netra basti

EYE HEALTH

| herbalgeek

Recently I had my annual eye examination and my eye doctor was promoting a dietary supplement for the maintenance of eye health. She did not ask me anything about my diet and just stated that I could not get enough of these nutrients in my diet. Being a clinical herbalist and Ayurvedic wellness counselor, I know full well that my diet probably covers these vitamins and nutrients, I just smiled and let her provide me with the brochure for the product that she was promoting.  

That appointment did get me thinking: How can I better nourish and care for my eyes to keep them healthy and to slow down any further deterioration?

Today I would like to share with you some ways to nourish and protect your eye health focusing on a couple of vitamins and some practices for you to incorporate into your daily routine.

Vitamin A is important for maintaining eye health by reducing night blindness as well as age related macular degeneration. The recommended daily allowance (RDA) is 700-900 mcg for adults. Some very good food sources to get vitamin A in your diet are: cooked sweet potato, cooked winter squash, cooked kale, collards and other dark leafy greens, carrots, mangos and papaya. For a point of reference, 1 cup of cooked sweet potato provides us with over 1800 mcg of vitamin A.

Lutein & Zeaxanthin are helpful in reducing the risk of chronic eye diseases such as age related macular degeneration, cataracts and protects the eyes from the ultra violet rays of the sun. The recommended daily allowance (RDA) is 10 mg for lutein and 2 mg for zeaxanthin. Good food sources to achieve this in your daily diet is through the consumption of cooked spinach and other dark leafy greens, cooked squashes like zucchini and pumpkin, broccoli and Brussel sprouts, asparagus and carrots. And here as reference 1 cup of cooked spinach provides us with over 20 mg of lutein and zeaxanthin.

For me it is easy-peasy to get these nutrients into my diet as I eat mostly fresh organic plants and whole grains. If you are new to eating real whole foods and want to check out your foods nutrients, I found a fun interactive website: https://myfooddata.com/ that you may enjoy exploring.

When our eyes get tired and strained it is our body’s signal that we need to stop staring at our screens or books. Take a little break. Get up from your desk, stretch, go make a cup of herbal tea, take a short walk outside, refresh your eyes simply by spritzing our eyes with a little rosewater, closing your eyes and cover with cucumber slices for 10-15 minutes.

When being outdoors to avoid the damaging rays of the sun, one should always wear good quality sunglasses and avoid squinting. If you are wearing sunglasses and you are still squinting from the brightness, you should find darker sunglasses that will help your eyes from straining. If nothing more than vanity, squinting gives you wrinkles around your eyes and who needs more wrinkles?

Ayurveda recommends performing eye exercises to strengthen our eyes which do not require any special equipment and will help with the flexibility and strength of the eye muscles. One practice is staring at the flame of a ghee lamp (or taper candle) for as long as you can tolerate it without blinking and then looking at an object in the distance. Finish by rubbing your palms together to warm them and gently place over your closed eyes. Another practice is rolling your eyes clockwise / counterclockwise several times and when your eye muscles start to feel strained, again rub your palms together and gently cover your closed eyes for several minutes or cover your eyes with a warm compress and allow the eyes to rest in the darkness for several minutes.

Dry eyes are a common complaint these days. Simple ways to relieve dry eye are again to take a break from your desk or screen, spritz your eyes with rosewater, ensure that you are drinking enough water each day. Consuming only coffee and tea can be very drying to the body. Ensure that your diet contains omega 3 fatty acids. Have a Netra basti treatment. Netra means eye and is best performed by a qualified Ayurvedic practitioner who first places a dough ring around each of your eyes that creates a sealed barrier to the skin to allow the pouring of warm ghee into the eyes to remain there so the eyes can absorb all the nourishment and oleation into the body. 

Castor oil is a wonderful treatment that you can give yourself as well to treat tired dry eyes. Ensure that the castor oil you use is organic and safe for internal use. Before bed, put a drop of castor oil into each eye and also rub castor oil onto the soles of your feet and put on cotton socks so that the oil will not stain your sheets. You will wake in the morning with fresh and bright eyes and softer feet too!

