Acid Indigestion: 8 Ways to Deal With It
As part of many chronic disease processes acid indigestion can be manifested as hyperacidity syndrome(HAS) or gastroesophageal reflux disease(GERD) This is because from an energy science point of view the hot quality(Pitta energy pattern) is a major contributor to the imbalance that creates many chronic diseases...the burning on urination, vaginal burning are related to this quality
The Spectrum of Disease
All physiologic disease shows up as an array of symptoms from not so bad to terrible Patients with occasional heartburn can then begin to have it all the time This makes it eligible for the disease label of HAS If it progresses to a sour taste in the mouth or a burning in the chest then it advances to GERD And if GERD progresses then it can become the disease label of Barrett's esophagitis
But notice that in all these advancing disease labels one thing remains constant The hot quality So in the end these disease labels are related to the increasing intensity of this quality But wait there's more from an energy science perspective The Pitta energy pattern displays the hot quality when out of balance in its functional seat, the liver So when Pitta and its qualities show up you can bet that is underlying liver toxicity even though the owner doesn't know it
So again from an energy science point of view the liver imbalances due to Pitta must be addressed if a patient is having problems with GERD
Reducing the heat
There are a number of ways to go beyond Prelief which like all its molecular relatives( such as over the counter Prevacid and various expensive pharmaceuticals) represent pharma bandaids From an energy science treatment perspective the alternatives not only provide relief but done properly with other allied therapies become permanent solutions, not bandaids
Wouldn't you rather have something that is sustainable long term instead of relying on a pharmacological bandaid? Here are some basic energy science treatments that can bring about control of this Pitta energy pattern of transformation
Avipattikar This herb combination is an excellent way to get control of raging hot Pitta in the stomach reducing the hot quality
Aloe vera gel or juice This herb is not only cooling to the small bowel therefore reduces the Pitta energy pattern but because it is effective for Pitta disorders in general it is a good liver protectant This makes it a valuable herb overall in treating Pitta disorders From an energy point of view aloe is special because it falls into a special group of herbs called rasayana This means it is a tissue rejuvenative and restorative of bodily tissues There are no Western pharma that can make that claim Using the gel is preferable but the juice is a good second choice Aloe Farms or George's are good brands because they don't have carrageenan to their products
Ghee In the Ayurvedic classics ghee assumes a significant therapeutic role in the management of high Pitta conditions such as HAS and GERD
Donate a unit of blood It is known that high Pitta conditons store a lot of that hot quality in the blood which is why removing a small amount of blood can be therapeutic
Psyllium husk Using this herb may sound strange as it is used as a laxative but 1t at bedtime mixed with fresh yogurt or with warm water will absorb Pitta in the small intestine and stop the colonic wall irritation
Nutritional format and incompatible food combinations We can take all the herbs in the world but if we continue to take into our bodies the same imbalancing qualities then no gains will be made It's like 2steps forward and 3 steps back If there is HAS or GERD then no doubt the person is a strong Pitta and these conditions would be the ways that they might go out of balance One should follow a Pitta pacifying diet At the very least one should follow the PK or PV formats at foodsheal.com Coconut is an excellent cooling food and using unsweetened flakes is excellent to introduce into cooking
Kefir milk When Pitta is out of control and the hot quality is raging, the microbiome or the gut flora becomes affected Since the gut flora is an important aspect of agni it's important to replenish and support this vital aspect to our health Kefir does this by providing new healthy bacteria to our gut microbiome population You can get it in the stores or make it yourself by finding some Kefir granules from someone willing to share
Shatavari is a wonderful herb to reduce Pitta and like aloe vera it has far reaching physiologic consequences due to its rasayana effect Rasayanas are a special group of herbs that have strengthening physiologic effects over other herbs and are used particularly after cleansing therapies used in panchakarma
Kama dudha moti bhasma and abhrak bhasma are basically calcium salts that act as coenzymes in metabolic processes and can be effective when Pitta is high
Like all energy work it is subtle and the healing shifts occur slowly over months but the good thing is that they are sustainable long lasting effects
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Probiotics and Homemade Yogurt
Yogurt is an amazing food and many ethinic cultures on the planet use fresh yogurt and kefir as health promoting foods in their nutrition And there are very good reasons for doing so but due to the Pitta aggravating nature of yogurt, freshly made is the only way to go in moderation
Helping Restore Imbalanced Agni
The value of yogurt is that it serves when freshly made a rich source of probiotic which is a population of "good bacteria" that reside in the bowel "Bad" bacteria at times overgrow the gut flora leading to poor digestion, absorption, and assimilation so it's important that the good flora flourishes and the bad are kept in check As I've alluded to in the past, bacterial growth is a major part of our digestive strength that needs to be nourished
This is particularly important if you have GERD, IBS, and fibromyalgia associated with IC since the digestive fire is significantly compromised in these dual conditions
