Nutrition

We know that many people are changing the way they eat this New Year to improve their health.  Healthy eating, though, has more to do with eating a balance in your diet than it does shoveling countless bushels of lettuce in your face to (very) temporarily assuage those all-too-quickly-to-return hunger pangs.  So, as a service to our readers, we’d like offer a weekly recipe that adheres to an Ayurveda diet.  Whether you are a strict believer or just want to taste what an Ayurveda meal tastes like, you’ll have a hand-picked recipe week after week to, at the very least, mix things up on your way to a healthier you.

This week’s recipe is a saffron rice with rose petals.  It is delicate, yet aromatic.  It will make you feel luxurious with its romantic butteriness.  This dish is pacifying for pitta and vata constitutions.  The rose petals contribute a cooling effect, physically healing pitta.  Pitta’s are emotional and sensitive by nature.  The rose petals pacify the senses and helps pitta both spiritually and mentally.  The spices (salt, cinnamon and saffron) pacifies the spicy nature inherent in vata.

Ingredients

2 tbsp	Ghee	Vata pacifying	Pitta pacifying	Kapha aggravating
1 c	Basmati Rice	Vata pacifying	Pitta pacifying	Kapha aggravating
1/4 tsp	Salt (Mineral Salt)	Vata pacifying	Pitta aggravating	Kapha aggravating
1/4 tsp	Cinnamon	Vata pacifying	Pitta aggravating	Kapha pacifying
1/4 tsp	Saffron	Vata pacifying	Pitta pacifying	Kapha pacifying
1/4 tsp	Cardamom	Vata pacifying	Pitta pacifying	Kapha pacifying
1/4 tsp	Rose Water	Vata pacifying	Pitta pacifying	Kapha pacifying
1/4 tsp	Rose Petals	Vata pacifying	Pitta pacifying	Kapha pacifying
1/2 c	Almonds	Vata pacifying	Pitta pacifying	Kapha aggravating
1/4 c	Raisins	Vata pacifying	Pitta pacifying	Kapha aggravating
4 leaf	Bay Leaf	Vata pacifying	Pitta aggravating	Kapha pacifying

 

Preparation

Bring 2.5 cups water to a boil (extra water added to ground vata) and turn off heat. Prepare the saffron according to the instructions “Preparing Saffron”. Roast the chopped almonds on med-high heat for five minutes or until browned. Half way, add the gold raisins.

Roast the rice until slightly browned. Add ghee until rice is covered. Add rice, rose water, saffron water, almonds, and raisins to the boiled water. Cover on low heat and let stand 30 minutes or until rice is soft and somewhat puffy.

Garnish with rose petals.

Check out more great recipes at http://www.joyfulbelly.com/. 

Ayurveda, the world’s oldest medical system still in practice today, addresses the body’s illnesses according to imbalances.  The body was created to self-heal and according to Ayurveda, if we treat it holistically and maintain balance, it will function in proper health and heal itself efficiently.  The concept focuses primarily on preventative medicine instead of most other medical systems—including Western medicine—that tends to treat illnesses and diseases as they arise.

Ideal health can be achieved by first assessing your own unique “dosha” combination.  This is essentially how your body exists, functions and responds to the world around it.  By discovering your “dosha” combination and giving your mind, body and spirit enough of what they need only when they need it, you will bring yourself into harmony and balance with the universe and achieve perfect health.

The founder of Stillpoint Wellness Center in San Francisco, CA, Mr. Andrew Castellanos teaches that disease should be thought of as “dis-ease”, meaning that when your mind, body and spirit are not at ease (which they can only be when in balance with the universe) illness arises.  By applying Ayurveda treatments, you can bring yourself back to a state of ease and therefore begin the healing process.  

Global nutritionist Cheryl Sindell says that optimal health is defined by the following 14 major Ayurvedic indicators for health and harmony:

   1. Good functioning of senses (see, hear, taste, touch, smell)
   2. Optimal weight for body type
   3. Proper appetite for healthy foods
   4. A sense of “ease” within the body
   5. Efficient, healthy digestion
   6. Normal release of intestinal gases
   7. Normal urine excretion
   8. Regular bowel movements
   9. Healthy sleep patterns (not too many or too few hours of sleep)
  10. Waking refreshed each day
  11. Good physical strength
  12. Healthy skin complexion
  13. Proper nervous system and mental function
  14. Reasonable balance of life stresses

Qualified Ayurveda practitioners will help analyze you and help you get control of all 14 of these major health indicators and help you achieve ideal health.

