Antiinflammatory Foods
Any disease with an inflammatory component such as mulitiple sclerosis can get ramped up during the summer months due to the hot quality that gets even more expressed We’ve chosen eleven ingredients we like that cool Pitta dosha particularly during the hot summer months If we’ve missed one of your favorites, please let us know in the comment section below
river cooling
11 Ways to Cool Off
1. Coconut
There are so many ways to use coconut and so many coconut products to enjoy – coconut water, coconut non-dairy milk and the traditional coconut flakes. Be aware that the oil, while it is certainly cooling, is not recommended for Vata and Kapha
2. Cilantro
Use as a garnish, stir chopped cilantro into a soup or toss with your salad greens.
3. Mint
Mint makes an amazing tea, loved by many. Toss fresh mint into your salad, on fruit or dessert.
4. Fennel
Fennel is wonderfully aromatic with its anise or licorice scent. Saute the seeds in oil to add to your favorite soups or stews. Add the powder to your chai or favorite hot beverage, or sprinkle onto your salad or dinner entree.
5. Rose Water
Add a dash to smoothies, rice puddings or a bowl of fruit. Substitute rose water for vanilla extract in recipes.
6. Pomegranate Molasses
The sugar that condenses when pomegranate juice is cooked forms pomegranate molasses and is quite heavenly. Add to salad dressings, dips and spreads, and use in marinades.
7. Sunflower Oil
This oil is traditionally used externally in Ayurveda as a cooling oil for Pitta. Enjoy sunflower oil as a substitute for vegetable oil. It is mild and light.
8. Maple Syrup
Use this cooling sweetener as you would any sugar. Would also be delicious in salad dressings and marinades.
9. Ghee
Ghee is clarified butter. It is beneficial for all three doshas (kaphas should use in moderation). It is delicious and easy to make. Use as you would butter or oil.
10. Turmeric
Turmeric has certainly seen a lot of press the past few years for it’s amazing health benefits. And fortunately it’s not difficult to add to your diet. Rice dishes, or potato or egg salads all taste delicious with some added turmeric. And of course there is curry!
11 Chyawanprash is a tasty Ayurvedic jam usually taken with warm water, milk, milk substitute whose prinicipal ingredient is amla derived from a berry that has very high Vitamin C but is not acidic It's very valuable in high Pitta conditions and therefore antiinflammatory Here's a link http://goo.gl/NMly6a
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Squeaky Teeth
From time to time this blog will comment on specific herbs that have important healing effects to the mindbody physiology After all herbs are foods that pack a physiologic whallop? Do we usually think of cinnamon as a herb? But when it comes down to the bottom line, everything on the planet has some medicinal properties, even poisons if used properly
Neem and pomegranite have long had benefical healing uses due to their bitter and astringent properties
Biologic Footprints of the Energy Field: Qualities
Let me digress here for a moment to help you understand that in the energy science medical model an imbalance of qualities leads to dis-ease and correcting the imbalances by using opposite qualities restores balance
For example, if there is too much hot in the physiology manifesting as "heartburn" then using something that is cold to cool the physiology is the answer Something like aloe vera would be great to use
Tastes: Aggregates of Qualities
Another aspect of the energy science is that these qualities are organized into 6 tastes, sweet, sour, salty, pungent, bitter, and astringent These tastes have very specific physiologic effects on the mindbody
For example, the very popular and addicting sweet, sour, and salty tastes are responsible for the obesity epidemic in our society
Neem and Pomegranite
The initial taste of anything placed in the mouth has a message to the mindbody and specifically to the oral cavity Neem carries predominantly the bitter(alkaline) giving the dry, light, rough, soft, and clear qualities Pomegranite has an astringent taste(causing the puckering when we drink it) and this delivers the dry and rough qualties
The acidic biofilm formed from oral bacteria naturally occurs on the teeth everyday and will harden into plaque if not removed
The use of such herbs as neem and pomegranite in toothpaste can effectively remove this biofilm and maintain good oral hygeine
Literally as one finishes the brushing the teeth one can hear the bristles squeak over the surface of the enamel surface
Now that's squeaky clean
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Consistency and Energy Science Work
Anything worth doing, is worth doing for a long while
I think we have all made the observation of rock that has a groove in it from the steady drip of water moving over the rock surface. Perhaps to our amazement we remember that over time even the softness of water is capable of eroding even the hardest and seemingly most immobile surface of rock through the consistency of its action.
In past blogs we have referred to the balance that exists in Nature. The hard, static, dense surface of the rock gives way to the soft, mobile, liquid qualities of water. The matter field is gross and the energy field is subtle. Because of knowing ourselves in the matter field context(bone is hard and blood is wet) we identify with the gross characteristics of our lives.
