The use of herbal supplements is common among the elderly, a population that takes a disproportionate share of prescription medications compared to that taken by younger populations . Certain herbs are touted as having beneficial effects on memory and cognitive function in people over age sixty-five and some have even been linked to cognitive improvements in school-aged children and young adults as well . However rates of nutritional supplement use among older adults vary from as little as eight percent to as much as fifty-four percent of adults over the age of eighty-five years in the United States and the United Kingdom respectively making supplementation a potentially important factor in one’s approach to maintaining overall health in this demographic group and increasing the rate of certain health conditions such as falls and depression in some studies and others may have neuroprotective effects and prevent (slow) the development of neurodegenerative diseases later in life, and that’s why the elderly need a really good care and senior living homes can supply these needs which you can find in sites like carltonseniorliving.com/community/orangevale/.
In this model we look at how factors such as underlying genetics might interact with conventional medications and/or the use of nutritional supplements to influence the effectiveness of treatments and determine possible cause s for differences in the efficacy of treatment regimens. There are many health problems like high/low blood pressure, high cholesterol, and even constipation. This last health problem always brings up a few questions from patients, a frequent question can be can you poop in depends real fit.
In this work we follow an integrative approach combining a series of tests commonly used for complex multifactorial disorders in the context of a case-control design to isolate whether it is possible that the cause may be a combination of factors or one single causative factor alone using a single data driven non-targeted proteomic/peptidomic strategy as a reference method to see whether potential causes could be elucidated using the power of reverse translational medicine in combination with clinical chemistry and pharmacology methods to understand the underlying pathophysiology behind the variability of treatment outcomes measured using this system and try to identify if one element is causing a deviation from baseline performance at baseline as an ongoing case study for research in the field of CNS aging disease biology and biomarker discovery.
Among the problems uncovered by these studies was a lack of dialog between medical professionals and patients about the use of herbal supplements. In the current study we have used random control with non-invasive techniques to look for similarities between successful treatments and healthy controls to measure concentrations of proteins and peptides in blood plasma to see if there are which biomarkers in the blood may provide a proxy measure of the underlying causes of variable responses to standard therapies being used in chronic neurodegenerative disease and to identify potential candidates for future trials by examining how these could drive future treatment options in this population for the purpose of improving overall quality of life and reducing healthcare costs over the long term by keeping this population healthy rather than focusing on ameliorating signs and symptoms associated with these conditions which may be hard to reverse once pathology has developed at a later stage of progression.
Easy Winter Squash and Carrot Soup
Short on time? This is an easy soup that’s delicious, satisfying and nutritious. And it happens to be vegan. It’s good for all three doshas, ESPECIALLY in the fall and winter. It’s a fantastic Vata-pacifier, too. It contains simple and inexpensive ingredients. For those who like to add turmeric to food, this video will show you the proper way of adding it to your soup: to the heated oil–and NOT sprinkled on top like a seasoning.
Ten Most Commonly Asked Questions about Turmeric and Curcumin
Today’s blog entry is about turmeric, one of the most misunderstood, misused, and misappropriated substances in the Ayurvedic spice rack. For those who’d rather listen than read, I’ve also made a youtube video about the 10 most commonly asked questions I get about Turmeric and my opinions about this spice and medicine. As always, these thoughts are not to be taken as medical advice. Always consult your doctor (DO or MD).
(1) What is turmeric?
Turmeric’s scientific name is curcuma longa. It’s a rhizome, an underground stem, of a plant that’s in the ginger family. It’s native to India and Southeast Asia, and it’s been used by people of these regions for thousands of years as a food and as a medicine. It can be consumed fresh—in India, this is usually in a pickled form, or as a powder. It can also be juiced. It’s called haridrā in Sanskrit, haldī in Hindi, and halad in Marathi, to give you a few of its native names.
(2) What are its traditional uses in India?