Daytime television personality, Rachael Ray, is helping to promote the 400-Calorie Fix diet program that teaches us that we can healthily lose weight by eating 4 meals of 400 calories per meal per day.  Although the idea of eating smaller portions on more occasions throughout the day is not a new concept, what is unique about this program is that it is one of the first we’ve ever seen that applies Ayurvedic science as the authority on what times throughout the day that each of these meals should be consumed for optimal dieting success.

The basis of what Ayurveda teaches us about when to consume these meals is that it is ideal to consume the biggest meals of your day when our agni (or digestive ‘fire’) is at the highest point.  Ayurveda tells us that just before noon our agni is peaked, making lunch the ideal time to consume our biggest portions.  Some see this as a contradiction of many Americans’ current practice of making dinner the biggest meal of the day.  Many other nutritional studies have also led us to believe that breakfast is the most important meal of the day.  Ayurveda and the 400-Calorie Fix, however, teach us otherwise.

By adhering to the basic principles of Ayurveda and the 400-Calorie Fix, we will discover that we have more energy and use our food more efficiently by eating a light morning meal upon waking, a medium to large meal between 11am and noon, eating a second medium to large meal mid afternoon around 3pm and then finishing the day by eating one last smaller meal around 6 or 7pm.  This will lead to a healthier constitution and restore one to a healthy weight in the shortest amount of time.

As is the case with every diet program and just about every belief system for that matter, the addition of exercise and other physical activities will increase calorie burn and ultimately help you lose weight easier and faster.  The practice of yoga in the morning, getting a good night’s rest and focusing on consuming healthy and natural foods are also good recommendations for healthy Ayurveda living.

When we use the word longevity in the West, we mean extending life, growing old grace fully, staying healthy the whole way. We often measure longevity in numbers—eighty, ninety, one hundred years. To reach this goal, there may be rigid diets to follow and many herbs and supplements to swallow. Stress-reduction techniques, exercise, and yoga are surely a part of the current longevity mix. And while most people feel better following this path, few are able to stick to it for long because it is restrictive and time-¬intensive.

When we use the word longevity in Ayurveda, we mean something different—life extension is considered a side benefit of a very comprehensive approach to life itself. The word Ayurveda literally means the knowledge (veda) of life (ayus). It studies how to be fulfilled and reach full human potential now, rather than simply adding a few good years.

While Westerners focus on connecting the mind and body for living life to the fullest, Ayurveda focuses on connecting the mind, body, and self. The self represents the field of consciousness from which, according to Ayurveda, everything comes. It is understood that our individual mind and body are reflections of that field, and that the cause of disease or illness is when we lose connection to our roots in consciousness. This loss is called pragya paradh, which means the “mistake of the intellect”—the intellect chooses to see itself as separate from the self or the underlying field of consciousness from which we come.

So, when we look at anti-aging and longevity in Ayurveda, we are considering techniques that will restore this memory of consciousness into every cell of the body. The resulting experience, much like an atom, a hurricane, or a solar system, is silent on the inside and incredibly powerful on the outside. Stress, which triggers the production of degenerative stress-fighting hormones and free radicals, literally strips the silence or consciousness out of our cells. The goal in Ayurvedic longevity and Ayurveda in general is to replace that stress with silence and live life to our full potential, in the eye of the hurricane—calm and powerful.

Don’t just pop a pill—think holistic
Rasayanas are employed in Ayurveda to enhance the quality of life, not necessarily the quantity of life. They’re only effective when our behavior is uplifting, our lifestyle is in harmony with nature, and the food and air we take in is of the highest quality.

Rejuvenate with rasayanas
The eight major branches of Ayurveda range from pediatrics to longevity. The branch that deals with longevity is called rasayana, meaning rejuvenation.

