Ayurveda—The Science for Health Independence

 The thought which always makes my mind curious is how a common man will become more & more health independent. Basically I am a graduate from the school of modern medicine.  I have a high respect to all the medical community who is trying to give its all to make a healthier society. And in achieving that the modern medicine has shown a remarkable development in all its aspects. So many unbelievable things are started happening now. But even after such a glories picture my mind signals me that the common man is becoming more & more health dependent, health dependent on the medical system. Is that what we are aiming at? Rather any science, any wisdom should give, should offer freedom to the human beings, and should offer independence to human beings. Any education achieves the same goals, financial independence, social independence, political independence. Then why not health independence!
       The picture is exactly opposite here. Rather our dependency is increasing more & more on the medical system. Now for very simple, very common complaints we are running to the Doctors. We have totally forgotten our own wisdom or we are so confused that we can even not manage simple cold & cough at home. Is that the picture few decades ago? Definitely not. People were managing so many issue with household remedies. Yes of course I am totally agree that this common wisdom should know the limitation of our own & when to take the Doctors advice?
     Let’s talk about an example over here. A lady professor with complaint of headache came to me. Before she has done with her family doctor, then the physician, then the Neuro-physician. They have done their role precisely.  All the investigations up to the scanning has ruled out any major issue. The required medicines where given. But the headache was there. As I am doing my treatment considering the Principles of Ayurveda I took her detail history, her daily routine, her eating habits. This took me almost half an hour. I came out with the simple diagnosis and much simpler solution. I found out in her routine that she was not taking breakfast as she was not feeling hunger at that time. She used to get good hunger at noon and was having her tiffin. Since last few months her college time table changed. She used to get break for lunch at 3 pm. This was reason for her headache. Her sugar levels must be going down giving her a headache. I asked her that she cannot go above the laws of nature, laws of health. She must respect her body signals. Naturally she must eat when she is hungry. As no other choice has left for her she started managing her lunch in 10-15 minutes between the lectures. The very same day her headache vanished.
     This taught me a lot. This incidence made me think. Why so many doctors she went can’t found out such a simple reason? Unfortunately we all are giving importance to very complex situations, syndromes many a times neglecting the very common causes. And then why is it so? We are taught in that way. Do we ask the patient about whether he gets hunger, when he gets it, he eats when he is hungry or not, does he eat even though he is not hungry, what is the quality of the food he eats, does he eats food outside or he eats freshly made home food, does he sleeps well and so many such questions. The answers of all the lifestyle related diseases lies here, in this questions.
      Let me give few more examples. One young women came with complaints such as on & off stomachache, indigestion, nausea, loss of appetite, lot of weakness. I asked her above questions and I got her solution. She was working in an office where she has to reach at 9 am. So even though she was not hungry she was eating a full breakfast with fear that she will not get time to eat afterwards. As a result she was so full that she was not getting hunger at the time of lunch. But she was force the food at that time also. She was breaking the most important rule of not having food when hunger is not there. Naturally she was suffering from indigestion & related complaints. And because of indigestion the food she was eating was not nourishing her cells, making her tired, weak. I asked her not to eat in the early morning but to eat little late when she gets real hunger. So she started taking a small tiffin with her and eating after she reaches office.  Naturally she used get hunger for lunch little late. So she was started eating late lunch. And all her complaints vanish in a few days. And now she is enjoying what she eats, even if it is a very simple food. Eating after getting a good hunger is a fun.
     You must be realizing that we are giving lot of importance to the body signals. After all why these signals are there? Our live body systems knows when & what she needs.  And also how much she needs. So when the need arises she gives a signal, isn’t it? But today we are far away from this natural instincts, as in many other ways we are gone away from the nature. We have become machines. We have also lost the sense that we all are individuals, we have our own constitution, which is different from others. How can be hunger of all the human beings will be same, how can be thirst of all the human beings will be same. So how can we advise that everyone must eat three times a day or four times a day, everyone must drink such and such amount of water every day.  Even a same individual will not have a same hunger every day or a same thirst every day. We are just eating on time even our body does not wants it, we drink water even our body does not demand for it. We must respect this individual variations, these body signals.
       A patient came to me with off & on cold, cough, mucus problems. Now I knew what specific questions to ask for specific complaints. So I asked him about his water intake. As expected he told me his quantity of 3-4 liters proudly. My next question to him was are you get so much of thirst. He said no, I drink it deliberately. He must have read somewhere or someone must have advised him. Then I asked him when these complaints started with you. And he told that he never had anything like this six months back, his health was so good, he didn’t know from where it started without any reason. Nothing happens without the reasons.  Then my last question to him was since when you are drinking so much of water? And the answer was since last six months. That’s all, the puzzle was solved.  This excess deliberate water was doing the mischief, getting converted into the mucus. I asked him to stop this deliberate drinking. Now he was waiting for next advice and tons of medicines, yes this time Ayurvedic medicines. Today many patients wants Ayurvedic, natural medicines, not the modern one, not the allopathic one. But they want medicines! This patient was disappointed by just this advice and no medicines. I opened my cupboard of medicines and promise him to give as much as he wants when he comes next time. But request him to follow this advice just for 15 days.  Fortunately he never came back. As he started drinking as per his thirst all his problems went off. He called me and conveyed his thanks.
