April 23, 2024

Best Diet for Male Sexual Functioning

April 23, 2024/ Alandi Ashram

Our Ayurvedic Nutrition course is in full swing, and you’ll soon have a chance to join the Self-Paced version via our website. So, while we’re thinking about diet, let’s take a few minutes to discuss the best diet to support male sexual functioning. With 18 million men just in the US affected by erectile dysfunction, it’s a subject worth considering.

So, what is the best diet for male sexual functioning? Well, it’s not actually rare steak and beer, much as we tend to associate meat eating with manliness. In fact, over the course of time, tucking into a lot of red meat will rob you of optimal sexual functioning.

A 2017 meta-analysis coming out of Europe points to the value of the Mediterranean diet in sustaining sexual functioning for the long term. This diet includes extra virgin olive oil, vegetables, fruits, beans whole grains, nuts and fish. You can also do an Ayurvedic version of this diet, with the inclusion of dal and of spices such as turmeric, cumin and cinnamon for potentially even better effects.

And a 2022 analysis of the Health Professionals Follow Up Study demonstrates that a plant-based diet can significantly reduce your risk of developing ED. However, this has to be a healthy plant-based diet, consisting of fruits, vegetables, whole grains, legumes, nuts and seeds. An unhealthy plant-based diet, based on processed foods such as white bread, a lot of pasta, French fries and sugary drinks will actually increase your risk of ED.

While you may not be ready to cut out all meat and dairy products, any shift away from that not-so-manly Standard American diet will help. Try Meatless Mondays to start off with, and gradually reduce the amount of red meat, processed cheese and ice cream in your diet. You can also try the Alternative Healthy Eating Index diet, adjusting your weekly food pyramid to include a higher intake of fruits, vegetables, whole grains, nuts and legumes, polyunsaturated fats, and omega-3 fatty acids, and lower intake of red and processed meats, sugar-sweetened beverages, trans fatty acids, and sodium. Did you know that cooking is also manly? Look how many top chefs are men. And you can still grill—just grill veggies instead of burgers or steaks.

And remember, ED is considered the canary in the coal mine for heart disease. Your penis will be the first to suffer from poor arterial health, but in the course of time, your coronary arteries will suffer too, not to mention your brain, which requires excellent blood flow. So, preserve your sexual functioning, your cognitive performance and your longevity by cutting back on red meat and increasing your fruits, vegetables, legumes and whole grains.

Visit our website for great plant-based recipes!

https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC5510347/#:~:text=Results,could%20raise%20nitric%20oxide%20activity.

https://bjui-journals.onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/epdf/10.1111/bju.15765

February 05, 2024

Boost your Beans

February 05, 2024/ Alandi Ashram

Last time, we talked about five of the many health benefits of beans.

However, I’ve noticed that many of my patients hardly eat legumes at all. So, let’s talk about how to increase your intake of beans.

There are two reasons why you might not be eating enough beans. Either you can’t digest beans, or you simply aren’t accustomed to including them in your meal plans. For the majority of people I see, it’s the second reason. You might be used to a diet based on animal protein, vegetables, and a starch such as potatoes, rice or pasta. Beans don’t really fit into your concept of a proper meal.

If you have difficulty digesting beans and lentils, make sure you soak them overnight and discard the soak water. Cook them thoroughly, using digestive herbs and spices such as turmeric and cumin or oregano, sage and thyme.

If you still get gassy from beans, this tells us that you probably have visham agni, or irregular digestive fire. It’s time for a visit to an Ayurvedic practitioner to improve your digestion. Once agni is functioning better, we can try slowly introducing beans and lentils.

If beans aren’t a part of your food culture, it’s best to make gradual changes. Mung beans are the best and easiest to digest of all the beans, especially split yellow mung dal. So, begin by making kichari once a week. Kichari is an easy-to-make one pot dish that you can eat for breakfast or a light supper. Visit our website for some great kichari recipes.

Once you have got a kichari habit, try making dal. You can bring in a greater variety of legumes, such as urad dal, chana dal and red lentils. There are some great chickpea dishes on the website as well.

Next, try soups with a bean base. It’s ideal to plan ahead and soak your soup beans overnight, but in a pinch, you can use organic canned beans. Soup is another wonderful one-pot meal. There are also bean snacks you can enjoy, such as humus or cannellini bean pâte.

Keep gradually adding legumes into your diet until you’re having a portion of legumes each day. Not only are they rich in health benefits, they are also delicious.

Alakananda Ma M.B., B.S. (Lond.) is an Ayurvedic Doctor (NAMA) and graduate of a top London medical school. She is co-founder of Alandi Ayurveda Clinic and Alandi Ayurveda Gurukula in Boulder Colorado, as well as a spiritual mother, teacher, flower essence maker and storyteller. Alakananda is a well known and highly respected practitioner in the Ayurveda community both nationally and internationally.

Enliven your holistic health! Visit Alakananda Ma in Alandi Ashram’s ayurvedic clinic to support the overall rejuvenation of your body, mind, and spirit. In-person and virtual appointments available. Book now!

January 29, 2024

Five new reasons to eat beans

January 29, 2024/ Alandi Ashram

Some time back, we talked about the importance of beans and other legumes in preventing dementia.

Now here are five MORE reasons to include beans in your diet on a daily basis. I’ve called these five “new” reasons, because most of this is from recently-published studies.

1. Beans prevent cancer:

A study published in The Lancet in December 2023 looked at obese patients with a history of colorectal cancer. Could adding a simple and affordable prebiotic food—navy beans—improve their outcomes? The answer was yes; adding a daily cup of beans resulted in a healthier and more diverse microbiome, with improvement in markers of metabolic obesity and colorectal cancer. In other words, diversify and support your gut microbiome with a daily serving of beans and this will help with cancer prevention and treatment.

2. Beans prevent heart disease:

A study published in Clinical Nutrition in April 2023, as well as a 2022 study in Plants have pointed to the importance of adding beans to the diet to improve lipid profiles, reduce the tendency to atherosclerosis (fatty deposits on the arteries), lower blood pressure and reduce inflammation. Beans and other legumes are an important and affordable component of a heart-healthy diet.

3. Beans help control blood sugar

A 2009 review paper in Diabetologia point to the value of beans and legumes in maintaining healthy blood sugar levels. Not only is this important in preventing heart disease; it also reminds us that beans help prevent diabetes and also aid in blood sugar control for diabetics.

