Health Benefits of Brinjal

Health benefits of brinjals or baingan

Brinjal, known as baingan in Hindi, is known to be king of vegetables.  High on nutrients, this vegetable has many health benefits and hence, you should consume it at least once a week. Although a lot of people don’t like the taste, if you cook it well, it can be extremely delicious. Here is why you should add this vegetable to your list of groceries the next time you shop for vegetables.
Prevent cancer

Fibre and antioxidants are just two of the nutrients that make brinjal a food that can keep cancer at bay. Fibre helps clear the toxins present in your digestive tract and has been found useful in the prevention of colon cancer. Additionally, the antioxidants help in fighting free radical damage to your cells which helps keep cancer at bay. Read more to find out the diet changes that can help keep cancer at bay.
Great for weight loss
Brinjals are great for weight loss as they are low in calories with 100g of the vegetable containing just 25 calories. It is also rich in fibre which helps in promoting the feeling of satiety which means that eating a small serving will make you feel full and prevent you from overeating.
Prevent heart disease
Like most fruits and vegetables, brinjals too are great for your heart. Being rich in fiber, potassium, vitamin B-6 and phytonutrients like flavonoids, this vegetable lowers the risk of heart disease. The presence of antioxidants keeps your arteries healthy and prevents heart attack. Here are 6 heart-healthy diet tips for people with heart disease.
Controls blood pressure
Brinjal contains potassium, an important mineral, which plays a key role in maintaining electrolyte balance in the body. It also helps in neutralizing the effects of sodium on the body thereby aiding in blood pressure control. Apart from this, increased intake of anthocyanins that are present in high amounts in brinjal, also lowers your blood pressure.
Good for diabetics
As brinjals are low in carbohydrates and high in fibre content, they are known to be good for people suffering from diabetes. This is because, the high fibre causes helps in controlling blood sugar levels in the body by controlling the absorption of glucose from food.
Lowers cholesterol in the body
Brinjals is rich in chlorogenic acid that acts as a powerful antioxidant agent, lowering cholesterol levels in the body.  It also contains high amounts of fibre that increases the absorption of blood cholesterol by the liver to produce bile. Here are 5 simple ways to increase good cholesterol (HDL) level.
Gives your skin a natural glow
As we age, our skin undergoes free radical damage which can cause the appearance of wrinkles and fine lines on our faces. The antioxidants and vitamins present in brinjals can prevent this from happening. Additionally, it is also high in water which flushes toxins from your body and gives your skin a nice and healthy glow.
Good for your brain
Eating brinjals can prevent brain damage as it contains phytonutrients that can protect your cell membranes. These phytonutrients are also known to boost memory function and aid in transferring messages from one part of your body to another.
Help you to quit smoking
Apart from these benefits, brinjal is also known to have nicotine and thus helps in quitting tobacco. However, you’ll have to eat 10 kg of the vegetable to get as much nicotine into your body as a cigarette.

Thanks - source: http://www.thehealthsite.com

Health Benefits of the Banana Flower

Health benefits of Banana Flower

As per the African Journal of Biotechnology, 100g of banana flower offers the below mentioned nutrition:

51 kcal
1.6g of Protein
0.6g of Fat
9.9g Carb
5.7fgof Fiber
56mg of Calcium
73.3mg of Phosphorous
56.4mg of Iron
13mg of Copper
553.3 mg of Potassium
48.7mg of Magnesium
1.07mg of Vitamin E

The banana tree is the ideal to look up to when it comes to a ‘no wastage’ policy! Almost all parts of the banana tree can be used. The most obvious is the fruit—bananas that we eat almost daily. But, other parts of the tree also offer many health benefits!

Both the South Asians and Southeast Asians use banana flowers as a vegetable. They use it either raw or steamed with dips. They also use those in soups, curries and fried foods. The flavor resembles that of artichoke. Like artichokes, both the fleshy part of the bracts and the heart are edible.

Benefits Of Banana Flowers:

Banana flowers are called banana hearts for a reason! These flowers are pretty, but you should not dismiss them as merely decorative elements. have a host of health benefits too!

