thought you were saying that the reason for pitta not being aggravated in summer is because it is hot in summer… which makes no sense when the drought that this hotness brings is not mentioned. But… I interpretated it the wrong way. You were merely saying that the popular idea of pitta being aggravated in hot summer is not true. Same words, very different interpretation. haha.

      As you know I’m reading the most basic ayurvedic text there is, in english. Indeed, it says nothing about pitta being aggravated in summer or vata being aggravated in autumn or any of the western ayurveda things you’ve listed. What I just found however.. is a very clear, simple and concise explanation of the seasons and their doshas; in which season they increase, when they go into aggravation and when they alleviate, and most importantly.. why it happens. Anyone claiming vata is aggravated in autumn hasn’t even made it through the first 70 pages of the first ayurvedic book. So all what’s left would be making stuff up or indeed parroting a teacher, or both.

    • Yes. They don’t study the texts. They study their teachers books. And listen to what their teacher says. That is all. Everything out there in the masses actually doesn’t follow the texts but it actually follows western ayurveda. Just do a quick browse on the Internet yourself. You can check the books that are written by practitioners as well. So the question is why do they believe that?. Especially when you start to understand that as a practitioner you need to be diagnosing and treating based on the season. And I get the bigger picture of the whole thing being able to use the knowledge wherever but I’ve never seen their excuse of that being true in any of the places I’ve been on the planet in the different seasons.

    • I decided to look up dutch ayurveda websites on google to see what they say. Most all of them say spring is kapha, summer is pitta and autumn is vata. And then theories about winter, early winter, late winter and a variety of ideas about kapha and/or vata being aggravated. I read about kapha being aggravated till june 15th. One even said that december and januari is pitta season. They all say different things. There being 6 seasons, 4 seasons, 3 harvest seasons, there not really being seasons at all. I read about salads being the perfect antidote to the heat of the summer. It’s pretty amazing that to me, being very much an amateur, that all of this stuff is so obviously confused. If it is as you say, and they have blended in chinese medicine (and I wonder how many people are aware of that) I suspect they also got chinese medicine wrong. All I see is just a lot of inconsistent information with an “ayurveda” stamp on it while none of it coincides with ayurvedic texts.

      But who cares about what some dusty old book says if you can have all the information you need with a few clicks of the mouse. The internet is there to enlighten us with its wisdom that is updated to our modern day and age. Modern gurus understand things have changed and they have changed their teachings accordingly. Outdated information of those books you hold so high has been bettered with the help of our health experts that are backed up by western modern scientific articles, plus they have great excuses for their changes as they don’t live in India and stuff works different in different regions of the planet. Look at gravity for example, in Holland we walk on our ceilings and hang our lamps on the floor. We bath in water. Dutch water is dry. our snow is hot and our fire is cold. Don’t see any of that happening in India, do you? Also, isn’t there like.. different interpretations and different scriptures saying different things? Just like all the different christian churches have different ideas about the bible? Not that I have read any of the vedic scriptures, but I just assume that’s the case here too so I just get to choose what type of Ayurveda I like most. And after all.. all we have to do is just listen to our own bodies, our hearts and inner gurus. I mean… it is really telling me to not be so tough on myself and that I should have that chocolat bar. Now excuse me, I have to go or I’ll miss my goat yoga class.

    • Yes Jesse. That is what there is out there. Thanks for doing the research. How would they know better though?
      I would think that it would be illegal to practice without any real education and real licensure in many countries.
      This really is not that bad. When you think of what the future is going to look like because of all of this chicanery??? It looks pretty dark for the health and spiritual stuff.
      Now go research what all the big named ‘teachers’ in ayurveda say in their books.

    • Lol. The first two books to pop up when typing in “ayurveda book” on google are Dr Lads. One of them is from 2002 and the other one is from 1984. The 1984 one says vata is high in fall, kapha is high in winter and then spring is a transition season in which kapha (early spring) goes into pitta (late spring). Summer is pitta (At least they are consistent in thát mistake, you’ve gotta give em that.) That’s all it says in relation to the seasons. Half a page (and an illustration that shows the same principle) in a book of 172 pages long, that’s all! Nothing about what to eat or what not to eat in which season, what to avoid, etc. Just… 4 seasons and their nonsenscal doshas and that’s basically it. He also writes in the same book that pitta is formed from fire ánd water so there’s the big question again… why is pitta highest at the dryest time of the year?

