The Ayurveda health system has been described in a previous article How Ayurveda can help diabeticsand this article assumes that you have read it and understand the meaning of the term doshathat is, body type or constitution.

Your unique personal dosha is best and most accurately determined by a qualified practitioner of the Ayurvedic lifestyle system.

But if you want to try it yourself and determine your predominant dosha, here’s what you can do… answer these questions as follows:

Select the answer (A, B, or C) in each category that most applies to you. If more than one answer applies, choose the one that best suits you. For personality and mental traits, answer based on how you have felt and acted for most of your life.

physical characteristics

1. Your height is:

1. Higher or lower than average
2. Average
3. height and width

2. The structure of your body is:

1. Lean and light, with lean muscles.
2. Moderate and symmetrical, with well developed muscles.
3. Broad and broad, with strong muscles.

3. Your weight is:

1. Below average
2. Average
3. above average

4. Regarding your weight changes, you find it:

1. hard to gain weight
2. easy to maintain weight
3. hard to lose weight

5. The texture of your skin is:

1. Dry, rough and thin; prone to goosebumps
2. Warm and oily; easily irritated or inflamed
3. Fresh, sticky and thick.

6. Your eyes are:

1. Small, dry and active.
2. Drilling; light sensitive
3. big and soft

7. Your hair is:

1. Dry and brittle; easily knotted
2. Medium and oily texture; tendency to lose weight or gray hair
3. Thick and oily; abundant

8. Your teeth are:

1. crooked or protruding; receding gums
2. Of moderate size, with a tendency to yellow; red or bleeding gums
3. White, strong and well formed; abundant gums

9. Your nails are:

1. Dry, rough and brittle; they break easily
2. Soft, pink, flexible and lustrous.
3. Thick, smooth, shiny and hard.

10. Your joints are:

1. Prominent; they crack easily
2. Medium, loose and flexible.
3. Large and well padded

11. Your hands are:

1. Slim; long fingers with prominent knuckles
2. Half; warm, pink and soft
3. Big and thick; soft knuckles

12. Your body temperature runs:

1. Cold, especially in the hands and feet; you have poor circulation
2. Taller than average; you tend to “get hot”
3. Cool; clingy

13. Your urine tends to be:

1. scarce, of course
2. abundant, yellow
3. Moderate amount, concentrated color

14. When you get sick, it’s usually in the form of:

1. pain and inflammation
2. Fever and skin irritations, such as cold sores
3. Congestion

15. When it comes to the weather, you don’t like:

1. Cold, dry, windy; you prefer warm weather
2. Heat, scorching sun, fire; prefers cool, well-ventilated areas
3. Cool and humid climate; although it can tolerate many different climates, it prefers not to be cool and humid.

Personality traits

16. Your speech tends to be:

1. fast and frequent
2. sharp and cutting
3. slow and melodious

17. In general, you are mostly:

1. Active, busy, rushed, changeable, or nervous
2. Ambitious, motivated, competitive and resourceful.
3. Calm, happy, conservative and rarely irritated.

18. At your best, you are:

1. Adaptable, creative, spiritual and imaginative; an abstract thinker
2. Brave, smart, focused and efficient; a perfectionist
3. Affectionate, trustworthy, affectionate, calm and patient; a kind soul

19. At your worst, you are:

1. fearful and nervous
2. angry and critical
3. Too attached and lazy

Food and Activity

20. When it comes to activity, you like:

1. To be active and on the move; it’s hard for you to sit still
2. Physical activities with a purpose; competitive activities
3. Recreational activities; sitting around

21. You walk:

1. Quickly, often looking at the ground.
2. With purpose, with focus and attention.
3. slowly and without haste

22. Your appetite:

1. Varies daily; sometimes you forget to eat
2. it is regular; you never skip a meal
3. it’s constant; likes to eat, but can easily skip meals

23. You tend to eat and digest:

1. Quickly
2. moderately
3. slowly

24. When your digestion is out of whack, you get:

1. gassy or constipated
2. Ulcers and heartburn
3. lethargic and overweight

25. Your favorite foods are:

1. Salty, crunchy or cold; carbonated or caffeinated drinks
2. Spicy, sour or bitter; BBQ sauce, meat, pickles, fried food
3. Creamy, sweet, heavy, or smooth

26. Your resistance is:

1. Quickly out of stock; you wear out easily
2. quite strong; you can handle various physical activities
3. Good; you have a constant energy level

27. Your sleeping habits are:

1. Light; have trouble falling and staying asleep
2. Consistent; you sleep well for an average amount of time
3. Deep; sleeps long and deeply, and has difficulty waking up

28. Your moods:

1. change quickly
2. change slowly
3. are mostly stable

29. When you are under stress, you become:

1. Excited, anxious, worried and fearful
2. Angry, critical, demanding and aggressive.
3. Withdrawn, depressed and lonely

30. When making a decision:

1. You have many ideas and change your mind easily.
2. You gather facts before forming an opinion.
3. You are stubborn; you make up your mind quickly and don’t change your mind often

31. Your attention span is:

1. Bermuda
2. Detailed and attentive
3. In the “big picture”; you can concentrate for long periods

32. Your memory is:

1. Bermuda; you learn fast and you forget fast
2. generally good
3. Good in the long run, but slow to learn

33. When it comes to projects, you are:

1. He is good at starting things, but has trouble finishing them.
2. Organized and you will see a project from start to finish.
3. Slow to start but good at getting things done

34. Your friends:

1. They change often and are easily done.
2. They are mostly work related or team related
3. They last a long time and are deeply significant.

35. When it comes to money, you:

1. You like to shop and often overspend
2. I don’t like spending except on special items.
3. I prefer not to spend and I prefer to save

36. Your dreams are:

1. frequent and colorful
2. romantic and casual
3. Infrequent and disturbed, or intense

Determine your Dosha

Your answers (A) correspond to Vata, (B) to Pitta and (C) to Kapha… add up your answers to determine your predominant constitution.

The characteristic that receives the greatest number of responses is the most predominant force in your overall dosha.

Note that it is common to have a double doshasuch as Vata-Pitta, Pitta-Kapha or Vata-Kapha. It is also possible, although more rarely, to be equally balanced between all three.

But your unique personal dosha will be a combination of all three in one proportion or another.

Once you have determined your unique personal dosha, you need to figure out what changes you need to make to your lifestyle and diet to improve and maintain your health. Again, this is best determined by your Ayurvedic consultant.

the next article Can an Ayurvedic diet help control blood glucose levels? is a general discussion of the Ayurvedic diet.