I first learned about the six tastes during my Ayurvedic educator training. I have to be honest. Initially, I was overwhelmed thinking how am I going to fit all this into my regular meals? I’m generally a light eater and I was looking at the foods and what categories they fell in.  I felt like I was going to have to totally change up the quantities of food.

Here’s the thing. Once you understand the concept and focus on the big picture, it is pretty simple. So I’m going to share how I learned to successfully incorporate the tastes. And, when you think about it, it’s really interesting how many foods fall into multiple categories, making it much easier to accomplish the goal.

I always thought I ate a fairly well-rounded diet.  So, I was completely shocked when I looked at it from the standpoint of the six tastes.  You see, I was always missing a taste or two.  Or, the things I was eating were different from what I needed to bring balance back to my body and mind. All you salad eaters out there, listen up……If you aren’t seeing the results you are looking for likely you are like I was – missing one of the key pieces to the puzzle of balancing your body.

I was utterly amazed when I started actively incorporating the six tastes and saw how my body responded. Everything I had learned about nutrition was amplified and I had a greater appreciation why the  fad diets I had tried didn’t address what my body actually needed long term. The food combinations I was eating got me partially there.  The weight never really budged more than a few pounds here or there.  I always had cravings when my willpower was depleted because just missing one or two tastes threw off the whole balance of things. When I incorporated the tastes, the cravings began to subside, and I could see major differences in my mood.  I know the six tastes work because when I consciously incorporate them, I feel good and my body responds positively.  When I don’t I go back into those patterns of never feeling satisfied, reaching for sweets and salty foods.  I revert back into feelings of guilt around my food choices.  So, really something as simple as six tastes can make a profound difference in your health.

Last year I had the opportunity to visit Civana Wellness Resort in Carefree, Arizona. The resort is set in the Sonoran desert just outside of Phoenix.  I can’t say enough good things about the program.  As part of your experience, they provide carefully crafted dosha-balancing meals.  Each meal is organic and locally sourced.  They also incorporate all of the six tastes to bring balance and healing to mind and body.    For a girl that lived off salads and juicing for way too many years in her twenties.  And relied on calorie counting  or rather yet near starvation anytime I wanted to lose a few pounds, I was surprised to see how warm, heavy, and dense some foods can actually help you lose weight.

I’m  talking oatmeal, barley, lentils, etc.   There were a lot of carbs.  More than I was expecting.  If you were getting the foods at a Whole Foods buffet and had to weigh them at checkout you’d gasp.  The plates were heavy (physically that is) and filling.  The first day I thought well, here’s to packing on 10 pounds. But I said, I was going to fully embrace the experience.  During the first day I bet I ate more carbs than I consumed in an average week at home.

Some days I physically couldn’t even finish the meals because my body was like – you’ve had enough, LOL.  On the last day I was standing in front of the mirror in my room looking at myself in my bathing suit.  And I was like “Damn.  My belly is so flat.”  How is this possible.  I don’t think it’s ever been that flat since I was in my early 20’s.  All the bloat was gone.  Now outside of the six tastes I can tell you I drank a ton or water.  The desert is really hot, and a friend of my mine warned me to stay hydrated so I wouldn’t faint.  And you better believe I drank a lot of water.  But I couldn’t believe it. I came home 5 pounds lighter than I left despite eating so darn much food.  I had always heard of volumetrics but didn’t realize how it could apply to my body type.  And my complexion- holy smoke. My body definitely liked the food.

Let me share a little about the six tastes.

Most of us know sweet, sour, and salty, and the American diet is dominated by those tastes. But there are three others we need for a well-rounded meal, and the other three are pungent, bitter, and astringent. Combining all six tastes in different quantities based on your mind body type it helps create balance in your body and a sense of  absolute satisfaction.

If you don’t know your mind, body type, or what we call dosha in Ayurveda likely you aren’t sure of where you might have  imbalances.  And without the clarity of where the imbalance lies it is hard to correct it.  Head over to truebasishealth.com/clarity club. Because in the orientation, I provide a quiz to help you identify your natural mind body predisposition.  And then you are able to understand your current imbalances and start adding strategies towards fixing them.

Remember the last time you went to the grocery store. Did you do the self-checkout? If you did, you’ll remember running the barcode over the scanner.  You get the beep and the system notes the item, size, price, and all the info needed to ring you up? The six tastes are like that scanner. Each taste carries the barcodes, so to speak, so that our body knows what nutrients we consume. Get all of the six tastes. Our body knows it has what it needs to run optimally. Miss one, two, or more, and your brain continues to signal to your nervous system that you are missing something. You aren’t satisfied, and you eat more.