      In the other book however, not even a fourth of a page is dedicated to the seasons. To sum it up: summer = pitta, fall = vata, kapha = autumn and spring isn’t even mentioned…

      Now to be thorough, in this same book seasons are mentioned a couple of times more. But nothing that’s in depth:

      “Some obese people feel more depressed during winter, because of clouds in th sky and lack of sunlight. According to Ayurveda, the presence of sunlight stimulates sadhaka pitta and a person becomes happy. Lack of sunlight creates depression, and winter depression (Seasonal Affective Disorder – SAD) is common when meda dhatu dushti is present.”

      “the predominance of each element changes continuously, modifying temperature, humidity and seasons. People must strive to accommodate these changes in order to survive.”

      Now, this is a book that’s more than 300 pages long and its title is “textbook of Ayurveda fundamental principles” yet this is all it has to say about the seasons and their doshas (while he does seem to have space to dwell on meditation and Yoga stuff) and the tiny piece it hás reserved for the seasons is dead wrong too.

      The guy supposedly studied at BAMS. That was in the sixties, but based upon his books one would swear he had his earphones in during class. How did he even get through the first semester? What’s the point of spreading false information? This is information that can be proved to be false by anyone who has enough muscular power to lift a 2 inch thick book and the attention span enough to scan through it for a minute or 3. Is it that 6 seasons and their real doshas are too complicated to understand so it can’t be sold to the naive and hungry public who are too lazy to think harder than to count to 4? I mean, it takes some time to understand, but it’s not thát hard. Not necessarily for you to answer, but these are the questions I ask myself. I mean, this guy is from India and supposedly went through BAMS. He can’t not know these things. Apparently this ís what sells though. Write some books, keep the western 4-seasons idea intact, throw in some words like vata, pitta and kapha, put on relaxing music and teach aerobics and call it yoga, write some stuff about moksha and how to sit with your legs crossed and your eyes closed, smile, maybe crack a joke and… boom, you’re at the top of the spiritual pop-world. That’s all it is!?

      If anyone would like to check for themselves:

      https://epdf.pub/queue/ayurveda-the-science-of-self-healing-a-practical-guide.html
      (page 107)

      https://www.academia.edu/33021573/Textbook_of_Ayurveda_Vol._1_Fundamental_Principles_of_Ayurveda
      (page 15, 32 and 143)

  3. Honey for late summer. I don’t get why that in general is seen as good. Wouldn’t that dry out vata more?

    Reply ↓

  4. Of all the food substances described on this blog, I’ve been having the hardest time understanding buttermilk. Don’t drink it in summer, late summer, fall, late summer ánd fall. I got confused ;). So I decided to combine the information from your different articles on buttermilk to see if I can make sense of things. According to your article “village knowledge” there’s only one month in which it is not ok to drink buttermilk which is Kartika (lasts 30 days. Begins October 23rd) which to my understanding has got to be referring to a certain time in the autumn season.

    “There are two posts on buttermilk and you will find enough information there. I would advise you to stick to the basics and not make up stuff. I may do another posting on buttermilk soon. Buttermilk is not to be consumed in early summer and Autumn. or when there is open wounds as it will stop the wound from healing. Other contraindication are if one as burning sensations, fainting, pulmonary consumption, and bleeding diseases in general. Ayurveda does not make one thing for everyone. it is all within the details of understanding the details that makes it a medicine or a poison. That is with everything. Not just buttermilk.”

    I took this from the comment section of https://trueayurveda.wordpress.com/2012/07/07/takra-buttermilk-the-divine-healer/

    The article of the link above said:

    “The buttermilk made by adding water 25% by volume of curd is “warming”, called “Takra”, and therefore should not be taken in late summer and fall when pitta is accumulating and going into excess (note here that Western Ayurveda is incorrect in teaching that pitta is high in summer due to it being hot. This idea of pitta being in prakopa in summer is the normal Western superficial teaching and wrong understanding of Ayurveda with no depth of the details. This contraindication of taking buttermilk proves this.). Excess diluted buttermilk (100% water added to equal quantity butter) is “cooling” in nature.”

    So judging from all the above, including the article I am commenting on right now… I reckon that indeed there is only one month in which buttermilk should not be consumed, and for the rest of the months one has to have the knowledge as to how to prepare buttermilk to balance the seasonal doshas, and ability to see if it is appropriate for ones vikruti and prakriti. Buttermilk in late summer has to be diluted by adding water. At least more than 1/4th. It has to be fresh… so still sweet, no sourness. But seemingly buttermilk should be handled delicately which would be why you say not to drink it in early summer and autumn… and to dilute it with 3/4th or 4/5th parts of water, because we could easily screw ourselves up when we don’t respect these rules, as we don’t have knowledge about these kind of things. When you’re not sure, best not to do anything. A child lock. Is this right? Kinda? Me for example, without knowing how my pitta (which has been way up in the past) is doing at the moment, I will stop taking buttermilk when the drought of early summer stops.

