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.

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.

Incompatible foods ?

Viruddha ahara  is an unique concept explained in Ayurveda, which refers to food- food interactions, food processing interactions etc. Foods which are wrong in combination, wrong process of production, consumed in incorrect dose or at incorrect time, can lead to interruption in normal metabolism and growth of tissues.
When two or more foods having different tastes, energy and post digestive effect are combined, agni becomes overloaded, inhibiting the enzyme system and resulting in the production of toxins, these combinations of food are called as incompatible foods (Viruddha ahara) . At the same time these foods, if eaten separately, might well stimulate Agni (digestive power), be digested more quickly and even help to burn or remove toxins.

The literal meaning of word Viruddha is opposite. It sounds that the food combination of certain type of food may have -

• Opposite properties
• Opposite activities on the tissues
• May exert some unwanted effect on the body when processed in a particular form
• May exert undesirable effects, when combined in certain proportion
• May have unwanted effect if consumed at wrong time.

Nutrition science attributes consumption of acid ash producing foods (sugar, fats, and colas), acid residuals in the body and improper digestion as the root cause of all disease.  Similarly, in Ayurveda, it is said that improper food combinations produces weak acids leading to various disorders.

These foods in less quantity are harmless, if you have good digestive power and if you are used to it for years.

Effect of incompatible food on body: 

• Incompatible food combinations can lead to flatulence, indigestion, and fermentation. 
• Prolonged intake of such combinations can lead to toxaemia. 
• Those substances which when consumed, cause aggravation of the doshas but do not expel them out of the body and bring about abnormalities in the rasa,rakta, mansa,meda, etc (dhatus) and give rise to diseases.
• Impotency, various skin diseases, digestive disorders or it can lead to even death.

Ayurveda literature has described 18 types of Viruddha Ahara, which can be summarized as follows:

Viruddha word here denotes opposition. So, it can be understood that any procedure, combinations, dose, amount of food, opposite properties of food if consumed regularly for a longer period can lead to number of disorders.

Examples of viruddha ahara:

1.Place Incompatibility (Desha Viruddha) :

 To eat dry and tikshn (which are of sharp taste e.g. sour,salty tastes)) substances in dry region and  unctuous substances in Marshy land. To normalise doshas you should have unctious and hoot foods in dry region and dry and tikshna foods in marshy region.

2.  Time Incompatibility (Kala Viruddha): 

Intake of cold and dry substances in winter, Pungent and hot substances in summer.

3. Digestive Power Incompatibility (Agni Viruddha): 

Intake of heavy food when the power of digestion is low, intake of light food when the power of digestion is good. You should eat according to your digestive power otherwise indigestion takes place.

4. Quantity Incompatibility (Matra Viruddha): 

Intake of honey and ghee in equal quantity have notorious effect on health.1

5. Habit Incompatibility (Satmya Viruddha): 

Intake of sweet and cold substance by person accustomed to pungent and hot substances because body is used to such habits and when you go out of the way allergy or indigestion can develop.

6. Dosha Viruddha: 

Utilization of drugs, diets and regimen having similar qualities with Dosha, but at variance with the habit of the individual.

7. Processing Incompatibility (Sanskar Viruddha): 

Drugs and diets which, when prepared in a particular way produced poisonous effects. E.g. meat of peacock roasted on a castor spit or heated honey2.

8. Potency Incompatibility (Veerya Viruddha): 

Substances having cold potency in combination with those of hot potency. e.g. Milk and Fish 3.

9. Bowel Incompatibility (Koshtha Viruddha): 

To give less quantity,  less potency and less stool forming food to a person of costive bowel as it will lead to more constipation. Administration of more quantity heavy and more stool forming food to a person having laxed bowel, for him it shall be difficult to digest and can cause loose stools.

10. Avastha Viruddha:

 Intake of Vata aggravating food (cold and dry)  by a person after sexual act, physical exertion or intake of Kapha aggravating food(unctious, heavy foods)   by a person after sleep or drowsiness. Increased dosha will exert it's effect on body.

11. Sequence Incompatibility (Kram Viruddha): 

If a person takes food before his bowel and urination or when he is not hungry  or  too long after his hunger has been aggravated. 

12. Caution or contraindication Incompatibility (Parihar Viruddha):

Consuming cold water immediately after hot tea or coffee.

13. Treatment Incompatibility (Upachar Viruddha): 

Having cold water after ghee. It is advised to take warm water after ghee as it helps in it's digestion.

14. Cooking Incompatibility (Paak Viruddha ): 

Under cooked, over cooked  or burnt food, all of them are not good for health.

15.Combination Against ( Samyoga Viruddha): 

Intake of sour substance with milk. Fruit salad or milk + banana.

16. Incompatibility in Interest (Hridaya Viruddha):

 Intake of unpleasant food.

17. Richness of Quality Incompatibility (Sampad Viruddha):

 Intake of substance that are not mature, over matured or altered taste.Now a days we see artificially ripened fruits and veges with Calcium carbide, it is a corrosive agent and can cause ulcer in stomach and is carcinogenic as well.

18. Against rules for Eating (Vidhi Viruddha): 

Taking meals in public place, while chatting or watching TV.

Frequent intake of virudhha ahara (incompatible food) leads in to toxins. Then, in the alimentary tract this toxins provoke all doshas and which get mixed with digestive juice and then rasa dhatu and so on, it spread from one dhatu to next dhatu. 

Some other examples of  incompatible foods:

Related research:

A new branch called topography (a science related to combination of food) is emerging, which tells about the combination of basic categories of the food. 

• As per this science proteins must not get combined with starch and carbohydrates and may be consumed differently. This is because starches require an alkali medium and the amylase in saliva contains ptylin, an enzyme that breaks down starch into maltose. 
• Consuming proteins and starches together will result in absorption of one being delayed by the other. 
• Similarly, eating sugars and acid fruits hinder the action of ptylin and pepsin, reducing the secretion of saliva, and delaying digestion.

Viruddha Ahara is an important aspect of today's improper dietary habits. This can lead to several hazardous diseases unknowingly to the patients. Therefore, it is important to enlist the causative incompatible dietary factors and train the patients to avoid such etiologic factors.

Six tastes...!

• Madhura (Sweet)
• Amla (Sour)
• Lavana (Saline)
• Katu (Pungent)
• Tikta (Bitter)
• Kashaya (Astringent)

These are the six tastes. Different tastes are due to different compositions of 5 elements i.e. Prithvi, Jal, Agni, Vayu and Aakash. So, these tastes have specific effect on our body.

Taste	Constitution of 5 elements	Properties
Sweet (Madhur)	Prithvi + Jal	Snigdha(unctuous), Shita(cold), Guru(heavy)
Sour (Amla)	Prithvi +Agni	Snigdha (unctuous), Ushna(hot), Guru(heavy)
Saline (Lavana)	Jal + Agni	Snigdha (unctuous), Ushna(hot), Guru(heavy)
Pungent (Katu)	Agni + Vayu	Laghu(light), Ruksha(dry), Ushna(hot)
Bitter (Tikta)	Aakash - Vayu	Laghu(light), Ruksha(dry), Shita(cold)
Astringent (Kashaya)	Prithvi-Vayu	Laghu(light), Ruksha(dry), Shita(cold)

Sweet taste (Madhura rasa) :

• Sweet taste is cooling, nutritive, gives pleasure and satisfaction. 
• Promotes growth of body elements, improves strength and lactation. 
• It is good for wound healing and fracture healing.
•  Promotes eye sight and other sense organs.
•  It is conducive to pleasant feeling and longevity.
• Especially good for kids and old people.

e.g. Milk, sugar, cereals, potato, etc.

