Monsoon

Seasonal Period: Mid-July to Mid-September

Key Features

• Sour taste dominance
• Pitta accumulation, Vata aggravation
• Reduced digestive power
• Increased infection risk

Dietary Focus:

• Favor bitter, sweet, and salty tastes 
• Choose fresh, light, hot, and oily foods
• Avoid spicy foods and cold preparations

Seasonal Overview

• Months in India: Mid-July to Mid-September
• Dominant Taste: Sour
• Dosha Characteristics:
  • Season of Pitta accumulation
  • Vata aggravation
• Basic Rule: Follow Vata-reducing measures to balance the Vata increase from previous summer season¹

Physiological Changes During Monsoon

Body Transformations

• Further reduction in digestive power (lower than summer levels)
• Increased susceptibility to infections

Dietary Guidance

Recommended Tastes

• Favorable:
  • Bitter
  • Sweet
  • Salty
• Unfavorable:
  • Spicy

Food Qualities to Embrace

• Light
• Fresh
• Hot
• Easily digestible
• Oily

Food Qualities to Avoid

• Dry¹
• Cold
• Fried
• Hot Potency¹
• Stale

Special Water Recommendation

• Usna: Water boiled and reduced to half of its original quantity

Recommended Foods

Dairy Products

• Curd 
• Buttermilk
• Sweet diluted yogurt
• Buttermilk flavored with cloves
• Trikatu (Dry ginger, black pepper and long pepper)

Herbs, Salt and Spices

• Rock salt
• Carom seeds and Black Salt
• Garlic and mint chutney

Pulses

• Green Gram
• Pigeon Pea

Grains

• Roasted corn (especially when followed with buttermilk)
• Old wheat
• Old barley
• Unpolished rice and corn

Fruits

All seasonal fruits including:

• Apple
• Banana
• Pomegranate
• Pears
• Ripe mangoes followed by a glass of milk
  • Note: Do not have milk if the mango is not fully ripe and sweet
  • Avoid mango shake
  • Having milk after a ripe mango is beneficial during monsoon
• Ripe blackberries
  • Helps heal boils, pimples, burning, skin and urinary disorders caused by the weather

Vegetables

• Bottle gourd
• Lady finger
• Angled loofah (turai)
• Tomato
• Cucumber
• Mustard
• Vegetable soups

Oil

• Salty dishes made in ghee and oil

Water

• Flax seed and honey in water
• Properly harvested rainwater
• Underground water (preferably boiled and cooled before drinking)

Foods to Avoid

Pulses

• Black Gram
• Turkish gram
• Bengal Gram

Grains

• Indian millet
• Barley
• Coarse grain flour of gram and barley (sattu)

Vegetables

• Potato
• Jack fruit
• Bitter gourd
• Leafy vegetables
• Peas

Fruits

• Water chestnuts

General Health Guidelines

Lifestyle Recommendations

• Oil massage and ubtan application
• Eat only when hungry
• Maintain proper cleanliness

Activities to Avoid

• Wearing wet or damp clothes
• Sleeping on a wet bed
• Using unwashed fruits and vegetables
• Sleeping outside in sunlight
• Day sleeping¹
• Excessive exercise or walking
• Consuming yogurt and buttermilk at night
• Allowing joints of the body to remain wet

Rejuvenating Herb

• Myrobalan (harad) powder with rock salt

Purification Therapy

• Basti (Enema) is recommended for this season

References

Primary Source: Acharya Balkrishna - A Practical Approach to The Science of Ayurveda - A Comprehensive Guide for Healthy Living - Chapter 5 Health Horizons

1. English Translation of the Sushruta Samhita (Volume 3) Uttara Tantra - Kaviraj Kunja Lal Bhishagratna - Pg 396-400