4. Beans support healthy aging

While most of us hope for a long life, nobody wants to be old and frail. Hot off the press, a January 2024 article in the American Journal of Clinical Nutrition indicates the importance of vegetable protein for healthy ageing. An analysis of the Nurses Study suggests that, starting in mid-life, the more calories we replace with plant protein, rather than carbohydrates, fats or animal protein, the more likely we are to be free of physical limitations in old age. People who ate more plant protein from midlife on had better cognitive function in old age as well. Even if you only start your beans habit later in life, it will still reduce your chance of becoming frail.

5. Beans promote longevity

It’s a good thing that a diet rich in beans and legumes help us live free of physical and mental limitations in old age, because eating beans does promote longevity. Legumes were found to be the most important dietary predictor of survival in older people of different ethnicities. The more legumes the study group of over-seventies ate, the less likely they were to die during the subsequent years of the study. A great thought to enjoy with your kichari meal!

Despite all the benefits of legumes, I’ve seen that many of my patients don’t eat them very frequently. Next week, we’ll look at how to transition your diet to include more legumes.

https://www.thelancet.com/journals/ebiom/article/PIIS2352-3964(23)00439-5/fulltext

https://ajcn.nutrition.org/article/S0002-9165(23)66282-3/fulltext

https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/abs/pii/S2405457723000098

https://apjcn.nhri.org.tw/server/APJCN/13/2/217.pdf

Blood sugar control https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/19526214/

https://www.ars.usda.gov/news-events/news/research-news/2021/black-beans-help-fix-insulin-resistance-and-gut-bacteria-balance/

January 23, 2024

Are You Eating Plastic?

January 23, 2024/ Alandi Ashram

Are you eating plastic? Back in the fifties, when I was a child, melamine tableware came in, and everyone was excited about the idea of unbreakable plates and getting the latest in tableware. I recall that we had a set of red and black melamine plates. We also had brightly-coloured plastic mugs that made our milk and juice taste of plastic.

Today, we know better what a bad idea that was. Indeed, a paper recently published in the Journal of the Endocrine Society indicated that exposure to plastics is a major contributor to disease burden in the US. From the womb on, plastics are deteriorating our health. Plastics contain endocrine disruptors that disturb our body’s natural balance. Examples of diseases that result from these disruptors include intellectual disability due to intrauterine exposure, low birth weight, childhood obesity, testicular cancer, adult obesity, diabetes, endometriosis, infertility, gestational diabetes, hypothyroidism, breast cancer, kidney cancer and heart disease.

The answer to such pervasive exposure needs to come at a systemic level. And in March 2022, UN member states agreed to work together to end global plastic pollution. By the end of this year, we should be seeing a global plastics treaty that will tackle the problem at its source.

In the meantime, do everything you can to limit your personal exposure. Remove plastic from your kitchen. Don’t use plastic utensils; store your food in glass. Wrap items in foil, or better still, in reusable beeswaxed cotton food wraps. Don’t drink from plastic bottles or cups; use metal or glass. Never microwave food in plastic.

Canned food is another place where plastic components, namely BPA, get into our food. According to leafscore.com, you should be safe using canned foods from brands such as Amy’s, Wild Planet, Muir Glen, Eden Foods and Trader Joe’s. The shocker to me was that Whole Foods is not at all transparent about which products are canned or packaged with BPA. So, limit your canned foods from them.

While the topic of plastics isn’t covered in the Ayurvedic texts for obvious reasons, there is tremendous knowledge about toxicology, especially about chronic poisoning. And a panchakarma cleanse may be of great help in dislodging and removing endocrine disruptors from the body.

https://academic.oup.com/jes/article/8/2/bvad163/7513992?login=true

https://www.leafscore.com/grocery/best-companies-selling-bpa-free-canned-goods/

January 04, 2024

Dangers of Ultra-Processed Foods

January 04, 2024/ Alandi Ashram

Around this time of year, people come into clinic after ‘falling off the wagon’ during the holidays. We’ve had a time of indulgence in food we don’t usually eat—and this may well include ultra-processed foods. So what are ultra-processed foods and why should we avoid them, even during the holidays?

Ultra-processed foods are defined in the NOVA food classification system, where they are category 4. The NOVA food system defines these foods as, “Industrial formulations typically with five or more and usually many ingredients. Such ingredients often include those also used in processed foods, such as sugar, oils, fats, salt, anti-oxidants, stabilisers, and preservatives. Ingredients only found in ultra-processed products include substances not commonly used in culinary preparations, and additives whose purpose is to imitate sensory qualities of group 1 foods (unprocessed foods) or of culinary preparations of these foods, or to disguise undesirable sensory qualities of the final product.”

The examples of ultra-processed food that NOVA gives include carbonated drinks; sweet or savoury packaged snacks; ice-cream, chocolates, candies; mass-produced packaged breads and buns; margarines and spreads; cookies, pastries, cakes, and cake mixes; breakfast ‘cereals’, ‘cereal’ and ‘energy’ bars; ‘energy’ drinks; milk drinks, ‘fruit’ yoghurts and ‘fruit’ drinks; cocoa drinks; meat and chicken extracts and ‘instant’ sauces; infant formulas, follow-on milks, other baby products; ‘health’ and ‘slimming’ products such as powdered or ‘fortified’ meal and dish substitutes; and many ready to heat products including pre-prepared pies and pasta and pizza dishes; poultry and fish ‘nuggets’ and ‘sticks’, sausages, burgers, hot dogs, and other reconstituted meat products, and powdered and packaged ‘instant’ soups, noodles and desserts.” Wow, that’s quite the list. It’s where the majority of calories in our country come from.

Ok, so now we know what they are, but do we really have to avoid them?

Mental health, for one thing. The more UPFs you consume, the more likely you are to suffer from depression and to have problems with emotional and cognitive control. UPFs negatively affect adaptability and resilience, social interactions, mood and outlook, drive and motivation, cognition and mind-body connection. Three weeks on a diet free from UPFs leads to a decrease in depression symptoms, so it’s not just that depressed people eat more UPFs, but rather that UPFs lead to depression.

And for those of us who are older and concerned about keeping our marbles, higher UPF consumption is associated with a significantly faster decline in executive and global cognitive function. For every 10% increase in UPF consumption, dementia risk increases by a whopping 25%.

