Aloe Aloe Great British Summer ...

Typically we never know what the British weather will hold in store for us but what I can tell you is a little bit about one of my favourite cooling versatile Ayurvedic ingredients to get your through the hot summer days. Kumari (meaning ‘a young girl’ in sanskrit) and renowned in the plant kingdom as the plant of immortality - again referring to its youthful properties but better known to us as aloe vera (aloe vera barbadenis).

A cultivated or wild cactus-like plant seen widely in the drier parts of India, central and south America and Africa. Aloe contains a clear healing gel and guess what? It can grow successfully anywhere and I have a plant in my home too. This fresh herb has therapeutic properties for reducing pitta, the dominant dosha that gets quickly overheated over the summer months. Aloe can be taken internally as a juice and externally as a paste application, and there are various Ayurvedic preparations one in particular called kumaryasava - a preparation using fermented aloe to make a herbal tonic and used as a remedy for anaemia, digestive disturbances, various female reproductive and liver disorders.

The aloe plant under the Ayurvedic lens has cooling, unctuous, heavy, bitter and sweet properties this translates as a perfect option when in need of a powerful anti-inflammatory and anti-bacterial agent. It’s packed with essential and non-essential amino acids, essential fatty acids as well as vitamins and minerals such as B12, A, C and E, iron, potassium, calcium, folic acid, chromium, magnesium, zinc, germanium, manganese, copper and selenium.

Not going to lie if you’ve never tasted the gel or juice internally, brace yourself - it’s super bitter but it is supposed to be!

Some of the considered therapeutic benefits:

• A rasayana (rejuvenative for our body tissues) that restores balance to the skin, intestines and reproductive organs

• Useful in menstrual problems such as amenorrhea, dysmenorrhea, menopause (especially combined with shatavari)

• It increases blood flow to wounded areas and helps the healing of wounds

• Useful on normalising digestive activity and aids absorption of nutrients. It protects against worm infestation, infections, pain in abdomen, piles and rectal disturbances. It can be used for many pitta related digestive issues

• It can be used for as a gentle laxative under guidance

• Supports the function of the kidneys, the liver, spleen and the gallbladder

• Helpful in reducing body temperature and supporting blood circulation

• With its powerful blood purifying properties it is subsequently useful in a variety in inflammatory skin conditions as well as for minor cuts, insect bites, burns including sun burn, bruises, acne, eczema and itching

• Helpful in dysuria and other urinary conditions

• Topically the gel can hydrates, nourishes and strengthens hair and combats an itchy scalp and dandruff due to the antibacterial and anti fungal properties

1 tbsp of aloe vera gel taken on empty stomach can cleanse digestive tract of toxins. If taking juice a larger dosage (i.e. up to 100ml) will produce therapeutic effects. For topical use, apply a paste or use the gel direct from the leaf. So go on.. get yourself this great plant for your home and embrace it’s healing benefits.

Note: Large doses can cause diarrhoea. Pregnant women should not take aloe vera internally. Always consult a practitioner for safe dosage and administration of any herbal preparations.

You can purchase Kumari products from the following reputable sources:

• Kumari oil for external application from: Ayurveda Pura

• Kumari juice from: Pukka herbs

• Kumari capsules: Dr Wakde

• Aloe vera gel from: Maharishi Ayurveda

Look out for my post coming soon on Instagram on how to use aloe vera fresh from the plant.

Do your foods create digestive toxicity?

Do your favourite food combinations create digestive toxicity? Amongst many foods eaten together, if you particularly love fruits and yoghurt for breakfast then the answer I am afraid is yes.

No individual food is considered intrinsically good or bad in Ayurveda. However, it is said that ‘one man’s meat is another man’s poison’. What we really pay attention to in Ayurvedic nutrition is how foods are processed, how and when foods are eaten, how foods digest and if hunger for the food is there in the first place. When we soak, cook, cure, ferment, blanch, freeze or preserve we change the properties of foods in the processing of it. For example, the processing of butter to ghee, yoghurt to takra and soaking nuts, lentils and grains etc. make these foods much easier to digest. For me this is the art of eating healthy that is aligned to nature and our body.

What’s more Ayurveda suggests an approach for a correct diet based on the individual’s doshic constitution (vata, pitta, kapha) rather than focus on a breakdown of foods into groups such as carbs, proteins and fats and eating based on recommended daily allowances. Every food has its own taste (rasa), a heating or cooling energy (virya) and post-digestive effect (vipaka) and based on this every food can either balance us or imbalance us if we have too much for our mind body type.

Although I do encourage diversity in our diet, our gut was not designed for overly complex varieties of foods in any one meal, as it can over work our digestive system.  The focus of healthy digestion is to minimise ama (toxins) and keep our agni (digestive fire) nice and strong. Some food combinations are incompatible and subsequently disturb our digestive fire and causes toxins to accumulate because they require conflicting digestive processing.

Not only can incompatible foods remain in the stomach for several hours, combining foods improperly can cause indigestion, fermentation, putrefaction and gas formation. If prolonged it can lead to toxemia and lead to various other diseases.

When foods are eaten correctly or separately, they can aid digestion. Eating bananas with milk; egg with fish; radishes with milk, bananas or raisins; lemon with yoghurt; melons with any other foods; raw foods with cooked foods; fruits and grains, are some examples of incompatible foods. Some common western food combinations that get the thumbs down in Ayurveda include, berry cheesecake, salmon and cream cheese bagel, fish pie and many more. You can find a list of incompatible foods in my book Ayurveda – Ancient wisdom for modern wellbeing.

What happens when we eat for example lemon and milk? If you squeeze lemon in hot milk it causes the milk to curdle and this also happens in the stomach. The digestive enzymes required to digest lemon cause the milk to curdle due to the sourness. This type of constant digestive confusion can be the cause of many diseases, especially related to respiratory or skin conditions.

Enough to make you think about how you combine foods?