In Ayurvedic medicine, turmeric is used:
-topically for a variety of skin conditions, including skin infections.
-to improve the skin’s appearance. In traditional Indian weddings, both the bride and the groom apply a paste of turmeric, mixed along with other ingredients such as sandalwood, onto their skin to enhance the skin’s glow.
-as a food coloring and flavoring agent
-for coughs and colds
-as an antiparasitic medication
-as an anti-itch medicine
-as a medicine to treat Type II Diabetes, urinary tract infections, gout, and even hemorrhoids
-as a regulator of the immune system, as a liver tonic, and even as a hair remover
-as a dye for fabrics.
Turmeric has always been used in Hindu ceremonies. It’s very much a part of the everyday culture. You can’t have India without turmeric. I want to acknowledge that of course, there are other cultures that have used turmeric since antiquity- but I don’t know enough to speak about them.
In Ayurveda, it’s always preferred to take any medicine as a food. Turmeric is no exception. It’s used in cooking and you only need a little bit.
With all of its amazing traditional uses, it caught the eye of scientists who wanted to study it and figure out why it was such a magical spice.
(3) What is curcumin?
People often ask me— What’s the difference between curcumin and turmeric? Aren’t they the same thing?
They’re not. Curcumin is just one chemical isolated or extracted from turmeric, and it gives turmeric its characteristic yellow color. It belongs to a larger family of chemicals called curcuminoids. Since its discovery, it’s been glorified as a miracle compound. I’ll use a cliche here—turmeric is greater than the sum of its parts. We still don’t know all the different chemicals that it contains. Curcumin is only one small chemical component of the turmeric rhizome. So therefore, turmeric should be consumed as whole food so we don’t miss out on other important compounds that may not have yet been discovered by modern science. Just like, proverbially, we eat an apple a day to keep the doctor away, right? Nobody ever said, “a capsule of malic acid,” or “a tablet of farnesene keeps the doctor away.” Just because these chemicals are key components of apples, we don’t equate them with the WHOLE fruit. We don’t swallow capsules filled with these chemicals as apple substitutes.
You may remember the hype around beta-carotene in the 1990s. It’s a chemical that can be found in food such as carrots. It was quite a celebrated supplement in its heyday until a couple of studies showed that it may increase the risk of lung cancer in smokers. It lost its sexy status almost overnight. But you and I know, using our common sense, that whole foods containing beta carotene are not going to hurt you, unless of course, you overdose on them. And it does happen—people can literally turn ORANGE. This is a condition called carotenemia or carotenosis.
(4) How is curcumin taken, and how is it dosed? AND
(5) How is turmeric take and how is it dosed?
You generally buy curcumin in tablet or capsule form. The same goes for turmeric.
The strengths and dosages are really high, in fact they’re very high. 500mg of curcumin twice daily is a common dose, while 1500 mg of turmeric three times daily is a common dose. This is really over-the-top. Sometimes I feel in the supplement industry, the motto is “go big or go home.” Why is it so hard to imagine that food can be medicine? Is that too simplistic? Is it not trendy enough? I recently read a case about a doctor administering a turmeric emulsion intravenously to a woman, causing her to DIE. There IS such a thing as too much of a good thing!
(6) What are curcumin’s side effects?
Curcumin supplements MAY slow down blood clotting, so if you must take curcumin, your doctor may have you stop it a couple of weeks before a scheduled surgery. It may also interact with anticoagulant and antiplatelet drugs. Bottom line: If you’re taking it, please tell your doctor you’re on it. He or she will appreciate it.
Curcumin, IN ISOLATION, is considered an estrogen-like compound; so this can, in theory, in the megadoses consumed, worsen hormone-sensitive conditions such as certain breast/uterine/ovarian cancers. In theory, it may also affect sperm count. Realistically, though, look at the population of India where close to 100% of the population ingests turmeric which contains curcumin. Why does the country overall (I’m not talking about individual cases of infertility here) seem to NOT have a male fertility problem? Because nobody is popping curcumin capsules in India. They don’t now, nor did they ever. People are not ingesting megadoses of isolated curcumin which of course can be expected to have side effects.