    The whole thing with pitta being aggravated in autumn, as I understand it, is due to the amla vipaki which you also mentioned in this article (btw, shouldn’t that be vipaka?). So I still don’t understand why buttermilk would be ok in autumn and not in (cold & vata prakopa) late summer:

    Me:

    “Buttermilk is not to be consumed in the early summer and autumn? On other places on your blog you say it should not be consumed in late summer, aswell as just “summer”. I’m a bit confused..”

    To which you answered:

    “Late summer.”

    I guess I’ll just…. read on. haha.

    Reply ↓

    • Good.
      It is not to be had in early summer and autumn mainly. With the variations of use, they take knowing how and why. Late summer we start the atmospheric change in rtu into wetter and the season is actually shita. Vata is prakopita and pitta is accumulating. Sweetening the takra would be worthy in general. The challenge in all of this is understanding the complexity of the differences of curds that can be used, the consistency of how much curd to water is then a factor as well. Study both of those.

    • Exactly. Then why did you answer “late summer.” while it actually seems pretty good for late summer? I don’t understand.

      Also… oops, the heating part and sourness in early summer. I guess I should stop taking it right now. Even though I take it sweetened.

      Different kinds of curds would be… the degree of sourness and the different bacteria right? And ofcourse there’s the option of removing (a part of) the butter after churning. Or even made with different milks from different animals?

      Anyway, I might be asking to much questions while I should actually be studying.

      Thanks for your replies.

    • It is okay in late summer.

      No, nothing to do with bacteria. That’s all western ideas.
      Sourness to sweetness yes. And removing the fat. And yes, even using the milk from different animals matters but where does this come into play in the modern world? See anyone drinking camel milk or making camel milk buttermilk out there in the modern world? In Afghanistan yes, in holland no.

    • Haha! Nope, but I could easily milk my pet elephant in the backyard, LOL! I could find goat milk though, organic, most likely pasteurized and cooled in a tetrapack.

      On the bacteria… In the past I was having trouble getting my curd solid so I asked wether you could help out. This was your reaction:

      “Too many variables not known to be able to answer. The weather and the day, the level of heat you left it at to ferment, etc etc etc. Normally curd will be pretty solid. Why it came out the way it did depends on alot. Cannot tell you. To hot might possibly be the reason. Adding more curd can help depending upon the curd used as well as the amount of cream used. If you were to research about the different curds on the market you would find that each one is slightly different as to what bacterias it has in it. Plus there there is greek curd and all sorts of others on the market as well today. To many variables.”

      To me this seems like you’re contradicting yourself, but I’ll respectfully put that idea aside as you’re a multi-disciplined doctor of eastern sciences and I’m just a guy drinking up your webpages while filling your comment sections with my mental wanderings and questions. I think complex concepts, ideas and language can do that… make things appear contradicting to the simple mind while if one has the overview of a learned person it can be seen that it is in fact, not. Like the fact in hinduism there is only one God, not two, just one. Huh, but…!? haha. Anyway, perhaps the different curds that contain different bacterias are in fact different, but this difference is not due to the bacteria, but due to a factor that is unknown to the west. Or in other words.. the bacteria are secondary while the primary factor responsible for the differences of the curds is unknown to us…. the bacteria are not responsible for the milk getting sour nor responsible for the fermentation process (Wow! thanks! I get it now. Paneer is seen, on this blog, as a fermented food, while it is merely the reaction between hot milk and sour lemon. No bacteria involved… they’re not the cause of fermentation!). Like when one gets ill in the western world we blame our friend because he sneezed in our face which (supposedly) gave us their virus or bacteria, while it is actually ones own fault and simply a symptom of a doshic imbalance caused by bad diet, unwholesome lifestyle choices and not balancing the seasonal changes. Anyway, this whole paragraph might not be important in the buttermilk-story as you just brushed the topic off the table.

      Thanks again.

    • If you do not ever go to Iceland, no matter how you study about it you will never know the paradigm culture and context.
      Without knowing Sanskrit one cannot learn ayurveda.
      It is the language.
      When learning a language do you translate it to your own to learn it? Can you ever really know that language without being in the culture it is from?

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