Veggie....rich in vitamins and low in calories.

                      Vegetables are delightful way to lighten up a meal, and balance the taste of it for your constitution or family. Rich in vitamins and low in calories, they offer nourishment without ponderous mass. Being in general light and moist, they are some of the easiest foods to digest when properly prepared. They combine well with most foods, including proteins, grains, and fats. Vegetable have wide range of tastes, from sweet (winter squash), bitter (dark leafy greens), astringent (asparagus), and pungent (water cress), to salty (celery). This means they can be used in a wide variety of way to heal. Like most foods vegetables are classified as cool or warm, light or heavy in Ayurveda. The warming vegetables tend to be most advantageous for Vata and Kapha, the cooling ones for Pitta. Heavy roots are used to balance light Vata and leafy vegetables are more often advised for substantial Kapha.

                 Asparagus is one of the few vegetables that can be eaten by all doshas with no alteration. Sweet, astringent and bitter, cool, light and most, it is ideal for Pitta. It stabilizes Vata, being easy to digest and lightens and stimulates Kapha. It is steamed and eaten as it is here or used in wide varieties of curries, kicharies and main dishes. It is used medicinally in Ayurveda as a mild laxative, cardiac and nerve sedative, tonic, aphrodisiac, and demulcent. Calm your distraught partner or yourself after a long day at work with this vital veggie! A less potent relative of the rejuvenative  Indian preparation Shatavari.

      "The greatest service which can be rendered any country is to add a useful plant to its culture."