Ayurvedic cooling watermelon smoothie (perfect for the summer pitta season)

Summer is here and that means the Ayurvedic pitta season has started. Characteristics of Pita include: hot, pungent, sour and light. Although not all days feel very much like summer yet, a few weeks ago my body started to have a difficult time with cooling down. So, I decided to support my body with the knowledge of the Ayurvedic health system. In this blog you can read more about pacifying the pitta dosha. You will also find the recipe for a delicious refreshing watermelon smoothie.

Food & mind-body connection

As can be read in my blog about food cravings, I use the signals my body provides to tune my food to the needs of my individual Ayurvedic constitution, physical exercise, different life stages, seasons and other temporary influences are met.

For example, you can always please me with some sweet fruits, which works well with the dominant pitta dosha in my Ayurvedic constitution. Or with avocado after a long and intense yoga session (full of vitamins, minerals and healthy fats), and anything which raw cocoa if my magnesium level is low. Also, I can really enjoy salads for lunch in summer, while I have no appetite for these in winter time.

Balancing the pitta dosha

A few weeks ago I noticed that my body had a difficult time to cool down. While I didn’t have a fever, the thermometer could have fooled me (to leave aside my insane craving for coconut water). To check how I could help my body further, I asked Ayurvedic nutritional therapist Jane Thompson from Level Consultancy for advice. She advised me to add more watermelon, avocado, mint, zucchini, cucumber, fennel, quinoa, sweet fruit, coconut (including coconut water, coconut milk and coconut oil), dates and parsley to my diet. Furthermore, I could better avoid tomatoes, eggplant, onion and hot spices. If you like to know more about which foods fit into a pitta pacifying diet, you could find a detailed table at the website of  Amrita Veda.

Besides in your diet, you could also work from the outside to pacify the pitta dosha. Like giving your skin a coconut oil treatment. Maybe that’s why the facial cleanse method with coconut oil feels so good at the moment.

Apart from the guideline above, I have decreased my intake of chocolate and coffee (to almost none) for a few weeks. And instead of hot herbal teas, I am drinking more water (from my Flaska bottle), coconut water and a lot of watermelon smoothies.

Meanwhile, I’ve been using a pitta pacifying lifestyle/diet for a month with good results. Both in terms of the effects as how natural it felt to apply the changes. For example, while tomatoes are usually something I really love, I didn’t have any appetite for them lately. And my cooling watermelon smoothie with cucumber and mint is nowadays my perfect treat. 

Did you knew that watermelon contains the complete essential amino acid profile and is super rich in vitamins, minerals, water and fibers? Below I share my recipe for this pitta pacifying smoothie with you.

Recipe watermelon smoothie

Mix the following ingredients in the blender for about 0.8 liters of this delicious cooling smoothie:

• ¼ watermelon (or half of a baby watermelon)
• ⅓ cucumber
• The leaves of a few sprigs of fresh mint

Enjoy your Habits^© today!  

Aimée Kuntz 

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