How to Heal Your Gut According to You Ayurvedic Body Type

What is Ayurveda and can it help you with your gut health and digestion? Take the Dosha quiz now to find out whether you are a Vata, Pitta or Kapha and check out the Ayurvedic foods and recipes that go with your dosha type

What is Ayurveda?

Ayurveda is a philosophy that is even older than traditional Chinese Medicine, going back around 5’000 years and beginning in India. The story is that the Hindu Gods gave away all the essential information about how to live a balanced, healthy life, which was then recorded in the sacred texts, called “Vedas”.

The word Ayurveda comes from “Ayur”, which means life, and “Veda”, which means knowledge, and it focuses on the mind-body connection to create a meaningful and healthy life through prevention and promotion techniques. 

General Ayurvedic guidelines include eating for your body’s constitution, supplementing with particular herbs, as well as massage treatments to heal the body.

The Doshas

In Ayurveda, the very definition of health is described as the balance of the 3 fundamental energies within every person, which are called doshas. There are 3 doshas in total, Vata, Pitta and Kapha, and each person leans more towards one (or two) of these “types” or “personalities”.

Your dosha is determined even before your birth, at conception, but can change and flow natural throughout your life. Whichever dosha you are most attracted by, it is important to note that the goal is to try and balance it, not change it.

Gut Health and the Doshas

Interestingly, Ayurveda philosophy states that most of our issues stem from the digestive tract. The Ayurvedic concept of Agni, or our “fire”, governs our digestion, absorption and assimilation. So when it is imbalanced or unhealthy, we will likely suffer the consequences in our gut. 

But more than this, Ayurveda says that your personality type will actually create the same thing in your gut. So if you have a fiery personality like a Pitta does, you will notice fiery gut symptoms like acid reflux and heartburn.

So what has this got to do with your Dosha?

Well, as you have characteristics of one particular dosha, your patterns, behaviours and digestion will be different from another person who has a different dosha. 

For example, a person who is mostly Vata, which is an air sign governed by movement, will have a dry and cold digestion, and thus will likely benefit from more oily foods. On the other hand, someone who is more Kapha, which is the water and earth sign, would do better eating more light and dry foods like oats.

The concept here is that the body and mind are infinitely connected, and that your personality type is closely linked to your digestion and general health. The point is to try and balance out your characteristics so that your health is at its optimum. 

So which Dosha are you?

To figure out which dosha you are, simply go through the following quiz and make a note of the numbers of as, bs, and cs you get. After that, grab the 23-page “Dosha Gut Guide to have a look at the characteristics of your dosha, what your digestion is likely like, as well as a list of foods to eat and avoid in order to improve your gut health (yep, fo’ free!) 

Ayurvedic Body Type Quiz 

1. My mind is:

a. Quick, restless, always moving from one thought to the next

b. Intelligent, aggressive

c. Calm, well thought out, steady

2. My sleep is:

a. Light, easily woken

b. Sound and medium

c. Strong and heavy 

3. My pitch is:

a. High pitch

b. Medium pitch

c Low pitch

4. I like my food:

a. Warm

b. Cold

c. Dry and warm

5. When trying to complete a task, I am: 

a. Easily distracted, have a hard time concentrating for long 

b. Focused, driven and determined

c. Steady and calm 

6. In terms of weather, I prefer:

a. A warmer climate

b. A colder climate

c. Dry and hot climates

7. In terms of saving and spending, I:

a. Have difficulty saving and spend money quite quickly

b. Save money but will spend it on big purchases

c. Save regularly and spend wisely

8. I deal with stress by:

a. Fleeing the situation 

b. Getting angry

c. Being indifferent

9. I express love with:

a. Words

b. Gifts

c. Touch 

10. My skin is:

a. Dry and/or rough

b. Soft, normal to oily

c. Oily, moist and cool

11. I often feel:

a. Too cold 

b. Too hot 

c. Just right

12. I can gain weight: 

a. With difficulty

b. Quite easily 

c. I gain weight looking at a donut

13. My muscle tone is:

a. Lean and skinny

b. Medium and naturally muscly

c. Heavy set, big boned 

14. My elimination habits are:

a. Dry and hard, easily constipated

b. Frequent, soft to normal 

c. Heavy, slow regular

• If you answered mostly As, you are Vata.
• If you answered mostly Bs, you are Pitta.
• If you answered mostly Cs, you are Kapha.

So there you have it! Which dosha do you most lean towards? Remember, it completely normal to have more than one dominant dosha. 

Now that you know this great information, you can take steps to help your gut and digestion through the right methods!