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With the building starting on our house, I'm in the middle of finishing my Ayurvedic Medical degree, and my old laptop finally dying, I took a little bit of a break.  But I finally broke down and bought another laptop, as school was getting too crazy typing papers on my tablet.  Because this is so much easier, I think with Jaiden's help, I should start putting out blogs again once a week.  I have a whole stack of questions and blog ideas from friends, Jaiden's friends, patients, Will's coworkers, and people in my classes.  The main request I have been getting is budget meals.  Next vegetarian meals that aren't weird, lol.  How to eat a western diet and follow their individual doshas.  Diet plans and cleansing for the different doshas.  Why artificial flavors, colors, GMOs, gums, etc., are bad.  If I missed anything, please remind me, lol.  Always feel free to send new questions. If I reference you, I will change your name if used in a blog to conceal your privacy.  As my Guru says, your questions are important to me if they are important to you.  They only become stupid when they aren't important to anyone.

So, for those who don't know what Ayurveda is, I will give a short description.  Ayu means life, and Veda means knowledge.  So, in other words, Ayurveda is the Sanskrit name for the science of life or the science of preserving life.  Or as Will says it's the Indian Philosophy of "You are what you eat".  It's at least 5,000 years old.  Ayurveda has a holistic approach that focuses on balancing body, mind and spirit.  Using diet, herbs, yoga, meditation, massage, and several other treatments.  It believes that there are three doshas or body types, Vata, Pitta, and Kapha.  Though it still believes that every person is different from everyone else on the planet.  Making everyone's treatment and lifestyle completely different from everyone else.  This is my strong belief as to why fad diets work for some but not all.  Just like snowflakes, no two humans are the same.

I stumbled upon natural healing, noticing odd similarities in people with certain body types and born in certain areas at certain times of the year, while I was working in home health as a hospice nurse.  I thought I was going crazy, to be honest.  Then I had an amazing patient whom I will be calling E.W., who refused to give up after being diagnosed with stage four spinal cancer, she had compromised kidneys, severe constipation, and two stents in her heart.  When I was assigned to her, she had been diagnosed with 6 months left to live.  But the fighter in her refused to believe that was the end.  So, we started going to the library and picking up books on healing by changing your diet.  We got a whiteboard and made a list of what she could eat on a renal diet, oncology diet, cardiac diet, then went through her medications which had their own food restrictions.  Once we crossed off everything she couldn't eat, we made a list of everything she could eat.  We found that with her chemo treatments, soups, smoothies and bread were what she found most comforting.  Looking back on what we figured worked through trial and error, I would say a Vata diet agreed with her the most.  For those of you who love a happy ending.  She is still with us, 17 years later, living with her family now in Orange County, still following the same diet.  She will be turning 100 this year!

For me, I kept researching.  I finally found my answers during Covid.  I kept being diagnosed with Covid even though my test results kept showing negative... Long story short, I went to an ayurvedic hospital after allopathic medicine literally gave up on me and told me they didn't know what was wrong with me.  First thing they did was put me through a panchakarma(cleanse) along with herbs and other treatments....it killed my parasitic infection that was killing me.  Not long after my recovery, I received a partial scholarship and have been in school, working on my Ayurvedic Medical degree ever since.  My goal is to help those who feel like I did.  I think a lot of Western doctors do try their best.  Sadly, most allopathic medicine doesn't put a lot of stock in diet, herbs, and lifestyle.  

The first day of school in my Introduction to Ayurvedic Medicine class, my teacher had a slide up for everyone that said 98% of all illnesses don't need a doctor to treat.  That hit me hard when you think everyone has the ability to treat themselves.  Of course, at some point in every illness, they get to the stage where intervention is needed.  If you are unsure, seeking medical help is highly advised.  If you are proactive and listen to your body most diseases can be prevented.   

People complain to me that the kapha diet seems like it has the most restrictive diet by Western standards.  It doesn't seem like there is much left to eat when you look at its restrictions.  I promise you there is plenty to eat still.  Lol, I like to call it the western diet of the 1980s.  Those of you alive during this time you'll remember the low salt, low sugar, low fat, low cholesterol craze.  Mrs. Dash, Equal, Lean Cuisine, Healthy Choice, Diet Coke, Crystal light, Bud Light, they all came out during the 1980s.  This is the diet I grew up eating, which for a Pitta was horrible, lol.  I also lived on antacids and ate them with every meal.  I will start listing tweaks to each recipe if it is possible to fix them.  When you become more in sync with your body, give up unhealthy food addictions, stop eating processed foods, you will start craving what your body really needs.  You may even skip a meal because you realize that your body is still trying to digest the previous meal.  

Disclaimer:  With any diet change, make sure you are healthy enough for the change.  If you plan to make major changes to your diet, consult your doctor, since medication(s) may need to be changed.  I think using an app like MyFitnessPal, which has a free option (I am not sponsored by this app) to track calories and nutrients, is wise to prevent deficiencies.  Thank you for everyone's support, and I will see you next week!

When diet is wrong

Medicine is of no use.

When diet is correct

Medicine is of no need.

 - Ayurvedic Proverb