Have you ever finished dinner? Cleaned up the kitchen, then sat down to watch tv or surf your phone, and you are like, I’m still hungry. Dinner was a full meal, and you felt satisfied at the time and full. But here you are an hour or two later, like I want something else, but I need to figure out what.

You go to the cabinet? You check the fridge.  You don’t want anymore dinner. Check the pantry- nothing in there. You are hungry, but you can’t put your finger on it. More than likely, one of the six tastes was missing from your meal. The problem is when you start snacking, trying to fill the void. As a result, you take in too many calories but remain malnourished still because likely you’ve yet to get that missing taste. Each taste has a very specific effect on the mind body physiology. I’ll share the basics really quickly.

SWEET

Sweet, the taste we are most familiar with goes beyond sugars. It’s actually the taste of most carbs, proteins, and fats. Think bread, pasta, and meats. Here’s the thing sweet has a soothing effect on our physiology, and it’ also helps build body mass.  As a culture, think about how many are on the heavy side.  Look at kids these days and the obesity trend.  Our diets are filled with the sweet taste.

SOUR

Now sour is the taste of acid. Think citrus fruit. But also foods like yogurt, cheese, tomatoes, and vinegar. What’s interesting about sour is it stimulates stomach acid production, so sour foods help when it comes to stimulating appetite and digestion. On the flip side if you suffer from heartburn as many do, or have too much heat in your body, as they say in Ayurveda, sour foods can be irritating. This is where it is helpful to understand your body type and your current level of imbalance. Because although you want all the tastes if something is going to be irritating you your current state of balance you’d want to have less of it.

SALTY

Salty – this is an easy one. Think of the taste of the ocean. The salty taste enhances appetite and makes things taste more delicious- every wonder why those fries keep making you want to come back for more?The American Heart Association says we should get no more than 2300 grams of sodium daily. And recommends aiming for 1500 grams if you have high blood pressure. With too much salt we experience excess fluid retention and high blood pressure.

Our diets are packed with packaged and fast foods which are high in sodium.  Salt though is necessary for life and helps with digestion and fluid balance in the body.  So how do we get the salty taste without experiencing fluid retention and high blood pressure?  You can replace the taste with herbs when you crave a salty taste but need to restrict sodium intake. Literally, try swapping out salt for black pepper, cilantro, turmeric, or ginger. Dr. Suhas at Ayurvedic healing.net offers a six-taste seasoning blend to sprinkle on your foods.  You get everything you need in one shake.

Now, most of you can identify with the sweet, sour, and salty so let’s look at the other three Pungent, bitter, and astringent. These three are anti-inflammatory and actually increase metabolism.

PUNGENT

Pungent foods enhance appetite and improve digestion. And while they increase metabolism, the heat can aggravate some mind-body types.  This again is where understanding your mind body type becomes so important.  Think spices or savory tastes like onions,  hot peppers, salsa, and most cooking spices. Foods with pungent flavors naturally support detoxification pathways and activate our digestive enzymes. One of my favorite ways to get the pungent taste at breakfast is to sprinkle a little cinnamon on my oatmeal. Super simple to get that taste in and doing this helps to metabolize the sugars in the carbs of the oatmeal.

BITTER

If you’ve ever been on a diet likely your meals focused heavily on stuff like salads, broccoli, and celery.  If that’s the case you are familiar with the bitter taste. There’s a saying – Bitter is Better. LOL.   Bitter foods are very detoxifying to the system and are great at promoting weight loss. They are full of healthy phytochemicals, anti-inflammatory and anti-oxidant agent. Ever heard of eating the rainbow? Typically bitter foods are light and create lightness in the body.  However, as with everything too much of a good thing isn’t good.  If you eat too much of the bitter flavor expect gas or indigestion.  Our bodies are highly delicate and sensitive, yet they are also very responsive when things are in the right ratio.

ASTRINGENT

The last taste puckers the mouth and has a drying effect on the body. It’s great for releasing excess fluid. Enter the taste Astringent. I always wondered how I could get the astringent taste into my meal. Then a mentor shared a great way was having a cup of tea.  Warm, not iced. In Ayurveda, you’ll learn that cold drinks dampen your internal fire or digestion. Think about throwing some cold water on a fire.

Ok so this is TMI, but have you ever had a big glass of tea and then had to pee.  You pee once and the blood gates open and then you continue to have to pee all afternoon? We used to have a restaurant in town that had the best tea.  They had free refills and I never really noticed how many times they were refilling my glass.  Inevitably the rest of my day would be spent in and out of the bathroom releasing all the excess fluids.  Funny, but not.    Outside of teas being astringent, you can get that taste from beans, mushrooms, apples, cauliflower, pecans, tart apples, and so on.

