Tips to Treat Colds and Flu the 'Natural' Way

Catching a cold during the Winter season is quite common.It can be a very bothersome illness that ends up ruining your holiday plans.

The person may exhibit symptoms such as a stuffed nose, sore throat,coughing,congestion, sneezing and mild to heavy body aches along with sneezing.

Let’s take a look at the Ayurvedic perspective on common colds and some of the effective remedies that can be used to treat them.

Common Cold (In Ayurveda)

Illness or disease is caused as a result of an imbalance in the elements (life forces) that make up your body. This imbalance can be caused by several other factors. In the case of common cold, the body’s immunity takes a dip when the outside temperature goes down. The cold weather dampens your body’s digestive fire (agni) and as a result, affects your body’s immunity. This is eventually what causes common cold.

Why is agni so important to your body’s immune system? It burns away body toxins known as ama. When agni is dimmed, it fails to eliminate the body’s ama fully. These residual toxins accumulate and eventually clog up your body’s microchannels,inflaming tissues and generating phlegm. Combined with the toxins, the phlegm forms mucus. In short, a weakened immune system transforms your body’s bheej-bumi (body soil), now tainted with ama into a fertile breeding ground for viruses.

What you should and shouldn’t do to prevent common cold

Changes in Diet

Besides the obvious cold foods that you must stay away from this season such as ice-cream and yogurt, Ayurveda also recommends that you avoid foods that slow down your digestive fire. This includes tomatoes , eggplant and bananas.

Warm up your insides with healthy spices

It is time to stack up your spice-rack with ama-burning, heat generating spices. This includes cumin, black pepper, coriander, clove (boiled with milk) etc.

Turmeric is the ideal spice that is great at clearing your body toxins (ama) and boosting immunity. It is also a traditionally recommended home remedy that helps cure cold symptoms and make you feel energized. Add a quarter teaspoon of turmeric into your veggies every now and then.

Although cakes and desserts are usually slow to digest. You needn’t fully abstain from treating yourself to a delicious slice every now and then.A good idea would be to incorporate bay leaf and cardamom and cinnamon into your dessert and cake recipes.

Read more

ayurveda hospitals in kerala

Location: Alappuzha, Kerala, India

Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

Easy Exercises for Knee Arthritis

Image
Strengthening and conditioning the leg muscles increases the muscles’ shock-absorbing ability as well as stability & flexibility in the joints, thus minimizing the effects and progression of arthritis in the knee and foot. Here are 5 exercises that are good for knee and foot arthritis: 1. Sit and Stand A very simple exercise, it requires you to sit down on a chair and stand up. It helps to mobilize the knees while building up the muscles. Use a higher chair and do it slowly by paying attention to the motion. Do at least 10 to 12 times a day. 2. Knee Squats Another exercise that can be done for knee and foot arthritis is knee squat. Stand straight and stretch your hands and gradually lower your upper body to a squatting position, then stand up. This exercise helps lower pain and inflammation. Try and do at least 10 times a day. 3. Seated Leg Stretches Sit on the floor with your back against a wall and stretch your legs before you. Then slowly bend one of your knees until you can ben...
Read more

7 Yoga Poses To Strengthen Your Immune System Against Covid-19

Image
Practicing yoga regularly helps to increase our blood flow, reduce stress and also promote our lymphatic system which is responsible for clearing out our body toxins; overall thus, increasing the immunity. Here are 4 key yoga poses to boost your immunity – 1. Pranayama An integral part of the yoga practice for decades, Pranayama clears the respiratory tract and improves its resistance level and helps boost our immune system. Steps – • Sit on a mat with legs crossed in a spacious room. • Keep your head straight and your spine erect. With your face forward, and your eyes pointing to the nose tip, close your eyes and sit relaxed. • Take a deep breath slowly, hold it as much as you can and exhale it slowly. Do this for about 5 times. 2. Balasana Known as Child’s pose, this benefits the immune system. Steps – • Sit on the mat with your knees bent and at least a hip width apart. • Bend your body and rest it on the top of your thighs. Keep your forehead on the floor. • Place your arms next to...
Read more