by Liz B | Jan 9, 2018 | Ayurveda, Detoxify
What is Ayurveda?
According to Deepak Chopra, M.D., “thousands of years before modern medicine provided scientific evidence for the mind-body connection, the sages of India developed Ayurveda, which continues to be one of the world’s most sophisticated and powerful mind-body health systems. More than a mere system of treating illness, Ayurveda is a science of life (Ayur = life, Veda = science or knowledge). It offers a body of wisdom designed to help people stay vibrant and healthy while realizing their full human potential.”
According to Ayurvedic Medicine, these are foods that produce or assist in detoxification of the body:
- Onion/Garlic/Ginger (contains sulfur, enhances circulation)
- Watermelon (contains antioxidant compounds)
- Chiles (increases circulation)
- Pineapple (proteases reduce excess protein accumulation and toxic by-products of protein breakdown)
- Yogurt (good bacteria keep toxin-producing “bad” bacteria at bay)
- Papaya (proteases reduce excess protein accumulation and toxic by-product of protein breakdown)
- Crucifer family (cabbage, kale, and broccoli, among others contain sulfur compounds and antioxidant compounds)
- Turmeric (antioxidant compounds)
- Green vegetables (especially raw, are the most overall detoxifying vegetables available).
- Citrus (antioxidant compounds, including vitamins, minerals, and phytonutrients).
Turmeric and ginger are also incredibly good for digestion and have numerous health benefits aside from just being a good detox food.
I encourage you to do some further research on Ayurveda’s philosophy and see how it might be able to help you on your journey to better health.
Here are some great resources to learn more about Ayurveda:
by Shiraz M | Jan 31, 2014 | Anxiety, Breathing, Detox, Home Remedies, Mental Health, Self-Improvement
Anxiety and fear dissipate quickly when countered with conscious breathing.The signals our bodies use to tell us we need to cleanse ourselves physically, mentally, and emotionally are multifaceted and often mirror symptoms we associate with illness. If we heed these signs, we not only feel better quickly but also stave off poor health before it can start. These quick fixes for common ailments can get you started.
1. Applying pressure to the acupressure point between the thumb and forefinger can release blockages causing pain, tension, and fatigue. You can relieve a headache naturally by squeezing for 20 seconds and releasing for 10 seconds, without letting go, four times.
2. To breathe freely, irrigate your nasal passages with a neti pot and warm salt water. As you clear and soothe the sinuses, congestion associated with allergies or infection will gradually disappear.
3. Apple cider vinegar is a powerful purifying and detoxifying agent. Soaking for 20 minutes in a warm bath infused with two cups of apple cider vinegar pulls toxins from the body and can clear blocked energy.
4. The foods you eat can have a profound impact on your outlook and mood. Eating a small yet satisfying meal rich in complex carbohydrates can lift your spirit and help you let go of feelings of anger, irritability, and depression.
5. Anxiety and fear dissipate quickly when countered with conscious breathing because concentrating on the breath enables you to refocus your attention inward. You can ground yourself and regain your usual calm by taking a series of deep belly breaths as you visualize your feet growing roots that stretch miles down into the earth.
6. Though tuning out can seem counterproductive, a few minutes spent lost in daydreams or listening to soothing music can help you see your circumstances from a new angle when you feel frustrated.
7. If you feel ill health coming on, brew a wellness elixir. Simmer three sliced lemons, one teaspoon freshly grated ginger, one clove freshly minced garlic, and one quarter teaspoon cayenne pepper in five cups water until the lemons are soft and pale. Strain a portion into a mug and add honey by tablespoons until you can tolerate the taste. Drinking this potent mixture of antibacterial, antiviral, and anti-fungal ingredients three times each day can ensure your symptoms never progress into a full-blown illness.
Source: Madisyn Taylor, DailyOm Newsletter, January 2014
by Liz B | Jan 25, 2014 | Ayurveda, Recipes
Servings: 4
Prep Time: 120 minutes
Ingredients:
2 cups avocado
2 cups coconut milk
1/2 cup raw sugar
Preparation:
Begin with placing a frozen bowl in the freezer that will serve as your ice cream container. Next peel one avocado, remove seed and smush the remaining green flesh until they soften into one hardly distinguishable color with only a few lumpy solid parts.
Set aside the avocado mixture, and mix coconut milk and raw sugar or honey into a blender or bowl. Optionally add soy milk powder as well. After preliminary stirring, add the softened avocado, and blend together forming an emulsion.