        I can give you so many of such examples of my patients where I have treated their ongoing problems just by very simple solutions. Yes, in certain cases I have to give some medicines, some treatments. And sometimes I am taking help of my friends and specialist from modern medicine. But to my surprise in most of this patients I am able to reach to the root of the problem, to the cause of the problem. And another very important fact I must put in front of you is that these root causes are very much day to day causes, very much obvious causes such as food and life style as mentioned above. Naturally the solutions are very simple, just simple balancing. Changing the timings, quality, quantity of the food, changing the life style, reducing or increasing exercise & rest, giving away some way to their stress.
      Then the next thing comes in the mind is that why a common man cannot find out his own problem and balances himself. As in above examples if they would have known the laws, the professor about the eating after getting hunger, the young lady  about not to have food if the hunger is not there and the man about not to drink water deliberately they would have not suffered from the problems.  Even though if someone doesn’t knows the laws but just follows his own natural instinct, the body signals, he will be saved from many problems. And then the mind thinks of the old generation people. They were doing exactly the same, following the signals. I am not surprised today to see the strength, the stamina to work of that generation when I compared them with this new generation.  The small workshop on fundamentals of Ayurveda and some experiential learning can make a common man wise enough to expertise in the art of keeping him healthy.
   This is what Ayurveda speaks. Knowing the signals, understanding there meaning and fulfilling them is the essence of Ayurveda & not just the medicines and treatment.  One shloka says if one does not follow what is good for him (food and lifestyle) then how medicines will serve the purpose, what is the use of medicines? And if one follows what is good for him then what is the need of medicines. That itself clears the role of food & medicines. Today patient come to me saying hence forth I will not follow Allopathy, I will follow Ayurveda & he starts some Ayurvedic medicines such as Chavanprash. He has not understood the essence of Ayurveda. Another shloka says health is like a table with three legs, three pillars and they are food, rest and life of morality. We must understand here that they are not mentioning anything about medicines & treatments. They are focusing on food & lifestyle.
This age old science talks a lot about this root causes and diseases.  I don’t know how they correlated this cause & effect phenomenon without these new age equipment’s. I think most of these relationships are so experiential, so obvious.  Eating without hunger & getting indigestion, drinking water deliberately & suffering from cold. Surprisingly all these fundamental rules has a very strong base of the theory of five elements, Pancha Mahabhoot theory.  This strong base makes this rules fixed, eternal.
         The rule of eating after hunger and not eating without hunger is forever. And if one breaks it the consequences are very much explained. And can be experienced by oneself and on the patients also. What will very is what to eat & how much to eat, this depends on the individual hunger. Once one knows about the equation of the five base elements every puzzle will be clear for him. I cannot explain the equation here due to the limitation of the space. But I am sure that many unsolved mysteries will be revealed after understanding this. I am very much eager and waiting to share this wisdom with my friends from modern medicine. What is the reason of getting breathlessness in cold weather, why pulses makes gases, what is the relationship of gases & body ache, headache, what is the common thread in antibiotics & bitter taste, is there any relation between gases & degenerative diseases, which is the best antioxidant, why medicines with bitter taste are good in mucus problems and so many revelations are hidden the treasure of Ayurveda.
        Another very important revelation came to me after so many years is that the Ayurveda & Allopathy are not different, they work on the same principles. Their language of explaining the science is different, they are looking at the thing with different angles but they are looking at the same thing. They are talking about the truth, the science behind it. And also there is a difference in the intensity. Let me explain. If one is feeling hot, he will open the windows, he will put on the fan, this is Ayurveda. And if he puts on the AC that is Allopathy. The intensity is different but the principle is same, cooling down the heat by giving cold wind. As the intensity is different so the effects as well as the side effects are different. The AC will have more side effects. Another example is drinking the water from the earthen pot & water from the freeze. The ice cold water will have more side effects. And who says that Ayurvedic medicines does not have side effects? Take a spoonful of black pepper and consume it. No need to tell you what will be the side effects, you can very well imagine. You will experience all the hell fire with in you.
      Lastly I must share this experience of mine. A patients comes to me with the complaints of bloating & pain in the abdomen, constipation with hard stools, joint pains & noise in the joints, dry skin & dandruff, dryness of eyes, gets hunger but cannot eat fully, cramps in the legs, extreme weakness and headache.  I came to the root cause of all this complaints as a gas problem, a Vata issue in a language of Ayurveda, and treats him by just changing his diet and lifestyle. And he recovers from all his complaints. Such a correlation! So much of varied issues and the cause is one and naturally the treatment is same for all the issues. Just imagine how many doctors he has to visit for such varied complaints, a gastro enterologist, an orthopedic surgeon, a skin specialist and an ophthalmologist. You can imagine the wisdom of this age old science. It’s my sincere wish that the Doctors from modern medicine should come ahead to understand this science & strengthen their own practice.
         More than that once common man learns this wisdom he will start knowing how to respect his body signals, what the root cause of his particular complaint is and how to balance the effects by simply adjusting the food & lifestyle with minimal help of medicines and treatments. He will become more & more health independent.
May all enjoy real health, may all become more & more health Independent