Over intake of sweet taste:

• Having excess of sweet things can lead to obesity, heaviness in body, laziness, loss of appetite, nausea, vomitting, asthama(shwasa), goitre(galaganda) , Diabetes etc. 

Sour taste (Amla rasa) :

• Sour taste is carminative(pachaka) and appetizer. 
• It gives strength to body and senses. 
• It relieves constipation and bloating.
•  It has cooling effect and satisfies the taste buds and heart. 
• e.g. Fruits like lemon, orange, curd, alcohol etc.

Over intake of sour taste:

• Excess intake of sour taste can cause sourness in teeth, morbid thirst, burning sensation in chest, fever, itching, pustules and other skin diseases etc. 
• Excess sour taste is not good especially for eyes.

Saline taste (Lavana rasa) :

• Saline taste has cleansing , carminative, appetizer properties. 
• It is hot , suppresses all other tastes  and gives softness to body. 
• It relieves stiffness by reducing vata dosha, aggravates kapha and pitta. 
• Reduces strength of body and causes salivation and burning sensation in mouth.
•  It is very important in diet as it gives taste to the food.
•  e.g. Sea salt, black salt etc.

Over intake of saline taste:

• When used in excess It can cuase urticaria, discoloration(vivarnata), loss of virility  etc.
•  It aggravates pitta dosha and can lead to stomatitis, conjunctivitis, gout(vatarakta), raktapitta(bleeding from different parts of the body).  
• It can also cause  premature wrinkling, premature graying of hairs , baldness.

Pungent taste (Katu rasa):

• It reduces kapha, krimi(worms), kandu(itching), toxicity,  Stanya (lactation) , sperm count , meda(fat) and obesity . 
• It is improves digestive power, carminative and appetiser.
•  It deplets kleda( sticky substance in body), meda (fat), vasa (muscle fat), ,majja( bone marrow), feces and urine.
• It opens up channels of circulation and improves intelligence.
•  e.g. Black pepper, garlic etc.

Over intake of pungent taste:

• Excess intake of pungent taste can cause giddiness, intoxication, loss of strength and semen, feverishness, dryness of mouth, lips and diarrhea.
•  It can also cause pricking and cutting type of pain in abdomen, kampa( shivering) and pain in limbs and back.

Bitter taste (Tikta rasa):

• It is also an appetizer and carminative, expectorant and has cleansing effect on mouth , throat and lactation (removes impurities from mother's milk). 
• It deplets kleda, meda( body fat and obesity), vasa, majja, puya( pus from wound), sweda (sweat), mutra(urine), purisha(feces), pitta and kapha.
• It cures krimi (worms), kushtha (skin diseases) and daha ( burning sensation anywhere in body).
• e.g. turmeric, bitter gourd, egg plant etc.

Over intake of bitter taste:

• Over intake of bitter taste causes increase in vata dosha and lead to rigidity in body, stiff neck( torticolis), Convulsion, facial paralysis(ardita), headache, giddiness ad pricking pain in body. 
• Deplets all the dhatus i.e. rasa, rakta, mansa, meda etc and reduces strength and semen.

Astringent taste (Kashaya rasa):
                            

• Astringent taste has healing, constipative (grahi) and drying( drying of saliva, kleda etc.) properties.
•  It aggravates vata and causes sluggishness in tongue movement and obstructs throat as well as channels of circulation. 
• e.g. Triphala, green gram etc. 

Over intake of astringent taste:

• Excess intake of this taste can cause pain in cardiac region (Hritpida), gaseous distention of abdomen, difficulty in speaking, stiff neck, tingling sensation in body and convulsions. 
• It can also cause loss of potency, obstruct and dry up feces, urine and semen.

So from this description of six tastes we can understand the importance and action of all tastes. All the 6 tastes are equally important for our health but excess use of any 1 or more tastes have adverse effects on our health. In the same way unuse of 1 or more tastes is also not good for health.

So we should include all tastes in diet but in moderate quantity.


