STEVIA

Amazing properties of the natural sweetener – STEVIA

a. Totally natural, nothing artificial
b. Sweetens immediately
c. Taste lasts much longer than artificial sweeteners
d. 150 times sweeter than sugar
e. Completely sugarless and contains no calories
f. Is freely soluble in water
g. Heat stable to 200° Celsius (392° Fahrenheit)
h. Is non-fermentable
i. No bitter aftertaste
j. No health warning or information statement required on products
k. No effects on insulin or blood glucose levels
l. Is highly recommended for diabetics and hypoglycemic
m. Has regulating effect on the pancreas
n. Improved digestion and overall gastrointestinal function
o. Long term use will produce a mild strengthening of the heart and vascular system
p. Used to reduce acidity (heartburn), hypertension, and to lower uric acid Levels
q. Can soften and tighten skin when used as a facial mask
r. helps heal various skin blemishes, including acne and lip or mouth sores
s. Can be used as a natural decongestant when used in tea
t. anecdotally has the ability to reduce the craving for sweets, fatty foods, tobacco & alcohol
u. Is an aid to weight management
v. Effective when used on seborrhea, dermatitis, eczema, cuts and scratches
w. As a plaque retardant it fights bacteria in the mouth, so it prevent cavities
x. Proven non toxic on animal tests and centuries of human consumption
y. Excellent shelf-life at room temperature - minimum 2 years
z. Is available in powdered formats..




by Dr. Rahul Dhanuka


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Vata

In Ayurveda, the  Vata has the function of all movement in the mind and body. It controls the flow of blood, the elimination of waste products, the act of breathing, nerve signal flow and the movement of thoughts in the mind. It is considered the leader of the three doshas (energies or energetic principles in the body) as Pitta and Kapha cannot move or exist without it. It is therefore imperative that Vata is brought back into balance whenever it is disturbed.

Here are the lists of things that you feel when Vata is vitiated or disturbed

• Your skin or hair is dry, rough and thin.

• You feel cold easily or have poor circulation with cold hands and feet.

• You are chronically underweight and find it difficult to gain weight.

• Your mind is constantly anxious, restless and agitated and you are prone to worry and fear.

• You experience constipation or have frequent flatulence.

• You suffer from insomnia or have unsettled sleep and disturbing dreams.

• You suffer from vaginal dryness or menstrual cramps and PMT.

• You have spells of forgetfulness and absent mindedness.

• You experience discomfort or stiffness in the joints or lower back pain.

• You easily become fatigued and have poor endurance.

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How to balance vitiated Vata

• Follow a Vata balancing diet favouring cooked foods rather than raw foods and salads.

• Go to bed early bedtime and have lots of rest.

• Diffuse calming and grounding aromatic oils or incense into your home and office. Orange, geranium, lavender, basil, spruce & fir are excellent in this regard.

• Maintain a regular daily routine by integrating the ‘Daily Routine’ (see later section).

• Give yourself an Abhyanga massage using warm sesame oil each morning.

• Ensure you have regular, daily elimination. Triphala herbal formula helps in this regard.

• Stay warm, especially in cold, windy weather.

• Take gentle walks in the countryside to calm and balance the mind.

• Wear calm, soothing colours such as pastels, green or brown.

• Do not overexert and rest whenever the body becomes tired or over stimulated

• Relax often by practicing meditation, pranayama, Yoga or Tai Chi.

• Chant ‘Ram’ (pronounced ‘rarm’) 108 times each day.

• Read light, humorous, feel-good novels and turn the television off one hour before bed.

• Take up walking, fishing, bird-watching or gardening for general relaxation.

• Take up writing, drawing, painting or acting to balance your creative energies.

• Avoid excessive talking and try to have a day of silence each week.

• Wrap up warm and keep dry in the winter – cover your head on cold, windy days.

• Avoid loud, noisy environments

• Rest for short periods throughout the day

• Avoid excessive use of VDU displays

The Vata balancing diet

• Favour warm, hearty, nourishing foods with added butter/oil – favour salty, sour and sweet tastes.

• Try and reduce light, dry, cold foods and pungent, bitter and astringent tastes

• Hot, milky, creamy cereals (wheat, oatmeal or rice), soups and stews are all very good for pacifying Vata.