Dr. Nikhil Mehta Pune.
    

My view on Rajeev Dikshit's talk

Few days back I got an opportunity to listen to the talks of Rajeevji on Ayurveda. He took a base of the books of Vagbhata, a renowned Ayurveda Doctor. I was amazed to see how much study & research Rajeevji has done on these very valuable books of Ayurveda. And more than that, his pure intentions to make everyone healthy, to make everyone independent for their own health by using age old wisdom of healing science of India, Ayurveda.
Almost all the facts he puts in front of us are very important to keep our health good and emphasizes what Vagbhata says. But about some facts his statements are creating confusions or are not so correct according to me. (According to whatever Vagbhata I understood). Sometimes the facts he says are right but the explanation he gives about them doesn’t seems right. I don’t understand from where these misunderstandings came from. Definitely I don’t want to criticize his views but it is very important to clear some of them otherwise following them as it is will harm the basic intention of giving health . I will like to highlight those facts which are useful and also which are confusing according to me.
The fact which are useful ---
- In 80-85% of the diseases one can take care of oneself, if he knows the basics of Ayurveda. And also can prevent most of the illnesses. For remaining 10-15% which are of serious nature one has to take help of Doctor.

- We are using tons & tons of medicines and pharmaceutical companies are enjoying the benefits of that. Our kitchen has lots of medicines. Know how to utilize them.

 - Don’t use fast acting modern equipment’s such as pressure cooker, refrigerator, microwave, electric chakki. This leads to loss of valuable vitamins and minerals. Rather they increase pollution. He emphasizes on using hand operated chakki which serves double purpose of getting a good quality flour and exercise to the body. (For those who cannot shift to such chakki can try to find electric chakki which moves at slow speed. This won’t increase the heat to that extend and will save some nutrients.)

 - Don’t use aluminum vessels for cooking. And the best are earthen pots. Cooking dals in earthen pots, pital vessels retains most of its nutrients. Dals made in pressure cooker loses most of its nutrients. His explanation on it is worth listening.
- Eat freshly made food, within 48 minutes s of cooking. And use flour fresh, freshly taken out from the chakki. (Not older than 15days). Freshness is health. So reduce the use of freeze.
- Adapt food & lifestyle according to region of the world. North Indian food is perfect for North India & South Indian for south India.
- Having Pan along with chuna, sauf, ajwain etc is good after the food. It helps in digestion and rather than making the mouth dirty it cleans it, takes out the stickiness of mouth. So the organisms cannot grow there.

- The facts about opposite food he mentions are very important to follow. E.g. don’t have fruits and milk together.

- The best position to have food is cross legged position.

- Taking some rest after the lunch, 20-40 minutes and not to do heavy physical activity after having food. He explains in detail the benefit of it.
- have a gap of two hrs. In between the dinner & going to the bed.

- Mind should be peaceful while having food. So meditate or sing some prayer before having food.

-Everything he talks about oils is so much important for a good health. Really an eye opener to us. Oil is the best medicine of Vata diseases. Use traditional oils such as Sesame, Mustard, Ground nut etc. Don’t refine them; you will lose all the goodness of it. Therefore use filtered or oils taken out from Ghani.

 - Best medicine of Pitta is ghee and the best medicine of Kapha is honey.

-then he talks about many medicines, some of it is very important. Such as medicines of Kapha & Vata, information about triphala, about Gomutra, chuna for calcium etc. The facts I don’t accept I will give later on.
-he also gives very valuable information about the cleaning of teeth, exercise and massage.

The facts which are confusing or controversial to Ayurveda—
-He says that in hot countries wind (Vata) is more & in cold countries Kapha & Pitta is more. In hot countries naturally the heat will be more so the Pitta problems will be more & in cold countries how can be Pitta problems be more? In cold countries the Kapha & Vata problems will be more.

- Then he talks about having the best meal in between 7- 9.30 in the morning. He gives an explanation as the digestion is at its best during this time after the sun rise. The digestive fire is best after two and half hours after the sunrise. As per Ayurveda 10am to 2pm is the time of Pitta and the best work of Pitta that is digestion is at peak during this time. (The Sun’s heat is at its peak) Actually morning 6—10 am is the time of Kapha, the digestion cannot be good at this time. So one can have lighter breakfast if need so & then should have good lunch during 10am -2pm. If someone is not hungry during Kapha period he can directly have a good lunch during Pitta period.
       Having a food without having good hunger in Kapha period will lead to Kapha diseases. He emphasizes in giving food to children in Kapha period. They must have food before going to school. These will be disaster for them. Naturally they have Kapha dominance at that age & on top of that this unwanted food will cause tons of Kapha in them, very dangerous suggestion.

      Another important indication of hunger is your own body. Check “Are you having really, a very strong hunger at that time”? Actually the lunch should be the heaviest food not breakfast.

 -Then lot more to talk about water. How much water one should drink early in the morning? He talks about one to one & quarter liters. It is about 5-6 glasses, if the glass is of 200-250ml. Most of us today get up in a Kapha period that is after six am. Drinking so much of water will lead to all sorts of Kapha issues. May be, this will hold true, if one gets up in a Vata period that is before six am and drinks little more water. But still one has to check whether he is not developing Kapha problems by drinking so much of water. Best is to have one or two glasses of water in the morning, preferably warm.