Ref. Su.Su.42
       Ch. Su.26























  

Meal time ...!

Food is the base of life. What and how we eat has a significant effect on our body and health. We don't eat whatever comes in plate. From old times there has been some protocol about how  and what to eat. 
         

Today there are a huge number of people suffering from metabolic syndrome,diabetes, dyslipidemia , liver and kidney diseases due to faulty eating habits. People start dieting to repair the body system but don't understand that there are still more factors associated with this, and not only food. 
         So, from here the holistic diet and lifestyle concept started.

Which things should be considered while planning a meal ?

• Are you hungry?
• How should be your food like?
• Which foods should be avoided?
• Care while cooking
• Location
• How to eat?
• After meal rituals

Are you hungry?

• The best time to eat is when you are hungry.
• Normally, there is Kapha predominance in body between 6 am/pm to 10am/pm , Pitta predominance between 10-2 and 2-6 there is vata predominance . e.g. If you have food between 6-10 in morning or evening then  it will digest and lead to madhur vipaka, vipaka is the final taste and effect on body after complete digestion of food.

     If you eat in pitta kala then it can lead to acidity like symptoms and if you eat in vata kala then it can lead to bloating. So you should have your major meals i.e. lunch or dinner between 6 -10am/pm accordingly.

• Done with your motions ? You should not eat if you are feeling to pee or poop.
• When you feel lightness in body. Heaviness in body and especially in abdomen suggests incomplete digestion.
• When you have normal ( tasteless or shuddha) burp.

How should be your food like?

• Food should be freshly cooked, preferably home made food.
• Food should be wholesome i.e. food that appretiates your body and helps to stay healthy. Normally the local food that your family has been eating for years from generations is a wholesome food for you. Don't just go for any fad and fancy diet as it may not suit your stomach. Don't just have some foods which are so called "healthy foods" e.g. broccoli, which is never grown in your place.
• Food should be light and easy to digest
• Have food that is hot and moist (not too dry)
• Include all tastes food items in plate, this helps in maintaining the equilibrium.
• Food should be tasty, not too oily and spicy.
• Foods which have more water content e.g. soups are easy to digest.
• Eat in moderate quantity.

Which foods should be avoided?

• Foods which have impurities, contaminated should be avoided.
• The food items you really don't like should be avoided as it has negative effect on your mind and body.
• Food which is not tasty and stale food you shouldn't be eating. It is a very wrong habit of cooking food and storing it in refrigerator for days.
  
• Overcooked and undercooked foods should be avoided as all nutrients are lost from overcooked food and undercooked food is difficult to digest.
• Avoid fast foods and hotel food.

Care while cooking food:

• Kitchen and utensils should be clean and hygienic, free from insects .
• Clean the vegetables thoroughly , avoid contamination of food.
• Cooked food should be covered to maintain it's quality.

Location:

• You should eat at a quite place, which is not crowded.
• Place should be fresh, hygienic, have food with your loved ones.
• Have food in sitting position and the place should be covered by roof.

How to eat?

• Focus on food completely. Switch off TV, don't use mobile phone while eating.
• Chew the food properly and don't talk or laugh while eating.
• Don't eat too fast or too slow.If you are eating fast then you won't be enjoying the taste of food and if you eat too slow you may end up eating too much.
• Have water in between the meal.

After food rituals:

• Normally, immediately after food kapha dosha increases , during digestion process pitta increases and after digestion of food vata increases.
• 
  
• After food , to tackle kapha and for refreshment of mouth, have betel nut, clove,fenel seeds,saunf, camphor, or betel leaf etc.
  
  

• Brush your teeth.
• After having food , rest for some time, then walk for 10-15 min (100 steps), and then lie down on left side for some time.
• You should not go to sleep immediately after food, or talk and laugh too much. Don't sit at one place for too long , walking in sun, swimmimg, travel are also not advised immediately after food.

This is a right and ideal way of having your meal. Helpful to maintain healthy body and healthy mind !!!