8 Biggest HEALTH MISTAKES You’re Making as a Pitta

There are so many health trends out there, but are they always healthy for everyone? This is the video I wish that I had had 6 years ago when I was trying to be healthy but only made my health worse by following all the trendy health fads. In Ayurveda, there is no one-size-fits-all approach to health, and the idea that there are certain foods or health behaviors that are either good or bad for everyone is simply not True. This video will address those health trends that are not helpful for those of us experiencing high pitta and that are typically also not helpful in the summer, which is pitta season, and what you can do instead to balance pitta and experience greater health and happiness. If you haven't subscribed to my channel yet, hit the subscribe button and the bell to be notified every time I post a new video about creating a happier, healthier mind, body, and life. First of all, what does a pitta imbalance look like? So as I've shared in my other videos, pitta is made up of mostly fire and a little bit of water. So pitta imbalances are related to the qualities of these 2 elements. What would you expect from someone who had a lot of fire going on in their body? Basically anywhere there's inflammation, acidity, or redness. Burning acidic sensations in the gut, Like hyperacidity, gastritis, acid reflux, heartburn, IBS, diarrhea or loose stools, all of that kind of thing. Skin conditions that are red or itchy or inflamed like psoriasis, eczema, rosacea, dermatitis, acne, burning and itching eyes, or really anywhere in the body that there's burning or inflammation. And what about someone who has too much fire in the mind? That's gonna look like mental intensity. Think of kind of that Type A person. There's gonna be more anger and irritability, annoyance, frustration. This person might be, you know, more judgmental and maybe more jealous as well. And they can also have a lot of overwhelm, which can lead to burnout. Burnout is very much a pitta thing. So the biggest pitta mistakes are anything that's gonna exacerbate those pitta imbalance symptoms. These are some of the things that we do that we think are going to make us healthier, but if we have a lot of pitta, they might actually be doing more harm than good. And summer is pitta season, so even if you don't have a lot of pitta in your constitution, you likely will still be influenced by the heat and the fire of the season, and you might experience some of these imbalances this, this season as well. So these things are also things to You know, reduce in the summer as well, even if you're not a pitta. Number 1 is kombucha, surprisingly enough. So modern science is finally recognizing the importance of gut health, which is amazing, but as the popularity of probiotic-rich food has increased, I often see people eating and drinking like a ton of them, and you know, they're thinking that they're doing something great for their bodies, But unfortunately, drinking an entire bottle of kombucha is not actually that helpful. In fact, I've seen people exacerbate gut issues like gastritis, hyperacidity, IBS, diarrhea, all of that kind of thing. And, you know, some people do this every day and they have no idea why they're having abdominal pain or discomfort. So the same goes for eating too much kimchi, sauerkraut, pickles, miso, you know, even apple cider vinegar. So shots of apple cider vinegar have become super popular, but having too much of all these things actually does more harm than good. And worse yet, sometimes people actually increase their use of all these things because they think that it's going to help them with whatever gut issues they have going on that was caused by these things in the first place. So I'm not saying that probiotics aren't important. And I am a big fan of getting them through food if we can, but in this case, more is not better. Just one forkful of sauerkraut or kimchi is really enough to give us the gut health benefits without really overdoing it. Number 2, hot yoga. Hot yoga is such a popular trend, and I know a lot of people who are already very intense and have a lot of pizza going on that go to hot yoga all the time, even in the summer when it's already pitta season. And there is a time and a place for hot yoga, like, you know, in the dead of winter when you've got a kapha imbalance going on and, you know, you want to warm up your body. But summer with a pitta imbalance is not that time. So if you do a lot of hot yoga, you might find that you actually become more irritable, angry, stressed, Frustrated. Not exactly the results you want from your yoga practice. So the reason that this happens is that in Ayurveda, like increases like. So intense yoga in a heated space is really going to increase the heat in your body and your mind, potentially leading to pitta exacerbation. Number 3, lemon water in the morning. So I don't actually drink lemon water in the morning. What? Everyone and their mother is doing this right now in the wellness world. So now before you think I'm going to tell you that this is bad, please don't misunderstand me. None of these things are bad or wrong, and lemon water is great for so many things. And for a lot of people, lemon water can be helpful to kindle their agni or their digestive fire. So it can be really helpful if your agni is low, your metabolism Yeah. Even if you have high pitta. But, you know, if you have a lot of pitta and you have a digestifier that's pretty high, lemon can exacerbate that further, especially if you're drinking it every morning or if you're eating a lot of other sour heating foods like we talked about in the first point. And the other thing is that dosing matters. So in a small amount, lemon can be an antacid, but if you're You know, going nuts on the lemon water, if you're adding too much lemon to your water or drinking it every single day or multiple times a day, or you're squeezing it on all of your foods, it can be too acidic. And so the sour taste can be helpful for the liver in small amounts, but when there's too much, it can actually exacerbate pitta in the gut, throughout the gut. So I do drink warm water first thing in the morning, which helps to flush out toxins, get peristalsis going so you can have a bowel movement, Jumpstart hydration for the day, but I just don't add a lemon. A lot of my meals include like a lemon olive oil dressing, and sometimes I have lemon water later in the day, so I find that I just don't need the extra lemon in my water in the morning. And