Some of the health benefits of banana flowers are:

1. Wards Off Infections:

Banana flowers treat infections, thanks to their ethanol based extracts. Banana flower inhibits the growth of pathogenic bacterias. Some of them are bacillus subtalis, bacillus cereus, and escherichia coli. Banana flower also helps heal the wounds. According to a study, banana flower extracts can also inhibit the growth of the malarial parasite plasmodium falciparum in vitro. These claims are yet to be proven.

2. Reduces Free Radical Activity:

The presence of free radicals in the body can cause serious problems. Fortunately, the extracts of methanol present in banana flower possess antioxidant properties. These flowers perfectly handle free radicals that cause damages to the body. It treats many health issues, such as premature aging and cancer. To make the full use of the antioxidant property of these flowers, include in health supplements.

3. Reduces Menstrual Bleeding:

Menstruation brings pain inmany women. Some suffer from severe PMS symptoms, while others bleed excessively. A cup of cooked banana flowers can help deal with these problems. Cooked banana flowers along with curd or yogurt increases the progesterone hormone in the body and reduces bleeding.

Health and Wellness!

Health and Wellness

Welcome to Ayurveda, Welcome to rVita!

Welcome to the World of Wellness!

Ayurveda Enema Therapy for Back pain and Menstrual Problems

Ayurveda medicated enema therapy

Ayurveda recommends detoxification therapies for protection of health and management of disorder. Of which almost emphasis is given for enema or medicated enema therapy as it does purification, rejuvenation etc. Some the Ayurveda expert claims that without vasti – enema the purification therapy is not complete as it controls the functional element (vata dosha) of the human body. 

Ayurveda medicated enema therapy is classified based on the medicine and organ (anatomy), numbers and action

Based on the anatomy

·         Through vagina into the uterus

·         Through rectum to large intestines

·         Urethral- vesicle

·         For wound/abscess

Based on the medicine

·         Decoction enema

·         Oil enema

Based on the action

·         Purification enema- Used for expelling the doshas forcibly

·         Oleation enema - Used for Oleation effect

·         Scrapping enema  - Used for scraping the fats/vitiated Kapha in the body

·         Rejuvenative enema - For rejuvenation

·         Detoxification enema - Expels all the unwanted doshas

·         Pacifying enema - Pacifies the doshas

·         Strengthening enema  - Gives complexion and color/strength

·         Aphrodisiac enema - Increases the quality and quantity of semen

Classification according to the numbers

·         Karma vasti - 30 in numbers

·         Kala vasti - 16 in numbers

·         Yoga vasti - 8 in numbers

Decoction Enema 

In this, honey and oil are the basic elements. The common formula is as follows:

Honey	48 ml
Oil	96 ml
Decoction	400 ml
Paste of herbs	12 gm

Oil enema

It can be given daily and does not cause any complications if retained in the body; in the combination of medicines, oily drugs are predominantly used; the said therapy is named as Sneha Vasti.

According to dosage, it can be named as follows:

·         Sneha vasti dosage – 150 ml

·         Anuvasana vasti – 75 ml

·         Matra vasti – 30 ml

Karma vasti: Total 30 enemas are given, out of which18 are decoction enemas and 12 are oil enemas.
Kala vasti: Total 16 enemas are given; among them 10 are decoction enemas and 6 are oil enemas.
Yoga vasti: Total of 8 enemas are given; among them 6 are decoction enemas and 6 are oil enemas.

Indications

·         Any disease of Vata nature

·         Stomach disorders

·         Retention of urine, stools etc.

·         Diarrhea

·         Colic pain

·         Fistula in anus

·         Insanity

·         Convulsions

·         Back, joints or any types of pain in the body

·         Debilitated conditions of tissues and waste products

·         Swellings

·         Fever

·         Cataract

·         Urinary calculi

·         Facial paralysis and general paralysis

·         Parkinson's disease

·         Gout

·         Hemorrhoids

·         Impurities/diseases of breast/breast milk

·         Diseases of female and male genital system

·         Obstructed pregnancy

·         Diseases of semen and male reproductive system

Contraindications

·         Indigestion

·         Excessive oleo conditions

·         Less gastric fire

·         After vomiting/diarrhea

·         Person suffering from fear, giddiness, wheezing, cough, hiccough as acute conditions

