Pitta problem

[Guest guest]

Hello,

I am a new member. I've been watching for a few days to see if messages come

through, but the list does not seem very active at this point.

So I will go ahead and post my question, in hopes of receiving some

information.

 

About 10 years ago I went to Dr. Lad in Albuquerque with a problem of hot

flashes. He suggested a Pitta-quieting diet (I am "pure" Pitta, with Vata

secondary) and gave me some herbs. I stayed on this diet quite a long time,

using recipes from his Ayurvedic cookbook. At some point, I noticed that

whenever I ate the pitta-quieting kichadee recipe, I got muscle cramps in my

feet.

 

Since then, I have fixed the hot flashes with appropriate hormonal

replacement, but the problem of the muscle cramps has continued, becoming

more and more severe. Finally I went to a nutritional-metabolic doctor who

found I was severely deficient in minerals. I have to take huge quantities

of minerals in order to function now; I don't seem to absorb them from my

food any more, or even very well from the supplements.

 

Last week, I over-did ingesting some potassium and threw up my breakfast,

which had consisted of bananas and nuts. What I noticed right away was that

it tasted exactly the same, with no stomach acid taste at all. To me, this

says that I have quieted Pitta way too much, reducing digestive fire below

what I need. The question is, how do I turn this situation around, and

increase my digestive fire back to where it was before I started on the

Pitta-quieting diet and herbs?

 

Thank you very much for any input.

 

Sincerely,

Bea Latherings

 

 

[Guest guest]

Dear Bea Latherings,

Well the activity on this group might seem a bit slow, but it is one

of the most active club on ayurveda.

As regards your problem, I think it would be better if you could

consult Dr.Lad again. Whatever type a diet is it does not cause

extreme reactions as the one you mention. While the agni (digestive

fire) may dampen a bit due to pitta reducing diet, the main thing to

remember is while deciding on an ayurvedic diet we think in terms of

balancing the doshas and not eliminating them completely. Surely the

book you refer to must contain pitta increasing diet or rather diet

which contain substances which improve digestion. Almost all spices

and especially ginger, black pepper, garlic etc will surely help you.

You can try the time-tested home remedy of ginger juice (4-5 drops),

lemon juice (4-5 drops) with a bit of salt 15-20 minutes before

having any solid food. Also addition of dried ginger powder to milk

or tea, increasing cummin seeds, black pepper powder, garlic in your

regular food will help.

 

Cybervaidya.