We do know this already: fresh AND easy to digest protein is not only important to boost our daily immunity and pacify all doshas, but it’s also necessary to help us manage our mental and emotional stress. Ayurveda finally helps us make sense out of what would otherwise accelerate into a vertiginous abyss of passive/aggressive mood swings. You need good food to face stressful situations and times. Now more than ever! But that’s the catch – cooking can be a chore. How to eat well, stay mentally sane and emotionally balanced, and not get physically exhausted from cooking? Make sure you are getting a good daily ration of protein. Protein grounds us, nourishes our bodily tissues, gives us strength and endurance, and supports our agni. For those of us who are not vegetarian, sustainably sourced and ethically farmed chicken and fish are important; for the vegetarians, adding ghee, milk products (fresh cheese, yoghurt, etc) is an important intake of animal protein. If you are vegan however – and we know that soy is NOT an option anymore for so many reasons – it is even more important to make sure you are getting enough protein in your food. This is why Vaidya made available for us these wonderful vegan sources of instant protein – from dumplings (vadi-s), to powders for shakes and dressings, to omg-how-delicious kichdi-s! Best of all all they need is for you to add warm water to be able to consume them. Your imagination is the limit of course for going all fancy and investing a few more minutes, but if you are in need of soothing instant proteinous recipes from dumplings to creamy shakes, then you must try one or all of our offerings. See below for the recipes. Enjoy!
Instant Vegan Savory Protein Shake
Instant Sweet Kulthi Protein Shake for High Pitta People!
DON’T FORGET
2 most important ingredients
you should NEVER skim on
Oils/Fats that Clog and Inflame the Arteries
In America, we have been sensitized for decades to the so-called noxious role that fat and oils play in our body in general, ignoring the fact that the fats and oils we were being fed or pushed to consume were either highly processed or industrially manufactured and toxic. Most of us grew up on vegetable and other poor quality processed cooking oils such as: sunflower, safflower, canola, peanut oil, corn oil, margarine, and other processed fats. Did you know that when you heat these oils for cooking their molecular structure becomes resistant and indigestible much like a plastic molecule, and they easily become blocked and clog your arteries? When you also get calcium deposits on top of this situation, forming plaque, this not only further raises the blood pressure but the arteries get hardened as well. So you then have: inflammation, clogging, and hardening of the arteries.
Switching to only home-made ghee (or Vaidya’s “Mom’s Ghee”) and olive oil will be the best thing you can do. Fat is what nourishes your brain and so many other functions and organ systems in your body. Eating good quantities of healthy fat daily is your first ayurvedic step towards optimal health.
Salt
Salt is the second most important ingredient in your diet. Much like fats/oil, it’s another ingredient we ingest daily. However, usually the answer or solution has been to completely eliminate or significantly reduce the salt in the diet when there are irregularities with blood pressure, water retention or weight gain, or other imbalances. Ayurveda teaches us that the salty taste is one of the essential six tastes that we need to have on a daily basis for mental and physical balance, so eliminating salt completely is not really the solution even if it is necessary sometimes. But this is what we do need to understand and consider: the highly processed salt available to us in the modern diet is mainly composed of sodium and chloride, which increases the blood pressure over a lifetime. So it is not salt itself which is the culprit, but the kind of salt that you are using. Did you now that in ancient vedic culture, there were more than a dozen different salts to choose from? Vaidya Mishra brought us the best one and he called it “Soma Salt.” This type of salt collected from the Himalayan mountainous rocks is referred to as the “Queen of Salts” in ayurvedic texts. It contains many other minerals, besides sodium and chloride, which also aid in keeping your blood pressure low throughout your life. Soma Salt carries many beneficial properties, in addition to its unique taste. A little pinch is enough to flavor your food without imbalancing your body. My only caution is you do not opt for the pink Himalayan salt variety which is also gathered from the same source but carries different chemical make-up. Even though natural, it is high in sulfur content and may actually have adverse effects as Vaidya also explained. Monitoring your salt intake and switching to a better salt is another essential step towards your healthier regimen.
Dear Course Participants – we meet next week for our next session – you must have all received the email last week. You will be receiving one more with additional details about upcoming sessions. Namaste!
If you have any questions, do not hesitate to contact us at: info@prana-center.com, or call us: 1.818.709.1005
Calendar of Upcoming Events
looking for a live SVA event in your area or online?
Check out our Calendar page for upcoming courses and community events & for full contact and registration details:
