· By Brigitte Ponte
Ayurvedic rituals + food with Alessandra Adam
Hola Ale, ¿cómo estás?
Thanks for doing this interview with us!
Thank you for having me .I’m so excited and very honoured to share a little bit about my passion for Ayurveda and yoga with you all.
Get to know: Alessandra Adam
Ayurvedic rituals + food
The power of food as medicine.
1- Can you tell us about Ayurvedic meals?
Ayurvedic meals ….
There are so many ways to describe
And in fact it’s so simple at the same time
For me cooking is an incredible ritual it self.
Is where I calm my mind.Is a opportunity to be present enjoying the loneliness time to immerse and create a relationship with herbs, spices , to pause and maybe to invite loved ones to participate on meal prepping , cooking is definitely one of my love languages.
I also love when people cook for me any kind of food.
2- How can we incorporate Ayurvedic foods into our lives?
The secret to understand Ayurveda one of the first steps is to learn about Doshas and to recognise this 3 subtle energies and qualities that are present in everything and everyone .
Which Dosha are you ?
Vata, Pitta or Kapha ?
Create a relationship with yourself ,understand your intuition, your strengths, weakness, your essence then you can start to experiment explore self-care practices and rituals that most provide support and nourishment to your body/soul type .
Ayurveda also works with the polarities, always looking to find balance and restoring your body /mind and soul.
3- Do you practice Ayurvedic with your family?
Practicing Ayurveda with my family it goes into waves.
As my husband and I take turns cooking for the family , I let him create and feed us and enjoy not having to be in charge of meal prep daily.
I can see after over 10 years together my influences to maintain specific set times for our meals together without any electronic devices , fresh home made meals and a plant based nourishing diet.
Also who cook meals don’t wash dishes, so I enjoy the meals that he creates for the family for many reasons.
Although there are some slow changes ( that I share and bring to the table continuously ) and subtle contributions that I believe are the foundations for a health meal plan and prep .
In the past I was trying to ‘manage ‘ /control more what to buy , where to buy , what to cook , when to cook etc and I’ve realised that wasn’t healthy and many levels.
Ayurveda is my individual choice it can be shared with my family simply by role model without expectations.
Even thought we have a rule that you don’t need to like or eat everything but you must to keep trying and tasting everything because food changes flavours depending on how it is prepared and served.
Mali, My eleven year young daughter then can decide in the future how she will choose to eat based on our family foundations that we are sharing with her now.
Trusting and embracing and hope she can have good health choices.
But one thing we have as a family is a good fresh wholesome home made 3 meals a day most of the days.Avoiding snacking habits.
We also plant and cultivate seasonal vegetables, herbs and we do have some fruits in our backyard which is vital to cook without nasty chemicals supporting the gut absorbing the best meals in our stomachs and nourishing our body’s.
4- Where can people find you to help them dive into the Ayurveda experience?
I would love to continue and to keep connecting with more women sharing Yoga and Ayurveda please find me on
Social media / Instagram @sanawellnesspractices
Or on my website
Or via email
sana@crescenthead.yoga
5- How do you find balance between motherhood, marriage and running a business?
Good question. It’s a hard one to answer.
I don’t think there is a recipe available for this one.
What I believe is to always put family first, then commitment with my daily routine, being consistent with my daily rituals to help me to be grounded and to hold clarity so I can be a better human for me and for those around me.
I love to be immerse in nature doesn’t matter what kind of weather is happening , to get outdoors and surf with my family and I love long walks on the rainy days by the beach .
For my own experience this help my business , and my marriage and my relationship with my daughter to be in a flow, to dissolve and reset things.Our children are only little for a very short period of time , business can always grow with time.
We cannot control things and people so we learn, transform and grow as one.
Accept the ugly and inconvenient and or unwanted fazes of life cycles in our social groups.
And for challenging and or uncertain times, I pause & retreat,
Following the health balanced gut feelings eating delicious AYURVEDIC meals shared with friends and family can make wonders too.
A bit of Alessandra :
- Favourite meal: pumpkin soup
- Self care routine: my favourite is morning ritual : early rise to see the sun , the day light slowly embracing the land, feeling alive , tongue scrapping, body hygiene, warm water, yoga, meditation, walk, breakfast all this before 7:30am
- Place in the world: Very hard to choose only one.
Crescent Head is my place in the world at the moment, I feel that I don’t need to go anywhere everything I need and love is here.
Brazil as my forever home land and I miss so much and Costa Rica where it was the most magical time of my life, I’ve learned so much from the strength of the women, the culture, waves, nature…
Ayurvedic meal recipe:
A little bit about pumpkin.
It’s loaded with anti-oxidants (think vitamin A, C and E) and minerals (magnesium, potassium) and is high in fibre.
It’s also sweet and grounding.
Making the most of pumpkin seeds.They are also excellent for pacifying vata and pitta, as well as kapha when eaten in moderation. They are high in magnesium, iron, zinc, vitamin K, and are a great source of protein, besides a natural de-worming I use pep it’s in almost every meal .
Ayurvedic pumpkin soup
Serves 2
Ingredients
2 cups of butternut pumpkin chopped
1 brown onion, diced
4cm ginger, fined sliced
1/2 cup red lentils
1/2 teaspoon cumin powder
2 gloves of garlic
1/2 chopped parsley or chives (or other herbs) baby spinach
1/2 cup pepitas (pumpkin seeds)
2 cups of water
3 tablespoons ghee (or butter)
1 teaspoon salt
4-5 lime or lemon wedges
1 brown onion, diced
4cm ginger, fined sliced
1/2 cup red lentils
1/2 teaspoon cumin powder
2 gloves of garlic
1/2 chopped parsley or chives (or other herbs) baby spinach
1/2 cup pepitas (pumpkin seeds)
2 cups of water
3 tablespoons ghee (or butter)
1 teaspoon salt
4-5 lime or lemon wedges
Method
- Pre-heat oven to 180 degrees Celsius.
- Place pumpkin in a baking tray and cover with 1 tablespoon of ghee+ garlic.Sprinkle cumin powder and garlic over the pumpkin and bake for about 30 minutes, or until pumpkin is soft and browned.
- Place 1 tablespoon of ghee in a fry pan on a medium heat. Add onion, ginger and allow to cook for about 5 minutes, stirring occasionally.
- Add the lentils and stir add the baked pumpkin and garlic, water and allow to simmer on a low heat for about 30 minutes. You may need to add a little extra water over the course of the 30 minutes.
- Add the salt
- Pour the mixture into a blender or use a handheld stick blender to purée.
- In a separate pan place 1 tablespoon of ghee and the pepitas. Fry on a medium heat until lightly toasted.
- Top with chopped parsley or chives, baby spinach ,roasted pumpkin seeds and a squeeze of fresh lime or lemon.
Enjoy with home made Roti or sourdough.