 Secondly he talks about always drinking little warm water, close to the body temperature. This is good for some people (Those having Kapha & Vata issues) but not for all. People having a Pitta, hot constitution will develop Pitta issues with this hot water. Their body will always favor normal temperature or little cold water from earthen pots. Yes, it is correct not to have fridge cold chilled water.

  Thirdly he guides how much water one should drinks & there he gives a formula which suggests that 70 kg person should drink around 5 liters of water & 60 kg person should 4 liters etc. This will be another disaster. Ayurveda says one should drink water as per the thirst, if one has thirst of 0ne liter one should drink that much & if one has of two liters one should drink that much, very simple law; nothing to do with the weight. Rather if he drinks unnecessary he will land up in hundreds of problem & diabetes is one of them.

He also talks about not to have water immediately after meals. It will be a poison if one drinks it. So drink it after one & half hrs. Personally I have not came across any such information in Ayurveda books. They mention that don’t drink before meals, drink little water in between the meals if required so and quench the thirst whatever is there, after the meals. Naturally today we lack oil and ghee in the food so we end up with very high thirst after the meals and this high water intake won’t be good for digestion. Or sometimes very pungent (spicy) food also asks for excess water. But it is very relative. One has to learn Ayurveda to know the signs of indigestion, the signs of over intake of water. But this doesn’t seem right not to drink after the meals.

-Oil is a 100% fat, there cannot be a trace of proteins into them. He mentions about the proteins in the oil. Yes, all the oilseeds have proteins into them e.g. Ground nut, sesame seed, almond etc. but not the oils. The proteins from the oilseeds remains in the oil cake.

- Then while explaining food & seasons, he says in winter Vata & Kapha increases and pitta is low. So as Kapha is more one should have heavy food. One should have heavy food is right but not because of more Kapha. Actually winter is the best season for health, no dosha — Kapha, Pitta, Vata are not imbalanced in this season. Due to the cold outside the digestion, the pitta is at its best, need heavy & more food to pacify this strong hunger. This heavy food in a way gives warmth to the body, calories to the body to fight these excess cold.

-Then he substitutes Jaggery for honey as a best medicine of Kapha. (If one does not want to use honey.) But I have not come across such information anywhere in the books. Rather if Jaggery is new, it will increase Kapha. That is why Jaggery should always be used which is one year old. Rather Lord Buddha has used Jaggery water to get read of Vata which is exactly opposite to the qualities to Kapha.

 - He says Kakwi (the liquidize product made from sugarcane) is better than Jaggery or Sugar. The book says the best amongst the products from sugarcane is Khadishakkar (Rock sugar), then the plain sugar (not refined sugar of today but little brownish color sugar), then Jaggery & lastly the Kakwi. Rather kakwi increases Kapha.

- Then he talks about the Pitta medicines. The Ajwain (Owa), cumin (Jeera), Asafoetida (Hing) & Coriander seeds (Dhaniya) all are of worm qualities, how can they reduce Pitta? Rather they will increase it.

 -Gulkand as a Kapha medicine? It is good for Pitta, not for Kapha

 - Children should sleep more—the explanation he gives this to balance the Kapha. They should sleep more is right but that is not to balance Kapha but due to influence of dominating Kapha in them.

 This is my sincere effort to clear certain things which I don’t agree to. Pl feel free to discuss on this issues and correct me if you feel that my views are wrong at some points. This will help all of us to strengthen our wisdom of Ayurveda. Once again salute to Rajeevji’s efforts to make all of us health independent.

Dr Nikhil Mehta, Pune
nikhilmehta68Yahoo.co.in, Mobile: 9665012251

 

Water

 As we all say that water is life. And then somehow it started that one has to drink plenty of water, naturally as water is life, drink as much you can, you are getting life. As I am an Allopath when I started reading about water in Ayurveda I was surprised to know about the comments on the water. I am presenting all this water story ahead. I am following this principles for myself, on my patients and I am getting amazing results
Before understanding water let us know about five element theory.

THE FIVE BASIC ELEMENTS THEORY

To understand Ayurveda we must know its basic principles. The most important principle of Ayurveda is the Theory of the Five Basic Elements (Panchmahabhoot). Ayurveda explains that the basic physical structure of every being, everything, animate or inanimate, in the universe is made out of different permutations and combinations of these five basic elements; also our body.

The five elements are: Earth, Water, Fire, Air and Space (Prithvi, Aap, Tej, Vayu and Akash in Sanskrit). Every single matter has all of them in a different and particular proportion. We can say they are the basic units from which everything is made up. Actually, they are the tiniest forms of matter. We cannot break them into further smaller elements. That is how they are the five basic elements.

These five basic elements have their own particular qualities. When they get together, in different permutations and combinations, they come out as different forms of matter, having the qualities of the dominant element. For example: wood, iron, cotton, glass, mercury and such a vast variety. In some the earth element may be dominant showing its qualities; in others the air element may be dominant, and they will have its qualities. The same will happen with the each one of them.

The permutation and combination change within each thing, each object, each matter, so each one has a different quality or nature. For example, a potato and an eggplant may have the same volume but they will have different weight; and that difference is showing their particular combination, their different nature.
Our body is nothing but the combination of the different organs and substances made out of these five elements. Some of these organs and substances may have more earth; others may have more water, more fire or air, different permutations and combinations of the five basic elements. These combinations will give their qualities to a particular organ or substance. For example, the muscles contain more earth and water, the bones are a combination of earth and air, the urine contains more water and fire, and so on. Any alteration from their natural combination turns into an imbalance or disease. The bones getting softer, the urine getting thicker, the muscles becoming harder, these are all indicators of an imbalance.