Of course, other risks are associated with UPFs, like diabetes and obesity. So let’s try for a New Year resolution to step down our UPF consumption. In Ayurveda, we like a gradual, stepwise approach. First substitute some of the UPFs you eat with foods from category 3, processed foods such as canned vegetables, and legumes; salted nuts and seeds; salted, cured, or smoked meats; canned fish; cheeses and unpackaged freshly made breads. Next, try to incorporate more and more unprocessed food like natural yoghurt, fresh or stewed fruits, legumes, nuts and seeds, whole grains and vegetables. The more unprocessed foods you consume, the better your long term physical and mental wellbeing.

https://archive.wphna.org/wp-content/uploads/2016/01/WN-2016-7-1-3-28-38-Monteiro-Cannon-Levy-et-al-NOVA.pdf

https://sapienlabs.org/consumption-of-ultra-processed-food-and-mental-wellbeing-outcomes/

https://www.neurology.org/doi/10.1212/WNL.0000000000200871

September 05, 2023

High Blood Pressure and the Six Tastes

September 05, 2023/ Alandi Ashram

Today, I’d like to talk about high blood pressure. Hypertension or high blood pressure is often called ‘the silent killer’ because it has no obvious symptoms, yet can lead to heart disease, strokes and kidney disease. As about third of American adults have high blood pressure, it’s good to know how to prevent and manage this condition. Today, we’ll look at how we can make use of the Six Tastes to prevent and manage hypertension.

If you’re not familiar with the Six Tastes, please see my video Ayurveda Basics 2: The Six Tastes

Which of the Six Tastes are helpful for high blood pressure? First of all, the astringent taste. Many of the most important herbs and teas for high blood pressure are endowed with the astringent taste. Enjoy a daily delicious cup of hibiscus tea, rich in the astringent taste, to help manage high blood pressure. Make sure you eat leafy greens and include beans and lentils in your diet on a regular basis, to get plenty of astringent foods for blood vessel health.

Next, the bitter taste. Bitter foods contain cardioprotective compounds that support your circulatory system. Try to include bitter melon in your diet. It contains phenolics that may help lower blood pressure and cholesterol. The sulforaphane in bitter vegetables like broccoli, cauliflower, kale and Brussels sprouts may also help maintain healthy blood pressure. And have a nice cup of cacao or some dark chocolate every day. A study suggests that people who eat chocolate five times a week have a significantly lower risk of heart disease than those who do not eat chocolate.

The pungent taste will tend to lower blood pressure by dilating your blood vessels. Enjoy ginger tea or spice your food with ginger to benefit from the blood-pressure lowering effects of this pungent herb, known as ‘the universal medicine.

When it comes to the sweet taste, it may be beneficial or harmful, depending on the source. Sweet balances pitta, and pitta dosha is a driver of hypertension. Get your sweet taste from fruits and from vegetables like carrots, beets and sweet potato rather than sweet baked goods, which will tend to cause weight gain and provoke kapha.

The sour taste should be used sparingly if you are trying to manage high blood pressure. Sour provokes pitta and kapha, so while it may not directly raise blood pressure, it will aggravate those doshas that are typically implicated in high blood pressure.

And of course, the salty taste is well known to play a role in raising blood pressure. A very interesting study came out in 2019, examining the relationship between dietary sodium and hypertension. They found that, “A reduction in dietary sodium not only decreases the blood pressure and the incidence of hypertension but is also associated with a reduction in morbidity and mortality from cardiovascular diseases.” Salt your food lightly and stay away from the saltshaker. Try not to eat out on a regular basis, because restaurant food tends to be high in salt.

I’d like to thank our student apprentice Caitlin for calling my attention to this study. She recently gave a wonderful class presentation on the Ayurvedic management of hypertension.

By making use of the Ayurvedic understanding of the Six Tastes, we can go beyond the DASH diet to have an in-depth understanding of how to maintain healthy blood pressure through diet.

December 05, 2022

Prevent Cancer with an Ayurvedic Diet

December 05, 2022/ Alandi Ashram

Today, let’s talk about how we can use an Ayurvedic diet to prevent cancer.

According to a study released this year at the annual meeting of the American Association for Cancer Research, high consumption of vegetables appears to lower your chances of developing certain types of cancer, specifically, liver cancer.

The most important cancer-preventative vegetables, according to the study, were lettuce, legumes, cruciferous vegetables and carrots.

Well, legumes are the basis of the Ayurvedic diet. We do love our mung dal—a key ingredient in kichari—as well as red lentils, toor dal, urad dal, chickpeas and other beans. In fact, it almost wouldn’t be an Ayurvedic meal without some type of legume being featured. So it’s good to know that not only do legumes help prevent heart disease, diabetes and colon cancer; they also help prevent other kinds of cancer as well. Next time you tuck into a nice soothing bowl of kichari, remember to be grateful for the disease-preventing aspect of your food. Enjoy peas and beans as well, since they are legumes too.

At Alandi, we typically put carrots in our breakfast kichari, as well as in soups and stir-fries. Eat plenty of carrots for beta carotene, fibre and other benefits.

Cruciferous vegetables include cauliflower, the darling of Indian cuisine, as well as broccoli, mustard greens, turnip greens and kale. If you follow the rule of eating at least one green and one orange or yellow vegetable each day, you’ll probably get quite a bit of cruciferous vegetables.

According to the study, the greater the quantity of vegetables of all kinds that were eaten, the greater the benefit. For your 2023 New Year’s resolutions, try adding one additional cup of vegetables per day.

And, if relevant, perhaps cutting back on red meat should be another resolution. A study on red meat and gastric cancer done in Iran suggests that “avoidance of red meat and processed meat is probably good beyond [the prevention of] colorectal cancer.” Try substituting chicken for red meat, or include more vegetarian dishes in your cancer-preventative diet. This will protect you from heart disease as well.

So enjoy your vegetable kichari and stay healthy!

March 28, 2022

Brilliant Beans

March 28, 2022/ Alandi Ashram

Today, let’s take a look at just one of many reasons why you should include beans, dals and lentils in your diet on a daily basis.

A large and important Japanese study, the Circulatory Risk in Communities Study, indicates that the more fibre you eat, the lower your chance of developing disabling dementia. And this is particularly true of soluble fibre, such as occurs in beans and lentils.

