Constipation

Constipation

Constipation is usually related to the imbalance of the Ayurvedic body energy, vata. Vata imbalance causes dryness in the body, and problems related to movement and internal transportation of substances.

Diet:
Avoid fried food, white flour and white sugar products, cheese, and processed food. Try not to drink tea or coffee. Dry, cold or light food should not form a large part of the diet.

Drink water regularly during the day. However, do not drink water immediately after or before meals. Try not to overeat, and have at least 4-5 hours between two meals. Avoid heavy food, or food that is difficult to digest at night, and eat at least 2 hours before sleeping. Drinking a glass of hot milk before bed is also good.

Home Remedies:

• Develop a habit of drinking water in the morning. Start with 2 glasses of water, and increase intake up to 6 - 7 glasses. It is more beneficial if this water can be stored in a copper container overnight.
• Figs are a good remedy for constipation. After washing them in hot water, three or four dried figs can be soaked overnight in water. Eat them first thing in the morning, and drink the water in which they were soaked. They should also be taken in the evening. Try this treatment for three or four weeks.
• Drinking warm water with lemon juice and a pinch of salt is good. This can be taken several times a day.
• Take 2 teaspoons of castor oil before bed. Aloe Vera gel can also be taken to ease the symptoms. Have a couple of teaspoons each morning and evening.
• Eat around 8 fresh apricots.
• Boiling raisins in milk, and drinking this before bed, can cure constipation.

Cough & Cold

Cough & Cold

Common cold may sometimes be due to weak digestion. When the food we eat is not fully digested, it transforms into mucus known as ama (toxin). This circulates through the body and reaches the respiratory system, where it causes colds.

Diet:
Cold food and drinks, ice creams, sweets, fried food and milk products (cheese, creams, yogurt) should not be consumed. Sweet fruit juices should also be avoided. Breads, meats, nuts and pastries are also not good to take.

Follow a light and warm diet like boiled or steamed vegetables and vegetable soup. Spice teas, herbal teas and hot milk can be taken (if boiled with a piece of crushed ginger). Half a teaspoon of turmeric powder can be mixed with the milk.

Home Remedies:

• Take ½ teaspoon of ginger powder with 1 teaspoon of honey. Black pepper can also be added.
• Chewing a piece of fresh ginger with a little salt on it will ease coughs.
• Half a cup of warm water mixed with one teaspoon of lemon juice and one teaspoon of honey can be taken several times a day.
• Equal quantities of powdered fenugreek seeds, turmeric and ginger powder can be mixed together. One teaspoon can be taken in the morning and evening.
• In cases of a sore throat, a clove or two cardamoms or a few raisins can be chewed.
• Gargling with warm salty water is also beneficial. This can be done two or three times a day.

Dandruff

Dandruff

Excessive shedding of dead skin from the scalp is called dandruff. Skin cells die and flake off, so a small amount of flaking is normal, but when it increases beyond a certain limit, it results in social and self-esteem problems. In a normal condition the scalp skin dies and flakes off in a month, while in those suffering from dandruff, this happens every 2-7 days. It is also associated with redness and itching.

Home Remedies:

• Mix 2-3 teaspoons of coconut oil with 1 teaspoon of Indian gooseberry (amla; amalaki) juice. Gently massage the scalp with this each day.
• Add 10 drops of lemon juice to 1 egg white, and beat well. Apply to the scalp and hair once a week.
• Mix 1 teaspoon lemon juice, 1 tablespoon mustard oil, and 1 cup yogurt. Apply this to the hair ½ to 1 hour before washing the head and hair.

Diet and Lifestyle:
Wash hair regularly 2-3 times a week with a mild shampoo. Massage your hair with oil every time before washing the head and hair. Indigestion, constipation, and acid stomach should be treated. Avoid spicy, greasy, hot and penetrating foods, junk food, and aerated drinks. Have food with good nutritive value; include fiber-rich foods, salads, fruits, and lentils.

