Bring all six tastes into holiday celebrations. Ayurveda teaches the six tastes to help balance the elements we take into our bodies through food.  I love this particular bit of Ayurvedic wisdom.   Sweet sour, salty, pungent, bitter, and astringent reminds me to choose foods to give me the tastes that balance my nature and help me thrive.

I learned the tastes as their elements; now, I also carry them around in my pocket at reducers or builders.  As we move through the holiday season, it is easy to include the building tastes of sweet, sour, and salty.  Holiday classics are all about the sweet and salty   I eat sauerkraut most days to include sour in my diets. I have to challenge myself to not leave the reducing tastes of pungent, bitter, and astringent off my plate, especially between Halloween and New Year’s. Help your clients bring the six tastes into holiday celebrations.

Six Tastes Supports Healthy Weight

The six tastes have three building and three reducing impacts on the body.   The rasa of sweet, sour, and salty promote building and consolidation.  If sweet, sour, and salty dominate your diet during the party season of October to January, it is easy for your weight to creep up a few pounds.  If you have a lot of Kapha, and water in your nature, they tend to stick around.

When holiday celebrations add extra food and building tastes dominate our diet, many people put on a pound or two. Traditionally, people gained weight during summer harvests and then lost weight during more scarcity in winter and early spring.  Now for many of us, there is no natural scarcity. These pounds tend to cling and add up over time. 

Adding reducing taste foods to your holiday table will help you balance all the sweets. Pungent, bitter, and astringent are reducing tastes. Do you have favorite family recipes that include bitter and astringent?  If not, add one or two.

Options to Add Pungent, Bitter And Astringent Bring All Six Tastes Into Holiday Celebrations

Find some new recipes for your family to bring all six tastes into holiday celebrations.  Figure out what you need to balance the family table’s tastes and switch things up to include more variety. Try to change the salad course. Add a Kale salad in place of iceberg lettuce or Caesar salad. The deep vibrant green of Lacinato Kale is perfect for a holiday table. Here is one of my favorites.

In the main course, instead of Green Bean casserole, try Green Beans with Garlic, take the sweet out, and enjoy the astringent taste in green beans and the zest in garlic. Mashed Cauliflower is a great switch for heavy baked potatoes or potatoes Au-gratin

For a special treat, try sparkling mineral water with bitters instead of wine with dinner.  Look for healthy plant-based bitters and support enhanced digestion. Add a spicy chai for dessert in place of pie and coffee. For more suggestions on bringing beneficial Ayurvedic recommendations into your holiday eating, check this link.

Have fun with any changes you make to traditions to bring all six tastes into holiday celebrations. Take it slow.  See how people receive each change.

Ayurselfcare’s purpose is to educate on the benefits of Ayurveda. This article is not a substitute for professional medical care, treatment, or advice. All the material here is for learning purposes only. Always share strategy and work with your health care team.