Kapha question

[stacirae]

I was wondering as a Kapha if I should avoid apple cider vinegar? Almost every time I take it it messes with me one way or the other. If I have it on a salad ocassionally, I'm ok, but to just swallow it always messes with my liver. So does black strap molasses. Is that normal? Anything I can use instead?

THANKS!

[shelley]

what do you mean by "messes with"? I have no idea what that means. It could mean something GOOD like you're CLEANSING.

[stacirae]

What I mean is that it causes discomfort in my liver and stomach. Sorry I was not more clear. I have also been doing the clove like you suggested and it is giving me a stomach ache. Dont get me wrong, I know healing isnt pain free, nor do I expect it to be, I am just wondering what is normal healing pain as opposed to an allergic reaction.

Yesterday my liver/stomach was so out of sorts that I ate only very easy to digest foods. (rice farina ceral for breakfast, black beans mushed in the food processor with garlic and barley for lunch and carrot juice, kefir and a cleansing pasta salad for dinner. I had pain in my liver off and on all day and cramps in my stomach (well, between my liver and pancreas high in my stomach) to where I felt it wasnt wise to eat anything of real substance. Today I awoke feeling much better. Like I could eat today. Yesterday was my first day doing the juice/oil/garlic/clove miniflush in the morning so maybe that helped it? I had been feeling crampy in my digestive track for few days til today. Good Lord, who knows.. could be my darn hormones again, I just finished my cycle and I tend to ovulate only 1-2 weeks after my period. Weird huh?

Thanks for the help Shelley! You are the Best!
Staci

[shelley]

ah, okay, what you're describing sounds like too much acid - if you're too the point where you have adequate stomach acids, the cleansing drink could be adding too much of a good thing so go ahead and back off the dose. Just use a teaspoon or switch to the cranberry juice without vinegar.

Kapha people usually need astringents like vinegar, but Vata and Pitta do not. If your power of digestion is high, which is more like Vata and Pitta, that's the time to only take very very small amounts of vinegar like the way the Japanese do - a teeny tiny dish of pickled cabbage just before the main entree to get the juices flowing.

You can keep cleansing your liver with herbs, lecithin, etc.

[J F]

Yes, if you do too much vinegar when you don't need it, you might notice your tongue gets lumpy (not bumps like a rash, but lumpy as in not smooth, but rather uneven when you stick it out) and maybe spots of tenderness or burning. I have to go easy on things with strong astringent properties like vinegar, even citrus juice, because once my stomach acids are up, they act like a scouring pad on my organs and my tongue is the first place this shows.

Someone correct me if my analysis is wrong on this. I am simply going from experience. I should note the I'm Vata/Pitta, not Kapha.