Dear Dr. I have been your follower for many years and have  been using your wonderful creations.  I have a question which I’ve been wanting to ask you for a long tome. I am 45 year old female well balanced with normal weight. I wanted to ask which supplements I can use for severe constipation. I eat healthy but nothing helps. My stool is heavy and sticky. Please help.

Alexa

Vaidya replies:

Dear Alexa: looks like you might be eating something which is enhancing absorption in your column; or it could also be that stress in your daily life is disturbing the communication between prana vata that governs the mind, and apana vata that governs the colon. So first step would be for you to find out if you are using too much cumin or pomegranate in your diet? Or any other dry or drying foods – too many salty snacks would be a good example for this. If you are, then   stop doing so.

Then:

• Add more vegetables to your diet, specially zucchini squash and yellow crookneck squash. Make sure you have them in some form with at least one meal a day.
• Make a drink with 20% yogurt and 80% water, mix in well and drink with your lunch.
• Eat on time! Never delay or skip your meals.
• Use balanced tri-doshic spice blends such as Mum’s Masala.
• Soma Salt will be best for you, switch to use only that, because common table salt can increase absorption and may cause constipation.
• Make sure you have enough water during the day.
• For you condition, instead of giving you a powerful purgative, I would first try to gently initiate changes that can restore your body’s natural ability to discharge your bowels normally. So I would recommend using my SVA Prakrit Transdermal cream on your lower spine at bedtime, to improve the communication between your apana vata and prana vata. Then, apply the SVA  Anushudhi cream on your lower abdomen. This will further support the downward flow of apana vata.
• Adding prune and tamarind chutney to your dinners at night. This chutney will enhance the balance between absorption and elimination. Finally, you can also take one or two tablets of SVA Prakrit, to re-ignite the intelligence of elimination in your colon. Do all these things and let us know.

Dear Vaidya,

Thank you for this beautiful summer recipe! All of your continued efforts in sharing Ayurveda are greatly appreciated. I am wondering why you selected carrots as a base over say a cucumber which is such a soma rich food?

Respectfully,

Traci

Vaidya replies:

Excellent question Traci. Other easily available fruits or vegetables are widely used in Summer smoothies and juice drinks. Both carrots and cucumbers are rich in vitamins and nutrients: carrots are a very good source of biotin, vitamin K, dietary fiber, molybdenum, potassium, vitamin B6, and vitamin C. They are also a good source of manganese, niacin, vitamin B1, panthothenic acid, phosphorus, folate, copper, vitamin E, and vitamin B2; while cucumbers have vitamin K and molybdenum; pantothenic acid; copper, potassium, manganese, vitamin C, phosphorus, magnesium, biotin, and vitamin B1. They also contain the important nail health-promoting mineral silica. But there is a reason why, in ayurvedic terms, we can elect one over the other, as I did, in my recipe.

I chose carrot because, unlike cucumber, it has both soma and agni – water and fire! It is not as cold or somagenic as cucumbers. In addition, in this specific recipe where I use orange, it helps balance against the sharpness and acidity of the orange juice. This recipe was made and meant to be cooling – but not freezing. The greatest error that is made all the time when trying to cool off pitta or heat is to freeze it. The greatest skill and in-depth knowledge is illustrated when one is able to cool off pitta without totally freezing it and then further aggravating it due to that freezing. Pitta is a very delicate dosha to balance, it needs the exact amount of coolness but also needs to maintain some heat. Remember that pitta is made up of fire and water. It is not fire through and through.

In general, however, when I give out recipes, I want to make sure that they are tridoshic. For example, if someone is experiencing a mild kapha imbalance, they should also be able to use the recipe without suffering further kapha aggravation. Pitta pacifying recipes should not be freezing for the channels and tissue agnis.

This juice recipe is very balanced but it also tastes good. Using cucumber instead of the carrot will alter the taste and it may not taste that great. This is a time-tested recipe from my family that has received a lot of recognition, because it does not cause any bloating after drinking. In general, drinking raw juices dilute your digestive enzymes and can immediately result in bloating and/or gas. Some people will experience this earlier than others based on the strength of their digestive system. This recipe carries a balanced ratio of some and agni ingredients so it rehydrates from the heat, stokes digestive agni, and maintains and supports soma for further cooling. But it is a great favorite because it also tastes great! Enjoy it!

Namaste,

Now a days we don’t get raw milk in the supermarkets, its pasteurized and homogenized. Do you still suggest to add all the spices mentioned while boiling the milk? Also I wanted to ask can I add Ashwagandha along with other spices in the milk for my 4 year old daughter ?

