Ayurvedik / Vegetarian Cooking and Consulting

Food plays a vital role in our health, balance, healing and rejuvenation. We are what we eat. In Ayurveda, all food belongs to one of the three categories.

1. Sattvic: calm-inducing food.
2. Rajasic: Stimulating, activating and heat-producing food.
3. Tamasic: Heavy, Debilitating, mind-dulling food.

Ayurvedik food is prepared in a way that all six tastes (through herbs and spices) are present in your meal and food is nourishing not only for the body but also for mind. Poor combinations of food produce indigestion, fermentation, gas and if pro-longed, can lead to dis-ease. Spices and herbs are added to make foods compatible or to ease the negative effects of foods. Herbs and spices are added not only to enhance the taste of food but also to stimulate the agni (digestive fire), to increase digestion and absorption, and to help counteract any incompatible food combinations.
 

I cook food according to your personal constitution, your health concerns and in accordance with weather. Your own unique prakruti is the map to discovering the foods and lifestyle that will balance you. i.e. a big misconception that salads are good for everyone is not true for Vata (air) dominant person.  Similarly, some foods that provide relief in summer may become too cooling for body in winter i.e. banana and yogurt will lead to mucus and other cold problems for a Kapha dominant person. I use generous amounts of herbs, numerous spices, turmeric, ginger, garlic, ghee (clarified butter), lemon, and cilantro to balance food. Lentils (dals), legumes and beans provide protein for body instead of meat and eggs.  Rice (called King of grains) provides body with necessary carbs. Ghee (clarified butter) considered to be most vital of the dairy medicines penetrates deep into tissues, taking herbs along with it into your bodily tissues. Ghee, not only provides nourishment but also confidence, promotes memory and vital bodily essence (ojas).
 

Your food is:

• cooked specially for you as per your needs
• 100% Organic
• not mass produced
• cooked as per your health and dietary restrictions
• cooked in accordance with your own dosha. When cooking for family, it is balanced for all doshas by use of very specific herbs.
• cooked in extremely clean and hygienic place
• cooked without use of microwave
• cooked with minimal quantities of only pure ghee (clarified butter).
• herbs and spices are used and changed seasonally and as per your unique constitution; they not only enhance taste but also support proper metabolism, increase digestion and absorption and elimination.

Ph: 760-593-SHAZ(7429) | email: shaziagogia@gmail.com

Ayurveda is the science of life. It teaches us to become aware of ourselves in relation to our environment and the world around us. It teaches us to be aware of our energetic constitution and be in harmony with what we eat, hear, feel, smells and more. Sushruta, an authority of Ayurveda lived 4,000 years ago, defined a healthy person as "He (who is) in balance, whose digestion, assimilation, and metabolism are good, whose tissues and wastes are created properly, and whose self, mind, and senses remain full of bliss." It is a sense of unified well-being as opposed to dis-ease.

Our bodies are made up five elements: space, air, water, fire and earth. These five elements normally support life and maintain harmony not only in the world but also in our bodies. Derived from five elements are the six tastes: bitter, sweet, sour, salty, pungent, and astringent. The five elements manifest in body as three basic doshas:
 

PITTA: represents Fire along with water

KAPHA: represents Water and Earth.

Every human being has some combination of these elements in their makeup but the proportions and combinations vary from person to person making it a unique constitution or dosha. This concept of constitution or dosha is the main framework of Ayurveda. These three doshas govern all the biological, psychological and physio-pathological functions of the body, mind and consciousness. With proper diet and lifestyle according to your unique doshas, optimum health can be achieved.