Author: Zoe

  • Remarkable qualities of Triphala

    Why reinvent the wheel? That is what happens over & over – when Dhanwantari transcribed from the Gods the gift of Ayurveda 5,000 years ago – it’s too complicated for some but really it’s all very simple

    Triphala – A Famous and Revered Ayurvedic Formula

    In this special edition of the Total Health News, world-renowned ayurvedic expert, researcher and educator our ayurvedic expert discusses the popular ayurvedic remedy Triphala.

    Q: Triphala, contained in MAPI’s Digest Tone and a major ingredient in Cholesterol Protection, is one of the most famous herbal compounds in ayurvedic medicine. Can you tell us what it’s made of?

    A: Certainly. literally means “three fruits,” tri meaning “three” and phala meaning “fruit. The three fruits contained in Triphala are Haritaki, Amalaki and Bibhitaki. There is a saying in India that if a vaidya knows how to use Triphala properly, he can heal any disease. It is highly revered in Maharishi Ayurveda. When these three fruits I mentioned are combined as Triphala, they form a very powerful Rasayana. A Rasayana is the most highly refined and powerful herbal and fruit combination in ayurveda, and is known to promote long life and rejuvenation. A Rasayana promotes ojas, the material equivalent of bliss. Ojas is the finest product of digestion, and prevents disease, creates luster in the skin and rejuvenates the whole body.

    Besides nourishing the mind and body and promoting longevity, Triphala has many specific effects. It is particularly rejuvenating for the digestive tract, and is a Rasayana for the eyes and the skin.

    – See more at: http://www.mapi.com/ayurvedic-knowledge/digestion/ayurvedic-benefits-of-triphala.html#sthash.mGvA6IXD.dpuf

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  • Acne Ayurveda treatments

    Other than knowing your dosha ( Ayurvedic body type) through an Ayurvedic consultation to treat skin disorders, below are 3,useful herbs

    Three Herbs for that Perfect, Glowing Skin

    Want to have that perfectly glowing skin but not sure what to do about it? Well, the answer lies in your own surroundings! We often fail to realize the importance of the things that are easily available to us – the biggest example being ‘nature’ itself. Just look around and you will find that there are numerous valuable herbs and plants that have endless therapeutic and rejuvenating properties that could be a boon to your skin in the scorching heat.

    Here are three useful, easily available herbs that will pacify your doshas and keep your skin healthy and glowing in summers:

    Turmeric (Haldi)

    Turmeric purifies blood, nourishes the skin and gives it a healthy natural glow and radiance. It has anti-inflammatory, anti-aging and anti-bacterial properties that help reduce inflammation of skin, acne, pimples, blemishes, pigmentation, and prevent many skin ailments. It also helps heal and prevent dry skin, and slows down the skin aging process.

    Ayurvedic Properties:
    Quality (Guna): Rough, Light
    Taste (Rasa): Pungent, Bitter
    Post-digestive Effect (Vipaka): Bitter
    Potency (Virya): Warm
    Effect on Doshas: Pacifies Vata,
    Pitta and Kapha

    How to Use:

    To brighten your skin up for a hot day, mix turmeric powder and rice powder with raw milk and tomato juice, enough to form a paste, and apply to face and neck for 30 minutes. Rinse with lukewarm water.
    For a night cream, prepare a paste made from turmeric and milk or yogurt and apply it to your face. Allow the mask to dry and leave it on overnight. Wash off the mask in the morning using a gentle cleanser.
    Applying turmeric powder along with lime juice on exposed areas of the skin helps remove tanning.

    Sandalwood (Chandan)
    The key ingredient in many Ayurvedic skin-care treatments, Sandalwood is effective in treating scrapes, rashes, blemishes, acne, and other common skin problems. When used externally, the oil and paste of Sandalwood has a calming, cooling effect on the body. It is bitter, sweet, astringent and cooling in nature, and helps balance the body after overexposure to the sun. Sandalwood powder can be made into a paste, lotion or soap for cleansing and hydrating the skin.

    Ayurvedic Properties:
    Quality: Rough, Light
    Taste: Bitter
    Post-digestive Effect: Bitter, Sweet
    Potency: Cold
    Effect on Doshas: Pacifies Pitta and Kapha

    How to Use:

    To treat pimples, make a paste of one teaspoon of sandalwood powder mixed with one teaspoon of turmeric. Add one teaspoon of water to make the paste, and apply to pimples before bed.
    For itchy skin, apply the mixture of one teaspoon of sandalwood with one teaspoon of turmeric and one teaspoon of lime juice. Leave on for 20 to 30 minutes and rinse with cool water.
    Sandalwood oil can be used as a moisturizer on the face and body and is also great for massaging.

    Mix five tablespoons of coconut oil with two teaspoons of almond oil. Add four teaspoons of sandalwood powder, and apply the mixture to the overexposed areas of your skin. You will notice a considerable improvement in your tan.

    Aloe Vera (Ghritkumari)
    Aloe Vera has been well known for centuries for its anti-inflammatory, anti-fungal, healing and cooling properties. It facilities healing of any kind – be it a skin wound, acne, burn, scald, blisters, insect bites, rashes, urticaria, vaginal infections, allergic reactions or dry skin. The gel of this plant helps to protect the outer layers of the skin, keeps the skin cool and reduces inflammation.