THANKS

Sheetal

Vaidya replies:

Dear Sheetal: I would not suggest using Ashwagandha for your 4 year old daughter. It is too pitta provoking and energizing for her. For your four year old girl, the milk with pods of green cardamom, add a tiny chunk of cinnamon stick. Cardamom will enhance the digestion of the protein molecules of the milk; and the cinnamon will enhance the digestion of sugar molecules of the milk. These two spices are very good for young children.

As to your other question, boiled raw milk is the best thing to consume; however, if you are not able to get it in your area, try to find organic milk that is only pasteurized but not homogenized – this is your next best option. There are several dairy companies who makes this available these days, nation-wide. One particular brand I can think of is called the Strauss Dairy Family Farms. Their pasteurized non-homogenized milk should be available in most health food stores and supermarkets nation wide. Try to get that one.

Dear Dr Mishra

I am 51 and I suffer from Rosacea and pustules – please what would you recommend. My skin condition on my face is gradually getting worse. I am vegetarian and only have 2 cups of tea daily. Also drink jeera and sonf water also green tea. Drink Lassi as well. Eat lots of fruit and veg and have cut back on bread, fried foods, spices and chillies. What else can I do to help myself. Also I have a creaky knee and dry eyes sometimes watery with floaters. Can ghee with triphala help my eyes?

Many thanks

Amarjeet

Vaidya replies:

I think you would greatly benefit from an over-the-phone ayurvedic consultation with SVA expert Dr. Marianne Teitelbaum. But, in the meantime, from what you write, it looks like you are doing some things that are provoking your pitta dosha. As per Ayurveda, both rosacea and your eye problem are due to pitta aggravation. Your rosacea indicates bhrajak pitta aggravation, which gets further aggravated when you expose yourself to the sun. Your eye problem is due to alochak pitta aggravation. Both these pitta sub-doshas are rooted in the pachak pitta of the stomach, and the ranjak pitta of the liver. Anything hot and spicy, foods or drinks, will aggravate your bhrajak pitta of the skin, and alochak pitta of the eyes.

• My first recommendation would be for you to stop eating hot and spicy food. 
• Second: always eat on time – eat every 3-4 hours.
• Then: pacify your pitta by using my SVA Pitta Masala in your cooking.
• You can also try out my SVA pitta tea instead of the “jeera and saunf tea” you are drinking. The pitta tea is a balanced mixture of herbs and spaces that will target all your pitta subdoshas and give cooling relief.
• Mind the sun: when bhrajak pitta is aggravated, your sensitivity to the sun increases. When pachak pitta and ranjak pitta are aggravated you will experience additional pitta imbalances affecting other organs, as well as your overall mood, and setting things into a circle of imbalance that may be hard to break out of or reverse, unless you use the proper steps. In this picture, the key is to cool your liver without freezing it! Less exposure to the sun will definitely help with this. Along with the list of all these other tips I am giving you.

• Eat warming foods and spices that will not freeze your pitta organs. This is a very delicate balance to achieve, but that’s the objective of my SVA Pitta Masala and SVA Pitta Tea. For the Pitta Tea, use 1 teaspoon per 8 oz water, drink a cup twice a day.
• In addition, apply DGL Transdermal Cream on the stomach area and the liver (on the right side below your rib cage) after lunch and dinner.
• Also apply DGL Transdermal cream on your liver before going to bed.
• Make sure you have good bowel movements daily, because good bowel movements release the toxic pitta accumulated in your physiology on a daily basis. If your bowel movements are not good, if they tend to be slower, use Triphala for high pitta – 1 or two capsules at night before bed. Ideally, you should have at least one if not two good bowel movements every day.
• Never skip or delay meals – as this will unnecessarily further aggravate your pitta.
• Don’t go out in the sun for extended exposure. Protect yourself when you do.
• Specifically don’t go out in the sun  when you are hungry or thirsty or emotionally upset! In SV Ayurveda, we capitalize on a total holistic approach. Although rosacea and your eye problem are manifesting in the skin and the eyes, you need to address the root of your problems rather than the symptomatic expressions of it. The root lies in your stomach and your liver.
• The third main factor in your situation is your “sadhak pitta” – the pitta subdosha which governs the emotional heart. When your sadhak pitta is high, it also aggravates your alochak pitta, as well as your bhrajak pitta. This is one reason why, when people are angry, their face and eyes turn red. To pacify your sadhak pitta, use the SVA Samadhi Set with Ashoka (not Arjuna). Apply some Ashoka cream or roll-on on your talahridiya marma, or heart marma points. You can also apply the SVA cooling Aloe Sandalwood cream  on your rosacea areas on your face –  a very thin layer. At night, apply a very thin layer of Triphala ghee on your temples and eyelids before going to bed.

Try these and let us know. To reach Dr. Teitelbaum for an ayurvedic consult, call: 1.856.786.3300. Thank you.