Now let us have a look at water element in detail.

The second element is water. Imagine water and think about the qualities of the water element. Yes, it is liquid, cold, heavy, and always flows downwards, towards the gravity. It is also soft and smooth. When you look around, anything that is liquid, soft, smooth, has the dominance of the water element. And cohesiveness is the most important quality of the water element.

When you think about food items it is very simple to identify products with the dominance of the water element. For example, milk, butter milk, yogurt, ghee (clarified butter) and most of the fruits. However, these watery things also vary in their proportion of water. Ghee and oils, for instance, are denser than other liquid things. Naturally they are heavier, containing more earth as compared to other watery items.

What do the qualities of the water element offer to the body? The liquidity of water is responsible for the various fluids in the body such as blood, sweat, urine, lymphatic fluid and the fluids inside the cells. So keeping the optimum liquidity of these fluids is a task of the water element.

As it is cold in nature, the water element plays the role of maintaining the body temperature. Experience the coldness of room temperature water. It is a cooling. You can feel its cooling effect. Naturally, whenever its temperature goes up, due to any reason, the body demands water or anything watery in nature to balance the temperature.

Water is heavy. Lift a bucket full of water and you can experience its heaviness. Of course, it is lighter than the earth element. Compare the bucket full of water with one full of mud or stones and you will feel the difference. But still, compared to the other elements, it is heavy in nature. So whatever weight the body has is due to both earth and water elements. This weight offers stability to the body. So whenever it reduces the body loses its stability.Experience what happens when you get loose motions. As lot of water goes out of the body you will feel giddiness.

On the other hand, drinking excess of water or watery things can also lead to heaviness in the body. It makes you feel heavy. If a person is drinking water in large quantities, even when thirst is not there, this will lead to accumulation of water and he may increase his weight and develop swellings, oedema in the body.

And the most important quality of the water in the body is that of cohesiveness. Cohesiveness means holding the things together. If water goes away, if it evaporates from the soil, every particle of the soil gets separated. They are together because of the water element. Similarly, all the particles, all the other basic elements of the body are together because of the water element. If the water reduces in the body, dryness increases and the skin starts getting peeled off. The separation starts, different particles get separated. For example, the soles start cracking in the feet, which is another form of separation. Do you remember what happens to the soil in a drought? It cracks.

As the earth element plays the role of building blocks, the bricks, the water element plays the role of the mortar, which holds the bricks together. In Sanskrit this quality of holding is known as Sneh. Another meaning for Sneh is a bond of love, a bond of friendship between two persons. As Sneh between them reduces they separate. Sneh also means providing lubrication. There are certain areas of the body that need good amounts of lubrication such as the brain, the nervous tissue, the joints, the muscles, the intestinal track, the eyes, the heart and the skin. Proper lubrication will allow these components of our body to work efficiently.
The water element is related to the sense of taste. Very clear, isn’t it? You can feel your mouth watering in front of some tasty food, can’t you? When water is balanced in our body, our capacity to perceive the tastes of the food is at its optimum. When the water decreases, the mouth becomes dry and it is difficult to perceive any taste.

Now let us see how much the ideal water quantity one should have per day is. As you know now a days wherever you go you get a guidance that you should drink plenty of water. The reasoning is that we forget to drink water. And this lack of water causes kidney stones. So if you suffer from kidney stones Doctor asks you to drink buckets of water and it is forever. It seems logical that to create pressure for some days you are drinking excess water which will help you to push the stone down. But just for that many days not always. As we go ahead you will get an explanation about better lubricants than water and we should lubricate our body with them rather than water.

Another reason comes ahead is this excess water will wash out the toxins. Rather now a days the research has come out that if you drink water in excess the essential minerals such as sodium, potassium gets washes out with urine creating imbalance inside.

One can understand the psychology behind drinking it in excess. If someone claims that drinking water in such & such quantity gets rid of 100 of diseases, why one should not get attracted to it. And on top of it we get good quality water at our home. Just open the tap and water is available, not to spend money for it. Just think if you have to spend some money for the water, you would have thought 100 times before going for this experiment.

Now just think about the signal of thirst. Why body has this signal inbuilt in it? What is the need of this signal? It is very much clear that this highly sensitive body, this intelligent machine gives signal of thirst whenever the water content inside the body goes down. So body is requesting for water. And see how body behaves. If you give enough of water immediately body says to you, oh dear thank you very much. I am feeling so nice. This highly sensitive body knows its need and always speaks with you. Our duty is just to listen to it.

And that’s what our elders was doing for years together. Just listening to the body signals. And this is about every signal of the body, thirst, hunger, tiredness etc. They were using their experience and we use our intellect. We have become like machines, we have gone far away from the nature! Our own nature!

Someone says drink three litres, someone says drink five and some may say drink seven litres per day. Whom to listen to? You ask different Doctors you will get different answer. Whom to listen to? At least all these experts should sit together and come to some consensus. It is not possible. In reality everybody is different and therefore the need of water is different for every one of us. Someone has a cold body and will need less water and someone has a very warm body, gets lot of sweat, will need more water.