(7) So if curcumin’s no good, is it better then, to take turmeric capsules?
The answer again is “No.” Because again, this this is a reductionist approach, much like taking curcumin. It’s an oversimplified solution, and not a good one. If one have a problem, say knee pain, then a turmeric supplement—just because turmeric contains anti-inflammatory compounds— isn’t going to magically fix it. The first thing to do would be to look at other things first, such as modest weight loss or exercise, or changing one’s diet, you can visit websites like lizzardco.com to get the best advice. Taking high doses of supplements cannot cancel out years of an unhealthy lifestyle or diet.
Besides this, let’s consider other reasons why this is not a good medical practice, from a Western medical standpoint or an Ayurvedic medical standpoint.
First of all, 1 gram of turmeric powder measures out to be almost 1/2 a teaspoon. So if you’re taking 1500mg three times a day, you’re taking about 2 to 2.25 teaspoons of raw turmeric powder a day. That’s a little less than how much I put into a pot of khichadi that serves 4-5 adults with second helpings. Imagine taking that much raw turmeric powder every day for years? Something bad is bound to happen. Because the powder is ALREADY a concentrated (dehydrated) version of the root! If turmeric powder is about 2% curcumin by weight, how many of those rhizomes are you eating when you take a curcumin supplement? Even as an Ayurvedic supplement in India, most people do not ingest more than 1 teaspoon of turmeric powder a day. If they take turmeric as a supplement, it’s generally mixed into milk or another oily vehicle and it’s taken for a short period of time. It’s a powerful medicine. Therefore you need very little. Much like you don’t use a steamroller to fold a piece of origami paper, you don’t need such a large daily dose of turmeric.
Another disadvantage from an Ayurvedic point of view, is that a capsule will bypass the tongue. Turmeric needs to physically come in contact with the tongue and saliva. When we taste it and recognize it as food that’s when digestion truly begins to take place. We all know that digestion actually starts when we smell, or look at, or even think of food, because these sensations send messages to our brain which in turn sends messages to get our saliva and other digestive juices flowing. A capsule would bypass this first critical phase of digestion.
(8) How should turmeric be consumed if not in pill form?
Properties of Haldi per the Ayurveda texts are: bitter, pungent, drying (ruksha), light (laghu) and hot (ushna). When cooking it, to balance these properties we have to use substances with opposite qualities. And therefore, turmeric is never used alone in Indian dishes, it is always combined with other spices such as cumin, coriander, and fennel. Also, a fat has to be involved in the cooking process, because turmeric has molecules that are fat-soluble as well as water-soluble. So we heat turmeric in a fat such as oil or ghee. Or, we heat it in milk because not only is milk a fatty substance, but because it is considered a cooling substance. So you can see how in a capsule form or by simply adding turmeric powder to water, we’re going to get less bioavailability. When the drug isn’t used properly by the body, we run into side effects. This is why adding turmeric powder or turmeric root (if you’re trying to embrace the whole food philosophy) to ice-cold predominantly water-based smoothies is a bad idea. To sum it up, turmeric has to be (a) physically heated—even though it is considered a “hot” spice (b) heated in an oil or fat and (c) balanced out with other “cooling” spices. The Ayurvedic concept of hot and cool foods will be taken up in another post, hopefully soon.
(9) Why are large doses of turmeric or curcumin put into those capsules?
This is because turmeric and curcumin have poor bioavailability—when they are not cooked properly, like I just talked about in question number 8. So to fix this, black pepper is often added to the capsule to enhance bioavailability. Well, now we have another problem on our hands! According to Ayurveda, black pepper is considered another hot and pungent substance. With the additive effect of two similarly heating spices you run into problems such as gastroesophageal reflux, heartburn, worsening peptic ulcers. The supplement may even drop your blood sugar.
