Articles Reflecting a Vegan Lifestyle used with permission from All-Creatures.org

Victoria Moran shares her experience following an ayurvedic lifestlye and how simple substitutions can allow us to eat both ayurvedically and vegan.

Vegan Ayurveda
From Victoria Moran, CLC, CHHC, RYT-200, MVLCE, MainStreetVegan.com
January 2025

Photo from MainStreetVegan.com

My friend and colleague, JL Fields, coach, food whisperer and cookbook author, likes to say “Anything you can eat, I can eat vegan.” Cheers to that. And let me add, “Anything you can do, I can do vegan” — meaning that I can pursue any interest that intrigues me, even if does not has a vegan history. One of these, for me, is Ayurveda, the healing and health-promotion system from India that grew up alongside yoga and is recognized today by the World Health Organization as a viable healthcare system.

Ayurveda means “the science of life.” It sees the body in relation to nature and to our total being, spiritual as well as physical. This is holistic health with a 5,000-year head start. While ayurvedic physicians have a sophisticated diagnostic and treatment repertoire, ayurveda is also a self-health practice anyone can use to live more in harmony with nature — with the rhythms of the day, the seasons, the phases of our lives, and the unique nature that each of us has as an individual body/mind/spirit amalgam.

Part of this involves diet, and ayurveda focuses on digestion. I once went to an ayurvedic physician who gave me a customized list of foods to avoid that included raw greens, cabbage-family vegetables, and most legumes. I was nonplussed: “But these are so healthy,” I argued. “No food is healthy,” she replied, “unless you can digest it.” Her plan was that I would stay away from those items for a 30-day period, then bring them back in small quantities at first, well-cooked, and perhaps seasoned with a little avocado or sesame oil and spices such as ginger and fennel, long known as digestive aids. The result of following her suggestions, dietary and otherwise, was stunning. I didn’t know how far away I’d come from feeling great until I started to feel amazing.

The one recommendation she gave me that I did not heed was to include some dairy in my diet, primarily in the form of ghee, clarified butter, revered in Indian tradition as food, medicine, and a sacred substance used in religious observances. According to Talya Lutzker in The Ayurvedic Vegan Kitchen, “Cow’s milk is worshipped in India, where it is considered the most complete and sattvic [balanced, pure] food in traditional ayurvedic medicine. However, for every milk-based food that traditional ayurveda reveres, there is a more than adequate, whole-food vegan alternative that will have the same effect….”

So, in just the way that I can take a dance class without leather ballet shoes, or go on safari and take pictures instead of lives, I can live ayurvedically and substitute natural, non- dairy milks and cheeses, avocado, raw almonds, and raw tahini for dairy milk, cheese, butter, and the like. In this way, I can experience the benefits of ayurveda without harming anybody.

An excellent way to experience the positive effects of ayurveda is to start with diancharya, daily routine. The rationale behind this is that our bodies have their circadian rhythm, and the day itself goes through cycles that affect us all. When we cooperate with these, we get a tailwind that helps us along. It is said in ayurveda that the day begins the night before, so:

• Be in bed by 10 pm and rise around 6 a.m. to take advantage of nature’s energies that will assist you in both falling asleep at night and awakening with enthusiasm for the day ahead


• Upon arising, gently scrape your tongue with a silver or stainless steel tongue scraper to remove ama, metabolic debris, which has accumulated overnight on the tongue


• Drink 8 to 10 ounces of warm or hot water with a bit of lemon juice to encourage a morning bowel movement


• Learn some classic yoga poses, as well as a few yogic breathing practices, and practice these every day


• Meditate in the morning and, ideally, in the late afternoon or early evening, as well


• Have a modest breakfast before 8:30 a.m.


• Hydrate through the day with herbal teas and water (warm or room temperature, never iced, and when possible, enjoy your biggest meal at high noon; this when your agni, digestive fire, is hottest


• Eat a light dinner at least two, and ideally three, hours prior to your bedtime


• To feel satisfied and well nourished, get all six tastes — sweet, salty, bitter, pungent, sour, and astringent (this the clean, dry taste you notice in potatoes, beans, cabbage, berries, green apples) — in both the middway and evening meal. If you’re unsure you’ve included all of them, use chutney as a condiment; it’s designed to have all six tastes.


• Wind down in your last waking hour: turn off electronics, read or engage in sweet conversation, and massage a few drops of essential oil of lavender into the soles of your feet to promote restful sleep.

---

Victoria Moran is an author, speaker, and ahimsa educator, founder and director of Main Street Vegan Academy, and host of the Main Street Vegan Podcast. Her 14th book, Age Like a Yogi, came into the world today (1/14/2024). It’s an exploration and celebration of yoga philosophy (starting with ahimsa, nonviolence) and ayurvedic self-care for peace and vitality as we grow older.

“This book is an honest and light-hearted companion for fully embracing every day and every decade. Highly recommended!” —Dean Ornish, MD, #1 New York Times bestselling author

“Age Like a Yogi is an essential guide to living a long, vibrant and fulfilled life.” —Tara Stiles, author of Yoga Cures; co-founder of Strala Yoga

---

Posted on All-Creatures: January 22, 2025
Return to Articles Reflecting a Vegan Lifestyle
Read more at Animals: Tradition - Philosophy - Religion Article