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Just like in humoral theory, the domination of any one ''dosha'' in your organism determines your physique and your temperament. A ''vata''-type person is usually thin and bony, dark-skinned with thin, dry hair, an elongated and wrinkled face, and is quick-tempered, impatient and wavering. If you're a ''kapha''-type person, then you might be heavily built with pale skin, thick, oily hair and a round, soft face, slow, but persistent. And you can tell someone is a ''pitta''-type person by their muscular figure, ruddy complexion, soft hair with a tendency for early greyness and baldness, a face with sharp contours, as well as their high impulsiveness and motivation. But that's not all, for there are also people whose bodies are dominated by not one, but two ''doshas'' (''vata-pitta, vata-kapha'' and ''pitta-kapha'' types), as well as those who have all three ''doshas'' in balance (the ''vata-pitta-kapha'' type). This way, there are only three ''doshas'', but as many as seven different temperaments.
If you've read my post about humoral dietetics, they you might have guessed by now that the goal of Ayurvedic diet is to keep the ''doshas'' in balance. For example, a ''kapha''-type person should eat foods that decrease ''kapha'', while a dual ''vata-pitta'' type should consume things that increase ''kapha''. But how can you tell which foods increase or decrease which ''doshas''? Well, of course, by taste! There are six tastes, each combining the qualities of two different elements. Sweet is combines earth and water, which means it increases ''kapha''; it's the heaviest and moistest, as well as the most widespread of all six tastes. Salty is a marriage of water and fire, so it increases ''pitta''. Sour is fire and earth, and thus decreases ''vata''. Pungent is a combination of fire and air, which makes it the hottest and driest taste, decreasing ''kapha''. Bitter is air plus aether, it's the lightest and coldest of tastes, and it increases ''vata''. And, last but not least, the astringent taste, which combines earth and air, and therefore decreases ''pitta''.
[[File:Butterschmalz-3.jpg|thumb|upright|Ghee, the traditional Indian butter, clarified and slightly caramelizedcaramelised, is perfect for balancing the excess of bile (''pitta'') and wind (''vata'').]]
But it's not as simple as that. The amount of each ''dosha'' in your body depends on daily and seasonal cycles. Let's take a look at the seasonal one as an example. The Indian climate has not four, but six seasons ([[Packages_of_Goodness#cite_note-1|kinda like in Poland]]). Winter is cold and damp, and people tend to be listless and sluggish, so their organisms develop an excess of ''kapha'', which is evident by the build-up of thick phlegm. Cold winds blow at the same time, which makes the air filled with bitterness. When the spring comes, the air becomes astringent, while the phlegm melts down and spreads throughout your body, causing the aggravation of ''kapha''. Aggravation of any ''dosha'' is dangerous, so it needs to be mitigated with an appropriate diet to stem the onset of disease. In the summertime it's dry and windy, everything tastes sharper than usually and your body begins to accumulate ''vata''. Then comes the rainy season, which brings strong monsoon winds, heavy rains, slightly lower temperatures and a sour taste permeating the air. In these circumstances, ''vata'' has absolutely no idea what's going on and gets aggravated. What's more, ''pitta'' begins to build up. Autumn, which is dry, warm and salty, pacifies ''vata'', but aggravates ''pitta''. It's only in the sweet early winter that ''pitta'' becomes pacified, but this is also when ''kapha'' is slowly starting to accumulated. And so on and so forth.