if you find that you are experiencing a lot of these pitta symptoms, maybe lay off on the lemon water for a few days and just see how it impacts you. Number 4, too much intense exercise. So along a similar vein as hot yoga, a lot of times I see people with a lot of pitta going way overboard with high-intensity exercise. Now don't get me wrong, I have a lot of pitta in my constitution and I love high-intensity interval training, weightlifting, cross-training, but I know that I need to balance it out with softer, slower movement practices as well. Otherwise I will definitely burn out or I'll get injured or I might even become more irritable. So people with high pitta tend to crave intensity and we also think think that, you know, the harder something is, the better. No pain, no gain. Work hard, play hard. These are, these are common pitta mentalities. And I used to totally play into this until, you know, this mindset actually made me pretty sick in college. So finding a balance between work and play and rest is crucial, especially for us pitta types whose tendency is to go too hard and burn out. So you don't have to give up your intense exercise. But balancing it out with softer movement to connect you to your body, you know, stretch it out, recover, all of that is going to do you a world of good, especially for your long-term health. If you're finding this video helpful, give us some love and hit the like button. Number 5, having expectations for how your meditation should be. So I actually used to get more stressed when I tried to meditate. And I've seen this happen for a number of my pitta clients as well. We're so attached to how meditation should look that it becomes counterproductive and it actually makes us frustrated and annoyed with ourselves when we don't do it quote-unquote right. So meditation is one of the most important practices pitta can do in order to reduce stress and get out of our minds and back into our bodies. But only if we release expectations of how it's supposed to look. So I've actually started calling this practice sitting in silence. It's a much less loaded term, and I feel like anyone can think, yeah, I can do that. So, you know, just sit your booty down and be without needing it to look any certain way. And if it's helpful, you can use a guided meditation. If it's not helpful, don't use a guided meditation. Do whatever actually works for you. Number 6, too much structure in your yoga, your meditation, or your breathwork. So along those same lines, having a yoga, meditation, or breathwork practice that's overly structured can also be counterproductive for pitta. So some structure is really helpful for everyone, but us pittas can be overly rigid and we might need to slow soften our practices. So yoga practices that are super regimented, like you do this movement and then you do this movement, then this, then this, instead of emphasizing what just makes your body feel really good in the moment, can make us more rigid. So it would be a lot more helpful to do a yoga, meditation, or breathwork practice that has loose guidelines, but encourages you to flow with what feels good for The antidote for a pitta imbalance is often leaning into pleasure and what makes you feel really just like delicious in your body. So instead of mind over matter, you can start to think, you know, what will make me feel really good right now? And allow your body to lead the way instead of your mind. Number 7, skipping sleep for other health habits. So this is another thing I see a lot— people skipping sleep so that they can do their other health practices. You know, they want to get their morning routine in in the morning, or they want to get their workout in, so they wake up earlier, but they don't actually go to bed earlier so that they can squeeze it all in. Of course, you know, they have good intentions. They're doing this in service of being healthy, but it's actually less healthy than getting the sleep that they need and just not doing the other practices. And this is something that I used to do a ton. I would stay up late studying and then wake up early to work out, and then not only did I have all of the awful sleep deprivation symptoms, but I also couldn't really make healthy decisions for myself. It's infinitely harder to make decisions that are going to benefit us in the long run when we are sleep deprived, even if the long run is like a few minutes down the road. So this is backed by a ton of research and we all need to be prioritizing enough sleep over essentially everything else if we want to live long, healthy, happy lives. So pittas, please prioritize sleep above all the other health habits. I promise that you will thank me in the long run. Number 8, treating your self-care like a to-do list. The last mistake that I'll talk about today that I see pittas making when it comes to their health is viewing their health habits as a chore or a to-do list that they just need to check off every day. So pittas often tend to do things only if they have a purpose until they can't do it anymore and they rebel and, you know, they overindulge in some way that makes them feel out of control. And they also tend to have an all-or-nothing mentality when it comes to health habits, food, other health behaviors. So they think like, I'm either going to do it perfectly or I'm not going to do it at all. But what are these health habits for in the first place? They're there to make you feel good, to improve your quality of life. So allow them to do that. Don't get so caught up in the shoulds that you don't allow yourself to enjoy the process. If there's something on your to-do list that you force yourself to do because you should, reevaluate. How can you change or shift that thing so that you enjoy it more? If you hate working out, how can you make it more enjoyable? If you hate meditation, how can you make it lovely? Romanticize your health habits so that they bring you pleasure instead of stress. If this resonated with you and you want to implement the health habits that it takes to thrive in your mind, body, and spirit based on your unique needs, check out my signature Happy Healthy Habits coaching program in the link below. This program is really the program that changes people's lives for the better and for the long haul. I'd love to see you inside. If you haven't subscribed to my channel yet, hit the subscribe button and the bell to be notified every time I post a new video about creating a happier, healthier, Mind, body, and life. See you in the next one!