In other words, beans are best for your brain health! This may be related to the gut-brain axis. Soluble fibre is a prebiotic food and is important in maintaining a healthy microbiome. In Ayurvedic terms, we would put it this way—agni, the digestive fire, is the root of health. Balance your agni and you will live longer and have sharper cognition. In addition, soluble fibre helps normalize blood sugar, thus promoting brain health, and also helps lower LDL cholesterol (bad cholesterol) and raise HDL or good cholesterol. Since LDL cholesterol can clog our arteries, it stands to reason that keeping cholesterol in balance is helpful in terms of blood supply to the brain.

In the Ayurvedic diet, we have kichari, dal or some type of bean daily, pretty much at every meal. And Charak says that mung beans should be a key feature of daily diet for everyone. As usual, the latest studies prove Charak right.

As you incorporate more legumes or pulses into your diet, be sure to soak the bigger beans overnight, for best digestibility. Legumes can be challenging for vata, but we can usually work around that by overnight soaking, thorough cooking and by using spices and herbs that calm vata and promote digestion. The best legumes for vata are mung beans, split yellow mung dal, urad dal, red lentils and adzuki beans. You can also sprout mung beans—not to make the type of beansprouts you get at the Asian market, but just until the beans have a small sprout and are tender. Sprouted mung beans can be added to salads or tossed in some ginger, turmeric and cumin for a light breakfast.

So how can you restructure your diet to include more legumes?

First, let’s look at bringing legumes into breakfast. Mung dal kichari makes a great breakfast or brunch. You could also try a Middle Eastern breakfast of humus, pita bread and salad, especially in warmer weather. A South Indian breakfast of idali or dosa incorporates urad dal, made more digestible by the overnight fermentation process. Idalis and dosas are also usually served with sambar, a toor dal soup. And, from closer to home, a bean and cheese breakfast burrito might also a be a healthy option.

For lunch, try a typical Indian lunch of rice, dal and vegetables, or kichari and vegetables. Chole, a curry made from whole chickpeas, is an option too. For variety, try a New Mexican, Mexican or Colombian-type menu of beans, corn and squash, or any of the breakfast items items listed above. You can also try some soul food, a nice blackeye pea stew.

For lunch, dinner or a lighter supper, you could have red lentil soup, brown lentil soup, minestrone with beans, pasta and vegetables, squash and bean soup—the choices are endless. In some recipes, I enjoy the taste and texture of well-cooked whole beans, in others I blend cannellini beans and vegetables together for a smooth and creamy effect. It takes some planning ahead to soak the beans, so I also stock cans of organic beans so I can whip something up quickly when I haven’t planned ahead. Confessions!

So keep your brain healthy, enjoy your legumes and remember—Ayurveda’s ancient teachings and lifeways are being proven right, again and again.

March 14, 2022

Benefits of Bitter

March 14, 2022/ Alandi Ashram

Today I’d like to talk about the bitter taste and its benefits. As we discussed last week, spring is the time to prioritize the bitter taste.

Yes, I know, bitter is not most people’s favourite. So, what are the benefits of bitter and why should we include it in our diet? Let’s see what the ancient Ayurvedic text, Charak Samhita says. Quoting the great sage Atreya, the text begins by acknowledging that most of us don’t find the bitter taste exactly yummy. However, when we include the bitter taste in our diet, our palate is cleansed, and we gain a much greater ability to relish our food. That might be especially important at this time of year, when we perhaps are getting tired of the heavier and oilier foods recommended for winter. We’re actually ready for some bitter greens and lighter foods.

Bitter foods and herbs are important for detoxifying the body and getting rid of parasites and various kinds of dysbiosis like candida and SIBO. Bitter clears our skin and alleviates itching. It reduces excessive thirst and tones the skin and muscles. Bitter foods, drinks and herbs are also good to combat infectious diseases. Including bitter in your diet improves your appetite and digestion. And if you are breastfeeding, be sure to include some bitter fenugreek sprouts in your diet, because bitter cleanses the milk ducts and helps you avoid breast abscesses. Bitter is also your friend if you want to lose those extra pounds that tend to go on in winter.

One of the big problems with spring is that we tend to get mucusy. Bitter is great for lowering kapha and clearing up phlegmy conditions. It also removes pus, lowers pitta and helps us shed water weight as well as fat. Overall, bitter is light and drying, just what we need at this muddy time of year.

As with everything else, the bitter taste should be included in a balanced way. For pitta and kapha, pretty much have as many bitter vegetables as you can eat. For vata, certainly introduce a little more in the way of bitter during the spring season, but don’t overdo it. The bitter taste is drying, and vata tends to be dry. Squeeze a little lemon on your bitter greens and serve them with plenty of ghee, so vata doesn’t get imbalanced.

Unfortunately, we tend to use coffee as a major source of bitter. But caffeine imbalances all three doshas and isn’t the best choice for including the bitter taste in our diet. If you like a bitter drink in the morning, try “coriander coffee”. Coriander seeds are roasted, ground and made into a beverage. The roasting provides a coffee-like bitterness while the coriander seeds are pitta-calming, digestant and soothing to the urinary system. Or, you can have a nice cup of brahmi tea.

As we’ve discussed in previous weeks, bitter greens are in season—kale, collard, mustard, turnip greens. Lovely little dandelion greens are popping up in the garden ready to be picked and eaten. There’s also a wonderful vegetable known as bitter gourd or bitter melon that you can find at your local Indian or Asian market. This vegetable looks like a crinkly cucumber. The Indian variety is smaller, darker green and more bitter, while the Chinese bitter melon is longer, lighter green and slightly smoother. It’s easier to stuff, although you can use both varieties in stuffed bitter melon recipes. Bitter melon is often described as an acquired taste—but it’s a taste worth acquiring if you need to reduce body fat, balance blood sugar or combat viral infections. Diehards like us at Alandi happily enjoy simple curried bitter melons. Frankly, we’ve even taken to making bitter gourd bruschetta, frying bitter gourds in olive oil and serving them on olive bread. But for beginners, it might be easier to disguise the taste at first, by making Bitter Gourd Dal or Stuffed Bitter Gourds.

Enjoy your bitters and have a happy spring!

February 28, 2022

Five Fantastic Spring Vegetables

February 28, 2022/ Alandi Ashram

Despite all the snow and cold, spring is in the air and spring vegetables are in the shops! Here are some fantastic foods to enjoy at this time of year.

