Sour taste aggravates kapha, especially in a thick pudding. Lemons increase secretions in the lungs while shlakshna guna causes thick mucous. A great dish for dry vata.

Does an apple a day really keep the doctor away? It's a familiar American adage that deserves a renaissance, but with a twist. Ayurvedically, it's a cooked apple not a raw one that keeps the doctor away. Raw apples can be cold, drying and might not digest as easily, especially if unskinned. Cooked apples are warm and soft, like soups, and digests in a snap.

A spoonful of applesauce on the tongue registers sour, a taste that increases saliva and stimulates the digestive tract. Sour taste also cleanses the liver and cools the blood by drawing bile out of the body into the small intestine, somatically experienced as a softening of the eyes. Malic acid, the constituent responsible for the sour, tart taste, has a particular affinity for liver cleansing and support. Apples are also sweet, a taste that nourishes the body and awakens our delight.

After we chew and swallow the cooked apple, it descends to the stomach and passes to the small intestine. Although absorption of sweet taste here increases blood sugar, apples have a relatively low glycemic index (38) and calorie count (72). Next, the applesauce moves into the colon. Sour taste continues to warm and stimulate secretions that maintain a moist colon. The high fiber (2.9 grams/cup) bulks up stool for an easy elimination that cleanses the colon.

A clean colon and clean blood is a clean bill of health for many of us. Applesauce is a nourishing tri-doshic experience woven into our American cultural fabric and healing history.

Pomegranate with Lime Juice & Aloe Vera is a cooling tonic to beat the summer heat for Pitta. Of the many types of acid reflux, Pomegranate with Lime Juice & Aloe Vera addresses nearly all of them. Aloe vera is a soothing, cooling and demulcent laxative that cleanses the GI tract and reduces inflammation. As a good cholagogue, Aloe vera reduces Pitta by supporting a weak gall bladder, fat digestion and cleansing of the liver.

Pomegranate is an astringent to bind loose summer stools and cool inflammation throughout the GI tract. Additionally, pomegranate cools and builds the blood while stimulating digestion. Lime juice stimulates digestive secretions while reducing hyperacidity, treating Vata, Pitta, and Kapha disorders. Kapha might optionally substitute cardamom for sugar for maximum stagnation clearing effect. For best results, drink one cup before meals up to three times a day at room temperature.

Fresh ginger is tridoshic, burns toxins from the body, stimulates circulation, and is a mild anti-inflammatory and analgesic. Miso is fermented, meaning that it can slightly aggravate pitta. If using for this recipe, all lemon or vinegar based dressings are pitta provoking.