 And for the same person the need of water will change with so many factors. It’s  summer and need will go up, in rains it will go down. We can easily experience this. Rain starts and thirst goes down. Who did this? You did this deliberately? No, it happened. Our wise body did it.

 Someday you are doing the office work, sitting in an AC office and other day you are walking under the sun. What happens to your thirst? Does it remain same? Then how someone else can decide our thirst. We must think on this very seriously. The rule of Ayurveda is very simple. Drink when you are thirsty and drink as per your thirst, not less not more. And today the mother runs after the child thinking that he has not drunk water for many hours. He doesn’t want to drink but mother forces him.

 Please try to recollect. Was our mother was running after us like that? What did we do? When we were thirsty we used to run inside the home, grab  water and quench our thirst. So simple! What to talk about children, a small baby drinking  milk of mother knows when to stop. People say we forget to drink water so one should keep on drinking it. Actually if you forgot, body brings the next thirst so strong that you run to quench it.

 The purpose of explaining about the signal of thirst in so much detail is that no one will believe that drinking excess of water can lead to so many imbalances, so many diseases. And water or any liquid such as coconut water, fruit juices, soups, lemon water, soft drinks, butter milk, tea & coffee etc,in excess is unnecessary.Today some article says, butter milk is Amrit, nectar. And now we want nectar and start drinking bottles full of butter milk. The consequences are dangerous. The wisdom of Ayurveda speaks about optimisation, for whom and how much? And no one else can decide this. You are your own Master!

For instance, the person may start getting cold and cough again and again. Nose and chest will be full of mucus. After all, what is this mucus?  It is a substance having water element dominance. Besides, if one drinks deliberately, the kidneys try to take out as much water as they can. The body does not want this excess of water. But the kidneys have their own capacity. It does not happen that you pour any quantity of water inside the body and it will take out the totality of the unnecessary amount. So some water starts accumulating in the body, taking the form of mucus. And this will cause cold and cough again and again.

(A case history.—a patient came with a complaint of cold & cough. He was surprised with this cold as he was saying again and again I never had this before in my life. I don’t know what is happening to me from last six months. We know nothing happens without a cause. When asked about it he said nothing has changed in my lifestyle, in my food. Yes, I read an article on water and since then I am drinking 1-2 litres of excess water, that’s all. Now it seems that it was not something important change to him, a very casual thing. The reason was very obvious to us. We asked him to stop this excess water and  to reports to us. He was expecting a bunch of medicines but we didn't give him any. He was very disappointed as today everyone wants medicines. He called us after 8-10 days saying that his cold has vanished. He was surprised about the cause & effect relationship of water and cold. Then we explained to him why we didn't gave him medicines. If we would have given him the medicines he would have thought that the he got cured due to medicine and not because of reducing the water.)

This excess of water is a very good medium for the proliferation of bacteria and viruses. Remember during the rainy seasons the way water accumulates forming puddles. They become a good medium for the proliferation of bacteria, viruses, insects, and others. It does not happen that the bacteria comes first and develops a puddle. In Ayurveda, the way of treating this type of infections is cleaning the puddle, taking out the excess of water, the mucus, kapha & drying it up. Automatically, the infection will subside. So excess of water can be a very important reason for the growth of these organisms in the body. In the same way, many fungal infections can happen due to excess of water. A person follows an antifungal treatment, gets relief and in few days it appears again. Remember we have to work on the root-cause.
Another very dangerous effect of increased water on the body is the suppression of the fire. Just as in the outside world water can extinguish a bonfire; similarly excess water reduces the digestive fire, the digestive juices in the body. And if hunger reduces, indigestion starts. As the digestive acids get diluted by water, the digestion will not happen properly. The food will remain raw and become sticky. One part will come out in the form of sticky stools that will stick to the pot. Another part will be absorbed in the blood as sticky unripe food and will make the blood sticky. This can lead to a blockage in the arteries, various skin diseases and allergies such as eczema, or bronchial asthma. So excess water is one of the most important causes of indigestion and many diseases related to it. Actually, many patients have shared their experience of reduced hunger and indigestion after they started drinking excess water.

Ayurveda also mentions that a very important reason of diabetes is drinking too much water, excess of liquids. Naturally this surplus of water will extinguish the fire and what is  insulin? It is a fire which helps in the digestion and proper utilisation of sugar, carbohydrates. Naturally as insulin gets diluted the blood sugar will go up causing  Diabetes. What a dangerous side effect of drinking excess liquids!

On the other hand, the cooling quality of the water will make the body cold, reducing the body temperature. The person will feel colder than others. The fingers and toes, the abdomen and back, and in general the body will become cold. Anyone can experience it. This excess of coldness can affect us in many ways. First, the blood will lose its fluidity. The blood is warm; that is why it is fluid. This will make it more viscous and such blood can clot easily. And you know how dangerous this clotting may be. Second, as the body becomes cold, it constricts. Remember the law of Physics. And this constricted body will hold the gases inside. This will lead to many problems related with gases, those kind of problems we will go through  when discussing the air element.

Last but not least, those who drink too much liquid have to run for urination very often, a very distracting effect.This also disturbs their sleep often.

