Pitta-Balancing Foods

 

One of the very best ways to bring pitta back into balance is by eating a pitta-pacifying diet with plenty of healthy Ayurvedic cooling foods.

Ayurvedic Cooling Foods

Ayurveda is built around the basic idea that like increases like and opposites balance. Because the qualities of pitta dosha are hot, sharp, and oily, the foods that bring balance should have qualities that are cooling, soothing, and more dry than oily. 

Read the pitta food lists below to find out what you can add and subtract from your Ayurvedic diet to help pacify this dosha. You can then begin to use these foods and ingredients to create delicious meals and pitta recipes. 

The foods listed here are also great to incorporate during the summer months, when the qualities of heat and intensity increase in the environment around us. The summer is considered pitta season in Ayurveda and an ideal time to incorporate more cooling foods, no matter what your dosha. 

If you are not sure whether your pitta is out of balance or whether you should be incorporating pitta foods into your diet, take our free Ayurvedic dosha quiz. 

Fruits

The best fruits to include in a pitta-balancing diet will generally be sweet and somewhat astringent. Dried fruits are typically also acceptable, but are best in small quantities, so as not to further accelerate pitta’s tendency toward rapid digestion.

Fruits to avoid are those that are exceptionally heating or sour (like bananas, cranberries, and green grapes). You’ll find many fruits in both the favor and avoid columns below because different varieties of the same fruit can truly be pacifying or aggravating, depending on how sweet or sour they are.

When trying to balance pitta, learning to distinguish between these tastes and choosing sweet fruits over sour ones is always very helpful.

And remember, fruits and fruit juices are best enjoyed alone—30 minutes before, and ideally at least one hour after, any other food. This helps to ensure optimal digestion. Note: this rule does not apply to fruits that we typically consider vegetables (avocados, cucumbers, tomatoes, etc.). You will find these fruits listed among the “vegetables.”

Favor	Avoid
Apples (sweet) Applesauce Apricots (sweet) Berries (sweet) Cherries (sweet) Coconut Dates Figs Grapes (red, purple, black) Limes Mangos (ripe) Melons Oranges (sweet) Papaya Pears Pineapple (sweet) Plums (sweet) Pomegranates Prunes Raisins Strawberries Watermelon	Apples (sour) Apricots (sour) Bananas Berries (sour) Cherries (sour) Cranberries Grapefruit Grapes (green) Kiwi Lemons Mangos (green) Oranges (sour) Peaches Persimmons Pineapple (sour) Plums (sour) Tamarind

Vegetables

Vegetables that pacify pitta will generally be somewhat sweet and either bitter, astringent, or both. Many vegetables include some combination of these tastes; so experimenting with a wide variety of vegetables is a great way to diversify your pitta pacifying diet.

Pitta can usually digest raw vegetables better than vata and kapha, but mid-day is often the best time of day to have them because digestive strength is at its peak.

The only vegetables for pitta to reduce or avoid are those that are particularly spicy, heating, sharp, or sour—like garlic, green chilies, radishes, onion, and mustard greens.

Favor		Avoid
Avocado Artichoke Asparagus Beets (cooked) Bell Peppers Bitter Melon Broccoli Brussels Sprouts Burdock Root Cabbage Carrots (cooked) Cauliflower Celery Cilantro Collard Greens Cucumber Dandelion Greens Green Beans Jerusalem Artichoke Kale Leafy Greens Leeks (cooked) Lettuce Mushrooms Okra	Olives (black) Onions (cooked) Parsley Parsnips Peas Peppers (sweet) Potatoes Pumpkin Radishes (cooked) Rutabaga Spaghetti Squash Sprouts (not spicy) Squash, Summer Squash, Winter Spinach (raw) Sweet Potatoes Watercress Wheat Grass Zucchini	Beet Greens Beets (raw) Corn (fresh) Daikon Radish Eggplant Garlic Green Chilies Horseradish Kohlrabi Leeks (raw) Mustard Greens Olives, green Onions (raw) Peppers (hot) Radishes (raw) Spinach (cooked) Tomatoes Turnip greens Turnips

Grains

Grains that pacify pitta are cooling, sweet, dry, and grounding. Grains tend to be staples in our diets, and overall, pitta benefits from their sweet, nourishing nature. You’ll also notice that many of the grains that benefit pitta are rather dry; this helps to offset pitta’s oily nature.

When it comes to balancing pitta, avoiding grains that are heating (like buckwheat, corn, millet, brown rice, and yeasted breads) is the most important guideline.

Favor	Avoid
Amaranth Barley Cereal (dry) Couscous Crackers Durham Flour Granola Oat Bran Oats Pancakes Pasta Quinoa Rice (basmati, white, wild) Rice Cakes Seitan Spelt Sprouted Wheat Bread Tapioca Wheat Wheat Bran	Buckwheat Corn Millet Muesli Polenta Rice (brown) Rye Yeasted Bread

Legumes

Legumes are generally astringent in taste and are therefore largely pitta pacifying, so feel free to enjoy a wide variety of them. Beans that are not appropriate for pitta are those that are especially sour or oily and, not coincidentally – also heating.

