Written by John Immel, Asheville, NCIf your appetite is robust your body type may be Pitta or you may have a Pitta imbalance.

In that case you will benefit greatly from a Pitta-balancing diet.

Pitta people need to eat quickly when hungry, or they may become angry and upset (hangry).

This is because, as a Pitta, they have a high metabolism, are prone to inflammation, and digestive fire is frequently intense.

The key to a Pitta diet is cooling this excess heat before it leads to allergies or autoimmune conditions, exhausts the body, or damage due to chronic inflammation.

Fortunately, Ayurveda can help.

Let’s dig in.

Pitta Digestion - Strengths & Weaknesses

Excellent digestion requires enough digestive enzymes and bile to effectively break down your food.

If you are Pitta, though, you naturally secrete more enzymes and bile than other doshas—even tending towards excess or hypersecretion.

The good news is, you may be able to enjoy large portions of food in one sitting.

And your robust digestion can often handle restaurant food and more difficult to digest foods (raw foods, for example) better than any other dosha.

However, your strong digestive fire can make you hungry quickly.

Pitta's tendency to get caught up in mental activities can cause you to miss meals or eat later than normal. You may even forget you have a body, and ignore hunger signs.

Meanwhile, though, your body will produce digestive enzymes and bile at your normal meal times. These can irritate your intestinal lining causing inflammation.

When your intestines are irritated due to enzymes, infection, or allergies, it causes inflammation, diarrhea, and malabsorption.

This accelerated bowel transit time and inability to nourish your body also leads to intense hungry and hangry.

Pitta's heat isn't restricted to the digestive tract - but signs of this heat can be found throughout the body - high metabolism, a hyper reactive immune system or inflammatory response, and high mental activity.

Continuously unbalanced Pitta eventually exhausts your body, which can promote more and more signs of vishama agni or Vata type digestion.

A Pitta diet aims to cool this heat and calm the mind.

Foods Pitta Should Avoid

As a Pitta you should avoid the following:

• Alcohol, excess spices, and other digestive irritants like coffee
• Sour and salty foods, which encourage the release of hot, irritating digestive fluids such as hydrochloric acid and bile.
• Pungent foods, which increase heart rate and blood flow and can make you feel hot under the collar.
• Strong aromatic herbs like mint, or vasodilators like turmeric, which can make your body and your digestion too hot and exhaust your liver due to excessive blood flow.

Foods For Pittas to Favor

Cooling foods such as cucumber, milk, pears, and honeydew melon soothe inflamed Pitta membranes.

Bitter greens like kale, collards, and red leaf lettuce can literally cool your temper as they draw heat and blood back downward from the head. After eating bitters, you may notice that your eyes feel more relaxed and refreshed, signs that your diet is working.

Astringent foods such as legumes, raw veggies, and dried fruit, which can absorb and dry up Pitta's excess acids and fluids. Astringents also reduce inflammation and irritation.

Pitta (like Vata) also benefits from sweet foods like sweet potato, whole grains, and meat products. These heavier foods satisfy Pitta's strong appetite and can lull these folks away from their ambitious natures. Sweet taste also soothes their internal inflammation.

Pamper Your Liver

Pitta individuals have sensitive livers. For this reason, they should avoid very spicy, sour, and fried foods and poor quality oils that overstimulate the liver.

Instead, cook with coconut oil, avocado oil, or ghee.

To refresh your liver, favor gentle sours that are high in antioxidants like blueberries and strawberries, which are ideal for this purpose.

Pitta-Kapha individuals should favor strong bitters, like leafy greens, to cool and cleanse your liver. (Click on the links below for more Pitta-balancing suggestions.)

You may find your liver is sensitive to nightshades such as tomatoes, eggplant, and peppers, or foods with aflatoxins like peanuts and corn.

Fermented foods are heating and irritating to the gut, and may also overtax the liver.

Causes of Weak Digestion in Pitta

Pitta, paradoxically, often has weak digestion due to inflammation of their GI tract.

Cooling, anti-inflammatory spices like cilantro, fresh ginger, cardamom, and fennel will improve Pitta indigestion without creating the heat of other, hotter spices like cayenne, black pepper, and cinnamon.

These cooling spices will also please Pitta's palate. Avipattikar Churna is an ideal digestive for Pitta because it contains spices that improve digestion without irritating Pitta.

The Perils of Eating the "Perfect" Diet

Pitta people are often determined to succeed, which can include eating their perfect diet.

Their vigilance, however, can lead to orthorexia, characterized by an overly strict adherence to their diet. Ultimately, suppression of their instincts works against Pittas, leaving them confused.

Instead, Pitta people need to take a relaxed approach, even with their diet. Rather than strictly following the rules of their mind, they need a more body-centric approach. They must cultivate the ability to listen to their body and follow their internal cravings.

If you don't know your body type, take our free dosha quiz. If you do know your body type, use these resources to balance Pitta:

PITTA BALANCING RECIPES PITTA BALANCING INGREDIENTS

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