EMMA-LOUISE FOLLOWS
“I came to Ayurveda because of health issues like so many others. I had a major Vata imbalance caused by years of focusing on being slim rather than healthy. When I read the description of Vata it sounded exactly like me and I realised that although naturally my Prakriti (or original Doshic constitution) is Tridoshic, my lifestyle had caused a major Vata imbalance, which is the case with so many women who have been affected by diet culture.”
Emma-Louise Follows is a medical herbalist and founder of Eat Live, a London-based mission-driven wellness business making handcrafted gut-healing and Ayurvedic products, available internationally. Check out Eat Live’s Magic Pack which contains a beautiful blend of survivable probiotics, adaptogens and detoxifying herbs, decadent raw chocolate and handcrafted Ayurvedic teabags.
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“When you know the Doshas, you have a language and prescription for how you are feeling.”
What does Ayurveda mean to you?
For me, Ayurveda is a way of understanding the world. It’s intuitive and when you discover the Doshas and how these energy types are present in people and everything around us, it just makes sense and also gives us a language to describe how life works. I guess that’s why Ayurveda translates to the “knowledge or science of life” — that’s exactly it.
When did you discover it? How long have you been practising it?
I discovered Ayurveda at the Yoga Show in London about 10 years ago. I had a tongue analysis and found out about Ayurvedic herbs. I was intrigued and followed this up with a Dosha consultation and Ayurvedic Abyangha massage. A few years later I started training as a medical herbalist with a focus on Ayurveda as I wanted to go deeper and bring this wisdom into my wellness business.
What drew you to Ayurveda?
I came to Ayurveda because of health issues like so many others. I had a major Vata imbalance caused by years of focusing on being slim rather than healthy. When I read the description of Vata it sounded exactly like me and I realised that although naturally my Prakriti (or original Doshic constitution) is Tridoshic, my lifestyle had caused a major Vata imbalance, which is the case with so many women who have been affected by diet culture.
Has it helped you with anything major?
Absolutely! When I had my two children in my late 20s and early 30s I spent the best part of 4 years breastfeeding them and I was giving to them from an empty cup. By the time I finished nursing my youngest I had become very run-down and ill with chronic illness. It was then and because I wasn’t getting the help I needed from mainstream medicine that I started my journey healing myself through food. I started with an anti-inflammatory elimination diet with lots of gut-healing food in particular. When I discovered Ayurveda, I realised that the underlying issue was a Vata imbalance in both my mind and body, so I followed the guidance for correcting this imbalance — lots of structure and grounding practices, warming, digestible, spiced food, bringing in lots of warmth and oil to pacify the dry, cold qualities of Vata. This is something I come back to constantly, especially living in the UK climate!
Is Ayurveda part of your everyday life or just for your medicine cabinet or fall-back routine?
For me Ayurveda is a lifestyle. I cleanse with kitchari each season and because I’m prone to Vata imbalance I come back to this guidance regularly. I also notice how my Doshic constitution changes from day to day and through my cycle for instance. When you know the Doshas, you have a language and prescription for how you are feeling. So if my monthly bleed is approaching and I start to feel irritable I know this is a surge of Pitta energy and I need to bring elements from the other two energy types to cool, calm and bring myself back into balance.
What are your top 3 Ayurvedic tips that have worked for you?
Ignite Your Agni — people are familiar now with the concept of health starting in the gut but Ayurveda has taught this for thousands of years. Having a healthy gut where your food is being broken down and digested properly is the foundation of your health. Taking certain herbs, spices and food rich in digestive enzymes is a great way to start addressing this.
Don’t eat after 7pm — this is another recommendation that is getting a lot of traction now because intermittent fasting has become very popular but again it is something that Ayurveda and herbalists from many traditions have been teaching for years. In Ayurveda it is recommended you finish eating by early evening and then don’t eat again until at least 12 hours later, giving your body a gentle overnight fast. This means your body can use its resources to heal rather than constantly being in digest mode. Those with a Kapha imbalance can push breakfast back a bit further even, or sometimes skip it completely. This gentle overnight fast is a more moderate and often more suitable way for women to fast than the more extreme methods that can harm our adrenals and disrupt our hormones.
