The Shakti School

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Eat To Support PMS: An Ayurvedic Guide

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Ayurveda views premenstrual symptoms as the manifestation of a doshic imbalance. Menstrual symptoms can reflect imbalance in any of the doshas, but typically, the premenstrual period is linked to vata and pitta dosha—things can get too dry, too heated or too emotional.⁠
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It’s especially important to tend to vata dosha during the luteal phase, the couple of weeks that precede your bleed. Tending to vata during this time means grounding, stabilizing and soothing the nervous system. ⁠
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Here are some Ayurvedic recommendations for your luteal phase:⁠

🍠 Eating For Your Luteal Phase

  • ⁠Root vegetables - Carrots, parsnips, beets and sweet potatoes are deeply nourishing and grounding, helping to counter vata anxiety ⁠
  • Ghee and healthy fats - Supports healthy hormones and nutrient absorption⁠
  • Steamed greens - Leafy greens offer vital nutrients and their bitterness and astringent qualities counter pitta’s heat⁠
  • Warm, cooked grains - Steady nourishment for smooth digestion and steady agni⁠
  • Soups and stews - Supports digestion and the nervous system at the same time—also beneficial for kapha types and kapha imbalances⁠

🌿 Supportive Herbs & Spices⁠

  • Turmeric - Helps support the body’s detoxification pathways, aiding hormone regulation⁠
  • Ginger - Kindles agni and steadies digestion⁠
  • Ashwagandha - Provides essential nervous system steadiness through emotional waves⁠
  • Shatavari - Supports women’s hormonal balance; is cooling and moistening⁠
  • Brahmi - An Ayurvedic herb known for supporting mental ease and balance⁠
  • Cumin - Digestive aid soothing vata (aka goodbye gassiness!)⁠
  • Fennel - Cooling digestive support that helps reduce both vata and pitta ⁠
  • Coriander - Pitta-reducing to help mitigate irritability and excess heat⁠
  • Sesame Seeds - Contain essential minerals and fatty acids that promote hormonal balance⁠
  • Fenugreek - Anti-inflammatory qualities may help ease menstrual discomfort⁠
  • Mint - Helps to cool and aid digestion, balancing both pitta and vata⁠

🥀 Save this guide for your next grocery trip during your luteal phase!

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Sweet Dreams Milk: An Ayurvedic Sleep Tonic

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This is a milky beverage that counteracts insomnia and nervousness before bed.

Ayurveda provides nourishing and grounding remedies that help settle both body and mind. 🌀☁️

Warm milk is traditionally used as an ojas-building tonic that supports deep restoration, while valerian helps calm the nervous system, ashwagandha supports stress resilience, nutmeg is used for its gently sedative qualities, and saffron eases the mind toward rest. 🫖

When taken together, you have a soothing ritual that reduces excess movement in the mind and invites deep ease before bedtime. 🌙

You can also enhance the effects of this milky medicine by rubbing some warm sesame oil and a few drops of jatamansi essential oil on the soles of your feet before covering them in socks.

Here's How To Make It:

Ingredients

Directions

  • Put the ghee in a saucepan and heat on low with all the spices, except for the saffron. Once the mixture becomes aromatic, add the milk and saffron and whisk until hot.
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Ep. 244 Stevia: Sweet, But Is It Safe?

This is a picture of Katie Silcox. The text reads, "Spirit Sessions: Find your true spiritual home with Katie Silcox."

Today, Katie explores emerging research on stevia, a common artificial sweetener found in many wellness staples. Learn how erythritol, a common additive in stevia, affects your blood vessels and the subtle body. Blending modern science with Ayurvedic wisdom, Katie offers practical, nourishing alternatives for satisfying sweet cravings while supporting long-term health.

Thank you to our friends at Banyan Botanicals for sponsoring this episode! Click here to learn more about Katie’s favorite Triphala and try it yourself. Use the discount code KATIES15 for 15% off your first purchase!

In this episode about stevia, you’ll hear:

~ The latest science about stevia and what it means for your health

~ Recent erythritol study from the University of Colorado at Boulder

~ Negative side effects of erythritol

~ What does Ayurveda say about the sweet taste?

~ Where is stevia hiding in your kitchen?

~ Your body’s response to natural vs. artificial sweeteners

~ The subtle effects of artificial sweeteners on our emotions and spirit

~ Ayurveda-aligned stevia alternatives

Or Subscribe on iTunes

Check out these related episodes:

~ Ep. 201 Wait for the Yum: A Convo with Food Maven, Meredith Klein

~ Ep. 172 Embodied Nutrition with Claire Ragozzino

Connect with Katie and The Shakti School:

~ Sign up for our free mini-course about Women’s Wisdom and Ayurveda!

~ Follow The Shakti School on Instagram and Facebook

~ Read Katie’s latest book, Glow-Worthy!