• All dairy products are good (ideally organic and unpasturised) – milk should always be boiled first.

• Oils are good but favour ghee, coconut oil, olive oil, Udo’s oil, flax/pumpkin oil and sesame oil.

• Reduce your intake of light, dry, cold foods such as crackers, nuts, seeds and salads.

• Take nuts and seeds in small quantities only – they are best freshly ground with oil added.

• Reduce the intake of all bean products except tofu, mung beans, mung dhal and red lentils.

• The best grains are rice and wheat but you can take barley, corn, millet, buckwheat, rye and oats in moderation.

• Favour stewed and well ripened, sweet or sour fruits but reduce the intake of dry or light fruits such as apples, pears, pomegranates, cranberries, and dried fruits (if uncooked). Dried fruits are good if they are cooked after soaking overnight.

• Sweeteners are good (in moderation), especially jaggary, honey, maple syrup and algarve.

• Vegetables should be cooked and not raw. Peas, green leafy vegetables, broccoli, cauliflower, celery, zucchini and potatoes are acceptable in moderate quantities if they are cooked, especially with Ghee or oil and Vata reducing spices but it is best to avoid sprouts and cabbage.

• Hot, nourishing desserts such as apple pie help pacify Vata.

• Eat a substantial breakfast to help improve energy levels throughout the day.

• Herbal teas (camomile, fennel, basil) with a few digestive biscuits are good for Vata energy slumps.

• Avoid stimulants such as coffee and alcohol.

• Sip hot water throughout the day to flush out impurities and balance Vata.

• Warm milk flavoured with ghee, cardamom, cinnamon and nutmeg is excellent before bed.

Pitta dosha

Pitta dosha is made up of the elements of fire and water through which it manifests the qualities of pungent, hot, penetrating, oily, sharp, liquid, spreading and sour. Its primary function is transformation and is the force of metabolic activity in the body associated with the endocrine function, digestion, body temperature, visual perception, hunger, thirst, and skin quality. In Western terms we can categorise the activities of pitta in terms of amino acids, enzymes, bile, hydrochloric acid and hormones. This explains the seemingly contradictory combination of fire and water to form pitta. Pitta exists as water or oil in the body, thus preserving the tissues from the destructive aspect of fire. It resides in the eyes, blood, sweat glands and lymph but its primary site is in the small intestine. Mentally it plays a role in understanding, in digesting sensory impressions.

Here are the lists of things that you feel when Pitta is vitiated or disturbed

• Your skin is overly oily and prone to acne.

• You are prone to rashes, fevers or inflammatory skin conditions

• You have excessive hunger or thirst.

• You sweat profusely and have overly hot hands and feet.

• You suffer from infections, access acidity, ulcers and heart problems.

• You are overly aggressive and prone to anger and frustration.

• You experience lose or hot, watery stools and diarrhoea-type elimination.

• You tend to be overly critical, domineering, obsessive or controlling in nature.

• You experience frequent eyestrain or tension headaches.

• You are going prematurely grey or balding.

How to balance vitiated Pitta

•Avoid hot substances such as red meat, alcohol and tobacco.

• Avoid excessive fasting and try to eat when you are hungry. Don’t skip meals; especially lunch.

• Exercise moderately (short runs or swims) and only when the weather or climate is cool.

• Walk regularly in nature; especially by the sea. Walking in the moonlight is also very beneficial.

• Especially avoid prolonged exercise in very hot climates or environments.

• Keep your head and skin protected and refrain from sunbathing when the sun is hot.

• Reduce your exposure to hot environments such as saunas and steam rooms.

• Cultivate peaceful emotions and spend more time with people who love and fully accept you.

• Avoid and angry or stressed people and try not to argue – aim to agree more often!

• Take the time to be sweet and sociable and find the time to chat, laugh and play.

• Practice moderation and find time for enjoying leisure activities and appreciating natural beauty.

• Avoid overly competitive sports, deadlines and confrontation in general.

• Practice meditation, cooling forms of pranayama and gentle yoga postures.

• Avoid watching too much television and excessive use of computers.

• Massage the head with coconut oil at night.

• Wear cooling colours – blue, purple, green and avoid wearing red colours.