A rasayana is also a category of herbal preparations designed to rejuvenate the body, mind, and self at the deepest possible level. In Ayurveda, stress is understood to be a causative factor in the disease process, in part because stress lodges toxins deep within the tissues of the body. A rasayana is designed to remedy stress and repair and rejuvenate the deep tissues of the body. Usually a rasayana is a combination of many herbs and minerals, sometimes as many as forty, that are put through an extensive preparation process that can take days or even weeks to complete. This elaborate process is designed to refine and enhance the potency of the herbs so that they can be absorbed into the deep tissues of the body.

If you noticed, the word, geriatrics, seems to be closely allied to the Sanskrit word, geeryadi, which corresponds to the expression, “degeneration.”

Ayurveda classifies the human body into seven constituents, or Sapthadhathus:

Rasa [related to lymph].

Raktha [blood].

Mamsa [flesh].

Medas [fat].

Asthi [bone].

Majja [marrow].

Sukla [sperm, or fertility].

Ayurveda believes that these seven constituents [dhathus] get weakened due to our body’s prolonged structural changes, as we age.

Agreed that the ability to boost the capacity of dhathus may not be possible as we grow old, an inevitable part of life, but ayurveda implies that it can be cared for and revitalized.

Origin of Anti-Aging Therapy

It is believed that the ancient sage Maharishi Chyavana first propounded the idea of anti-aging therapy. When the Maharshi was bogged down by old age, and low energy levels, and married a young lady, he started taking chyavanaprasha, an astonishing tonic and anti-aging medicine [rasayana]. He soon found himself on the road to complete recovery. Not only that. The rasayana also helped him to rediscover his youthful vitality and vigour.

Gooseberry [Phyllaanthus emblica, or amla] is the main constituent of chyavanaprasha. The herb, thanks to its anti-aging attributes, holds a pre-eminent place in the treatment of dementia, or loss of memory — medhakshaya — which afflicts the elderly in all climes.

Gooseberry is a useful medicine for old age diseases, thanks to its memory-boosting properties. It can also protect the eyes and improve vision.

When taken with honey, it makes a refreshing combination, and improves energy levels in all age groups.

Rasayana: Nectar of Life

Rasayana is a special ayurvedic treatment plan. It has two modules — kutipravesika and vatatapika. The first ascribes itself to confining the patient in a small shelter with only one tiny door. It also calls for small perforations in place of windows. The length of stay for the patient is subject to the nature of any given illness and its severity.

During the treatment, the patient is evaluated and given suitable rasayana, following which there is total restoration of health — and, freedom from illness.

In the vatatapika form of treatment, the patient can take suitable rasayana without rigid limitations.

Whatever the aim of either rasayana treatment, the objective, however, is the same — to cure the patient from disease and promote youthful longevity.

Types

There are many ingredients that are used for rasayana therapy. The most celebrated is the rasayana prepared from bhallathaka [Semi-carpusanacardium]. Otherwise a poisonous nut, bhallathaka can produce unpleasant and dangerous side-effects when not effectively purified for use. In its purified form, the substance is, of course, nothing short of nectar!

A decoction is prepared from the nut with a specific quantity of ghee [clarified butter] added. This mix is briskly stirred with adequate quantities of sugar and milk, and kept in an air-tight container for 7-8 days. The resultant formula is called Amrita Bhallathaka Grytha. Amazingly yummy, the rasayana is renowned to slow down the process of aging.

In addition, rasayana preparations such as sankupushpi [Butterfly Pea or Clitoria ternatea], brahmi [Gratiola monnieria] and mandukaparni [Indian Pennywort, or Hydrocotyle asiatica], have also been found to be equally effective. When mixed with honey, the rasayanas also promote sleep naturally and improve memory.

The rasayanas may ideally be taken on the advice/supervision of an ayurvedic physician/therapist.

In like manner, the application of abhayanga [massage], by way of gingilly [til] oil, all over the body, is said to protect the eye and stop greying of hair, fatigue, muscle spasm, joint pains, and so on.

This is not all. There are other forms of rasayana substances such as nasyam, vasti, and sirovasti, which have curative benefits for a host of ailments. To derive the best results, it would be most useful to speak to a physician/therapist specialized in ayurveda.

