Summer squashes – zucchini, yellow crookneck – are cool, light and easy to digest. They are perfect for relieving Pitta and summer heat. Adding warm spices, such as cumin, makes them appropriate also for Vata and Kapha.
Properties
Taste: SweetÂ
Natural Attributes: light, liquid
Tissue impact (Vipak): sweet, nourishing
Thermal impact (Virya): cooling Â
Dosha impact: decreases Pitta, slightly decreases Kapha and Vata Â
Digestive impact (Agni): easy to digest
Channels (Srotas): opens
Feces: moves
Urine: diuretic
Strength (Bala):Â improve strength
Mind (Manas): Sattvic
Effect: Analgesic, nutritiveÂ
Chinese five element impact: Fire
Chinese medicine syndromes: nourish Liver Yin, Move Liver Qi
Medicinal propertiesÂ
- Blood-circulation-liver: summer heat, thirst, inflammation.
- Skin: burns (fresh juice, topically)
- Kidney-Bladder: edema, difficulty urinating (summer squash with its skin)
Harmful: too much summer squash diminishes heat necessary for proper digestion.