An Ayurvedic Meal Plan

It seems we never run out of new diets in America. Ten years ago when I wrote The 3-Season Diet, I listed the many crazy, yoyo, unsustainable diets we have endured over the years.

Today, while one would have thought that we would have exhausted all possible dietary choices, we are faced with even more dietary choices than ever. Do we eat low carb, raw food, paleo, vegetarian, meat, fermented foods, cooked or not cooked – to name a few.

Perhaps most surprisingly, I don’t understand why we haven’t settled on the simplest, most logical diet of all: the diet centered on each season’s special harvest. It seems impossible to dispute that nature has fed us for millions of years so why not eat more of what nature provides when nature provides it?

In brief, let me share with you an Ayurvedic meal plan based on the logic of nature. In short: think about what to eat more of rather than what not to eat!

For example, it makes sense to eat a higher fat and higher protein diet in the cold winter because these warming foods are most abundant at that time of year.

Eat a lower fat diet in the spring to help detox the body because those are the foods available in the spring.

In the summer, pig out on a high carbohydrate fruit and veggie diet because these cooling foods are nature’s medicine for the heat of summer. It seems hard to dispute that logic.

Here are some more dietary tips

1. Foods that are in season are nature’s medicines. Find simple grocery lists for winter, spring, and summer on my site.

2. In every season, emphasize seasonal vegetables. See image below for proportions.

3. In the spring, your plate should be 1/2 veggies, 1/4 starch, and 1/4 protein.

4. In the summer, your plate should be 1/2 veggies, 1/4 starch, and 1/4 protein.

5. In the winter, your plate should be 1/3 veggies, 1/3 starch, and 1/3 protein.

6. Try to include small portions of probiotic foods at every meal such as: raw cheese, kefir, buttermilk, yogurt, fermented fruits, fermented veggies, pickled foods, kimchi, fermented soy, dosas, idlis or paneer.