Go to bed early, ideally by 10pm. The Ayurvedic Doshas also relate to the time of day. From 10pm grounded Kapha energy gives way to fiery Pitta energy. This means that even if we were tired, if we push through and stay up past 10pm we often get a “second wind” from this energy that makes us want to stay up even later. We know from research that the sleep we get earlier in the night is better quality and what we need for regeneration and brain health. So we want that powerful Pitta energy to be helping us sleep more deeply, not keeping us awake working or watching TV!
What surprised you most about Ayurveda?
There were a few recommendations that I found surprising, like mushrooms being considered Tamasic and smoothies not being recommended for instance. I love medicinal mushrooms in smoothies! Fortunately there are some amazing modern Ayurvedic practitioners who are exploring and revisiting the guidance explaining and modernising it where needed. So for example there were political issues around the consumption of mushrooms which probably led to this categorisation and actually mushrooms are really beneficial for health. Also smoothies can be fine depending on you Dosha and as long as they’re not served ice cold — a big no-no in Ayurveda because it dampens your digestive fire (Agni).
Did you integrate it gradually or overnight for any particular reason?
I integrated Ayurveda into my life gradually and I think it lends itself to this kind of approach. It’s a gentle, intuitive way of being in the world. I started with some herbs and the Dinacharya — Ayurvedic self-care rituals — and have started to live more and more according to my Dosha.
Do your children/family eat an Ayurvedic diet? And if they do, do they know it’s Ayurveda or do they just think of it as home cooking?
Yes, my husband is Vata body-wise and Kapha in the mind whilst one of my children is Pitta-Kapha and the other is Pitta-Vata. I certainly don’t cook separate meals but I do have it in mind in terms of tweaking a family meal for each person. The nice thing about Ayurveda is that it doesn’t just apply to Indian food. Once you understand the principles and the quality of each type of food you can make any type of meal Ayurvedic and Dosha-friendly.
What is your favourite Ayurvedic recipe or go-to ingredient?
Kitchari! It’s so nourishing and comforting. I make mine plant-based with MCT oil and quinoa instead of rice and that works really well for me. I also love topping it with coconut flakes.
How does Ayurveda fit into your day-to-day routines?
I tend towards a Vata imbalance so I correct this by having quite a strict routine. Whereas Pittas often need to loosen up a bit I have to be quite strict with myself in order to feel grounded. I try to make sure I get up and go to bed at roughly the same times, eat proper meals at set times actually sitting down at the table i.e. not just grazing and snacking as I walk around making my kids’ meals which is my tendency!
What do you wish was easier in our society to make an Ayurvedic lifestyle more accessible?
Time and space. This is something I knew but have really experienced in lockdown. Even though aspects of lockdown have been difficult I have noticed that when I don’t have so many outside pressures on my time I just naturally find I flow into an Ayurvedic lifestyle without having to try too much. It’s outside pressure from culture that knocks me off centre. When we’re centred we intuitively live an Ayurvedic lifestyle because that is what our bodies are guiding us to to do. Ayurveda is really just teaching us how our bodies and a deeper, truer part of ourselves want to live.
Do people around you/in your circle of friends know about Ayurveda?
Everyone close to me knows about Ayurveda now and they all know their Doshas thanks to me! Ayurveda makes it easier to understand people and why they behave as they do so it’s hard not to share it with everyone around you. Also it’s always very well received — who doesn’t love doing a personality quiz?!
What’s the one thing you would encourage everyone to try or you think would benefit the majority of people’s health for the better?
Eating an anti-inflammatory diet. Even if you don’t get into herbs or find out your Dosha, at a minimum just remove the things that your body doesn’t want inside it — at least 70% of the time. So take out sugar and any refined carbohydrates, dairy or at least non-organic dairy and alcohol and replace those things with lots of digestible vegetables. Just doing that will clear up so many health issues.
Anything else you’d like to add?
Meditate. By which I mean any activity that allows you to experience that you are not your thoughts and you are not your mind. This is so powerful for our health. Getting into a state of brain/heart coherence which is what can happen when people meditate brings so many incredible, tangible health benefits without changing a single thing about your diet. Happily when people become more centred through meditation, they tend to be drawn to the food they need without having to overthink it because they are now in tune with their bodies. People often think Ayurveda is about the food but it’s about bringing yourself into balance so that you can go beyond the body and into the spirit.