• Drink pomegranate juice or eat pomegranate seeds. Its astringent and bitter quality helps balance pitta, cleanses the liver and blood and works as an excellent heart tonic.

• Drink 30mls of Aloe Vera each morning.

Pitta Balancing diet:

• Generally favour warm or cool and refreshing foods with the tastes of sweet, bitter and astringent such as; asparagus, lettuce, broccoli, cucumber, raita, mung dhal, summer squashes, courgettes, cilantro, coconut, cucumber, lime and green salads.

• Avoid very oily, salty, sour, fermented or pungent foods and spices such as chillies, alcohol, pickles, vinegar, hard or pungent cheeses, citrus fruits, sour cream, yoghurt, tomatoes, garlic, onions and chillies as they will aggravate the acid and pitta in the intestines and blood.

• Enjoy sweet, juicy seasonal fruits such as peaches, figs and berries.

• Avoid red meat and favour chicken or fish.

• Most vegetables, beans and lentils are good unless they are cooked with too much oil.

• Favour wheat, basmati rice, oats and barley and take corn, millet and rye in moderation.

• Drink cooling herbal teas such as peppermint, spearmint, rose, coriander or liquorice.

• Ghee is cooling and can be used for cooking and spreading on toast. Coconut oil can also be used for cooking whilst Udo’s oil, flax oil or pumpkin oil can be used for salad dressings.

• A nourishing breakfast to balance pitta could include cereal, toast and apple juice.

• Japanese and Chinese type foods and salads are generally good for pitta digestion.

• Always avoid over-eating, especially in the evening.

Tri Doshas Of Ayurved

Ayurveda has its own procedure for dealing with disease and patient. First of all diagnosis is done by inspection (दर्शन), palpation (स्पर्शन), and interrogation (प्रश्‍न). The specific examination includes the standard eight-point examination: (1) pulse, (2) urine, (3) stool, (4) tongue, (5) eye, (6) skin, (7) speech and voice, and (8) general appearance. These eight examination is done to find out the, particular disease is due to vitiation of which Tridosha.

Examination	Vata	Pitta	Kapha
1. Pulse	Thread­like, feeble,  snake­like motion	Moderately heavy,  and jumps like a frog	Heavy, slow,  flows like swan
2. Urine  Drop of sesame oil  spreads on the surface   of urine gives:	Black–brown color Wave­like movement	Dark brown color Multiple colors, like  rainbow	Cloudy appearance Pearl like droplets
3. Stool	Uniform, dark color	Yellowish color	Bulky foul smell
4. Tongue	Black to brown, dry,  coarse, furred, pigmented	Red, yellow, or green,  soft, sharp, moist	Whitish color, pale  coated, big, soft.
5. Eye	Small, conjunctiva, muddy,  iris is dark gray or brown	Moderate size, sharp,  more sensitive to light	Large, moist, oily,  conjunctiva is white
6. Skin	Dry, coarse, wrinkled,  dusky	Wheat color, copper like color, shiny, moist	Soft, off-white, smooth, moist
7. Speech and voice	Coarse and dry	Sharp	Heavy

Before this I would like to enter into Charak Samhita (One of the 3 great triads). Here, four component of disease management are described. They are; first, the Physician, the drug, the patient and the attendant. A physician must have proper training, knowledge, and experience. A remedy must be abundantly available, effective, and relatively safe. A patient must provide all information to the physician about the disorder and be compliant. An attendant (a nurse) must have the knowledge of patient care, dexterity, loyalty, and cleanliness.

How actually the patients are cured?

First of all if there is the imbalance of Tridosha, it is balanced by using different herbal formulas, dietary and lifestyle interventions to bring dosasback into balance. Next is to eliminate the serious worry (Chinta), and and nurturing the soul to regain spiritual health (Samana). Ayurveda equally focus on physical health, mental health and spiritual health. This is the beauty of Ayurveda. Further more management of illness primarily consists of four procedures: (1) cleansing (samsodhan), (2) palliation (samsaman), (3) rejuvenation (kaya kalp), and (4) mental and spiritual healing (sattvavajaya, or psychotherapy). The management of an illness starts with cleansing and includes five procedures called panchakarma, all of which are not necessarily done at the same time or to all patients.