Regular use of freshly made yogurt insures that the "good" bacteria are consistently replenished Agni is always compromised in these conditions and since the bacterial flora is part of agni it's important to supplement with probiotic foods such as yogurt SIBO(small intestinal bacterial overgrowth) is commonly thought of as the root cause of many bowel diseases but from an energy science perspective it's just saying that agni is disturbed
You may have heard of yeast overgrowth and this is yet another factor that can lead to poor digestive fire(eliminating yeast laden bread products is a good idea in that it gives us more than we need so flatbreads are best or at least toasting yeasted products) This candidal imbalance in bowel flora much like SIBO is a result of poor agni So building up agni is one of the central therapeutic themes in the management of the IC bladder pain syndrome
Bowel flora is important in the concept of digestive fire and aids in bowel digestive function as well as providing important nutrients for our nutrition
Pasteurized yogurts should be avoided as pasteurization kills off the beneficial probiotic component of yogurt
Making Digestion Easy By Predigestion-Optimizing Digestive Strength
The value of yogurt comes in the predigestion of lactose and casein which we talked about a couple of days ago Hence the bacteria during the incubation phase of creating yogurt use the sugar lactose and break down the protein casein The lactose then doesn't bother the lactose intolerant and the casomorphin derivative from casein digestion can be less, hence affecting us less
Why freshly made? From an energy science view the build up of acidity occurs with aging yogurt even if refrigerated becomes inflammatory and thus Pitta provoking You also get the maximal amount of probiotic in the yogurt(some bacteria die off after 4-5 days)
Even though fresh yogurt is not very acidic(sour taste) it still can be Pitta provoking if used daily Hence home made yogurt has its consumption limitations
So Some Guidelines
1 Based on the foodsheal.com food combining list, don't use fruit with yogurt
2 To really inhibit the negative sour effects of even freshly made yogurt, the use of Sucanat or Turbinado(crystallized cane sugars) can be important because the sweet taste helps balance the aggravating sour taste
3 Always use yogurt in moderation, that is, 2-3x per week
4 Store bought and therefore processed yogurt is too acidic and will provoke IC
5 Diluting the yogurt with water reduces its acidity
6 Keeping in the fridge after it comes from the incubation phase will help get the yogurt firmer
7 For best results use whole milk
How to get started
Buy a yogurt maker(Donvier is a French brand or other various manufacturers can be found on Amazon) Using fresh starter each time ensures that the bacterial count of the yogurt will be rich The small amount of starter is not enough to aggravate Pitta
And yes, it does take some time to make your own yogurt but after doing it, in a short time you can do a batch in about 15 minutes(total time; heating the milk and cooling it can be done while doing other things)
If the yogurt is curdly and clearly not smooth in texture it means that there's probably too much cooking going on and that the incubation times are too long So try 10 hours instead of 12 hours with the Donvier
YouTube has several videos on how to make your own yogurt
It's best not to use dry milk powder as the milk product as it is provoking to Vata Pitta
There are links for directions on making your own for trouble shooting
The greatest value is making your own yogurt is that you participate in your own health and this is a small but significant step in assuming responsibility for our health
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Amalgamation of Qualities with Tissue: Chronic Disease
The energy science of Ayurveda differs from the current conventional medicine model which emphasizes a matter science or molecular approach to disease management In the energy science approach to healing the model sees imbalance of vibrational frequencies or qualities as the reason for physiologic dis-ease
Progression of Disease
In the energy science the most common reason for the accumulation of qualities occurs through nutrition which is why nutritional management is the cornerstone of any chronic disease treatment The energy science management of the various disease expressions with respect to nutrition is far more complex than the currently practiced dietary recommendations used by the contemporary dietician This is because one of the major tenets of the energy science approach is to help improve agni, the digestive power or strength
Agni is central to disease management in the energy science yet is completely not recognized in conventional medical circles including the nutritional This is due to the model of healing which is molecular approach
The Energy Science and Origin of Disease
As disease progresses qualities leave the GIT(gastrointestinal tract) and spread to tissues based on whether specific agnis in the mindbody are not up to par Hence the qualities become dominant BUT not as we would expect in any specific disease
Actually the qualities can accumulate anywhere The molecular model of disease postulates that the molecule causes the disease and while this is eventual the case from an energy science perspective the origin is far more subtle and unobservable As a matter of fact the research animal model will defy molecular proof unfortunately Hence it will probably be impossible for the matter science ever get to the origin of disease in chronic disease and it will continue to be in the dark regarding the origin of any problem The matter science model will never be able to solve this problem so don't waste your time waiting because it will not happen
Amalgamation of Qualities With Tissues