Feel free to add more honey or raw sugar to sweeten the ice cream to your palette. Finally pour the blended avocado ice cream into the now frosted bowl and leave in the freezer until the ingredients begin to solidify into something that looks like ice cream. For best results, stir the ice cream every 15 minutes to break up ice crystals (effectively creaming the ice). Once solidified, scoop and serve yourself with a homemade delight.
Ayurvedic Notes: Ayurvedic ice cream is fun and healthy (but not for Kapha body types).
Creamy avocados are popular as smoothies in Morocco. Mixed with coconut can make a delicious vegan ice cream. Reported by Ellie Hadsall of Albuquerque, NM.
Source: http://www.joyfulbelly.com/Ayurveda/recipe/Avocado-Coconut-Milk-Ice-Cream/719
by Liz B | Jan 11, 2014 | Ayurveda, Juicing
When spring weather feels heavy and humid like the tropics, this refreshing juice can help you stay clear-headed and light. In spring, it’s a warm day that makes you sick. Thick, humid air makes you feel swollen, heavy, and stuffy. Your lymph nodes may even swell, indicating a congested liver and blood.
The bitter taste in kale, and sour taste in lemon and apple flush and cleanse the liver by stimulating bile release. Release of bile, a fatty substance, also aids your body yanking winter fats out of the bloodstream. After drinking kale lemonade you may even notice rhythmic contractions of the gall bladder as it pumps bile into the small intestine.
The pungent taste in ginger re-ignites circulation and digestive fire while it dries up a runny nose. As Kale Lemonade is alkalizing and Pitta-reducing, drinking it cools and refreshes the eyes.
Ingredients:
1 whole apple (raw)
1 inch fresh ginger
1 lb. of kale
1/2 of a lemon
Preparation
Squeeze the juice from the lemon and core the apple.
You can make kale lemonade in a juicer or a blender. You may need to chop the kale, or toss it in a food processor if your juicer or blender has trouble grinding it up. If you plan to use a blender, add all ingredients plus one cup of water, then blend and strain.
Source: http://www.joyfulbelly.com/Ayurveda/recipe/Kale-Lemonade-with-Ginger-Apple/5142
by Liz B | Jan 9, 2014 | Ayurveda, Ayurvedic Teas
About This Tea
Drink Cumin, Coriander and Fennel Tea when the daffodils start to bloom – a sure sign that spring is approaching. This tea is suitable for long term use, all three doshas and for all ages.
Ingredients
1/4 tsp coriander
1/4 tsp cumin
1/4 tsp fennel seeds
Preparation
In Ayurveda teas are the traditional method of delivering the medicinal effects herbs and spices to your body’s tissues. Ayurvedic teas generally consist of a single herb or blend of herbs steeped in hot water.
- Boil 1 1/2 cups of water
- Add the whole cumin, coriander, and fennel seeds.
- Let steep for 5 minutes, or until it cools to a comfortable drinking temperature.
- Strain and serve, discarding the spices.
Ayurvedic Notes
Drip, drip, drip – the sound of melting ice warms the winter-weary. The wetness around you in springtime, making all of that stunning green growth possible, can also manifest in your body, causing a runny nose, digestive mucus, even swelling. Nicknamed CCF tea, Cumin, Coriander and Fennel Tea is one of the simplest and most famous formulas for burning up that excess of spring moisture. The revitalizing yet mild blend gets right to the point, helping to warm up your circulation and clear out water retention. Its flushing action simultaneously cleanses the urinary tract and reduces water weight.
CCF tea stokes metabolism and the digestive fire, restoring vitality where winter sluggishness abounds. It’s mild bitterness revs up the spring detoxification process and purifies the blood. CCF restores tone and tightness to swollen spring tissues. It is a soothing formula that reduces agitation and inflammation. It restores a calm clarity and spaciousness to a tense mind.
Source: http://www.joyfulbelly.com/Ayurveda/recipe/Cumin-Coriander-Fennel-Tea/996
by Liz B | Nov 2, 2013 | Ayurveda, Home Remedies
Beet root is a superb treatment for hemorrhoids. It causes the liver to manufacture bile, and promotes liver blood circulation, lowering blood pressure in the portal vein, the site of the hemorrhoid (actually a varicose vein in the rectum).
Milder carrot will work, a bit more slowly. Eat several servings of beet root or beet greens per day, or a monodiet of these foods, until the problem diminishes. Continue until you get complete relief.
Treat hemorrhoids with turmeric. Swallow up to 4 tbsp. per day of the bulk powder until the pain is gone.
As an astringent, apply it topically as a paste to shrink the hemorrhoids.
Source: The Way of Ayurvedic Herbs by Karta Purkh Singh Khalsa & Michael Tierra, WebMD