As we will see repeatedly, our body becomes what we take, what we eat or drink. It is a law of nature. In this case, if you drink excess of liquids your body will become very soft and flaccid. A person whose muscle mass is very flaccid, so when you touch his muscles you get a feeling of looseness, more liquidity than solidity, this person has excess of water element in the body. Quite possible, while taking his history at the consultation you will realize he or she has the habit of drinking excess of water or watery things. I have seen some patients who have gone through this extreme of drinking excess water for many years and their body muscles tone has become so flaccid that it seems difficult to make it normal again. Do you see how dangerous drinking excess of water may be?

( A case history – A young boy came with compliant that he was doing a daily gym but his body is not showing the results. I was checking him and all his muscles were flaccid. I asked him about his hunger and he said he is not getting a strong hunger. He was surprised with not getting hunger after so much of exercise and also was depressed. I asked him about his thirst and he replied positively that he is doing it correctly. His trainer has asked him to drink ample of water as he is sweating during exercising. I asked him how he is feeling while drinking water. He exclaimed that it’s horrible to pour that much water inside without getting thirst. I got the answer. This excess water was killing his hunger and the solids are not getting in he is not building his muscles. Rather this excess water making his muscles flaccid. As per my advice he stopped putting that extra water inside, from that same day he stated getting good hunger and soon he achieved his target of muscular body)
 See what we do, again something mechanical. During exercising we sweat so drink lot of water. Please respect what this poor body is saying. We exercise to lose weight. During exercise body becomes warm, the body temperature increases. This heat, this high metabolism burns the excess fats and we reduce, we lose weight. But today we have become so smart that in fear of dehydration we drink tons of water after exercising. This will cool down the body. You have put water on all your efforts. As your heated body will cool down how you will reduce your weight. In olden days people used to sit a while, give time to body to cool down then used to drink water as per the thirst. Wise people!

I have also seen some patients whose health was very good. They did not have any health issue. And then they read somewhere or someone gave them a free advice about water therapy. They started it blindly and came to me with complaints of indigestion, cough and cold, skin allergies, muscular weakness, diabetes and so many issues, inviting trouble themselves!
One patient once told me he had made a habit to drink water whenever he saw it, as drinking water is very important. Other patient had ordered his assistant to bring a full glass of water to his desk every hour. Some mothers run after their children with a bottle of water. We do not know when and how all this started! But it is dangerous. We all should be wise enough to know our own water need.

On the other side, naturally, decreased water in the body will cause skin dryness, peeling off the skin, excess thirst, burning in the urination, hardness in the stools, stiff muscles and joints, etc. As we will proceed, you will realize that these are signs of increased fire and air elements. If you notice these signs, just increase your water intake.

However, if a person who feels constantly thirsty increases his water intake and continues feeling thirsty again and again, or if due to this increased water signs and symptoms related to excess of water develop in his, her body, then we have to think differently. Perhaps it is necessary to find a better lubricant than water. And that is oils, ghee (clarified butter), butter or cream.

Let us see the following example: Apply water on the surface of a glass. Wind will come, sun rays will come and it will evaporate. You have to apply water again. If instead you apply oil, ghee or butter, they will stay much longer. The same happens with the body. If the water is not reducing your dryness or it gives you side effects, then lubricants like oils and fats will be a better option, and you will feel fine.

Instead, today we see a very interesting situation. People have dramatically reduced their consumption of oily stuff, becoming very dry. To combat this dryness they keep on drinking water, and often end up suffering the effects of drinking excess liquids.

The same happens with the children. Parents do not allow them to have oils and butter. They play a lot, become too thirsty, drink a lot of water or other drinks, and suffer from cold and cough, suffer from reduced appetite. So we have to consider increasing the intake of such lubricants. We will see later on how much.
Up to now we were talking about the water element, its qualities, how much water one should drink, how one should know its need, how to be flexible as per the need, what will happen if one drinks more or less water than required. Now let’s see what should be the quality of drinking water. Ayurveda says that in appearance it should look clean. It should not have dirt into it, mud into it. It should not show some discolouration, a tinge of green, blue colour which indicates detoxification with some fungal, bacterial growth or some poisoning.
 As in rains it becomes muddy. Then clean it, filter it, boil it to make it clean. We use alum to clear it. Moving alum into such water helps sediments to settle down. Another ways is to use drumstick seeds powder.

It has been also researched in UK that keeping the water in Copper vessels for 24 hrs, cleans it totally from all the organisms.

Also the taste of it says so many things. Actually the real organic water tastes very nice. It has its own flavour. If it is tasting sour, salty then it is not to drink. It is contaminated or it is too hard with lots of salts into it. And the extra purified water, totally taste less. All the organic nature of it is purified. Like other refined things it has got refined, a bislery water, a bottled water. Using lot of treatments such using lots of chlorine, using home appliances, auqa guard etc. makes it extra purified. Just compare the taste of tap water, river water, and well water to such ultra-purified water. In fact in our cities we are getting a water which is already treated so much by Municipal Corporation. And on top of it we are treating it at home.
 Today mother boils the water and give it to her son. How will he develop a good immunity in the future. We are making him so delicate that it will become difficult for him to live in this world. Doctors advice that give  pure water to him. How much Pure? These few statements like drink a lot of water, drink pure water are so common. I think sometimes they just want to divert you from your question, as they just don't know the answers.