    Ayurvedic Properties:
    Quality: Heavy, Oily
    Taste: Bitter
    Post-digestive Effect: Pungent
    Potency: Cold
    Effect on Doshas: Pacifies Pitta and Kapha

    How to use:

    Applying Aloe Vera gel on the skin prior to application of make-up can prevent the skin from drying.
    lend the pulp of some fresh fruits with Aloe Vera gel in a blender and use it as a pack to keep the skin cool.
    Mix Aloe Vera with wheat germ oil or almond oil to use it as a moisturizing pack.
    To treat pigmentation, get a fresh leaf of Aloe Vera and split it to remove the gel. Apply this on clean skin and leave for about 20 minutes.
    In case of sunburn, the application of Aloe Vera-based cream acts as a protective layer on the skin and helps replenish its moisture.

    http://www.jiva.com/ayurveda

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  • Artifical chemicals make us FAT

    Artifical chemicals make us FAT

    Three artificial chemicals that are making us fat

    by Michael Ravensthorpe

    (NaturalNews) In 2006, Felix Grun and Bruce Blumberg, two developmental biologists at the University of California, Irvine, published a research paper about artificial chemicals known to contribute towards obesity. These chemicals, which the researchers named “obesogens,” are foreign compounds that compromise the balance and development of lipid metabolism, often by disrupting endocrine function.(1)

    Since 2006, peer-reviewed studies have identified approximately 20 substances as obesogens.(2) Worse still, at least 3 of these substances are commonly found in the average American household. How many of the following obesogens are you aware of?

    Bisphenol A

    Bisphenol A (BPA) is perhaps the best-known obesogen and one of the most destructive. A synthetic compound that has been in commercial use since 1957, BPA is used to make polycarbonate plastics and epoxy resins — in other words, consumer goods such as water bottles, food containers and metal cans.(3)

    Though the Food and Drug Administration has claimed that BPA exposure is safe in small quantities, scientific research says otherwise. One study published in The Journal of Steroid Biochemistry and Molecular Biology, for example, showed that BPA — which can leak from its containers into our food and drink — influences multiple endocrine-related pathways.(4) Many studies have also linked BPA exposure with obesity in both human and animal models.(5,6,7)
    bisphenol

    Phthalates 

    Phthalates are a group of chemicals added to plastics and other products to soften and increase their flexibility. They are found in hundreds of consumer goods, including children’s toys, cosmetic products, pharmaceuticals, food containers and paints, and have been linked to weight gain.

    In fact, 3 independent studies have found that phthalate levels in the body are associated with increased waist circumference and abdominal obesity.(8,9,10) Another study, published in the journal Molecular and Cellular Endocrinology in 2009, showed that phthalates could trigger weight gain by disrupting a hormone receptor that plays a key role in lipid and carbohydrate metabolism.

    (11)
    phthalates

    Perfluorooctanoic acid

    Perfluorooctanoic Acid (PFOA) is a long-chain chemical, which, like all obesogens, does not occur naturally in the environment. PFOA is commonly found in non-stick cookware made from Teflon and is shown to be present in the blood of 98 percent of the United States population.(12)

    The negative effects of PFOA on human health are well-documented. According to a study featured in Environmental Health Perspectives, exposure to higher levels of PFOA is linked to thyroid disease among American adults.(13) Other studies have also associated higher PFOA exposure with chronic kidney disease(14) and various cancers.(15)

    Though studies into PFOA’s association with obesity in humans is limited, animal studies suggest that PFOA does deserve its classification as an obesogen. For example, a 2009 study showed that high PFOA doses “significantly increased” brown adipose tissue weight in mice.(16)


    perflorooctanoic acid

    Limiting our exposure to obesogens

    While it might be impossible to completely avoid exposure to obesogens in today’s polluted world, there are some steps we can take to greatly minimize it. Purchasing organic whole foods instead of processed foods, avoiding plastic drink bottles, and replacing non-stick cookware with cast iron or stainless steel cookware are effective ways to reduce our exposure to BPA, phthalates and PFOA. Purifying our tap water through distillation or reverse osmosis before drinking it will also minimize our exposure to obesogens, as well as a large number of other health-destroying toxins.

    obesogens

    Sources:

    (1) http://press.endocrine.org/doi/pdf/10.1210/en.2005-1129[PDF]

    (2) http://www.nytimes.com

    (3) http://www.mayoclinic.org

    (4) http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/21605673

    (5) http://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S0013935111001435

    (6) http://press.endocrine.org/doi/abs/10.1210/jc.2011-1989

    (7) http://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S0892036211000742

    (8) http://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S0013935111003112

    (9) http://www.biomedcentral.com/content/pdf/1476-069x-7-27.pdf[PDF]

    (10) http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC1892109/

    (11) http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/19433246

    (12) http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/18007991

    (13) http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC2866686/

    (14) http://aje.oxfordjournals.org/content/174/8/893.full.pdf+html[PDF]

    (15) http://ehp.niehs.nih.gov/1205829/

    (16) http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/19433254

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