(10) Are my doctors close-minded when they dissuade me from taking supplements such as curcumin?
So my take, as someone who practices both Western and Eastern medicine, with love for both schools of thought: Your doctor (MD or DO) is right to look at curcumin suspiciously. After all, it does have its problems. I think we’d be better off if we ditched the curcumin, and abandoned the practice of ingesting molecules taken out of context, extracted using our limiting myopia. I’ll bet we haven’t even discovered 1/10th of the molecules in most plants. So let food, in its original package, created by God and/or evolution, be your medicine. You may experience some temporary benefit while taking a supplement, but the side effects WILL catch up to you, eventually.
The next time a miracle herb is touted we should all think critically. Many of these herbs, if not taken properly, or if not processed the way their original discoverers have been using them for generations, can be dangerous. Moreover, they can interact with the other medicines you are taking. Remember, if it sounds too good to be true, it probably is! Listen to your gut.
For more information about Ayurveda and about my practice, please be sure to explore my website threeriversayurveda.com
“Doctor, I REALLY need those antibiotics!”
The other day I came across an article in one of the medical journals I subscribe to. It informed me that the FDA is now requiring stronger warning labels for the fluoroquinolone class of antibiotics* about their potential to cause plummeting blood sugar levels and adverse mental health effects.
The new labeling will warn doctors that the low blood sugars may lead to coma, and the psychiatric side effects can include conditions such as attention disturbances, agitation, memory impairment, and delirium. These adverse effects may occur after just one dose. Most clinicians already know that this class of antibiotics can also cause tendon, joint, muscle, and nerve damage.
Reading this article drove home a point long known in the medical community: antibiotics, though life-saving, can be dangerous drugs when used recklessly. Doctors, nurses, and pharmacists know this. But much of the public does not.
Antibiotic overuse is a big problem in medicine. Though it’s something I discuss with patients almost every single day, reading that article compelled me to put my thoughts down in writing.
One of the joys of practicing medicine is helping my patients become better advocates for their own health. Promoting the judicious use of antibiotics, especially in the setting of common viral upper respiratory infections (URI) is something I feel strongly about. Investing those few extra minutes during the appointment to help patients understand the basic concepts of “antimicrobial stewardship”, a term coined by John McGowan and Dale Gerding at Emory University in 1996, gives me hope that this important message will spread one person at a time.
Before I talk about the appropriate use of antibiotics, let me begin by expressing that as doctors, we understand that when you come to see us, you may be worried, scared, and physically uncomfortable. You may have taken time off work, arranged for childcare, or driven long distances to see us. We get it: after all, we are patients too. We want you to leave the office feeling that you’ve been listened to and cared for. Most of us who chose medicine as a career operate from a place of empathy and a desire to serve. So when we sit down to talk to you, to understand your pain, we are deeply committed to helping you.
To do this, we start by taking a history. This is our chance to hear your concerns, and to ask focused questions about your symptoms. I’ve listed some common questions and concerns that patients bring up at this point in the visit:
“I’m worried that if I don’t get antibiotics today, this head cold will move into my chest and turn into bronchitis. I always take azithromycin to prevent this from happening.”
“I’ve been getting the same antibiotics every year for this cough for the past 20 years and they work like a charm. Nothing bad has happened to me so far. I’ll make sure to eat lots of yogurt.”
“I have asthma. So I need antibiotics every time I get a cold.”
“I’m pretty healthy. I never see the doctor, except when I get a sinus infection. I usually go to the walk-in clinic at the drugstore and they send me home with antibiotics. Can you do that for me today?”
“I’ve been miserable with fevers, and I’m coughing up yellow phlegm. Now it’s turning green. Can I get on antibiotics?”
“I have pressure behind my eyes, sneezing, congestion, fevers, and a runny nose. I know this is a sinus infection. Antibiotics will fix it.”