In summary: eat a diet that is rich in fresh organic vegetables, omega 3 fatty acids, ensure that you do not over strain your eyes, do eye exercises to increase their flexibility and strength and you may be able to help your eyes to stay healthier and not deteriorate due to age related issues.

Be Well!

Fall Allergies

| herbalgeek
Beautiful glorious goldenrod.

I remember one time when I was young, I proudly returned home after picking a wonderful colorful bouquet of wildflowers from the fields close to home. The star of the bouquet was the beautiful vibrant yellow goldenrod, (Solidago Canadensis). My mother, in the midst of suffering from fall allergies promptly banned my beautiful bouquet from the house as she like others believed that goldenrod was to be blamed for her fall allergies.  At that time she did not know it was ragweed, (Ambrosia), that was her fall arch nemesis. While both plants are in the Asteracea family, only ragweed has pollen that will fly through the air to get into mucosal membranes and cause distress.

For those who suffer with fall allergies, glorious golden rod is an ally not an enemy!

Goldenrod is a very effective mucus cutter, an anti-catarrhal (eliminates mucus conditions). It is also a beautiful natural anti-histamine. I instinctively knew that the plant would be good for my mother, but she was not ready to accept plant medicine!

If goldenrod is available to safely harvest (from a field free of pesticides or roadside pollutants), I might make a tea from the leaves and flowers to help with my congestion. The therapy of inhaling the lovely scent of goldenrod as well as its lovely color brings me joy.  

If goldenrod is not available, I might steep a lovely preparation of:

  1. Thyme with a little honey.
  2. Fresh ginger, cinnamon, licorice.
  3. Freshly grated ginger.
  4. Ginger, clove and cinnamon

For me, the worst part of suffering from allergies are dry, itchy, irritated eyes.  When my eyes get super itchy and dry, which is not only during allergy season but after spending too many hours staring at a computer screen, I love to give them a lovely spray of organic rosewater which imparts some moisture as well as cools the heat on my eyeballs. If that doesn’t provide me with enough temporary relief, I will cut a couple of cucumber slices and place them over my closed eyelids and take a 10-15 minute break from my day. I might also make a triphala tea, strain it very well and pour into my eye cups and rinse my eyes. Once I am done rinsing my eyes I would let my eyes rest for awhile and allow my eyelids enjoy the cooling effects of some cucumber slices. In Ayurveda, a treatment to help with dry eyes and also nourish the eye tissue is called netra basti. To do this treatment one takes a whole wheat ring of dough and place it around the eyes, creating a well and ensure it is sealed to the skin to make it water tight. Then warm ghee is poured into the eyes and you blink your eyes open and closed for a period of time. This is best performed by a practitioner who knows how to safely do this.

If my nose is running and I am coughing up phlegm as my body is trying to eliminate the pollen and other foreign matter from my system, I might add some of the following herbs to my daily routine as a tea or incorporate them into the foods that I am preparing. I would think about pungent foods that disperse mucus, such as: chiles, hot peppers, garlic, onion, turnip, cabbage, ginger, radish. Adding herbs that will act as drying expectorants, such as cardamom, cinnamon, cloves, dry ginger and mustard seed.  To help lungs clear excess mucus, in addition to using the above mentioned foods and herbs, I would add black pepper and thyme to my cooking and perhaps supplementing with trikatu (an Ayurvedic formula for equal parts of dry ginger, black pepper and pippali). If my lungs and throat felt irritated I might add some marshmallow for its soothing demulcent properties. I would also be thinking about foods that I eat for colds and flu.

As always, your best defense in combating allergies, colds, flus and maintaining your vibrant health is to ensure that you are eating a diet that is nutrient dense and limiting your consumption of processed foods, white flour and refined sugar.

Be gentle, kind and loving to your body. It is your home for this lifetime.