Last, but not the least. Ayurveda believes that adherence to truth and discipline, or following a life free from resentment, anger, or hatred, and excessive ostentation, are absolutely essential for optimal health, longevity, and also to feel and look young in both mind and body!

Jola Chudy

* Last Updated: October 04. 2009 3:09PM UAE / October 4. 2009 11:09AM GMT

Rujuta Diwekar's book is rooted in Ayurvedic and yogic principles, and traditional Indian food. Paulo Vecina / The National

A small bunch of grapes is thrust at me with a smile. The Bollywood nutritionist to the stars, Rujuta Diwekar, is running a few minutes late for our interview and by way of apology offers me the fruit from an outstretched hand before sliding into a plump sofa and gratefully accepting an ice-cold bottle of water. A cornerstone of her book is that we must all eat more often – panacea to many half-starved dieters whose stubborn extra pounds refuse to budge.

A heavy cardboard box filled with her new book, Don’t Lose your Mind, Lose your Weight, is set down behind her with a thud. A Greek salad in a plastic bowl – my hastily ordered lunch – is set down before me. Famished, I nibble at it as slowly as I can, conscious of wolfing my on-the-go food in front of India’s self-styled celebrity fitness guru.

In Dubai to promote her best-selling new diet book, the 31-year-old author, sports, fitness and nutrition expert is perhaps largely unknown outside India’s Bollywood-orbiting media. There, her fame might be compared to that of the trainer Tracy Anderson, whose workouts and eating plans gave Gwyneth Paltrow and Madonna their famously toned physiques and Anderson a stellar career path as an A-list fitness expert.

Rujuta’s Indian conquest looks set to go global since the February publication of her book – one that has taken India’s weight-watching community by storm.

“The thing with India is that it is such a land of contrasting realities,” explains Diweker. “On the one hand, you have people starving for good nutrition and around the corner are people overeating on junk and processed food. A lot of simple knowledge about food has been forgotten.”

The key question is whether her book, which is rooted in Ayurvedic and yogic principles and talks extensively about a typically Indian diet, will translate to a western audience.

“Well, it’s selling on Amazon and it has received reviews from non-Indian reviewers. Apart from some more obscure Indian dishes which not everyone might know, there is no reason why a western or UAE reader cannot follow the advice in the book.”

In India, Diweker has become a go-to source for weight-loss and fitness advice since graduating in sports science and nutrition and taking on some of India’s most high-profile stars as her clients. Her training of the Bollywood megastar Kareena Kapoor caused a media furore when the actress revealed a size-zero physique for her latest film, and arguably, her A-list clientele, which includes the actor Saif Ali Khan and the billionaire businessman Anil Ambani, has made Diweker a household name. Diweker is convinced that her health advice is accessible for the average working person in the UAE.

“When Kareena Kapoor did my programme the press went berserk, which was maddening, because she didn’t just do it for the association or publicity, she did it because she believes in it and believes in what I talk about. And she found the programme very easy. It has to be simple, do-able and sustainable. If there is one place we need to be simple, it is with food.”

Espousing a holistic approach that is less about counting calories and more about eating natural nutritious food, Diweker’s down-to-earth writing centres around re-establishing a connection with our bodies. She also spends time addressing all-important issues of emotional well-being and physical fitness.

“Fad diets don’t work. As the title says, the book is about not losing your mind when it comes to feeding yourself. Instead, it aims to show how to change your own habits. It’s not about how much weight you can lose. I think food is beyond a number, whether it’s how many calories you’ve consumed or burned.”

Instead, Diweker looks at the overall well-being of her client and looks for improvements.

For UAE residents used to an eating-out culture, weight control can be a difficult task to master, especially with so much abundance in our cuisine. Portion control is difficult at best in restaurants and the confusion of a melting pot of global cuisine can result in people choosing food that is unsuitable for their lifestyles and bodies.

Diweker says that Indians, who may be physically smaller than average westerners, should eat according to their size – two hands cupped together is a guide for the right meal size for your body.

“Dubai has the best of East and West and people are spoiled for choice, but the portion sizes can be wrong for different people. I’ve never seen so many different brands of milk, yoghurt or even water in one supermarket.