First, asparagus. Steamed, braised, roasted, or mixed into a soup, rice or pasta recipe, asparagus spells spring nourishment and deliciousness. And it’s a vegetable that is good for all three doshas. Its combination of sweet, astringent and bitter tastes make it ideal for pitta, while vata finds it easy to digest. Gently steamed, it will lighten kapha. The steroidal saponins in asparagus make it a good food for lactation and a great aphrodisiac as well. Rich in potassium and antioxidants, asparagus contains vitamin C, Vitamin E, Vitamin K, folate, cancer-preventing glutathione, flavonoids and polyphenols. It is tonic, nervine and rejuvenative and good for the heart. You can blend asparagus and incorporate it into a face mask to help treat acne and reduce wrinkles. You can also rinse your face with the water you used for steaming asparagus. Eating asparagus is good for your complexion too.

Second, artichoke, a sweet and astringent vegetable that, again, is pretty tridoshic. My ideal spring meal definitely contains both asparagus and artichokes. Artichoke helps lower cholesterol, assist weight reduction and support the liver and gallbladder. It is incredibly rich in antioxidants and anti-inflammatory compounds. You can make a tea from artichoke leaves or stalks to ease gastritis symptoms and help with liver problems. Or you can drink the water that you used for steaming the artichoke. Artichoke tea may also help balance blood sugar and lower blood pressure. Although it may seem like a luxury, artichoke is so good for you, that it’s worthwhile to include one artichoke a week into your diet when they are in season.

Third, spring brings fenugreek greens. You can buy them at your local Indian market or grow them yourself as sprouts or microgreens. These bitter greens have a unique flavour and are high in antioxidants and fibre, as well as Vitamin C, Vitamin A and beta carotene. They help lower blood sugar and cholesterol and alleviate symptoms of arthritis. Including fenugreek leaves and sprouts in the diet is also beneficial for lactation. In India, methi leaves, as they are called, are used in parantha recipes for a tasty snack or breakfast. I like to make a fresh chutney from fenugreek leaves, but often I just toss them into the kichari, where they add a great flavour. For a face pack to remove blemishes, blend some fenugreek leaves with water or milk and apply to your face. You can also apply fenugreek leaves blended in vinegar to your hair as a remedy for dandruff.

Fourth, baby arugula is in season now. These too are delicious bitter greens that you can have in salad or mixed into a pasta dish. According to ancient Roman teachings, arugula is aphrodisiac. As well as being a great source of calcium, potassium, magnesium, beta carotene and Vitamin C, arugula is rich in antioxidants and cancer-preventive glucosinolates.

Finally, as the snow melts off your garden, you will see baby dandelion leaves appearing. Enjoy these leaves in salad while they are still young and tender, and very delicious. Dandelion greens are used in herbalism for bladder, kidney and liver problems, as well as to ease menstrual concerns, support lactation, improve digestion and strengthen the immune system. You can make a poultice of fresh dandelion leaves for bruises, cuts and abrasions.

February 14, 2022

Ten Aphrodisiac Fruits

February 14, 2022/ Alandi Ashram

Last week we discussed five key aphrodisiac foods. Following on from that, today I’d like to talk about ten aphrodisiac fruits.

Let’s start with coconut. This wonderful food is a tonic, nourishes and builds the tissues of the body and is also aphrodisiac. Relish coconut ladoo or coconut barfi, both of which are pretty easy to make, and combine the aphrodisiac benefits of coconut, milk and cardamon. Or for a vegan treat with no added sugar, make coconut date balls. You can also enhance the beauty of your hair by massaging your scalp with coconut oil and letting it soak in for about half an hour before washing your hair. And you can hydrate with coconut water, which alleviates burning urination as well.

Second on our list is apple. Not for nothing is apple mentioned in the Song of Solomon, “Sustain me with cakes of raisins, refresh me with apples: for I am sick with love.” And of course, Paris of Troy presented the golden apple to Aphrodite, goddess of love, setting in motion the cascade of events that led to the Trojan wars. Apples are nourishing and building and are a good sexual tonic, especially for men. Try eating an apple dipped in honey, followed by a cup of warm milk spiced with cardamom and saffron. This remedy combines the sexually rejuvenative effects of apple, milk, honey, cardamon and saffron. You could use almond milk for a vegan alternative. You can also make honey apple pulp. Peel and core five apples and blend them to a pulp. Add an eighth of a teaspoon of ground cardamon, a pinch each of saffron and nutmeg, ten drops of rosewater and some honey to taste. Enjoy this treat an hour after your supper, to support your sexual energy and help overcome problems like premature ejaculation.

Third, pears. My Dad loved to make expressionist still life paintings featuring pears. Their voluptuous shape suggests their aphrodisiac properties. Known in Sanskrit as amrita phalam, fruit of immortality or nectar fruit, pears were revered in ancient India and China as a symbol of immortality. In Roman mythology they were sacred to Juno, the mother, Venus, goddess of love and Pomona, goddess of fruitful abundance and orchards. When pears are in season, be sure to include them in your diet. You can also share a delicious pear treat with your beloved, such as pear rabri or pear barfi, both of which combine the aphrodisiac benefits of pear, milk and cardamon.

Fourth, we have apricot, a wonderful building and aphrodisiac fruit, rich in Vitamin C and beta carotene. Eat fresh or dried apricots with your beloved or enjoy a healthy treat of Apricot Bliss Balls rolled in crushed pistachios.

Fifth, watermelon, another tonic and aphrodisiac fruit. Enjoy a slice of watermelon with a pinch of cardamon, or drink watermelon juice. For the greatest Viagra-like effect of watermelon, though, you need to eat the rind, which contains the vasodilator citrulline, used in the body’s nitric oxide system. In India, nothing goes to waste, and watermelon rind is cooked and curried as a vegetable.

Number six is banana, another renowned building and aphrodisiac fruit and a source of antioxidants such as glutathione, delphidin and rutin. In India, the entrance to the wedding hall is flanked with banana plants For a delicious pick-me-up, chop together two bananas, five figs (preferably fresh), five dates and two teaspoons of honey. Add a pinch of cardamom and two pinches of ginger powder.

Seventh, grapes. In Greek mythology, grapes have their own God, Dionysius, who is the original vintner and the disseminator of the art of viniculture. He wandered around, conducting this mission, accompanied by wild and intoxicated Maenads. He must have made his way to India, because grapes have been cultivated there for thousands of years, and feature in the Ayurvedic texts. Sweet and astringent varieties like Concord grapes are favoured in Ayurveda. For low libido and sexual debility, combine one cup of diluted Concord grape juice, one pinch of pippali (long pepper), and half a teaspoon of turbinado sugar. For vata add half a teaspoon of ashwagandha, for pitta half a teaspoon of shatavari and drink one hour before bedtime.