But it is in the subtleness of the energy field where real healing takes place. It is consistency in action that can literally move mountains. Another word for consistency is intention. In the flow of Nature we see intention at work as we observe the rock being carved by the action of water.
What does this have to do with medicine, healing and preventing disease? From a medical perspective, everything! Because without intention, there will be no healing even in medical matter field discipline. If you don't take your blood pressure medicine then hypertension and the possibilty of the complications of stroke and heart attack are increased.
From a disesase prevention perspective, intention or consistency(even the word discipline comes up) when guided by subtle energy field principles, can show us health promoting habits that promote balance in our lives.
Some simple examples. Bedtime between 9:30 and 10:30 pm every night is a great habit of health. The biggest meal of the day around noon time takes advantage of a strong digestive fire. These are habits that are subtle, but over time they will produce healing benefits. The energy nutrition as outlined in Foods Heal is a powerful way to heal the body if done consistently.
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Nutritional Likes and Dislikes
We all have likes and dislikes in our nutritional diet, don't we? In the energy science we call them cravings that are physiologic and nonphysiologic The former should be satisfied like being thirsty after sweating a lot But the latter are problematic for us and often stem from our past history, friends, teachers, but some are darn right desires that try as we might we can't explain why we avoid or are attracted to them.
So we like things such as coffee, tomatoes, carbonated drinks, hot spices everyday, animal foods such as beef, duck, lamb, pork. We all have that salivation list.
If we look at these through the lens of an energy science nutritional approach we find them as yea and nay, that is yes for you but not for another; and vice versa no for you and yes for the other.
But there are foods and drinks that are universally Nay for everyone and Yea for everyone. Take a look.
Nays Raw tomatoes, bread with yeast(not toasted), miso, store bought yogurt, pork and lamb, chocolate, coffee, hard liquor, carbonated drinks, icy cold drinks, white sugar, and poor food combinations.
Yeas Sweet apples, applesauce, sweet berries and cherries, cooked beets, cooked carrots, green beans, cooked leeks, okra, cooked peas, sweet potatoes, summer squash, seitan, sprouted wheat bread(nonyeasted), split mung dal, goat's milk cottage cheese, egg whites, freshwater fish, ghee, aloe vera, sweet berry juice, tea, grain coffee, grape and mango juice, peach nectar, all the cooling spices, supplements such as calcium magnesium and zinc in moderate amounts, chlorella.
Three observations come to mind for me. There are more yeas than nays. YEA!
Secondly the nays have a lot of attractiveness to them for us in general. White sugar, chocolate are screamers but bread with yeast(if not toasted), and carbonated drinks are also engaging as well.
And lastly, the message is that no matter what energy pattern combination you are as revealed at foodsheal.com there is plenty to eat without risking nutritional imbalance. What a deal, huh?
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True Disease Prevention
Disease prevention is what we look for but sadly enough the current system of healing as practiced cannot offer it The reason for it seems quite simple actually It is because the molecular or matter science model of healing of today cannot trace the origins of the diseases that it studies
The Origin of Disease
If we are to begin helping people prevent disease, it will have to come from an energy field discipline since it is at the energy field level where all disease begins. As we have written earlier, Hippocrates, said to be one of the four fathers of Western medicine, stated that, "All disease begins in the gut."
In other words we must reassess our understanding of the origins of disease Presently the matter field medical discipline of which I am a practitioner, looks for molecular reasons why disease occurs But the matter field is actually developed from the underlying energy field and diseases that are created in the energy field percolate up into the matter field as expressions of the underlying energy field imbalance
Energy Model of Disease
In reality the body's energy and matter fields coexist but the disease first begins its expression in the energy field but is not detectable in the matter field until an obvious disruption in the matter field can be detected by our gross studies
Currently our present matter field medical discipline provides a system of early disease detection and treatment We attempt to detect prostate cancer in its earliest stages using PSA and the prostate exam Using mammography we try to detect breast cancer in its earliest stages and cervical cancer by PAP smear By the use of sophisticated imaging we uncover unsuspected cancers in their earliest stages. For example, renal cancers are being found as small unsuspected lesions
But now we can see that all these mentioned cancers had their earliest origins in the energy field and gradually the imbalances in the energy field became disruptive enough to show as an early cancer
Early Detection Versus Prevention
The question is, "Is early detection the same as prevention of disease?" The answer is obviously no And the present matter field medical discipline will not be able to deliver disease prevention because it's detection devices operate at the level of the matter field which cannot detect the origins of disease
What we desperately need is a medical delivery model which is a marriage of the matter and energy field disciplines Then we would have a prevention system and one which could deal with diseases that had gotten out of control and needed matter field expertise
So if you want to prevent disease in your life or minimize the consequences of disease that does occur, it would be best to practice an Ayurvedic lifestyle and encourage balance in your life
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