Help Us Spread Our Pod Wings!

We hope you loved today's topic, stevia and artificial sweeteners. If you'd like to support the pod, the most effective way you can help is to:

  1. Subscribe to the show by clicking “subscribe” in iTunes or wherever you get your podcasts
  2. Write us a review
  3. Share this episode with a friend right now!

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From my heart to yours,

Katie

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Kapha-Balancing Ayurvedic Food List

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Kapha season is that late winter to early spring transition when things start to melt… and sometimes we do too.💦 If you’re feeling a little heavier or slower, or feeling an urge to get things moving and flowing, you’re right on time! We can balance kapha heaviness with foods that lighten, warm and gently stimulate the system. 🌿⁠

Here are some of our favorite Kapha-balancing foods for spring:⁠
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🧅 Onions + garlic → pungent, heating and help break up stagnation⁠
🫘 Split peas, mung beans, red lentils → light, drying and easy to digest⁠
🫒 Olive oil → a lighter fat that supports without weighing you down⁠
🌿 Fresh herbs → help brighten digestion and adds fresh, spring zest!⁠
🐟 Freshwater fish + wild salmon → clean protein that’s easier to metabolize than heavy meats⁠
🍯 Raw honey → naturally scraping (lekhana), helps reduce excess Kapha⁠
🌾 Amaranth + quinoa + barley + basmati → light, protein-rich grains that don’t create heaviness⁠
🥬 Cabbage + asparagus → bitter, astringent spring veggies that detox + de-bloat (all the greens this season!)⁠
🍇 Dried fruit → provides light sweetness when used in moderation⁠
🍗 Chicken → a lean, grounding protein without excess heaviness⁠
🍎 Apples or seasonal fruit → light, cleansing and supportive for digestion⁠
🥛 Goat milk (or lighter dairy) → easier to digest for kapha than heavier dairy options⁠
🌶️ Heating spices → ginger, turmeric, cumin & black pepper to stoke agni 🔥⁠
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This is the season to eat a little lighter and support your digestion so your energy can come back online.⁠
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🌎 Note: This guidance is for those in the Northern Hemisphere moving into spring. If you’re in the Southern Hemisphere, you’ll want to follow a more Vata-balancing, warming and grounding approach as you move into fall.⁠

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Ep. 235 Why Ghee Is the Quiet Psychedelic: Expanding the Mind Without Breaking It

This is a picture of Katie Silcox. The text reads, "Spirit Sessions: Find your true spiritual home with Katie Silcox."

Ghee is the ultimate nervous-system–safe psychedelic. It's soma, the sacred nectar of immortality, in a spoon. It's butter, not breakdown.

Drawing from her personal Panchakarma experiences and modern neuroscience, Katie shares how this ancient Ayurvedic superfood gently expands consciousness, processes stored trauma and restores emotional and spiritual resilience. If you’re looking for a path to embodied awakening, tune in to hear Katie’s thoughts on this safe psychedelic and the potentially dangerous plant medicine fads that are sweeping the globe. 

The 2026 class of our Divine Feminine Ayurveda School starts in just four weeks! Click here to learn more and enroll today!

In this episode all about ghee, you’ll hear:

~ An invitation to book a FREE call with one of our coaches

~ Lessons from Katie’s recent panchakarma experience

~ Ghee as a lunar, mother remedy

~ The Ayurvedic concepts of Soma and Ojas

~ How ghee supports the nervous system and emotional safety

~ The science of ghee: fat, myelin, gut health and the brain

~ The health benefits of ghee

~ How ghee compares to other plant medicines

~ Katie’s view on Ayahuasca

~ Trauma, memory and consciousness stored in fat

~ Ghee’s effects on intuition and dreams

~ Using ghee for grounding, embodiment and long-term self-care

Or Subscribe on iTunes

Check out some of our favorite ghee products!

~ Trataka Ghee Candle from our friends at Paavani Ayurveda. Use the discount code SHAKTIPOWER for 10% off all Paavani products!

~ Classic Grass Fed Ghee from Banyan Botanicals. Use the discount code KATIES15 for 15% off all Banyan products!

~ Liver Detox Ghee and Brain Boost Ghee from Banyan Botanicals

Connect with Katie and The Shakti School:

~ Sign up for our free mini-course about Women’s Wisdom and Ayurveda!

~ Follow The Shakti School on Instagram and Facebook

~ 2026 Chakra Yoga Nidra Retreat: Deep dive into the chakras with Katie as your guide in the Bahamas in spring 2026!

~ Read Katie’s latest book, Glow-Worthy!

Related episodes:

~ Ep. 172 Embodied Nutrition with Claire Ragozzino

~ Ep. 05 What Is Ghee? How We Use It?

 

Help Us Spread Our Pod Wings!