Just as when fingers interlace with one another the qualities of the tissues interlace with the qualities that are circulating leading to the damage and imbalance of the tissue qualities This leads the alteration of function of the tissues themselves In the case of Alzheimer's the nervous tissue function becomes altered leading to the reporting predominantly dementia When this merging occurs a chronic condition is set up
When these qualities become dominant in the nervous tissue they begin to amalgamate with the tissue itself In other words the qualities BECOME one with the tissue This type of interrelationship begins the real stage of disease where we become aware of the significant signs and symptoms of Alzheimer's
This amalgamation cannot be managed by simple nutritional intervention, by physical therapy techniques, it is beyond acupuncture which are patently bandaids The quality invasion into tissues with toxic load has no other therapy but detoxification measures that we have discussed in the past in the form of panchakarma(PK) which if to be effective needs to be done frequently over a period of time Along with this we have to improve agni, burn toxins, along with potentized medicines that are catalytic in nature, and a specialized herbal formula
Those with chronic IC bladder pain syndrome will have no choice if they want to get better but to deal with an energy science detoxification technique and be in it for the long haul
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Healing and Synergy
"Ok give me the one thing that's going to clear this problem that I have" typically goes the refrain going through our minds as we try to figure it what to do
Heart synergy
And while we have been programmed to believe that it's that one pill, the one operation, the one piece of advice that's going to turn the corner, it's really not that way It may be that in an acute situation such as appendicitis that the immediate action of removing the appendix fixes the problem But even in that clinical scenario there is the need for doing things after the operation to fully recover In the management of chronic diseases this process of needing to do more than one thing in order to evoke a healing response becomes even more apparent Energetically the heart serves as the unifying field that brings all these various activities together
The Energy Science Approach to Healing
In order to evoke a change toward real healing the mindbody needs to know that we're serious about wanting to turn things around for us and move in a different direction Toward balance in this situation This means that there needs to be not only consistency in our actions but also a willingness to pile on the energetic effects produced by our actions
For example we might feel a tad bit better by introducing nutritional changes that bring about more physiologic balance Bringing about more balance to the physiology occurs when we stop adding to our imbalances For example, if we happen to have a Pitta Kapha energy constitutional make up then nuts are not a good choice for us because they carry the vibrational frequencies of heavy, slow, oily, static, and cloudy When we stop introducing these qualities of nuts into our physiology then the mindbody begins to shed those qualities that we were consistently putting into our mindbody
So we stop adding to the imbalance that is creating our ill health That's a good thing...changing our nutrition so we don't continue to keep ourselves sick A step toward healing has been made But there's another layer What about incompatible food combinations? Well, by avoiding them we begin improving our agni That's a good thing Another step has been taken
But then we can add another layer What about restructuring our day to a favorable time for the mindbody to do certain things...like getting up early to exercise, eating our biggest meal of the day at around noon, going to bed early to take advantage of the night time detoxification duties that the mindbody naturally does if we don't interfere with them So another layer has been added to the complex process of energy healing And we should point out that this healing has not cost anything....only just changing the way we do things
Synergistic Healing
So from an energy science point of view, real healing requires our participation and this layering effect There are a multiplicity of things to be done to bring physiologic balance and release excess vibrational frequencies that don't serve us well
This layering phenomenon is actually promoting synergy It's not just one thing but the multiplicity of things that are done that bring about the desired effect Each lifestyle behavior pattern that we add supports and makes stronger the previous pattern that we just put into place That is, these changes that we make feed on one another creating a grand foundation on which to support the healing of the condition that doesn't serve us anymore
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4 Principles in Energy Science Cooking
As we have discussed in the managment of any dis-ease nutrition is foundational to having success to acheiving health longterm But in the energy science of Ayurveda nutrition is more than just what foods are selected for your unique mindbody energy constitutional makeup Even though foods are integral to success because they bring about balance to the physiology and prevent imbalances from occurring there is more to nutrition than foods Where to eat, when to eat, how to eat, why we eat all add to the "what to eat"
As we discussed we have talked about always making a deal with ourselves to sit whenever we eat This simply allows us to improve the chances of agni doing a good job in digesting whatever we're eating Eating our biggest meal of the day at noon is foundational to successful nutrition Why we eat uncovers that aspect of nutrition about emotional eating as well as overeating
But what about "how to eat"? This covers the aspects of bringing attention to eating of food but also how we prepare foods
The Uniqueness of Energy Science Cooking
