Fear and Disease: the Mind’s Role in Health

Posted on by
Reply

fear is the mindkillerWhen I first read Angelina Jolie’s account of her preventative double mastectomy,  family history of breast and ovarian cancer, and why she decided to remove her breasts after a positive genetic test, I freaked out a little bit.

I began to worry about my own chances of contracting cancer as breast and ovarian cancer appear on both on my mother and father’s sides of my family tree.

My paternal grandmother was in her early 40s when breast cancer claimed her life after a long and painful struggle and my maternal grandmother died of ovarian cancer when she was in her mid 60s.

Does that mean I’m genetically doomed?

Fear is the Mind Killer

In one of my favorite science fiction books Dune, the main character Paul recites a mantra to dispel fear throughout the book. I often find myself thinking these words when I’m scared of something: Continue reading →

Sin City to Sick City, Healing When You Feel Like Crap

Posted on by
Reply
Sin City = Sick City in my book. Time to get healthy.

Sin City = Sick City in my book. Time to get healthy.

Not only is Vegas Sin City, but it’s also Sick City in my case.

The smoke, air conditioning, windowless rooms (no I don’t do that kind of work), the stress of the work itself, shaking hands with lots of potentially sick people, and the travel to get there.

In my experience, Vegas has pretty much been a magnet for illness. (Let’s hope the Vegas tourism board doesn’t read this!)

Four days in Vegas for work two weeks ago left me with a pretty nasty flu last week. Fever, chills, coughing, sneezing, headache, congestion. My symptoms reminded me of those Nyquil commercials from my childhood.

That old adage about feeding a fever, starving a cold? It doesn’t hold true at all in Ayurveda. Well, it’s half true anyway. When you’re sick, you should almost always fast or at least eat light.

I blogged a few months ago on tips to heal a cold, now here’s an explanation of why we get sick and an easy recipe to make when your immune system is compromised.

The reason we get sick can best be explained with an analogy (this, courtesy of Ayurvedic practitioner and one of my very brilliant teachers Mahesh Sabade).

Continue reading →

One Drink to Improve Digestion and Heal Illness in Your Gut

Posted on by
Reply

If takra had a tagline, it would be: Lighten your yogurt, digest more, make your tummy feel good. So maybe there’s a reason I don’t write for commercials, but I can attest to the many benefits of takra on my own digestion and I’ve seen it work wonders for patients.

Takra, also called buttermilk, helps increase your digestive power. (It’s not the fermented buttermilk you buy in the store.) Regular ole yogurt’s properties make it sour and heavy to digest. As with most fermented foods, yogurt also increases water retention in the body and can cause a variety of skin conditions, from acne to rashes.

But when you make takra, you lighten the properties of yogurt and remove the sourness so that it’s light and digestive. This takra mixture can help pretty much any disesase in the gastrointestinal tract, whether diarrhea, IBS, hemorrhoids, Chron’s disease, or any sort of slow digestion or constipation.

Watch a six-second video showing you how to make takra:

And here’s the recipe, along with a list of added health benefits… Continue reading →