Favor	Avoid
Adzuki Beans Black Beans Black-Eyed Peas Garbanzo Beans (Chickpeas) Kidney Beans Lentils Lima Beans Mung Beans Mung Dal Navy Beans Pinto Beans Split Peas Soy Beans Soy Cheese Soy Flour Soy Milk Soy Powder Tempeh Tofu White Beans	Miso Soy Meats Soy Sauce Urad Dal

Dairy

Dairy products tend to be grounding, nourishing, and cooling, so many of them are balancing for pitta. Those to avoid are exceptionally sour, salty, or heating.

As a rule, dairy milks (cow’s milk, goat’s milk, sheep’s milk, etc.) should be taken at least one hour before or after any other food. For this reason, avoid drinking milk with meals.

Almond and rice milks are good substitutes, if you need to combine milk with other foods, or if you don’t digest dairy milks well.

Favor	Avoid
Butter (unsalted) Cheese (soft, unsalted, not aged) Cottage Cheese Cow’s Milk Ghee Goat’s Milk Goat’s Cheese (soft, unsalted) Ice Cream Yogurt (homemade, diluted, without fruit)	Butter (salted) Buttermilk Cheese (hard) Frozen Yogurt Sour Cream Yogurt (store bought, or with fruit)

Nuts & Seeds

Nuts and seeds tend to be extremely oily and are usually heating, so most of them are not terrifically balancing for pitta. That said, there are a few types of nuts, and several seeds that are acceptable in small quantities; these varieties tend to be less oily, and are either mildly heating or cooling in nature.

Favor	Avoid
Almonds (soaked and peeled) Charoli Nuts Coconut Flax Seeds Halva Popcorn (buttered, without salt) Pumpkin Seeds Sunflower Seeds	Almonds (with skin) Brazil Nuts Cashews Chia Seeds Filberts Macadamia Nuts Peanuts Pecans Pine Nuts Pistachios Sesame Seeds Tahini Walnut

Meat & Eggs

Pitta does best with animal foods that taste sweet, are relatively dry (like rabbit or venison) and that are either mildly heating or cooling in nature. Meats that don’t work are those that are especially oily, salty, or heating (things like dark chicken, beef, salmon, or tuna).

Favor	Avoid
Buffalo Chicken (white) Eggs (white only) Fish (freshwater) Rabbit Shrimp Turkey (white) Venison	Beef Chicken (dark) Duck Eggs (yolk) Fish (saltwater) Lamb Pork Salmon Sardines Seafood Tuna Fish Turkey (dark)

Oils

Despite being oily in nature, pitta does well with a moderate amount of oil – as long as it is cooling. The very best oils for pitta are sunflower oil, ghee, coconut oil, and olive oil. It’s also important to keep in mind that toxins tend to concentrate in fats, so buying organic oils may be more important than buying organic fruits and vegetables.

Favor	Avoid
Coconut Oil Flax Seed Oil Ghee Olive Oil Primrose Oil Sunflower Oil Soy Oil Walnut Oil	Almond Oil Apricot Oil Corn Oil Safflower Oil Sesame Oil

Sweeteners

Since the sweet taste is one that soothes pitta, most sweeteners are well tolerated by pitta, but some are simply too heating or too processed for pitta. In general, naturally occurring sweet tastes are far more balancing than sugary sweets, so even the appropriate sweeteners should be used in moderation.

Favor	Avoid
Barley Malt Date Sugar Fructose Fruit Juice Concentrates Maple Syrup Rice Syrup Sucanat Turbinado	Honey Jaggary Molasses White Sugar

Spices

Most spices are heating by nature and therefore have the potential to aggravate pitta. However, that doesn't mean that pitta needs to avoid spices altogether. In fact, knowing which spices to choose while cooking can greatly help to calm and balance pitta. 

The spices to favor are only mildly heating, help to maintain a balanced digestive fire without provoking pitta, and, in some cases, are actively cooling in nature.

In particular, the cooling qualities of cardamom, cilantro, coriander, fennel and mint help to calm pitta’s heat. On occasion, these spices can be used to make foods that would otherwise be too hot for pitta more tolerable.

Cumin, saffron, and turmeric, though heating, also offer some particularly valuable pitta pacifying properties.

Favor	Avoid
Basil (fresh) Black Pepper (small amounts) Cardamom Cinnamon (small amounts) Coriander (seeds or powder) Cumin (seeds or powder) Dill Fennel Ginger (fresh) Mint Neem Leaves Orange Peel Parsley Peppermint Saffron Spearmint Tarragon Turmeric Vanilla Wintergreen	Ajwan Allspice Anise Basil (dry) Bay Leaf Caraway Cayenne Cloves Fenugreek Garlic Ginger (dry) Hing (Asafoetida) Mace Marjoram Mustard Seeds Nutmeg Oregano Paprika Pippali Poppy Seeds Rosemary Sage Salt Savory Thyme Trikatu