This Thanksgiving, have your pie and eat it too!
You might think of pumpkin pie as a sweet Thanksgiving treat. But, it’s actually loaded with āyurvedic benefits. Making your own pie from scratch is easy, and allows you to control the quality of ingredients and the amount of added sugar so you can enjoy the benefits of this delicious treat.
In āyurveda we say “food is medicine” when used properly. So let’s take a look at some of the benefits of pumpkin pie and why it’s the perfect food for Thanksgiving.
🧡 PUMPKIN: Pumpkin is considered a sweet food in āyurveda. Sweet foods are grounding full of the earth element. These qualities help pacifiy the frenetic, flighty energy of vata dosha which increased during the fall, and particularly around the busyness of the holiday season. Vata dosha leads to symptoms like anxiety and restlessness, and the pumpkin in a pumpkin pie can help reduce the anxiety and restlessness associated with vata dosha. Pumpkin is also a rejuvenative food, which can help us build durability and resilience during the holiday season.
🧡 CINNAMON: Cinnamon is warming and helps improve circulation and boost digestion. Cinnamon also relieves gas and bloating, which often occur after a big holiday meal. Gas, bloating, poor cirulation and unstable digestion are all hallmarks of out of balance vata dosha.
🧡 NUTMEG: Nutmeg is known to help manage stress and anxiety, and has a sedative effect which promotes sound sleep. The frenetic mobile qualities of vata season often result in poor sleep, increasing our stress levels. Nutmeg helps to counter this.
🧡 CLOVE: Like cinnamon, clove pacifies vata dosha by enhancing circulation and digestion and relieveing gas and bloating. Clove’s warming quality is also comforting when you are experiencing a vata imbalance.
So, if you’re thinking about saving a few calories and skipping the pumpkin pie this year, think again! In moderation pumpkin pie can help shift excess vata back into balance. .
This is the pie crust recipe I use, replacing the butter with a non-dairy version.
You can buy pie weights here, or simple fill the bottom of the pie plate with dried beans to weight the crust while you bake.
Kroger carries this egg replacer, which is similar to but cheaper than EnerG.
Alternatively, you can use “flax egg”, recipe here.
How to crimp pie crust edges.