Recipes for prevention & caution
Modern researchers have lost access to some of the human race's oldest preserved clinical wisdom. … and unfortunately, the Ayurvedic community of vaidyas who have great clinical experience, has largely been discluded from the research and care efforts underway worldwide, partly due to their inability to articulate practical hints with modern logic.
The Why of Ancestral Wisdom to Prevent COVID
Ancient Ayurvedic wisdom offers care for 4 phases of care of infectious microbes: preventive, cautionary, mildly symptomatic, and moderately symptomatic. Unfortunately, the Ayurvedic Indian community of vaidyas who have great clinical experience has largely been discluded from the research and care efforts underway worldwide, partly due to their inability to articulate practical hints with modern logic.
Microbes are known as krimi or bhuta in Sanskrit. Ayurveda understood microbes amazingly well by focusing on what happens in humans rather than focusing on microbiology. Mistranslated as parasites and ghost by European translators in the last century, the terms krimi and bhuta actually refer to those living beings that interact with the human body but are not easily visible to the normal human eye, ie microbes. This is unfortunate because modern researchers have lost access to some of the human race's oldest preserved clinical wisdom.
Preventive care
The first phase is prevention, when a person is not infected and does not want to become infected. Understanding the corona virus, we must keep our immunity up, our lungs healthy and clean, and our gut’s digestive fires clean.
For prevention, Ayurveda offers us many plant-based formulations that do not have the side effect profiles that all pharmaceutical medicines have. They are powerful anti-virals because plants make the best anti-virals on the planet. These medicines are considered legal Ayurvedic medicines in India and as dietary supplements in the USA.
The best medicine for boosting a healthy immune system is guduchi (Tinospora cordifolia), also known as giloy or gilroy in different parts of India. Tablets and powders are easily available at Ayurveda outlets. Some of the herb companies such as Mountain Rose Herbs, Frontier Herbs, Banyan Botanicals, Organic India, and Ayush Herbs. Guduchi Sattva is one of the best preparations, available online and at kottakkal.shop, the US retailer of Arya Vaidya Sala-Kottakkal products directly from Kerala. Modern scientific research has focused on guduchi for allergies and colds, but it is effective for improving immunity of the gut too.
Guduchi is timely now, knowing its successful use over millenia boosting immunity and vyadhi-ksamatva, staving off viral infections especially at the change of seasons, rtusandhi. ME Martinez’s phenology work in PLOS Pathogens Nov 2018, doi:10.1371/journal.ppat.1007327, explains seasonal rhythms and virology in The Calendar of Epidemics, echoing rtucarya and seasonal roles for janapada-uddhvansa, epidemics.
Cautionary care
Herbs for prana-vaha-srotas (ENT+respiratory channel) have resolved patients’ self-reported post-nasal drip and respiratory discomforts for millenia. You may use fresh ginger, lemon, black pepper, pippali, guduchi, tulsi leaves, vasa, kantakari, cinnamon, cardamom and long pepper.
For mild symptoms of dry throat or post-nasal drip and dry cough with no fever, sip on 4-6 oz of decoctions twice daily. Boil herbs in water until the water boils away to half or ¼ of its original quantity.
QUICK RECIPE: boil 1 stick yastimadhu, add 1 tsp Trikatu Churna (shunthi, pippali, kali mirch), add 3 tulsi leaves, 1/8 tsp cinnamon, and 1/8 tsp saindhava lavana. Sip the decoction with happiness each morning and share with friends and family. Before your coffee or chai, sip on a fresh herbal decoction. Forego fancy teabags claiming they contain tulsi, as many are simply bleached filter paper and old herbs. Use powder only if you cannot access fresh herbs.
Keep skin moist. Try to sweat daily for 10-15 minutes before showering by doing housework, climbing stairs, or floor workouts. Check for fever in all household members if anyone has symptoms of weakness, cough, or can’t smell or taste usual strong smells.
Herbs work in the gut to keep digestion clean, gut microbiome happy, and prevent the immune system from being preoccupied with indigestible antigens in the gut. S.Anand reviewed the connections between gut and lung illnesses in 2018. doi:10.3389/fmicb.2018.02147
The importance of ruchi, the sense of hunger and appetite, is associated with a proper function of smell and taste. When loss of those perceptions occurs, known in medical language anosmia and ageusia, caution must be taken. Ayurvedic prescriptions include starting each lunch and dinner meal with a bitter dish.
Neem leaves, bitter melon/karela, or methi saag are rituals in Indian meals because they stimulate our immune system! Bitter herbs interact with taste receptors in the nose and mouth, setting off production of mucous to protect cells and prevent invasion, and activate cell hairs to sweep particles out. ENT doctors led by IW Maina showed their role in upper airway innate immunity. https://doi.org/10.1016/j/wjorl.2018.07.003
Keep the nose moist in the morning, so that microbes cannot penetrate dry parched membranes.
As spring arrives with allergy season, Nasya oil is like protective gloves for the nasal cavity! Nasya oil such as Anu Thailam is also an excellent pillar of self-care and contains the bitter herbs we need now. It keeps microbes from penetrating the mucous linings of the nose and sinus.
This time of year many people suffer with dry nose from the overactive heaters in winter homes. Use 2-4 drops daily, either in the nose before your morning walk, or after you shower, or before bed. Be sure to use a nasya oil based in sesame oil, as coconut oil is too thick for the head’s already mucous-prone canals. Opt for a cleansing Nasya oil made by someone who knows the ancient recipes and why particular ingredients are combined, rather than a holistic non-ayurvedic venture.
week 1. TheSouthAsianTimes.
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This was published on week 1 of a requested weekly column on holistic health in The South Asian Times, a New-York based newspaper for the diaspora of Bharatiya people.
Dr. Bhaswati Bhattacharya is a Fulbright Specialist 2018‐2023 in Public Health. She serves as Clinical Asst Professor of Family Medicine in the Department of Medicine at Weill Cornell Medical College in New York, NY.
Her bestselling book Everyday Ayurveda is published by Penguin Random House. To order an autographed copy, write to bhaswati@post.harvard.edu .