It’s amazing when you start looking at what foods fall into different groups.  In the Restore Roadmap and Clarity Club, I provide a list of foods by category to make it easier to incorporate the tastes.

As I mentioned before several foods will fall into multiple taste categories. These foods are referred to as superfoods. A good example is garlic. It has all the tastes except for salty. Just be careful…. Too much garlic and you’ll smell it coming out of your pores.  This is where getting creative with the different foods comes in handy.  You want your body to experience different tastes through variety as well.

So, I suspect many of you are considering healthy eating as the new year rolls around. I encourage you to consider adding the concept of the six tastes into your plans. Think about squeezing a bit of lemon onto your veggies or salad to get the sour taste or sprinkling a bit of black pepper on your veggies for some pungent taste.

While I’m continually amazed at the impact the tastes have on the physical side, when you look at how they impact emotions, it becomes even more interesting. Think about when you are sad or down. Most people reach for something sweet. Positive emotions are associated with the sweet taste. Right? Love, happiness, satisfaction – all sweet. But think about when you get too much sweetness. Those feelings of joy and satisfaction can turn into cravings and attachment. Remember the ad campaign Bet you can’t eat just one? I bet you are saying well, Micah, well what do you suggest when I have cravings?   A personal favorite- is massage. You can even do your own massage- you don’t need to go anywhere. Touch stimulates nerves which cause you to release oxytocin which in turn provides a sense of well-being and reduces stress.  In the afternoons around 3 pm, which one of my friends calls the witching hour, because she’s always reaching for something sweet. You can find me sitting at my desk, rubbing my shoulders and forehead doing a mini massage.

Try it. And let me know what you think.  If nothing else, it will get your mind off of a snack for a while.  And then, follow it up with some warm ginger water.  I’m curious to hear back about little tweaks like this and if they impact your life as much as they have mine.

These days many people are overwhelmed and need more clarity. It is said that the sour taste helps to awaken your brain and sharpen your senses. Think about the last time you peeled an orange. Do you remember the smell? A friend of mine gifted me with a box of tangelos for Christmas. Each time I’d make that first puncture into the skin, and I’d get that aroma of the orange, it was exhilarating. I’m not exaggerating, either. I’d peel back the first slice. You could see little droplets of oil being released. The smell was amazing. Immediately I’d perk up. If you want a good exercise in mindful eating. Try peeling an orange. Listening to the sound of the rind as you peel it back, taking in the citrus aroma, taste the sour and see how your mouth puckers a bit. Feel the juices in your mouth. Sensory overload.  It is a good reset, for sure.

Now do you know anyone that likes it hot?  I’m talking hot sauce.  I have a friend that loves hot sauce, and he’d even put Texas Pete on his eggs in the morning which I didn’t realize was actually a thing for a lot of people.   Pungent foods, like hot sauces, will give your meals an extra kick, for sure. From an emotional standpoint though, the taste represents clarity, passion, and curiosity. But with too much, like with everything,  you start to see anger, irritability, competitiveness, and impatience.  And this goes back to the fire or heat element in the taste.  Everything is about balance.

Are there any wine drinkers listening today? Wine is astringent. Congrats you’ve checked off one of the tastes with dinner.  With a glass or two, you may feel grounded and collected. A little more at ease. Finish the bottle though, and that groundedness can turn into anxiety, sadness, and emotional heaviness. Right? It’s all about moderation.

From these examples, you see, you can either bring balance or create an imbalance in your body and mind based on the food and drink you consume. The key is not to avoid food or drinks if it is creating an imbalance. It’s not an all-or-nothing deal.   You need all six tastes. You just have to consume it in moderation and keep in mind how your body needs balancing at the present time. Everything is a juggling act.

On the positive side, I have a sneaking suspicion that you are just like I was before learning about the six tastes.  So close to having it right.  You are probably just missing one or two here and there towards getting all the nutrients you need for a balanced lifestyle.  You probably need a little refining to understand what elements you need to incorporate or reduce to get yourself back in balance.

So, as I close out today’s podcast, remember what Hippocrates instructed: “Let food be thy medicine.  And let medicine be thy food.” Seriously, this new year consider finding out where you are imbalanced and choosing to eat the foods that will decrease those elements you have too much off so you can restore your body without all the cravings that normally come when you “try” to eat what you think is healthy.

Until next time. Cultivate Clarity.

This is Micah Hill signing out.