Ayurveda Beginner's Guide: Essential Ayurvedic Principles and Practices to Balance and Heal Naturally Paperback – February 13, 2018

Great book excellent information!

A MUST HAVE book for someone new to Ayurveda. Straightforward approach, very enjoyable and informative. LOTS of useful information. I read it from beginning to end. Definitely buy this book if you really want to learn a lot about Ayurveda and you’re just starting out on the path or you’re curious and want to explore. ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️

Love this book so far. It delves into living a natural lifestyle with diet, exercise, meditation, breathing, and household products.

I bought this so that I could study Ayurveda and determine if it was the right diet plan and lifestyle for me. I think this is a beautifully written book and I love the care, attention, and detail that this author put into the book. I came away with some principles and techniques that I will probably incorporate for the rest of my life. The CCF tea recipe as well as the adjwain seeds were a godsend for me at a time when my body felt very toxic and I was having a lot of pain. I used it to detoxify and I released so much fluid from my body. The downside, and this has nothing to do with the author or the quality of the writing or the principles contained therein , is that my body doesn't seem to function well without a lot more fat, a little more protein and a lot fewer carbs than what I would get on the Kapha plan, which is my Dosha according to the quiz I took in this book. I love it for the principles of an overall healthy lifestyle that includes practical applications for not just eating, but exercise, and other forms of self-care. I just don't think that the dietary requirements outlined for my Dosha will work for me. I cooked a whole week's worth of food and started to feel all of the old cravings come back from too many carbs. Plus, as much as I like drinking the CCF tea for its health benefits, a lot of the Indian spices are not that enjoyable for me. The first week I was on the plan, I made the Chickpea Pick Me Up recipe as well as the Kapha Kitchari recipe. I ate it for several days but I found it very difficult to enjoy those flavors. I guess you just have to really like Indian food to begin with. I also made the Easy Breakfast Bowl recipe with millet and goat's milk for Kapha. I detested the flavor of the goat's milk but the most disappointing thing was that I was having insatiable cravings. An all carb breakfast is just not going to work for me even if it is a fairly low glycemic carb. I'm happy that I gave it a try and I got something out of it but I regret jumping in with both feet instead of easing into it because now I have spent probably $100 on bulk spices that I will probably never use in entirety before they go bad and I'm going to have to throw out a $4 container of goat's milk. I guess I was just so sure that I was going to like it and adapt to it easily and that it was going to have all these wonderful health benefits for me and help me with some health issues that I've been dealing with around weight loss, weight management and inflammation. Great book but just not the lifestyle plan for me. Now that I've had time to do some more research, I am leaning toward a keto diet but with strict calorie control. I think where most people fail on the Keto Plan is that they think it's a license to eat as many fat bombs and unhealthy fat from processed meats as they want but I'm seeing now that I've been on the Keto Plan several days, that if you will watch the calories, you will have success and you will feel better if you're somebody who is very carb sensitive like me. For anybody who is like me and who has tried ayurveda and other higher carb plans and it didn't work for you, try 40- 30-30 (i.e., the Zone). And if you're still too carb sensitive for that, try Keto. Just exercise, eat good carbs on the plan as well as healthy fats and protein. And track your Macros in a fitness tracker like MyFitnessPal to make sure that you are eating the right amount of calories and that your protein, carbs, and fat requirements are within the acceptable range. Do this until you at least get the hang of it.

The book follows the subject clearly and whether novice or intermediate it makes for great reading and shared knowledge that you can put to use right away. I'm off to the race so to speak...Best at your endeavors...

I really like this book and the contents. It looks well organized, and I know that is strange to say about a book, but the way that it is written, you can digest a lot of information without it being overwhelming.

I have been studying Ayurvedic medicine and cooking for a while now and found this book and thought what the hell i'll give it a shot. I was VERY impressed with this little book, it basically takes 5,000 years and condenses it into 175 pages! I would highly recommend it if you just want to stick your foot in the water and see what you think. It's affordable, covers about everything you need to get started, has some good recipes and a great resource section in the back of the book as well.

Easy and enjoyable to read. There's some interesting and entertaining concepts in this book but I'm not sold on the concept as I had hoped to be. Some of the information is fairly obvious like: don't eat a big heavy dinner and then immediately go to bed.Some of it is based on information that really only pertains to India like- all food should be cooked. That's because field grown produce- like spinach- is watered with less sanitary water than we're accustomed to in the states (although we're seeing more and more of those recalls here).And then some of it is based on old wives' tales or pure nonsense. For example- don't eat fruit with any other food. Yeah right! especially when a lot of vegetables we eat are actually fruit. Or don't eat while standing up. That has more to do with being mindful of your eating than anything health related. In fact, eating while you stand is probably healthier. How about- you can not snack between meals because the undigested last meal will turn to poison. Hilarious! Just like you can't eat leftovers because the life force has been drained from the food.Now, I don't know if this is common practices of true Ayurvedic teachings or if it's just the ramblings of a middle aged jewish woman who learned some stuff at some california commune. Read it and decide for yourself.