“So it’s easy to get confused about food. What’s important for the people of the UAE is to eat a little before they go out to a restaurant. I also see people leaving for work and only having a cup of coffee. If they have a morning meeting they might not eat for five hours. That is too long between meals.”

Like many nutritionists, Diweker advocates eating more frequently with smaller portions. She suggests having a modest portion up to seven times a day.

This avoids hunger pangs that lead to overeating, while stabilising the metabolism.

The metabolism, or “digestive fire”, is a key part of Diweker’s re-education programme and it’s interesting for a western reader to see how the eastern approach to diet and wellness differs in its basic philosophy. There is more importance attached to spirituality, for a start. The yogic and Ayurvedic approaches are part and parcel of Diweker’s book and of her heritage.

She explains that reigniting the digestive fire, a chakra point at the stomach, is one of the most important things to tackle when addressing weight issues, much more than counting calories.

“In yoga there are seven chakras and we believe there is a fire that burns which helps digest food. This fire leads to sharper senses and the brighter it burns the better you digest your food and the better you are able to live your life. It becomes duller when you are not active or when you are not doing things that lead to inner fulfilment. It becomes duller when you’re not getting the nourishment you need and when you don’t exercise, your posture suffers and the fire is stifled because you don’t have the energy to sit up straight.”

She tells me about ghee, a traditional Indian kitchen staple, which many younger generations Indians have given up in favour of westernised “low-fat” products.

“But then they see their parents and grandparents have lived long lives and aren’t overweight, and yet their generation is getting fatter. Food isn’t just about the calories, it is about the nutrients and it is about what you do after you have eaten something.

In traditional preparation of ghee, which is also a spiritual process, there are many vitamins, Omega 3 and nutrients which are present, and these are important for the joints and for the spine.”

Despite Diweker’s A-list clientele, she wants not just to transform her wealthy, glamorous clients, but to offer a fresh perspective on how people think about food. Most of us have a hang-up or two about the fridge; either we’ll starve ourselves and then take guilty midnight trips (because eating standing up doesn’t count), or we’ll comfort eat for emotional reasons.

Many of us fail to cook fresh produce at home, preferring the ease of processed foods whose nutrients have been lost in the packaging process.

“The act of eating needs to be looked at differently. What I would really like to see is basic education about food and nutrition in schools. If we have fit children we will have fit adults.”

If this sounds like a Jamie Oliver-style call to change kids’ eating habits, Diweker is emphatic that it needs to be done in this region.

“I would never do a one-on-one with a child as it’s too traumatic for the child, but I do approach schools and ask them to have regular talks with the kids. A child is dependent on all of us; we need schools, government and parents all working together to improve nutritional education”.

When I ask her about her own background, she says it was a big influence.

“I come from a family that is quite unusual in India. The women all look after themselves physically and are very academic.

“When I started working in 1999, as a personal trainer and nutritionist, I found it quite hard to find my niche initially, because other women in this field were dieticians because they hadn’t got enough points for medicine, or they were doing it as stop-gap.

The health and nutrition industry in India was still very nascent.”

Having worked in the industry for 10 years now, Diweker says that things have changed. More people are becoming aware of the need to balance eating patterns and exercise to fit hectic lifestyles. She reminds many of her clients that sleep and rest are just as important.

“A lot of my celebrity clients were already exercising but I had to give them tips on what else to do to achieve that dream body. Celebrities tend to overdo the exercise part and underdo the nourishment. I tell them to rest more; sleep is often overlooked. If you’re not sleeping, it negates all the benefits of exercise.”

Dieting, in any case, is a bad word, and looking only to lose weight is never going to achieve long-term results unless your mind is equally committed to a healthy lifestyle. Diweker, who has seen clients come to her bedridden from not eating anything except chewing gum and coffee.

“Keep your stomach half-full and half-empty, because if you’re too hungry or full your brain won’t work as well. Too full and you feel dull and sleepy. To find that balance you need to re-establish that connection with your stomach that has been lost.”

For Diweker, trekking in the Himalayas, a lifelong passion is where she reconnects with herself.

“The Himalayas have a lot to contribute. When I lived in an ashram for an entire month was when things started changing. When you’re in the Himalayas your senses feel at peace.