Did any of them sound familiar to you?
Before I went into medicine, I remember being a patient making similar statements to my own doctor.
The patient’s questions and concerns are followed by a thorough history-taking session and a physical exam. Keeping the vital signs, patient’s story, and the physical exam in mind, the physician comes up with an actionable diagnosis. But before coming to this definitive conclusion, the doctor considers a differential diagnosis— the larger range of probable diagnoses. Is the patient’s issue caused by a bacteria, fungus, or virus, or none of these factors? Is the patient in any danger? Does he need to be hospitalized? Does she need a chest x-ray? Would a strep test be helpful to find the cause of this sore throat?
After considering the differential diagnosis, doctors arrive at a diagnostic conclusion and take appropriate action. One of these actions may be to prescribe a course of oral or even intravenous antibiotics if the patient has a bacterial infection. This is because antibiotics work only on bacteria. However, if it is determined that the patient has an infection caused by a virus, then an antibiotic simply will not work; and in fact, it may cause unintended side effects.
Prescribing antibiotics is not necessarily a benign intervention. When these drugs are not indicated, their harms far outweigh their benefits. Responsible physicians who respect the concept of antimicrobial stewardship, and who are not trying to rush you out the door will think twice before prescribing them.
One such overused antibiotic, the generic name of which is Azithromycin, is commonly prescribed inappropriately for viral infections of the ear, sinus, and throat. To be sure, this is a powerful and very useful drug. But with a memorable commercial name and convenient five-day dosing, it can be perceived as a friendly and harmless medication, and patients request it by name. Who can really blame them? Who doesn’t want to get better as quickly as possible? Most patients are not aware of the harms of unnecessary antibacterial therapy. Most are not aware that antibiotics only kill bacteria, not viruses. And most are not aware that the average upper respiratory infection is caused by any one of a few hundred types of viruses, which are constantly mutating and dodging our immune system’s defenses. This is why we still haven’t cured the common cold, which can manifest as a simple runny nose, congestion, and sneezing—- or even as an illness that feels just like the flu.
Did you know that a five-day course of azithromycin stays in your system for about ten to fourteen days? One usually gets better from a cold in about one to two weeks without antibiotics on board. Think about it—we may attribute our improvement to the antibiotic, but what really makes us better? The medicine or the passage of time?
In this age of germophobia, we are scared into adopting extreme hygiene measures. We have been made to believe that we must buy disinfectant wipes for our kitchen counters. We are convinced that our clothes need nanosilver particles woven into them, and that wiping down our grocery cart handles can save us from serious illness. We have been made to feel that hand sanitizer is superior to the primitive practice of washing hands with soap and water. We have become completely intolerant of “dirt”. So to ask for antibiotics is natural, because it is perfectly aligned with this very real panic. In reality, our irrational fears are weakening our immunity and are making us more susceptible to those very infections we are trying to avoid. Antibiotics are excreted through our urine, and once in our wastewater, many are unfilterable by sewage treatment plants. The resulting effluent is then discharged into our lakes, streams and oceans. Antibiotics are so ubiquitous in modern life that whether humans ingest them as prescription medications or not, they enter the body through the consumption of the milk and meat of livestock that routinely receive antibiotics in their feed.
Antibiotics are associated with antimicrobial resistance—both in the community (i.e., they help create “superbugs”), as well as within the individuals who consume them. That is, they increase the risk of your own personal resistance to antibiotics when you do truly need them. This is an alarming problem worldwide. Not uncommonly, they can disrupt the normal intestinal flora, which no yogurt or probiotic can quickly restore. In addition, they can cause clostridium difficile colitis (which is potentially life-threatening), ringing in the ears, hearing loss, kidney damage, yeast infections, tendon rupture, skin rashes, and serious allergic reactions. They can interact with other prescription medications you take. They may also be associated with heart arrhythmias, which in some cases can even lead to death. And though it has several limitations, one study shows that antibiotics may play a role in increasing the risk of developing Type 2 Diabetes. Some of these side effects above are more common to certain classes of antibiotics than others. However, despite such dangers, patients all over the world continue to be inappropriately treated with antibiotics for colds, sinusitis, viral bronchitis, viral ear infections, and viral sore throats.
