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 I will tell you a story. 20 years ago I was working in a small pharmacy in Summerland in the Okanagan Valley in British Columbia. It was a quiet evening and I had tome to catch up with my medical reading when I saw a little book written by a doctor about "Prevention of the common cold and flu".  The doctor wrote about his daughter who had a rare immune disease and was taking Zinc tablets. She got a sore throat and could not swallow so her father told her to suck the tablets. Within 24 hours her sore throat was gone. He father, the doctor, started to do research on the antiviral effects of Zinc and found that it stops viruses in their tracks. He found that Zinc gluconate was the best form to use. As a result I have been prescribing Zinc gluconate lozenges as a community pharmacist for decades.  When people would come into the store with a sore throat which is often the first sign of a viral respiratory infection I would sell them a box of Zinc lozenges.  The type I u...

 

  We will start by dividing the term INFLAMMATION into to types -   ACUTE which is the bodies’ protective mechanism to invaders or injury lasting for days and CHRONIC which is no longer protective to the body but has become dysfunctional and last for months and years.   It   has become a “DISEASE state’ . Chronic inflammation in allopathy is something to be managed and not considered reversible. Diseases like hay-fever, osteoarthritis, rheumatoid arthritis, inflamed gums, asthma, etc.   However now with the great advances in modern science it seems that many researchers are saying that almost all disease processes have an underlying inflammatory component.   However SVA looks at the disease process as progressive. Starting with simple imbalances in the DOSHAS which can create vague symptoms which are not easily diagnosed but can be perceived by a skilled pulse diagnostician.   These imbalances can be corrected by diet lifestyle and herbs.   The pr...

  Are you being led down a garden path thinking that the more supplements you take the healthier you will be.  Think again.  Here are a few basic facts that you need to understand when making an informed decision about which supplements to take and also how many to take. 1. Everything that you take orally has to pass into your stomach and then the intestines and then taken by the portal vein, that is the vein that takes all your digested food to your liver.  Nothing gets into your blood stream without passing through your liver first.  This is called "FIRST PASS" from the understanding of modern medicine. Your liver takes all the "dumb and dead" food, supplements, herbs, pharmaceuticals, nutraceuticals and has to change them into intelligent blood.  My goodness, your poor liver is overworked.  Not only does it has to detoxify all the modern day chemicals we take in but now we are adding to its load.  That is the firs thing you have to understand 2...

"Vaidya Mishra always very strictly warned against large beans and soya in particular as being channel clogging. Soya also has the effect of being estrogenic which can interfere with hormone systems."  BBC NEWS | Health | Avoiding soya 'may aid fertility' By Michelle Roberts  BBC News health reporter in Copenhagen Women should avoid eating too much soya if they are trying for a baby, a UK fertility expert believes. A study in humans has shown a compound in soya called genistein sabotages the sperm as it swims towards the egg. Professor Lynn Fraser, from King's College London, said even tiny doses in the female tract could burn sperm out. She told a European fertility conference that avoiding soya around women's most fertile days of the month might aid conception........... Blaine. Watson March 2021 Ayurveda uses the term "SHROTA' to mean all the physical channels in the body from our veins and arteries to the micro channels in our cells that transport...

 Ayurveda loves oil massage. Traditional oil massage is called   ABHYANGA.  Sesame Seed oil is one of the most revered oils because it is very viscous and penetrating.  It is also very high in minerals.  "Curing" the oil or heating is to 100 degrees C. makes it even more penetrating and viscous so that it can be absorbed through the skin more effectively.   It's important to "cure" sesame oil in a careful way as it can burst into flame if overheated.  I have heard scary storied of someone heating sesame oil in preparation to give themselves an ABHYANGA and the oil burst into flame giving them severe burns.  Therefore the best way to heat the oil is to put 1 drop of water into the oil. As soon as the oil crackles because the water has come to a boil, you know the water and oil are at 100 degrees and that is hot enough. The oil is now "cured".  Time to take it off the heat. This oil can be used to massage your whole body or any sore j...

 You may notice that the days are getting longer and we are getting a sense of the approaching of spring.  During the winter cold our shrotas or physical channels and nadis vibrational channels shrink.  There is less flow and more congestion. Slesheka Kapha increases.  As the weather warms up our channels start to open and a natural detox starts to happen.  This is the best time of the year to do a detoxification protocol. The most important principle to remember is that the toxins that have been lying dormant are now going to start moving.  We have to make sure our organs of elimination: bowels, kidneys, skin, lungs are doing their job and also are not overloaded.   Taking Triphala, Haritake (Prakrit or EasyLax from Chandika) to make sure you have a good bowel movement every morning, or even twice a day is essential at this time or actually at any time but now more than ever.   Drinking the hydrating tea described in other posts which c...

If you eat according to Ayurvedic recommendations based on Dhinacharya or the Circadian cycle then you will be fasting every day and breaking your fast. How?  According to our relationship with the sun every 4 hours in the 24 hour cycle or predominant doshas shifts. Starting at 6 AM to 10 AM the Kapha dosha predominates. It is the dosha of earth and water and is heavier. Therefore its best to get out of bed before 6 am to not feel heavy otherwise you will need some stimulating caffeine to wake you up.   At 10 AM we move into the Pitta dosha as be get closer to noon when the sun is highest in the sky. From 10 AM to 2 PM our digestive fire is most active that is why Ayurveda recommends having our largest meal at this time.  Then at 2 PM we move into the Vata dosha with air and space as the elements that create this dosha. This is good time for creative work.  Then at 6 PM we have a light meal and it is recommended to fast or not eat until we "break our fast" in th...