And as number eight, here comes my favourite, the King of Fruits, mango. Mango is comforting, tonic, a heart tonic, aphrodisiac and a semen promoter. Enjoy well-ripened mangoes in season. I am so excited that mango season will be starting soon! You can blend mango and warm cardamom milk together or eat a sliced mango and follow it with a cup of warm cardamom milk or saffron milk. Mango mixed with milk calms vata and pitta, is tasty, nourishing, tonic, aphrodisiac, and improves complexion. It is sweet and cooling.

Number nine, melon. In Ayurveda, melon is seen as a nourishing tonic and aphrodisiac. It is a wonderful source of Vitamin C, folate and Vitamin K, as well as being rich in antioxidants. When they are in season, enjoy a nourishing breakfast of fresh melon. Don’t waste the rind. You can apply it to your face to tone the skin and heal acne.

Our tenth and last aphrodisiac fruit is pomegranate. Spilling over with fertility in the form of rich, ruby-red seeds, pomegranate is a symbol of Divine Mother and of the Madonna, as beautifully portrayed by Botticelli, in his painting Madonna of the Pomegranate. Pomegranate is nourishing, rejuvenating and promotes semen production. Enjoy a glass of pomegranate juice daily to increase libido. It will lift your mood as well.

With so many wonderful fruits to delight our senses and nourish our bodies and minds, we have an array of delicious aphrodisiac options throughout the year.

February 07, 2022

Five Aphrodisiac Foods

February 07, 2022/ Alandi Ashram

Today, with Valentine’s Day just around the corner, let’s talk about five important aphrodisiac foods. Not only will these foods help you get in the mood for love; more importantly, regular use of these foods will help support your fertility and sexual energy.

First up, cow’s milk. We’ve previously discussed milk in the context of the daily rejuvenative diet. Milk is also revered as a food that supports your reproductive tissue and helps raise libido. When I was a child in the UK, we were all given a bottle of ice-cold school milk at eleven o’clock. It always upset my digestion. When I came to study Ayurveda, I learned that milk should not be taken cold. Instead, it should be warm and spiced and taken separately from other foods. And of course, we want to use organic unhomogenized milk. There are many wonderful bedtime milk remedies to help raise libido. For example, we can boil a teaspoon of ground cardamon in a cup of milk, cool it until it’s drinkable and add honey. Alternatively, we can have a nourishing cup of saffron milk. Soak a pinch of saffron in a little hot water for twenty minutes or more, and then mix the saffron and its soak water into a cup of hot milk. For a variation on saffron milk, fry four or five almonds in ghee, put them in a blender, add a cup of hot milk and a pinch of saffron, blend and drink. If you need a stronger remedy for libido, try harnessing the aphrodisiac power of ashwagandha with that of milk. Stir a teaspoon of ashwagandha into a cup of hot milk and drink one hour before you plan to have sex. Men can also build sperm by using this remedy each morning and evening. And if you need a stronger remedy, for example, for premature ejaculation or erectile dysfunction, mix a teaspoon of ashwagandha in half a cup of water and one cup of cow’s milk and boil back to one cup total. If you don’t take milk, you can substitute fresh, homemade almond milk in these remedies.

Second, ghee, also part of the daily rejuvenative diet. Ghee made from cow’s milk supports sperm production and is considered an important aphrodisiac or vajikarana food. To harness its aphrodisiac effects, you can add ghee to any of the milk remedies we just mentioned. If you are vata, you might enjoy as much as a tablespoon of ghee in cardamon milk or saffron milk; if you are pitta, a teaspoon is good. For kapha, limited amounts of ghee should be taken. You can also use special medicated aphrodisiac ghee preparations such as shatavari ghee and ashwagandha ghee. And for a daily rejuvenative and aphrodisiac treat, combine a teaspoon of ghee and a teaspoon of honey and eat it in the morning.

And, yes, honey is the third aphrodisiac food on the list, as well as being part of the daily rejuvenative diet. What could be more alluringly aphrodisiac than a sacred food made by beautiful bees from the sexual parts of plants? No wonder we like to call the one we love ‘honey!’ Adding honey to the spiced milk remedies we’ve discussed not only makes them more delicious; it also increases their aphrodisiac potential. And you, like Cleopatra can use honey to enhance your beauty as well. For a honey facial, take a couple of tablespoons of honey and apply it gently to your face. Leave it on for fifteen minutes and then wash off with lukewarm water. And for a honey hair treatment, mix a tablespoon of coconut oil and a tablespoon of honey and apply your hair. Wait about half an hour before shampooing it out.

Number four is garlic, a famed aphrodisiac and rejuvenative food. There are many myths describing the origins of garlic as a sacred food. In one version, Garuda, half man, half eagle, the vehicle of Vishnu, the God of Preservation, snatches away the nectar of immortality from the thunder god Indra. While he is carrying the nectar, a few drops spill on the earth. From this nectar, garlic springs up. This lets us know that garlic, its strong smell notwithstanding, is a sacred elixir and a gift of the gods. Include garlic as a seasoning in your diet for its rejuvenative and aphrodisiac effects. Kapha can eat a clove of garlic, chopped, with half a teaspoon of grated ginger and half a teaspoon of lime juice before meals. You can combine the aphrodisiac effects of garlic and milk by making garlic milk. Mix one cup of milk, a quarter cup of water and a clove of chopped garlic and boil down to one cup. Obviously, if you are having this before sex, both of you need to drink it to avoid offending your partner with garlic breath!

Number five; almonds. Almonds support our reproductive organs as well as our overall strength and energy. Take ten soaked peeled almonds daily to strengthen semen production and improve overall energy. You can also blend ten soaked peeled almonds, a cup of hot cow’s milk, a teaspoon of ghee, a few threads of saffron, a couple of pinches of ground cardamon and a pinch of black pepper for a nourishing tonic and aphrodisiac drink. It makes a great breakfast! For a vegan alternative, use ten soaked peeled almonds, twenty soaked raisins, the soak-water from the raisins, together with a few threads of saffron, a couple of pinches of ground cardamon and a pinch of black pepper. This too is a great breakfast.

