Lesson 7 – Food for thought

Warm up

Ask students if they think different foods can change our state of mind, i.e., change the way we think or feel.
Ask if they think that certain personality types tend to prefer certain types of food.
Do passionate people tend to prefer hot, spicy food?
Some people think eating a lot of meat makes people aggressive.
Tell the class that they are going to hear a description of Ayurveda. Ask if anyone has heard of it. If anyone has ask them to tell the class what they know. Tell the class that Ayurveda links our personality with what we eat.

Tell students to play the recording and answer the question!

Tell students that they are going to hear the interview again. They should make notes about the positive and negative aspects of the personalities of each type of person.
Ask them to play the recording. Then compare their answers before you check them.
Ask the students which type they think they are. They are going to do an activity to find out.

You will divide the class into pairs and call one person A and the other B.
Tell the students to look at the text below and read the instruction. Do the first question together: Do you often get excited by things?
Ask if they need help.

Interview your partner about their personality and habits. Ask them how much the following characteristics apply to them, and write a score from 1 to 5 for their answers. If a statement is not at all true for them, score 0; if it is 100% true, score 5. When you have finished, find the total score for each body type.

Vata	Pitta	Kapha

Look at the three scores for your partner. If one score is a lot higher than the other two, then the high score shows their body type (e.g. Vata 45, Pitta 24, Kapha 22 means their body type is Vata). If their top two scores are similar, then they are a mixed body type (e.g. Vata 36, Pitta 38, Kapha 17 means their body type is Vata/Pitta).
Tell your partner their type. Do they recognize their personality from the description of their type in the radio program?
Ask your partner about their diet and give them advice from the information below.

Vata	Pitta	Kapha
Good Warm food and drinks Sweet, sour, and salty tastes Spicy, oily food Small, frequent meals Bad Cold foods, raw vegetables, and Iced drinks Heavy, infrequent meals Danger foods Spinach, potatoes, peppers, mushrooms, tomatoes, aubergines Apples, all dried fruits Beef White sugar	Good Cool food and drinks Sweet tastes Regular meal times Vegetables Bad Sour and salty tastes Irregular meal times and quick snacks and salad Danger foods Tomatoes Bananas Oils Seafood Hot spices, salt, garlic	Good Warm food and drinks Bitter tastes Light meals, salads, and soups Bad Cool food and drinks Sweet and sour and salty tastes Snacks between meals Danger foods Tomatoes, potatoes Very Juicy fruits Milk, cheese, yogurt Fat, fried food, oily food Sugar, and all sweets except honey

Ask students to write a written report about what they have been told.