My family has recently gotten into granola in a big way. Its a nice, hearty breakfast for those days when we need something snappy. From the Ayurvedic perspective it is a bit dry for some people (such as myself) whose bodies predominate in cold and dry energies, and so I soak mine in warm almond milk to make it more nourishing for my system.

I started making my own granola when I once tried to buy it, and was appalled at the price- at least for the balanced, clean kind that I wanted. Over the last year I have been playing with it a bunch, and this is where it has settled.

4 cups rolled oats
1/2 cup coconut oil
1/4 cup jaggery syrup or maple syrup
3/4 cup nuts and seeds (I use a mix of hazelnuts, pecans, sunflower seeds, black sesame seeds, cashews and almonds)
1/4 cup dried fruit ( I use raisins and apricots cut into pieces)
1/4 tsp salt
1/2 tsp cinnamon powder
1/2 tsp dried ginger powder

Toss everything together in a large mixing bowl (except the cinnamon and ginger, and the dried fruit).
Spread it out into a flat baking tray.
Bake in the oven at 350 degree for 20 minutes, and stir once at the halfway point.
Once out, it will keep cooking, and dry out a bit more.

As soon as I pull it out, I add my powdered spices and the dried fruit for them all to integrate together.

Enjoy!

In the spring, however, as the weather warms, and the ice in the mountains starts melting into gushing streams, our body also starts to release the heaviness that has accumulated in our tissues from the winter. Impurities within the tissues melt into streams and flood into the micro channels inside us.

Growing up in India meant being out everyday in intense sun, eating grass-fed meat, and living the relatively relaxed life of a child. I realize now how it must have been fantastic for my Vitamin D levels as all three of those things are important contributors to our Vitamin D stocks.

Then I moved to the Pacific Northwest. I also slowly turned vegetarian.

In my last post I went into great detail about the value of synchronizing our lifestyle to nature's rhythms on a daily basis. We talked about how each section of the day is governed by a certain energy and how we can benefit from using those times/energies for specific activities. I would like to finish that idea with these two thoughts:

- what an ideal daily routine would look like (adapted to today's world, a bit)

- why Ayurveda believes routine to be one of the most effective tools in preserving health
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Here is an ideal Ayurvedic daily routine:

Nourishing food, proper rest and regular exercise are commonly recognized health principles. We all agree, and do our best to abide by them. What I found unique to Ayurveda is the strong emphasis on a daily routine based on the changing energetic qualities of the day.

So in this post, I would like to explain how three overarching energetic principles in nature act on us in a daily, 24-hour cycle of work, rest and nourishment.