Next week, we’ll take this topic further, looking at ten aphrodisiac fruits

January 17, 2022

Secrets of Longevity 4: Daily Rejuvenative Diet

January 17, 2022/ Alandi Ashram

So, I billed Secrets of Longevity as a three-part series, but here is part 4!

I’ve spent the past week doing an intensive with my students on Kitchen Herbs and Medicinal Foods and it put me in mind of a special food list compiled by Charak, one of the great sages of Ayurveda. You’ve heard of the Mediterranean Diet, the Paleo Diet and many others. Here, I proudly present, the Charak Longevity Diet! These are the foods Charak suggests we incorporate on a daily basis.

First, rice. For Charak, rice is a vital staple food that soothes vata disorders, balances all three doshas, relieves tiredness and strengthens the reproductive system. It is especially a good staple for children and the elderly. Try incorporating basmati rice, Bhutanese red rice and black Forbidden Rice into your diet. Sometimes I like to mix red and black rice together for an extra array of phytonutrients.

Second comes mung dal. You can enjoy both whole mung beans and split yellow mung dal as well sprouted mung. The most digestible of all legumes, mung beans are rich in essential amino acids, potassium, magnesium, folate and antioxidants. They balance pitta and kapha, are beneficial for eyesight and bestow strength and energy. Combine mung and rice together by making kichari a dietary staple. You’ll also get the benefits of superfood spices like turmeric and cumin if you use the kichari recipes on our website.

Third is rock salt. While this traditionally comes from the Himalayas, you can also use Utah salt, sold under the brand name Real Salt, for the same benefits. This is the most suitable salt for pitta to use in moderation. It has a cooling energy, unlike other types of salt, and can help balance all three doshas when used judiciously. It is beneficial to the eyes, improves the sense of taste, has an aphrodisiac effect, calms hiccups and benefits the heart.

Fourth, Amlaki, a stellar antioxidant and de-ageing herb. Many people guarantee that they incorporate the amazing rejuvenative power of amlaki in their daily diet by drinking a cup of triphala tea every day. Triphala is a combination of three special rejuvenative fruits, Haritaki, Amlaki and Bibhitaki. Others prefer to take a spoonful of Chyavanprash, an amlaki-based herbal rejuvenative jam, each morning on an empty stomach. Personally, I would not like to start my day without Chyavanprash.

The fifth special food is barley. This is particularly good for kapha. Add pearl barley to your soups or make a barley-based kichari. You can also prepare sattu by roasting and grinding barley. Cook the sattu with boiling water to make a porridge favoured by the Yogis—a great instant breakfast.

Sixth is water. Charak recommends rainwater, which would have been purer in his day than it is now. At Alandi we drink delicious Artesian water from Eldorado Springs. We also keep some water in a copper vessel overnight and drink a few ounces in the morning for extra rejuvenative benefits. Be sure to drink water daily and not just coffee or tea.

Seventh is ghee. Rich in medium chain and especially short chain fatty acids, especially butyrates, which support a healthy microbiome and shut off gene expression for cancer and inflammation, Ghee does not raise cholesterol, and is high in CLA (conjugated linoleic acid), needed to build lean muscle mass and support weight loss. It is a good source of fat-soluble vitamins, including A, D, E, and K. Ghee does not contain casein or lactose. For daily use, ghee is taken with food for all who desire nourishment. It is of especial value for those affected with fatigue, loss of strength, anaemia, jaundice and eye diseases. However, wonderful as ghee is, not all people should consume it in large quantities. Children, and the elderly should have ghee only in modest amounts. Ghee should also be limited in those who have kapha-type indigestion, gastroenteritis, hangover, fever and loss of appetite.

Number eight, meat of wild animals. Wild animals get plenty of exercise and are eating their natural diet. Meat is one of the most nourishing and building foods, so wild meats such as venison and rabbit are beneficial additions to our daily food intake. One can also include here meat from range-fed cattle and bison as well as lamb from sheep that roam the hills. However, those who are practicing yoga should remain vegetarian, as this is the diet prescribed in the yogic texts.

And the magic number nine, honey. Much more than just another sweetener, honey contains B vitamins, potassium, magnesium, calcium, amino acids. Natural raw honey also contains valuable pollen and propolis constituents which benefit immunity. Honey balances all three doshas; however, fresh honey is best for pitta and older, crystallized honey is better as an expectorant, anti-fat and anti-kapha medicine.

Last but by no means least, natural unhomogenized organic milk. Milk is considered as ‘the best of all life-giving (jivaniya) substances’, since it is the pure essence of grass. Milk calms vata and pitta, increases longevity, is aphrodisiac and strengthens the bones. Drink warm milk at bedtime, spiced with cardamom, nutmeg, black pepper or saffron.

Charak was of course limited by the foods available in India at the time he was writing. I am sure he would have added olive oil if he had access to this amazing healing food. And chocolate, of course!

March 23, 2018

Cucumber

March 23, 2018/ Alandi Ashram

In English we have the phrase 'cool as a cucumber,' referring to the marvelously cooling properties of this medicinal vegetable. The coolness of cucumber has been revered in Ayurveda since ancient times, indeed, one of the Sanskrit synonyms of cucumber is sushitalam--very cooling. Cucumber is not only a delicious food for late summer and the warm days of fall--it also has many medicinal uses.

Latin Name: Cucumis sativus L.

Family: Cucurbitaceae

Sanskrit name: Trapusam; synonyms kantikphalam, sudhāvāsa, sushitalam

Hindi: Khīrā

The cucumber is native to the Himalayan foothills in the Indian subcontinent, where it forms a key part of cuisine and home remedies to this day. It was popular in the ancient world. Cucumber is listed among the products of ancient Ur and the legend of Gilgamesh describes people eating cucumbers. In the book of Numbers in the Torah, the Israelites, during their wandering in the desert, dining on manna, hanker after the foods they enjoyed in Egypt. "We remember the fish, which we did eat in Egypt freely; the cucumbers, and the melons, and the leeks, and the onions, and the garlic." Cucumbers were also an important food in ancient Rome and were a favourite food of Emperor Tiberius, according to Pliny the Elder. The phrase 'cool as a cucumber' is first found in John Gay's New Song of New Similes, written in 1732.

Pert as a pear-monger I'd be,
If Molly were but kind;
Cool as a cucumber could see
The rest of womankind.