·         Diabetes

·         Skin diseases/leprosy

·         Anemia

·         Anorexia

·         Debilitated person/aged/children/pregnant women

·         Prolapsed rectum

·         Swelling all over the body

Contraindications of Oil Enema

·         All the above

·         Immediately after food- empty stomach

·         Fever

·         Anaemia

·         Jaundice

·         Diabetes

·         Haemorrhoids

·         Running nose

·         Anorexia

·         Poor digestive fire

·         Weak person

·         Diseases of spleen and liver

·         Stiffness and pain in the thigh due to the vitiation of Vata and Kapha

·         Diarrhoea

·         Poisoned conditions

·         Artificial poison

·         Heaviness of the stomach and body

·         Elephantiasis

·         Abscess/tumours

·         Worm infestations

·         Obesity

Pre-Treatment Procedures For Enema Therapy

Depending on the vitiated doshas, medicine, land, season, acceptability, digestive capacity, psychic state, age and strength, the types and dose of enema should be carefully selected.

Vasti Karma

Induction of Medicine:

After completion of local and general oleos and sudation therapies, enema should be administered.

·         Local warming of the stomach and back

·         Enema should be prepared and bladder/rubber bag/plastic cover should be filled.

·         Patient should lie down on left side with left lower extremity straight and right lower extremity flexed on knee and hip joint.

·         Person is asked to take a deep breath during induction of medicines

·         Shivering of hands should be avoided as it may cause injury to the anal region

·         Variable speed of induction of enema is not advisable; it should be only at a constant speed to avoid the obstruction of vata dosha in the intestines, which may cause acute pain.

·         Enema tube should be pulled out immediately after administering the medicines

·         Person should be lying in the same position for the next 30 minutes

·         Afterwards, the person should wait for the urge to eliminate and as soon as he gets it, he should eliminate.

Duration of the elimination of enema is very important; 48 minutes is the maximum time mentioned in Ayurveda. If it does not happen during this period, the person may die or it may cause severe pain with complications like distension of the stomach, cutting pain in the large intestines, cardiac pain and fever. In such cases, strong purgatives should be administered to eliminate the unwanted materials in the stomach.

Adequate Therapy	Inadequate Therapy	Excessive Therapy
Natural elimination of the injected materials mixed with or without faeces	Severe pain in different parts of the body	Body pain
Normal elimination of flatus	Edema	Debility
Elimination of faeces, Pitta, Kapha and Vata in that order	Running nose	Tiredness
Lightness in the body	Cutting pain in the anal region	Tremors
Control of the diseases	Nausea	Sleepy mode/dullness of the body
Improvement of health	Retention of urine, flatus and faeces	Giddiness
	Dyspnoea	Hiccough
	Improper elimination of enema	Mental disturbances
	Loss of taste	Drowsiness
	Heaviness of the body and head

Regimen of Post-Enema Therapy

·         Rest

·         Warm water bath

·         Milk mixed with well-boiled rice

·         Non-vegetarian soup

·         Avoid excessive sitting, sleeping

·         Avoid sex, untimely and incompatible food

·         Avoid suppression of natural urges, cold, sunlight, anxiety and anger

Complications of Enema

Complications due to improper administration of enema:

·         If complete medicine is not administered, air goes in and causes severe pain in the intestines. Mild sudation therapy is advised to relieve the pain.

·         Administering and removing the enema tube may causes pain, discomfort, dysuria, rigidity and lumbar pains. Vata reducing treatment is advised to manage such condition.

·         Improper introduction of enema tube leads to improper entry of medicines and causes improper enema therapy symptoms.

·         Introducing the enema tube deeply may cause ulceration/puncture of blood vessels, and if administered superficially, the medicine may not reach the intestines.

Uttara Vasti

Vasti if given through urethra/vagina is known as Uttara Vasti.

Dosage: 15-2- ml

Indications: Most of urinary, vaginal and uterine diseases.

For women, Ayurveda recommends that enema should be administered on 4th day/after 4th day of menstruation.