Superfood Ginger !

Ginger is a super food . It not only gives taste and flavor to food but also is very good for health. People have been using it as a home remedy since years.

The food we eat gets digested and digestive juice is formed. This juice nurtures the body tissues (i.e. dhatus). So proper digestion of food is very important for maintaining healthy body. So everyone should always take care of their digestive power .

Ginger ( Zingiber officinale) : 

It is available as a root or rhizome . Its wet form is called as ardraka and dry form as Shunthi in Hindi. Both can be used. Only difference is that shunthi has sweet after digestion effect on body.
         It is called as Vishwabheshaja because of its vast medicinal uses.

Properties:

• Alleviates Kapha and Vata
• Pungent taste
• Light
• Hot
• Appetizer
• Aphrodisiac
• Cardiac tonic
• Improves taste
• Helpful in bloating and constipation
• A very good remedy for pain an abdomen.

Medicinal uses of Ginger:

1. In cough: Pieces of ginger can be chewed with honey or juice of ginger with some honey helps in both acute and chronic type of cough.
                                       
2. Cold : Juice of ginger should be taken 3 -4 times a day.
3. Ginger juice added with saindhava ( rock salt) helps in acidity and in urticaria caused by acidity as well.
   
4. Rheumatoid arthritis:
   
   Add dry ginger powder (Shunthi) to hot water (shunthi phanta) and have it throughout the day for drinking. 
5. Pain in abdomen due to bloating: Massage over abdomen with ginger powder in mustard oil. It also relieves menstrual pain by taking orally. 
   
6. Local application of paste of ginger powder in water is advised in headache and joint pain. It gives good relief.
7. It is useful to chew ginger in nausea, morning sickness and travel sickness. 
8. It is a very good appetizer, so can be used in indigestion , loose motion, and all other conditions caused by low appetite.
9. It is also good in diabetic patients to lower the blood sugar levels and even HbA1c levels.* It can also help in weight loss if diet and exercise is properly done.
10. It is good for heart as it lowers fat and helps in weight loss.
    

Caution:

• As ginger has hot potency should not be taken too much, otherwise acidity can develop.
• Pregnant women should have less ginger as being hot it may stimulate intestinal movement and lead to miscarriage.

Guidelines for joint pain patients

Vatavyadhi is a term used for diseases caused by increased vata dosha which includes joint pain, paralysis, and many more diseases. It is a vast term. Generally people mean joint pain by vata vyadhi or Sandhivaat which is osteoarthritis.

The increased vata dosha in body reduces the kapha (Shleshaka kapha) present in joint spaces. So there is no more smooth movement in joint and pain and swelling appears.



The joint pain is sometimes very bad and limits your daily activities. 

Modern medicines give temporary relief and have lots of side effects like acidity, drowsiness etc. So it is better to opt for Ayurvedic medicines and follow healthy diet and lifestyle regimen.

Factors that aggravate joint pain:

• Cold weather and rainy season
• Inactivity
• Strain on joint ( Overuse of joint)
• Indigestion

The treatment for this joint pain mainly comprises of 

• Internal Vata alleviating medicines, 
• Snehana- Svedana ( Oil massage and steam)
• Medicated enema (Basti) ,
•  Oil pulling(local basti) and 
• Agnikarma.

Along with the medications following are the dietary and lifestyle guidelines:

How should be the diet?

Do’s		Don’ts
·         Hot foods and liquids ·         Sweet, saline and sour tastes in diet ·         Food should be moist added with ghee and oil ·         Milk ·         Non veg soups and foods ·         Ghee and oils treated with appetizing and digestive herbs and medicines. e.g. Dadimadi ghrita, Pippalyadi ghrita ·         Alcohol in moderate amount ·Eat in small quantity so that food digests well. Undigested food aggravated the pain.		·         Cold, refrigerated foods and drinks  Bitter, pungent and astringent tastes  Dry and ununctuous foods like biscuits, bread etc.   Eating less Fermented foods Food items made up of black gram (urad daal) Stale food.

How should be the lifestyle?

Do’s	Don’ts
·         Daily abhyanga ( light massage with oil) and steam ·         Rest your body ·         Keep yourself warm with warm clothes ·         Stay in warm place ·         Take shower with warm decoction of herbs like dashamoola. ·         All forms of heat e.g. steam, electric heating pads, hot tub bath etc are useful.      Light exercise and Yoga.	·         Hard work, walking too much, strain over joints by bending etc ·         Don’t expose yourself to direct wind and fan or AC .

Ayurvedic formulations: 

These should be taken only from registered Ayurvedic practitioner.

• Different guggula kalpas e.g. Rasnadi guggul, Yograj guggul, Aabha guggul, Triphala guggula
• Vishtinduk vati, Aamvatari rasa etc.
• Maharasnadi kadha etc. 
• Medicated oils for massage and Basti 

The equilibrium of vata,pitta and kapha maintains healthy state in body. All these vata lowering remedies/ procedures help to reduce joint pain.

Take good care of yourself...!!!

Can honey really help in weight loss...?

Obesity is a big concern these days as obesity, hypertension and diabetes go hand in hand.We see people struggling for weight loss. They prey for commercial, fancy and non-healthy diets .
 Sedentary lifestyle and bad eating habits lead to improper digestion resulting in over accumulation of medo dhatu.

Honey in water, cinnamon water with honey and lemon honey are famous easy weight loss formulas for many .  Weight loss may happen or may not but a person can get acidity with regular cinnamon! 

Qualities of Madhu (Honey):

•  Heavy to digest- So it should be taken in a small quantity otherwise it can lead to indigestion. Indigestion of honey is very difficult to treat.
• Cold
• Dry
• Increases Vata and alleviates kapha.
• Chhedana -removes kapha and meda (body fat)
• Sweet , after taste is astringent
• Improves digestion
• Yogavahi ( It works as a catalyst substance to transport the medicinal properties of herbs into the body.) So it is used as an adjuvant with many Ayurvedic medicines.

So, it is not very nourishing but more opposite properties to as that of Medo dhatu. So it helps in reducing meda.

Nutritional value:

• It is basically Fructose, a sugar.
• Free of fat
• It has healthy glycemic index, so it is slowly absorbed into bloodstream so resulting in better digestion of sugar. 
• Contains few natural vitamins and minerals. It is better than table sugar and artificial sweeteners.

Contraindications:

• Honey should not be taken hot or with hot foods, as according to Ayurveda , it is a nectar collected from different flowers, some of which might be poisonous, when heated it's potency may increase. 
• Honey is not good for a person who is exhausted with heat.
• Honey and ghee should not be taken in equal quantity the study revealed that heated honey (>140°C) mixed with ghee produces HMF which may produce deleterious effects and act as a poison in due course (Ushnam cha samagrutham madhu marayati).*
• Honey should not be taken with salt.
• Should not be taken by diabetics.

Honey alone is not enough for weight loss. 

What other things are suggested for weight loss?

• Panchakarma procedures such as Vamana, Virechana, Basti, Raktamokshana
• Exercise
• Diet control- Avoid taking sweet, unctuous foods in large quantity
• Svedana(Steam bath)
• Dry and ununctuous foods
• Honey with Triphala or Hirade or Agastyaprash. Here honey acts as catalyst and improves the action of these medicines.
• Massage with dry powders like Triphala powder.

What's the conclusion?

Honey can help in weight loss but when taken along with other healthy eating habits and active lifestyle.