70 Best Foods for Vata Dosha

Below are the best foods for vata dosha and are especially balancing for fall and winter, which is vata season.

It's way easier to make the right food choices once we know what foods balance our dosha.

By the way, in case you were wondering, there is no such thing as "Ayurvedic food." 

Food is food. Certain foods will balance certain doshas better than others, however Ayurveda says that any food can be nectar or poison depending on the person who is having it. 

Below is an excerpt from my Ayurvedic book, In Your Elements. 

Oil is vata's #1 food

Why oil? Because the dry quality of vata is most likely to go out of balance first. And! Dryness causes all kinds of health problems. We don't want the body to dry out, because when it does, we break down, deteriorate and age. Nice right? Oils, people!

“Yes” foods for vata

Moist, grounding, building, nourishing, oily/ fatty, easy-to-digest and warming. Think: warm, goopy, soupy, sticky, comfort foods.

Rice, grains, ghee, whole milk, cheese, citrus fruits, baked fruit, mango, coconut, cooked veggies, beets, squash, sweet potato, avocado, walnuts, almonds, cashews, dates, prunes, healthy oils (ghee, olive, coconut, flax,
etc.), soups, stews, noodle dishes, rice bowls. Veggies should almost always be cooked.

“No” foods for vata

Light, dry, crunchy, cold, iced, carbonated and anything gas-producing or hard to digest.

Brown rice, “extra high fiber” grains, crackers, popcorn, pretzels, raw veggies, soy products, lentils, beans, sprouts, peanuts, candy, fake sugars, bubbly water, soda, coffee, heavy meats. All no bueno for vata.

Vatas favor the tastes: Sweet, Sour, Salty.
For deeper info about the six tastes in Ayurveda, click here.

And, The 70 Best Foods for Vata Dosha.

FRUIT
1. banana
2. oranges
3. grapefruit
4. limes
5. lemon
6. mango
7. grapes
8. pineapple
9. coconut
10. avocado
11. cucumber
12. kiwi

NOTE: Apples and pears are best baked. Berries, watermelon, cantaloupe and stone fruits, save for summer.

VEGGIES
13. sweet potatoes
14. potatoes
15. butternut squash
16. zucchini
17. green beans
18. snap peas
19. peas
20. corn
21. asparagus
22. fennel
23. beets
24. ginger root (add as a fresh spice, don't eat it in chunks! ha!)

SKIP or LIMIT: onion, spinach, broccoli, cauliflower, brussel sprouts.

DAIRY
25. organic whole milk
26. organic butter
27. mozzarella

SKIP: yogurt (unless you know who to prepare it as Ayurveda states), soy milk, skim milk

MEATS (in small quantity, high quality)
28. pork
29. beef
30. fish
31. eggs

GRAINS
32. oats
33. french bread
34. pasta
35. rice noodles
36. udon noodles
37. ramen noodles
38. basmati or jasmine rice

SKIP: brown rice, anything “high fiber”, multi grain bread, whole wheat pasta.

NUTS & NUT BUTTER
39. raw almonds
40. almond butter
41. cashews
41. pistachios
42. macadamia
43. walnuts
44. pine nuts
45. sesame seeds

OILS (to cook with)
46. olive oil
47. coconut oil
48. ghee

CONDIMENTS
49. sauerkraut
50. pickles
51. olives, olive tapenade
52. mustard
53. ketchup
54. sriracha

SPICES
55. cinnamon/cinnamon stick
56. hing
57. cloves
58. black pepper
59. himalayan salt
60. cumin/cumin seed
61. fennel seed
62. ginger

SNACKS (however, don't snacky-snacky all day. 3 meals is best)
63. fruit
64. Lara bar or Kind bar
65. dates
66. raw nuts (not dry roasted) w/a little salt
67. bread roll with nut butter or cheese
68. warm chai with whole milk
69. warm naan or flat bread with butter + lemon pepper or cinnamon
70. herbal teas: ginger, chamomile, tulsi,

SKIP: bubbly water, rice cakes, pretzels, and crackers

And there you have it, the 70 best foods for vata dosha and some Ayurvedic nutrition advice, too! 

If this helps you, SHARE this thang with your vata friends, because together we'll keep bringing Ayurveda to life!

Love,
Monica B.