Recipe: Pomegranate Rosewater Limeade

By Melanie Pores

In Ayurveda, the 5,000 year-old medical science from India, the way to maintain health is to balance your body type, known as constitution or “dosha”. 

In the warmer weather, everyone, regardless of their individual constitution, needs to balance the elements of Pitta, but it is particularly important for individuals with a Pitta dominant dosha, who need to make this a priority. Pitta is hot, sharp, sour, pungent, and penetrating. To balance pitta, we need to embrace lifestyle and dietary practices that are cooling, sweet, and stabilizing.

In terms of lifestyle practices, it’s important that we seek a balance between rest and activity, being sure to allow ourselves some free time every day. We need to be careful not to create unnecessary time pressures for ourselves.

As I shared in a previous post last year, regularly spending time in nature, such as enjoying a nice mindful walk in the woods and/or along natural bodies of water, is calming and cooling.  Surrounding yourself with plants and fresh cut flowers is also cooling, as is a gentle walk in the moonlight. Here are some additional cooling lifestyle practices that are helpful:

-Perform a daily massage using cooler oils such as coconut or olive.

-Favor cooler colors in your clothing and environment, such as blues, greens, and silver.

-Favor aromas that are cooling and sweet. Sandalwood, rose, jasmine, mint, lavender, fennel, and chamomile are recommended.

-Laugh a lot, every day.

In terms of diet, it’s important that we don’t skip meals or wait until we are “hangry” (hungry/angry) to eat. To achieve this, we need to favor eating foods and beverages that are sweet, bitter and astringent. 

A drink comprised of Pomegranate juice and rosewater is astringent and, accompanied by lime juice in moderation, is a great way to balance Pitta.

With this mind, I wanted to share my recipe below with you for my Pomegranate Rosewater Limeade.

Ingredients

1 Tbsp lime juice

2 Tbsp rosewater

3 ½ cups water

½ cup pomegranate juice

Sweetener of choice. (I use about 1-2 teaspoons liquid stevia. 

2 Tbsp maple syrup is also cooling.)

Directions

In a pitcher or quart-size glass bottle,  add the water first, followed by the pomegranate juice, lime juice, rosewater, and sweetener. Taste your beverage and adjust the amount of lime and sweetener to your taste. Stir well.

Bio: Melanie Pores is a retired bilingual educator, an HWFC member since 1978, has facilitated HWFC’s Spanish Conversation Group since 2015—currently on Zoom, Fridays 10am to noon.

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