Diabetes

Diabetes

Diabetes is a disorder that impairs the body’s ability to metabolize carbohydrates and is characterized by abnormally elevated blood glucose (sugar) levels and the excretion of the excess glucose in the urine. There are two types of diabetes mellitus: Type 1 diabetes occurs primarily in children and young adults and has a rapid onset and progress. The pancreas does not produce enough insulin. Type 2 diabetes has evolved as a major disease in the last decade, usually affecting those over the age of 40 and having a slow onset and slow progress. It is a lifestyle disease caused by a high-fat diet and too little exercise. The body produces insulin, but the cells become insulin resistant (unable to utilize the insulin).

Home Remedies:

1. Take 2 teaspoons of bitter gourd (karela) juice once a day. One can also increase its use as a cooked vegetable.
2. Take 1 teaspoon of Indian gooseberry (amla; amalaki) juice mixed with 1 teaspoon of bitter gourd juice twice a day.
3. Chew 10 holy basil leaves (tulsi), 10 margosa leaves (neem), and 10 bael leaves (belpatra) on an empty stomach in the early morning.

Diet and Lifestyle:
Include whole grains in the diet, such as wheat bread/pasta and brown rice. Cheese and yogurt prepared with skimmed (nonfat) milk may be taken. Use garlic, onion, bitter gourd, spinach, raw banana, and black plum. Make a flour mixture of 1 part barley, 1 part black chickpeas, and 4 parts whole-wheat flour and use this to form pancakes and bread. Avoid sweet, sour, and salty foods, potatoes, sweet potatoes, colocasia (taro), yams, fresh grains and pulses (legumes), whole yogurt (high in fat), and heavy, oily and spicy foods. Avoid sweet fruits like pineapple, grapes, mangoes, etc. Start doing some light exercise, such as brisk walking. Build up to a brisk walk of 30-40 minutes in the morning and again in the evening. Avoid sleeping in the daytime as it increases kledaka kapha.

Diarrhea

Diarrhea

The main symptom for diarrhea is the passage of loose and liquid stool several times during the day. This condition is usually accompanied by cramps, dehydration, wind and distention in the abdomen, weakness and mild fever.

Diarrhea is caused by either a weak digestive fire or increased pitta. When food is not properly digested or absorbed, it passes out in semi-liquid or watery form. Improper eating habits, such as eating food which the system cannot digest, eating a meal before the previous one is digested, and irregular eating habits, are some of the common causes of diarrhea.

Diet:
Most people have a general idea of the foods which cause these problems. For example, if a person feels heaviness, uneasiness, wind, distention or stomach ache immediately after eating a certain food, it indicates that the particular food is not easily digested. Generally, foods which are fried in oil or ghee (clarified butter), meats, vegetables like cauliflower, broccoli, beans, nuts and sweets are difficult to digest. So they should be eaten less frequently and in small quantities.

Eating contradictory (incompatible) foods, such as taking milk and citrus fruits simultaneously, can cause digestive upsets. Impure food or water, eating food which the system is not used to, infection of the alimentary canal, or psychological factors like grief and nervousness can also lead to diarrhea.

Home Remedies:

• In cases of excessive thirst, water boiled with coriander seeds should be given (after straining). Pomegranate juice in small quantities can be also given frequently.
• A decoction prepared from pomegranate skin is very useful in stopping diarrhea. To prepare the decoction, take 50 grams of fresh pomegranate skin. Soak it in 800 ml. of water for one hour. Boil until a quarter of the volume remains (200 ml). Store this mixture in a clean, dry bottle. A couple of tablespoons can be taken several times a day. If there is blood in the stools, add half a teaspoon of honey to the decoction.
• Another helpful remedy is a sugar and salt solution. Mix one teaspoon of sugar and half a teaspoon of common salt in a cup of water. Small doses of this mixture (around a quarter cup) can be given whenever the patient wants to drink.
• A paste made of sesame seeds (1 teaspoon) and a few tablespoons of goats milk is also beneficial.

Regimen:
Fasting helps in digesting toxins in the intestine, although it should not be practiced if the patient is weak. As the absorption power of the intestines is very low, the patient should not eat too much at one time. The principle is to eat less, but more frequently if necessary.