“You need much more food because you’re walking and you’re eating without obsessing over it. You stop fussing. If we started doing that in our daily lives, we’d find it easier to lose weight because we’re no longer obsessing.

Consumers and industry agree. Cosmeceuticals are the future of anti-aging skin care. World-class companies in the industry are flooding the marketplace with cosmetics that claim pharmaceutical benefits along with temporary visible effects.

Botanicals are the rage. By adding cosmetics grade extracts of herbs in appropriate strength, and by using proven a delivery mechanism surely you too will receive the multiple benefits claimed. Unfortunately, this is not the story for many consumers. Often women experience less benefit than advertised, or mild to severe side effects along with the benefits.

Because of the western notion of a single-cause-single effect it seems that simply by adding multiple ingredients to a base one receives multiple benefits from a cream or lotion or gel. We see this science as flawed, and have a very different vision of the future of anti-aging skin care.

Essentially, no science of combination, no technology of delivery, has yet been found which will provide a really effective holistic side-effect free botanical product with multiple cosmeceutical benefits. Manufacturers of AHA, BHA and retinol based products are left to juggle the amount of extract to be added versus the benefit received versus the side effects produced.

Where will the "new new" in cosmeceuticals come from? What science exists for effective side-effect free formulation? And when can we expect to see these transformational products and regimens? Who will emerge as the leader in providing holistic side-effect free skin care?

Real face and body care is going "back to the future." The deepest knowledge of botanicals belongs to ayurveda, the world's original system of health care. Maharishi Ayurveda possesses an unrivaled set of technologies for processing and extraction of raw herbs. And Vaidya R.K. Mishra, world-renowned ayurvedic dermatologist, embodies the knowledge of the use (sanskar) and the science of combination (sanyoga) for developing authentic ayurvedic formulations and treatment protocols that maximize pharmaceutical-like benefits for internal and external benefits.

New ingredients, new knowledge of the structure and function of the skin, and new approaches to treatment are redefining what is possible in anti-aging skin care. New ingredients like Gotu Kola, Sensitive Plant and Flame of Forest are creating excitement, and the possibility that whole plant extracts will usher in a new future for skin care.

Of course, if you talk to an ayurvedic dermatologist there is nothing new here. Authentic individualized use of herbs and mineral formulations have kept the women of India looking younger than their biological age in the world's harshest environment for at least five millennia.

Vaidyas, traditional herbal doctors, claim ayurveda has a more complete understanding of botanicals and their holistic interactions with the structure and function of all aspects of the skin. For example, Gotu Kola has been scientifically shown to stimulate collagen synthesis by up to 30%.

Vaidya R.K. Mishra includes Gotu Kola in formulations that increase collagen synthesis. However, major cosmetics firms consider it virtually unusable because it causes contact dermatitis (rashes and irritation).

In a recent interview, a research chemist from a prominent firm in the industry asked Dr. Mishra the secret to safely including Gotu Kola in anti-aging formulas. Dr. Mishra explained that the knowledge of ayurvedic herbal combination and the psychophysiology of the skin require more than the specific knowledge of balancing the unwanted effects of just a single herb.

Unlike other modern cosmeceutical products an authentic ayurvedic formula will contain multiple ingredients all of which must be balanced one to another and to the condition of the skin. For example, the purpose of Sensitive Plant is to re-awaken the full functioning of the 1,300 nerves contained in one square inch of skin.

But this must not interfere with collagen synthesis, or overheat the temperature receptors. Ordinary multiple ingredient cosmeceuticals such as those using AHAs, retinols, and vitamins also create multiple side effects.

In reality no science of combination exists for botanical formulations in the West. The worldview that one cause targets one effect is too simplistic for real world skin care. The skin is a very complex and delicate living organ that metabolizes virtually anything applied to it. Thus, a face cream should be alive in all its ingredients. The botanical intelligence of each extract must be able to awaken the intelligence with which it is associated. Even the base must support skin structure and function through perfect metabolism.

Ideally, a perfectly balanced ayurvedic anti-aging formula should work in the long term as a transformational agent to actually make the skin younger. It should re-enliven full functioning as if each skin cell remembered its youth. This, according to R.K. Mishra, is the intelligence level of the skin, which forms the basis of the ayurvedic theory of skin care.