Did you love today's deep dive into the magic of ghee? This show is a passion project that I produce for the love of sharing. If you love the show and want a free and easy way to help it grow, the most effective way you can help is to:

  1. Subscribe to the show by clicking “subscribe” in iTunes
  2. Write us a review in iTunes or your podcast player of choice
  3. Share this show with a friend right now!

It seems simple, but you’d be AMAZED to know how much it helps my little love project reach more people. iTunes’ algorithm uses ratings and reviews to know who to show our show to in their app.

Here’s the link to leave us reviews in iTunes.

From my heart to yours,

Katie

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Sacred Cycle Sweets

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Cooling, grounding and hormone-nourishing, these Sacred Cycle Sweets weave together shatavari, fennel and cardamom to support women’s cycles while offering a naturally sweet treat for body and spirit.

Here's How to Make My Sacred Cycle Sweets:

Ingredients (makes ~10):

  • 1 cup shredded coconut
  • ½ cup cashews, soaked 2 hrs
  • 6 Medjool dates
  • 1 tsp shatavari powder
  • 1 tsp cardamom
  • ½ tsp fennel powder
  • 1 tsp vanilla extract
  • Pinch pink salt
  • 1 tbsp coconut oil

Instructions:

  • Blend cashews + coconut into a paste.
  • Add dates, shatavari, spices + vanilla. Process until dough forms.
  • Roll into balls, coat with extra coconut. Refrigerate.
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Raspberry Oat Hormone Bars

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Sweet, tart and chocolatey comfort! These bars blend magnesium-rich nuts, fiber-filled oats, and antioxidant raspberries to steady mood, ease PMS cravings, and nourish your hormones the Ayurvedic way.

Here's How to Make Them:

Ingredients (makes ~12 bars):

Base:

  • 1 cup rolled oats (ground to flour)
  • ½ cup walnuts or almonds (magnesium powerhouse)
  • 1 cup Medjool dates, pitted
  • 2 tbsp almond butter
  • Pinch sea salt

Raspberry Layer:

  • 1½ cups fresh or frozen raspberries
  • 2 tbsp chia seeds
  • 1 tbsp maple syrup
  • ½ tsp vanilla

Chocolate Topping:

  • ½ cup dark chocolate chips (at least 70%)
  • 1 tbsp coconut oil
  • Sprinkle of cinnamon

Instructions:

  1. Process oats, nuts, dates, almond butter + salt until dough forms. Press into pan.
  2. In a saucepan, simmer raspberries, chia, maple + vanilla for 10 minutes until jammy. Spread over base.
  3. Melt chocolate + coconut oil, stir in cinnamon, and pour over raspberry layer.
  4. Chill until firm, slice into bars.
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How to Make the Perfect Summer Salad

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Summertime is the time for salad—the possibilities are endless. 🌺🌱🍅 In the Virginia summers, greens grow in abundance, fruit starts popping off and there are edible flowers galore! It’s one of my favorite times of the year. ⁠

Of course Ayurveda suggests not over consuming raw food, but there are plenty of ways around this. Salads are appropriate in the hot summer months and if your digestive system is a little sluggish, you can always pair your greens with a cooked element or additional spices to support your specific needs. ⁠
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I love going to the farmer’s market in the summer and seeing what creations I can make with the various colors and shapes of the vegetables. Making food should feel like an art (of course it’s not always going to feel easy), but it is an act of creativity that can really serve you well. ⁠
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When it comes to making salads you can get really creative. Just simply think of what flavors and textures you love most and create a salad from that. For me, I love crunch, I love FAT and I love citrus. I usually end up making a big bowl of greens, some sort of seed sautéed in ghee, avocado, radishes and all of it topped with a lemon vinaigrette. I often will always add some sort of protein source. Grilled chicken, fried tempeh and hard boiled (farm fresh eggs) are all my favorite go-to forms of protein.

Here's How to Make my Perfect Summer Salad:

Salad Ingredients:

  • ½ cup cooked quinoa
  • 1 ½ cups summer greens (mix of your choice-diced)
  • 1 tbsp lightly toasted pumpkin seeds
  • ½ cup summer cherry tomatoes (halved)
  • 1 handful of summer sprouts
  • Optional protein add ons: ¼ cup cooked chickpeas or grilled chicken

Dressing Ingredients:

  • 1 tbsp vegan mayo
  • ¼ cup fresh mint & parsley mix (diced)
  • Salt and pepper to taste
  • 1 tbsp apple cider vinegar

Directions:

Assemble all of your salad ingredients into a bowl (except the sprouts) organizing however you would like. Whisk dressing ingredients in a bowl using a fork (adding more or less apple cider vinegar depending on preference). Generously pour dressing over the salad. Garnish with fresh edible flowers and sprouts!

Enjoy! 🥬🌱🍅🌼

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