What about that colorful mucus we cough up? Many patients will expectorate into a tissue during the visit to show me the contents. It’s then that I remind them that most head colds eventually do become chest colds. This does not mean that the cold has turned into a pneumonia. Green, yellow, or even brown mucus from the nose or upper airways does not necessarily indicate a bacterial infection. Neither does the presence of a fever. Facial pressure or pain may indicate bacterial sinus infection, but in the vast majority of cases, these sinus infections are viral can can be treated with symptomatic care, nasal irrigation and observation. Since it can be confusing to interpret your symptoms yourself, leave it to your doctor make the determination of whether your illness is viral or bacterial.
If your doctor tells you that you have a virus, trust her. Please don’t be disappointed with the diagnosis. After all, it’s not just a prescription you are there for, it’s her medical expertise that you seek— her training in the science of ruling in and ruling out disease. If she diagnoses you with a viral illness and discourages antibiotic treatment, know that she is on your side. Know that she is protecting you from the adverse effects of an unneeded drug. To be honest—writing a prescription for an antibiotic is the easier thing to do. It takes just a few seconds and makes for a conflict-free situation for both parties. But if she is dissuading you from taking the drugs, consider this: despite the risk of disappointing you (even enough to earn her a bad review), she is trying to do the right thing. She is not withholding treatment. Nor is she downplaying or dismissing your suffering. She knows firsthand that viral infections can be miserable. If it’s cold and flu season, chances are high that she’s trying to fight a cold herself.
It is true, many people coming to see the doctor for a URI are expecting a tangible prescription. But most of these same patients are just as happy with a prescription for a medicine that isn’t an antibiotic, especially if the doctor explains why he has chosen not to prescribe antibiotics. Certain prescription drugs can help relieve coughs, chest congestion, and post-nasal drip (the latter can cause sore throat and a pesky, lingering cough). Of course, as all medications, these prescription drugs too have their own side effects, but I think that these risks are more acceptable.
Let me add here, at the other end of the spectrum, there are those who have serious symptoms of infection and who choose to treat themselves at home with herbs, salves, teas, or folk remedies. To them I give a heartfelt warning: please seek medical advice! Though Three Rivers Ayurveda is an integrative medical practice, I am a family physician first and foremost. Let your doctor figure out what is ailing you. Because if you are harboring a serious infection, say a pneumonia, the first-line treatment will be antibiotics; not herbs, supplements, or a special diet.
Please help your doctor spread the word that antibiotics, like all drugs, can have serious side effects, and should be used sparingly. They should be reserved for cases of true bacterial infection. All this being said, if patients are concerned that they are still not getting better despite the care outlined by their doctor for a viral infection (rest, fluids, over-the-counter medicines, honey, teas, etc.) they need to go back to their doctor for re-evaluation.
There’s so much more I want to talk about. Maybe in a future post I’ll talk about antibiotic overuse in viral pinkeye, minor abrasions and cuts, non-Group A Strep sore throats, and styes. Another scenario I want to talk about is when antibiotics are prescribed before dental procedures for those patients who do not need it. But I’ll save this for another time.
It is our natural instinct is to send you home with something worthwhile, making you feel that your time and money were “worth it.” However, as as a profession, we need to change how we do this. We need do a better job of checking the urge to comply with every antibiotic request. If we want to stay true to our Hippocratic Oath of first doing no harm, it behooves us doctors to actually take the few extra minutes to explain why antibiotics are not a good idea in many cases. When we do this, patients understand that we are keeping their best interests at heart while helping them navigate through the myths surrounding upper respiratory infections. To me, spending the time to talk to patients as equal partners in health care is important because together, we are the stewards of judicious antimicrobial use.
