Optimize Your Fertility: 10 Ayurvedic Foods to Boost Shukra + Libido in Women
Shukra, the sum essence of your digestive system is essential for your libido, sexual health, hormone balancing & fertility.
If you are a women in her Pitta years - between the age of 18 and 50 and sexually active, consuming some foods in your diet that help to increase the Kapha dosha will be excellent to promote your shukra. These specific shukra-enhancing foods are also excellent for women who are new mothers, too. Promoting your shukra, if done in the right way, can be beneficial to help balance your hormones, too.
Foods that nourish shukra are more nurturing, heavy, moist, sweet, cooling and fatty in nature. Shukra is enhanced by consuming naturally sweet tasting foods like milk, sweet fruits and fatty foods such as ghee and butter.
In our western culture the consumption of fatty foods and sugars is considered the enemy against a slim body, however from the ayurvedic perspective these foods are imperative for good health. Moderation is key. From an Ayurvedic perspective, we need to consider your natural constitution, or dosha, and any imbalances before embarking on a nutrient-rich, shukra-enhancing diet. It is better to consume rich, fatty foods earlier in the day rather than the evening.
Seasonally, it’s best to consume more shukra-enhancing, sweet and fatty foods in the winter months, less in the summer and autumn seasons, and the least in the spring season due to the effects of the environment, or seasons, on our inherent constitution, or doshas.
It’s very important to consider the strength of your digestive fire, or agni, before consuming large amounts of the following foods, as if you already have a build up of toxins, or ama, in your system then this will be aggravating your system further. This is why it might be important to appropriately cleanse your body first (check out my ayurvedic pre-conception cleanse programs).
There is no point consuming these shukra-enhancing foods if you have any digestive challenges. If you are navigating menopause or preparing your body for conception or have any doubts about your diet and it’s health-ful promotion, please book in for a free Rediscover Wellness Call if you’d like to explore working together for a more tailored dietary plan.
Shukra-enhancing Food List
Dairy products: particularly Milk & Ghee, sweetened lassi (yogurt drink with cane sugar, or jaggery), sweet butter (not salted), as well as freshly made cheeses such as cottage cheese / paneer & eggs (not a dairy product but added in here for those who eat a lacto-ovo diet)
Sweeteners: Sugarcane and unrefined rapidura sugar, or jaggery.
Fruits: Seasonal stewed fruits - especially also mangos, bananas, peaches, plums and pears.
Vegetables: Garlic and onions cooked in ghee, avocado beetroot, pumpkin, sweet potato, asparagus, okra, squash - all vegetables cooked in ghee (except for avocado)
Spices: Cumin, ajwain, clove, turmeric & saffron
Dried Fruits & Nuts: Particularly almonds (though it’s important to soak and de-skin!), walnuts, sesame seeds, dates, figs, raisins, apricots (without additives)
Grains: Rice & wheat
Beans: Black gram / urad dhal
Oils: such as Sesame
Female Tonics to Nurture Shukra: Shatavari, Ashwaghanda, Aloevera, Saffron, Liquorice
A Note on Foods and Activities that Deplete Shukra
It’s easier to focus on foods which promote shukra, which is why they are listed above. However, it’s also important to be aware of things that deplete your shukra as well;
Excessive fasting or skipping meals
Habitual ingestion (to excess of coffee), tea and mineral water or soda
Habitual indulgence in smoking tobacco, marijuana and other recreational drugs
Staying up late regularly beyond 10pm at night
Excessive physical exercise and activity (whilst balanced physical activity improves shukra production)
Avoid excessive intake of pungent (spivy), bitter, salty and sour tasting foods
Avoid excessive intake of dry foods (fatty & oily foods are required to produce shukra)
For more information and a tailored approach to your health, book in for a health consultation and start your ayurveda journey to health today.