One of the objections that I have heard about the energy science approach to nutrition is that you have to be Indian in order to do an Ayurvedic nutritional format While this is complete and utter nonsense people buy into such false writing because they don't know any better And they believe the people that are protecting the matter science approach to nutrition by misrepresenting the energy science
1 Truth be told the nutritional formats that are at foodsheal.com can be integrated into anybody's way of eating because the change in foods chosen means that you simply find substitutes for foods that are aggravating for folks with the IC bladder pain syndrome If there are problem foods such as nightshades for Pitta Vata then find vegetable substitutes Another example of this substitution is using sunflower instead of peanut butter
2 One of the basic tenets of energy science nutrition is to cook food in order to predigest There is a lot of rhetoric about this from the raw food or macrobiotic community but it makes intuitive sense to break down the cellulose of vegetables in order to aid the agni of the mindbody particularly if it's struggling Another time that raw food comes up is in blenderized veggie drinks In this situation the mechanical breakdown of the veggies may predigest but again the lack of heat applied may make this food preparation technique substandard
3 The use of ghee in cooking cannot be overemphasized in the management of the IC bladder pain syndrome because often the Pitta energy pattern is involved and the best way to pacify Pitta is by the liberal use of ghee due to its liquid and oily qualities But there is good matter science data as to why one would want to use ghee which enhances agni It is completely made up of small chain hydrogenated fatty acids(most common butyric acid) which does not have to be digested and moves through all the tissues within twenty four hours This has important ramifications in the detoxification process of panchakarma(PK)
4 Spices have volatile organic compounds(VOC) which when activated facilitates digestion, absorption, and assimilation of foods Spices are integral to healthy cooking because they augment agni They are best activated during food preparation by placing them in ghee and heating to activate the VOC Once activated they can then be added to other ingredients of the recipe If you have a heavy aroma in the kitchen when activating VOC it means that you have overheated and overcooked the spices
So there you have it A way to prepare foods so that your mindbody can get the most out of it because you have enhanced your agni in the process of preparation
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Eating Biorhythms
Biorhythms of sleep have become well recognized patterns and research has shown that they are intimately associated with health and the prevention of disease For example, people who work night shifts are more prone to health problems But the energy science of Ayurveda also gives us a biorhythm of eating which if adhered to improves the entire digestive process and supports this important concept of agni that I've talked about in the past
The biorhythm research data confirms what the energy science gives us as guidance about eating and rest As a matter of fact most contemporary research continues to support what the energy science talks about regarding prevention of progressive disease If we are plagued with disease of any kind, then we certainly don't want to get worse
The Eating Biorhythm
Since we are part of Nature(if you don't agree then show me how you remove yourself from Her) we will naturally flow with Her rhythms I just alluded to the health problems that occur when we don't go to bed with Nature and wake up with Her So it is with our eating biorhythm cycle
If we don't take our biggest meal when Nature is doing so then our digestion suffers Our agni or digestive power is maximal at between 11a and 2p Even if our agni is suboptimal the point is that it will be as good as it can be around the noon hour This is completely compatible with what our ancestors knew before we became accustomed to "city life" where schedules for a healthy lifestyle are abandoned
The energy science says that eating our biggest meal of the day at noon time is optimal for health and encourages the best chance for us to digest well What does "biggest" mean? What you can comfortably hold in your 2 hands represents two-thirds of your stomach capacity and Ayurveda's guideline is that more than 2 handfuls overdistends the stomach capacity and risks the chance to form ama or undigested unprocessed food If ama is formed due to poor agni it can escape from the GIT(gastrointestinal tract) and will spread to peripheral tissues where it can interfere with function
Eating out can be a major problem There are several reasons for this Things are done by restaurants that aren't conducive for good digestion The most common infraction is ice water Many of the entrees served in public eateries are popular but are not necessarily good for us(chocolate coffee ice cream) Many restaurants nowadays are serving incompatible food combinations The most common one is fruit with other foods
Eating Biorhythms: 3 Healthy Ways To Support
But probably the most damaging of all with our "restaurant fetish" is that it typically interferes with healthy biorhythms of eating Typically eating our biggest meal of the day turns out to be done at 7p or beyond which in the end is ama promoting Not only is it our biggest meal of the day but it's associated with all of the other ama promoting eating habits foisted on us because we're at the restaurant
So what can we do?
1 Make a pact with yourself to eat your biggest meal at noon
2 Minimize eating out...will be healthier and enhance the pocketbook If you have to eat out try to stay away from night time meals, avoid ice, eat according to your energy constitutional makeup(see foodsheal.com), and avoid incompatible food combinations
3 Breakfast is optional If hungry try fruit It should NOT be the biggest meal of the day
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