For more information, check out: http://www.choosingwisely.org/resources/updates-from-the-field/avoiding-antibiotics-overuse/
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*A few examples of fluoroquinolones are ciprofloxacin, levofloxacin, and moxifloxacin.
Simple Mung Dal Khichadi: Quick, Easy and Delicious
Khichadi. Or kichari. Or kitchari. Or kitchree. Or even kedgeree, in England! It’s spelled any number of ways, and outside of India, it’s been catapulted to the status of a superfood, receiving far more fanfare than it ever did in its country of origin.
But what is it? Why is it catching on in the United States? Why does it have a cult following here?
Khichadi is a simple dish of rice, legumes, spices, and sometimes vegetables. That’s the general formula most Indian households stick to. The combinations of the ingredients you can use is literally endless. Khichadi is a complete one-pot dish. It’s easy to make, very tasty, comforting, and filling. It provides the perfect blend of carbohydrates, fats, and proteins for a truly satisfying meal.
Amongst Indians, this humble superhero is almost taken for granted. It’s an unglamorous, simple, unassuming dietary workhorse; neither complicated in composition, nor requiring great skill to make. It’s comfort food on a rainy day, a soft meal for toothless babies, an easy-to-digest dish for the elderly or convalescing. Often in Indian households, it’s a quick informal meal to put together when you have unexpected guests who decide to drop in around dinnertime. When they show no signs of leaving, and you find that you don’t have the time, energy, or resources to assemble a huge spread, you can shuffle off into the kitchen, make a quick batch of khichadi, serve it up with some papad (lentil wafers), achar (Indian pickles), and kadhi (a simple buttermilk soup) and call it a day. There’s an unwritten social code amongst Indian people that hosts can get away with making khichadi for dinner and drop-in guests won’t be offended. Everyone knows that though it’s quick and easy to make, it’s delicious and nutritious.
With that explanation of cultural context out of the way, go ahead and try it out. I’ve made a quick youtube video on how I make a very simple khichadi. For the purposes of teaching this basic recipe, I have not added complex spices or vegetables. It’s just a simple mung dal (mung bean) khichadi with basmati rice. If you don’t have basmati, you can use Jasmine or even plain American Long Grain. As long as you don’t use sushi rice, pearl rice, or any glutinous sticky rice, you’re going to be fine. In the future, I may make more videos to showcase other variations of khichadi.
This simple mung dal recipe pacifies all three doshas—Vata, Pitta, and Kapha. It’s easy for Agni (the digestive fire) to handle, and nourishing to all seven dhatus. Mung, unlike most other dals, is not going to leave you gassy and bloated. In addition, the added asafoetida will make it even more digestible. Khichadi is a good source of PLANT-BASED protein, fiber, and iron. If you use olive oil instead of ghee, the dish becomes vegan.
I’ve also measured the ingredients for you, but keep in mind that when cooking Indian food, you seldom need to measure. That’s what makes it so fun! Also, another note: I like my khichadi very soft. I add extra water and cook it to the point where the grains of rice start breaking apart. The flavors blend together and the whole thing turns soft and delicious. My mother’s khichadi looks different; it’s less porridge-like but just as amazing.
My video is not about elevating khichadi to some sort of gourmet “yogic” dish. Please! Don’t let anyone from yoga class try to impress you when they sprinkle words like “mono-diet” or “cleanse” or “khichadi” into their conversation. You can’t be intimidated. You know better now. Make it, be done with it, and enjoy it!