 If we get a loose motions the finger goes towards toxic food and impure water. Ayurveda explains even drinking too much of water or having too much of food, having food when hunger is not there leads to indigestion. And then the body wants to throw away this undigested material outside the body, and that is loose motions. (Of course this is only one reason of loose motions). So maybe not impure water but too much water is the reason of loose motions in some cases especially in rains.

 It is very interesting tradition we see in rains. Here in Maharashtra we practise fasting in rains, of course in the name of god, name of religion. But the actual reason is the high humidity around which supresses the digestive fire and the digestion become poor. So the fasting. Again it should not be mechanical, it should be experiential. If the hunger is not there one should fast and until one gets hunger, not beyond that. In the same season another fast comes which suggests even not to drink water, Nirjali Ekadashi. Isn’t it interesting to know this wisdom? Of course again not to do it mechanically.

 Yes if it is really impure we should treat it otherwise not recommended. People are sitting there to show us big bacteria and organisms in the water so they can sell their appliances. So take  reasonable care and don’t go to extremes. We have to use common sense. Its appearance &  taste help us to now its quality.
If it is a hard water boil it and use it to reduce its hardness.
We should also talk about the temperature of the drinking water. In a way again it will depend upon so many factors. How can we make some rule that one should always drink  warm water. A person with Pitta constitution, lot of heat in the body will always prefer cold water means normal temperature water or water from earthen pot. And a person with Vata constitution, a person with cold body will always prefer warm water. A person staying in a hot climate will prefer the cold water and vice versa. Or the same person will demand different temperature water in different conditions. So let him decide, let his wisdom decide and be flexible. Actually not to make any issue of it. Of course if he needs fridge cold water then he should go to the root and try to reduce his heat by other means so his requirement of such a cold water will change. Fridge cold water will affect our digestion naturally due to its extreme cold nature.

Ayurveda recommends about drinking water early in the morning, Ushapan. Here as mornings are cold one can have warm water. But again let one decide according to one’s demand. But usually people prefers warm water. But again careful about the quantity, naturally not in litres, just a glass or two. Litres of water again drag you towards its side effects.
Lastly we should discuss about drinking water during the meals. One should not drink water before having meals. Naturally it will kill the hunger. If someone is mad with thirst can drink minimal water before meals. During the meal one can sip water as and when required. Sometimes the food is very dry (and this is happening commonly now as we have reduced oil & ghee from our food drastically) or sometimes it is too spicy, so one requires water while having food.
And one should quench his thirst after the meals. Here again we are thinking mechanically. Some drink it after half an hour, some after an hour and some after two hours, so as not to disturb the digestion. Again listen to the body. If body asks for it immediately after the meal so give it. Rather this water will help to make a paste of the food which can be further acted on by digestive acids easily. Remember what our forefathers were doing.
Actually if you drink water after an hour or two, this is the time when actual digestion has begun. The food needs time to reach small intestine, the real place of digestion. The fire is on now and if one drinks water now it will easily come down and will create hindrance in the process of digestion. So drinking it immediately after the meals is logical. Of course again let your body ask for it and then drink it, not otherwise.

Dr Nikhil Mehta

Pune

Welcome Winter

          The forever changing nature has brought a very healthy season for all of us—Winter. Every one of us must have felt the change in the atmosphere, the coldness of winter. This year nature was upset with us and delayed this healthy season. Naturally the heat of October extended till almost November end and this was the reason for outbreak of many diseases. Everyone knows what actions to be taken to please the upset nature. If we don’t take care of health of nature, how come it will take care of us?

 So let’s welcome the winter. You know why this is a healthy season. The digestive fire, the hunger goes up in this season. And why it goes up? To combat the outside cold body has to generate the heat within. And how come body will generate the heat? One has to put more wood inside, means more food inside! This food will burn and will give us a warmth. Naturally body's demand is more and so the hunger. So the fire. And you know what Ayurveda says. A person whose digestive fire is strong his health is good. Naturally in winter everyone’s health will be at peak.

  One must respect that hunger. Naturally one should change the quality and increase the quantity of food. One should have more oily, heavier food and naturally in more quantity. Your body knows better than you. She will ask for such oily, fried, heavy food, sweet food. In simple way eat like a north Indian. This is the general principle. But after all we have to learn to respect our own body. So let her speak about the hunger. And my experience says winter fires up our hunger. So then don’t ignore that. Same about the oils & ghee. Increase as per your own demand.

          What will happen if one ignores this signal? Sorry to say but one will not remain healthy in this healthy season. As he will not put enough wood (Food) inside he will not be able to generate warmth inside and will not be able to fight the coldness of winter and will get sick. Secondly as one will not put enough oil inside he will not be able to fight the dryness of winter and will develop all the illness due to dryness, wind.

            So fine tune yourself for the winter. Those who are on diet food should also change a little to combat, to fight the cold. Instead of fruits give importance to dry fruits & nuts. Increase oil content in all the food preparations. And you know which oil s one should use. Don’t use refined oils, use either filtered ground nut, sesame oil or mustard oil. Winters also gives you lot of energy so you can go ahead with lot of work and exercise.

          Welcome winter, the healthy winter. The earnings in the winter will help you to be healthy throughout the year.

Best Wishes
Dr. Nikhil