The diet must be easy to digest. Only foods that bind the stool like yogurt, rice, banana, apple and pomegranate should be taken in the beginning. Easily digestible foods like boiled vegetables, boiled rice, khichadi and fruits should be eaten. Khichadi is prepared by cooking together rice and mung dal (green lentils). Digestive spices like cumin, coriander, ginger, turmeric and cardamom should be used for cooking.

Liquids should be given in small quantities (3 or 4 sips) at one time, though it can be given more frequently—at intervals of thirty minutes. Fruit juices can also be taken in small quantities.

Patients should take complete rest until they gain enough strength and energy. Physical exertion of any kind like exercise, sexual activity, sports, singing, dancing etc. should be strictly avoided. The mind should be relaxed and free from all kinds of tension. A gentle oil massage on the head is also helpful.

Dysentery

Dysentery

Dysentery is an inflammatory disorder of the colon that results in diarrhea or passing of stools with mucus and is usually preceded by gripping abdominal pain. Sometimes blood is also present in the stools. In Ayurveda, it is known as pravahika, which means ‘tenesmus’ (feeling the need to empty the bowels).

Home Remedies:

1. Bael is the best remedy mentioned in Ayurveda for dysentery. Take 1-2 teaspoons of the pulp of the fruit with water twice a day.
2. Take a glassful of buttermilk with a pinch each of rock salt, black pepper, and roasted cumin seed powder twice daily with breakfast and lunch.
3. Fasting for 1-2 days allows the digestion of ama.
4. Take 1 teaspoon of powdered preparation of dried ginger root, cumin seeds, nutmeg, and black pepper in equal quantities. Add 2 teaspoons of psyllium husk and a pinch of rock salt. Have this once in the morning with buttermilk, and again later in the day with lukewarm water.
5. Take ½ teaspoon powder of Terminalia chebula (Haritaki) with lukewarm water at bedtime.
6. Take 1 teaspoon powdered mixture of dried ginger root, black pepper, and long pepper with lukewarm water twice a day.
7. Boil 50 grams of pomegranate rind in 200 milliliters of milk until only 70 milliliters of milk remains. Divide it into 3 equal parts and have 3 times a day.

Diet and Lifestyle:
Increase intake of tomato, Indian gooseberry (amla; amalaki), garlic, asafetida, and ginger. Avoid spicy, greasy, fried, stale, canned, and refrigerated food. Take simple and easily digestible foods like boiled rice and porridge. Avoid overeating, eating before the previous meal is digested, late night dinners, and in-between meal snacking. Foods like yam, potato, sweet potato, and colocasia (taro) should be restricted.

Eczema

Eczema

Eczema is a disease characterized by skin rashes that have redness, swelling, itching, dryness, and flaking. The skin itches and when scratched, results in a rash. In Ayurveda, this is known as vicharchika. It occurs when the immune system becomes unbalanced, so the condition is often associated with other allergic conditions like allergic asthma, hay fever, etc. Genetic factors, debility, climate, and psychological factors can dispose one to the condition.

Home Remedies:

• Prepare a decoction by boiling 20-30 margosa (neem) leaves in about 4-5 cups of water for 20 minutes. Let it cool and use this water to wash the affected area.
• Boil 30 grams of Indian gum tree (babul) bark and 30 grams of mango tree bark in 1 liter of water for 30 minutes. Use this water to make a hot compress (fomentation) on the affected part. After fomentation for about 15-20 minutes, clean the skin with dry cloth and apply purified butter as an ointment.
• Mix 1 teaspoon powder of licorice root with a small amount of sesame oil. Warm this in a pan and then apply to the affected part. Wrap a bandage over it and leave for 3-4 hours. Repeat twice a day.

Diet and Lifestyle:
Avoid spicy or oily food and a hot humid atmosphere. Wear loose, cotton clothes. Avoid synthetic fibers as they inhibit perspiration. Avoid soap or use mild herbal soap for bathing. Use a soft, smooth towel and avoid rubbing the skin. Avoid tea, coffee, hot spices, and canned and preserved foods.