So without further ado, I present to you the recipe:
Ingredients:
1 1/2 teaspoons cumin (jeera)
1 1/2 teaspoons turmeric (haldi)
1/4 teaspoon hing (asafoetida)
1 inch piece of ginger, grated
3 tablespoons of ghee or olive oil
Salt to taste
1/2 cup mung beans, soaked overnight and then drained. Make sure you sort through the dal on a light-colored plate first, so you can easily see and pick out any debris such as small pebbles.
1 cup rice, washed and drained
6 cups water (you can adjust this based on how soft you want the khichadi)
Instructions:
In a 4 quart heavy-bottom pot, first make a tadka (spices tempered in hot oil). On medium heat, melt the ghee or oil and add in cumin, ginger, hing, turmeric and sauté quickly.
Add in the rice and mung beans and mix thoroughly.
Add water and then add salt. Stir. Turn the stove up to high heat. Allow to come to a boil. Stir occasionally so nothing sticks to the bottom of the pot.
After the mixture comes to a boil, reduce the heat to low, stir, and cover. The rice and dal will soak the water up and start to expand. Open the lid occasionally to stir and check and see if the khichadi is ready. It’ll be ready when it’s nice and soft and the mung dal and rice are well-cooked.
Serve hot. Top with a little ghee (optional) and a squeeze of lime. You can also garnish it with cilantro leaves. Serves 4-6 adults.
The Power of the Tiny Mustard Seed
Growing mustard plants for their beautiful flowers and nutritious leaves is a fun and easy garden project. But most of us stop short of harvesting the seeds. In this quick video tutorial, I’m showing you how I did it.
Ayurvedically speaking, the seeds of this plant are pungent-tasting and have a heating effect on the body. They are calming to Vata and Kapha doshas, but can irritate Pitta. In Indian cooking, mustard seeds are indispensable and ubiquitous. They are typically added to oil and heated until the seeds audibly pop. The hot oil acts to extract the aromatic fat-soluble compounds from the seed. This flavored oil imparts a delicious taste to daals and vegetable curries. The mustard seed is traditionally used in Ayurvedic medicine as a carminative, an expectorant, and a digestive aid. Its oil is used in India during wintertime massages to warm the body. Yellow mustard seeds are milder than brown or black seeds, but have similar properties.
Mustard is a member of the cruciferous family of sulfur-rich vegetables which includes cabbage, cauliflower, broccoli, kohlrabi, turnips, Brussels sprouts, collard greens, horseradish, wasabi, kale, and many others. Mustard leaves are rich in Vitamins K and C. Like other cruciferous vegetables, they contain a phytochemical that aids in the repair of DNA damage within cells. Though these plants are known for being the least-loved of vegetables by children all over the world, as adults we know better than to push them off our plate!
Kaadha (काढा) for Colds
Cold weather means that runny noses, coughs, the flu, and flu-like syndromes are going around. Traditional kaadha (काढा ), an Indian/Ayurvedic herbal tea can help us stay warm. There are literally hundreds of different recipes for kaadha; some simple and some elaborate. I like mine on the spicy side, as I will show you in this short film by Supriya Pandit. You can make the same tea in a much milder version, by going easy on the ginger, cloves, and pepper.
Kaadha is wonderful for keeping us hydrated. It helps us with those pesky symptoms of mild viral upper respiratory illnesses such as cough, sore throat, and sinus congestion. It is not meant to cure any of these conditions, but it can provide us some support and symptomatic relief.
In my clinical practice, I first make sure that the patient’s cold or cough symptoms are not due to a bacterial cause. For those patients, I treat them with a course of antibiotics. But the vast majority of patients have viral infections that get better with time. For them, I often recommend the proverbial “rest and plenty of fluids”. This is one of those fluids! Kaadha is an enticing, fragrant, delicious, and soothing brew. My patients who find plain water “boring” during a cold often tell me that they are much better with keeping up their hydration levels when they have something comforting like kaadha to drink.
Best of all, you don’t have to be sick to enjoy the taste of kaadha and benefit from its whole herbs and spices Try it out! It’s easy to make.