Rasa: Astringent, sweet, slightly bitter

Virya: Shita (cooling)

Guna: Laghu (light)

Reduces Pitta

Karmas

Suppresses thirst
Relieves fatigue
Relives burning sensations
Controls haemorrhage
Pacifies difficulty in urination.
Antibacterial

Cucumber seeds are cooling, drying, diuretic and relieve diseases of pitta and blood.

Cucumber Home Remedies

Sunburn: Blend some cucumber and apply the pulp to the burned area. The cool astringency of cucumber will heal all but the worst burns.
Sunburn: Cucumber milk. Blend together a medium cucumber, half a cup of organic whole milk and half a cup of pure water. Apply this topically to sunburn or irritated skin for instant relief and drink the rest.
Summer heat: Blend together a medium cucumber, a handful of mint leaves, half a cup of organic whole milk and half a cup of pure water and drink to alleviate thirst and heat stress.
Cystitis: Drink cucumber juice to relieve burning urination.
Gout and high uric acid: drink a cup of carrot, beet cucumber juice daily. All three of these vegetables reduce uric acid; however carrots and beets tend to have a heating energy, so adding cooling cucumber to the juice blend brings balance.
Sore throat: sip cucumber juice for its cooling and antibacterial effect
Puffy eyes, dark circles: Apply a slice of cucumber to each eyelid and relax for ten minutes.
Acne, pimples: Grate ¼ cup of cucumber. Stir in1 tsp. besan flour (available from Indian grocery stores). Apply as a cooling face pack to relieve acne.
Cucumber yoni cleanse: In the Taoist White Tigress tradition of sexual health a cucumber yoni cleanse is performed weekly to maintain a clean, fresh, smelling yoni and healthy vaginal microbiome. The part of the cucumber to be inserted vaginally is peeled to allow the healing juices to seep into the vagina, while the lower part is left unpeeled to serve as a handle.

March 23, 2018

Apple | Sevam

March 23, 2018/ Alandi Ashram

We are all familiar with the adage, "An apple a day keeps the doctor away." Indeed, apple is such an important medicinal food that it has found a place in the texts of Ayurveda, where it is known as sevam (or in Hindi seb). When I lived in India in the 1980s, an apple was a rare treat, since at the time they mainly grew only in Kashmir. To be given an apple as prasad (blessed food) instead of the more common banana was a mark of the guru's special favour.

Latin name: Malus domestica Borkh.

Family: Rosaceae (Rose family)

Sanskrit: Sevam, seva, sivitikā

Hindi: Seb

Apples originated in Western Asia, a region that includes today's Turkey, Iraq, Iran, Armenia, Lebanon, Israel, Jordan, and Syria--places where agriculture had some of its earliest origins. 4-5,000 years ago, the ancient Phoenicians were cultivating apples along the Mediterranean coast. In the Song of Solomon, the beloved is compared to an apple tree, "As the apple tree among the trees of the wood, so is my beloved among the young men." Clearly, the sexually rejuvenating properties of apples were well understood at the time, for another verse of the Song of Solomon says, "Sustain me with cakes of raisins, refresh me with apples: for I am sick with love."

Apples were widely grown and eaten in the Roman Empire. In Greek mythology, Paris of Troy presented the golden apple of discord to Aphrodite, goddess of love, setting in motion the cascade of events that led to the Trojan wars.

The Jewish New Year is celebrated with apples dipped in honey to offer the promise of a sweet New Year.

European colonists brought the apple to America. Apples were spread throughout the Midwestern United States by nurseryman John Chapman, the legendary Johnny Appleseed.

Rasa: Sweet
Virya: Cooling
Vipak: Sweet
Guna: Heavy

Decreases vata and pitta

Karmas

Brimhanam (building)
Ruchyam (promotes taste and appetite)
Shukral (Promotes semen)

Apple home remedies

Debility, convalescence: Give warm apple juice spiced with cinnamon and clove to help restore taste, appetite and strength.
Gastritis, colitis, cystitis: Cool (not chilled) apple juice helps calm burning sensations. A few fresh mint leaves could be added.
Dysentery: Stewed peeled apple with goat milk is a great dysentery recipe; if mother's milk is available it is even better.
Diarrhoea or dysentery: Peel and stew two apples; add a pinch of nutmeg, a pinch of saffron and 1 tsp. ghee.
Migraine Headache: eat an apple first thing in the morning, sprinkled with salt. Follow this with warm water. Continue this remedy for a several days at a time to help reduce frequency of migraines.
Depression: Eat an apple dipped in honey and follow with a cup of warm milk spiced with cardamom or saffron. Continue this remedy daily as a brain tonic.

Dr. Lad's honey apple pulp

Good for heart and circulatory tonic, varicose veins, sexual debility, arthritis.

Ingredients:

5 apples
Raw honey to taste
1/8 tsp. cardamom powder
1 pinch saffron
1 pinch nutmeg
10 drops rosewater

Method

Remove the skins and the core from the apples .
Blend or mash to a pulp.
Add honey, spices and rosewater and mix thoroughly. Eat this one hour after your meal.

Sources: Bhavprakash, Ayurvedic Cooking for Self-Healing by Usha and Vasant Lad

February 24, 2018

Clove | Lavanga

February 24, 2018/ Alandi Ashram

While many of us are familiar with using clove or clove oil for toothache, there are many more home remedies that make use of clove's numerous healing properties, including expectorant, digestant, antifungal and antibacterial capabilities.

February 24, 2018

Nutmeg

February 24, 2018/ Alandi Ashram

Known in Ayurveda as jātīphala, nutmeg is used in many cuisines around the world, including Indonesian, Indian and Japanese.

November 02, 2017

Bitter Gourd as Food and Medicine

November 02, 2017/ Alandi Ashram

Looking like crinkly cucumbers, bitter gourds are famed for their healing properties and used in an array of recipes and remedies. Learn more about health benefits of bitter gourd.

October 24, 2017

Ghee, the golden ambrosia

October 24, 2017/ Alandi Ashram

Ghee is one of the foods virtually synonymous with Ayurveda. Learn how classical Ayurvedic texts celebrate the virtues and uses of ghee as a food and medicine.

October 04, 2017

Garlic: Cloves of immortality

October 04, 2017/ Alandi Ashram

Renowned for its medicinal properties, famed as a seasoning, yet shunned by some for its strong smell and qualities of tamas, garlic is a controversial medicinal food. Learn more about its benefits and how to use it in home remedies.