Transcript What is Ama Visha?

By Dr. Marianne Teitelbaum
At the Ayurvedic Nutrition and Culinary
Training, Bhagavat Life, September 11,
2016
 When
we swallow food, it travels through a
channel (esophagus, stomach, intestines)
 As the food goes through this channel it has
to be broken down into smaller and smaller
particles so it can be absorbed through
delicate cell walls into the bloodstream
 From the bloodstream the food continues to
flow through more channels
 The
food eventually finds its way into
thousands of microchannels in the body, such
as channels that carry urine, sweat, lymph,
tears, etc.
 These channels must always be open to allow
movement of food, waste products, etc.
through them
 But channels can shrink, get inflamed or get
clogged impeding the flow of fluids through
them
 So
we avoid foods that shrink the channels:
the nightshade vegetables
 We avoid foods that clog the channels: large
beans, soy, peanutbutter and other nut
butters, hard aged cheeses, winter squashes,
hemp seeds, chia seeds, pumpkin seeds,
bananas
 We also avoid foods that burn the channels:
vinegar, onions, garlic
 In
America, we look at the nutritional value
of the food primarily
 In Ayurveda, we also look at what happens
when the food comes in:
 Does it shrink, burn or clog the channels?
 What affect does it have on the organs and
glands?
 Does it create acidity or alkalinity in the
system?
 Is the prana still intact?
 Foods
contain differing amounts of soma,
agni and marut
 Soma is cooling lunar energy
 Agni is heating energy from the sun
 Marut governs the flow of soma and agni
 Some
foods contain by nature more cooling
soma energy: zucchini, yellow squash,
cucumbers for example
 Some foods contain more fire (agni): chilis
 Some foods contain more marut (dry raw
foods)
The elements of soma, agni and marut outside
of the body transform into kapha and ojas,
pitta and vata once inside the body.
All 3 need to be balanced, so we need a
variety of soma, agni and marut-type foods
This variety prevents too much of one
element, for example too many raw foods
can create more vata disturbance in the
physiology, too many chilis can create too
much pitta and too much somagenic foods
can create imbalances in ama and kapha in
the body.
 Ama
is food that only partially digested as it
made its way through the channel and is now
sitting there, unable to cross the delicate
cell walls, thus clogging the channel
 Example: drinking cold milk forms ama –
then we feel mucous in our sinuses (a type of
channel) after taking it
 As
the ama sits there clogging the channel, it
eventually starts to ferment, forming acid
toxins, called “ama visha”
 “Visha” means poison
 So now this partially digested food, which
originally was just clogging the channel, now
becomes acidic and is more dangerous.
 Ama visha can cause cancer and autoimmune diseases
 The
primary problem we see with cancer is
intense amounts of heat and inflammation
within the cell
 This inflammation causes the cell to lose its
intelligence.
 Once the intelligence of the cell is lost, it
can do odd things – proliferate too much,
mutate, create atypical cells
 Ama visha is largely responsible for this, due
to its acidic nature and inflammation it
causes
 We
are seeing an epidemic of auto-immune
diseases now.
 There are several reasons for this, but
primarily we see:
 Ama visha can heat up the liver, creating the
immune system to lose its intelligence and
start attacking the body
 Ama visha reaching the bone marrow can
trigger auto-immune because a large part of
the immune system resides in the bone
marrow
 For
many years it was thought cholesterol
built up in the arteries and caused heart
attacks.
 Much research has shown that it is acidic
toxins (such as ama visha) creating
inflammation in the wall of the arteries.
 Once the lining of the artery is inflamed,
calcium deposits there, creating plaque,
which can cut off the blood supply to the
heart causing a heart attack
 For
protein, favor: chicken, turkey, fish or
dahls
 For grains: avoid brown rice (too hard to
absorb into the cells out of the channel),
soaking grains overnight inactivates the
phytic acid in the grains which can prevent
the absorption of minerals into the body
 Favor: white rice, millet, barley, buckwheat,
oats, quinoa, wheat, (spelt and farro are
wheat, but have less gluten in them),
amarinth
 When
a baby is born, the gut has holes, it is
“leaky”
 The mother breastfeeds the baby – the first 2
days colostrum comes in. Colostrum is not
dairy – there is no casein (milk protein) or
lactose (milk sugar) in colostrum
 Colostrum seals up the leaky gut so that
when the milk comes in on the third day, it
doesn’t leak through, creating allergic
reactions in the immune system
 So
during the early childhood years, it is
critical that this friendly bacteria grows
sufficiently
 The friendly bacteria breaks down the food
as it goes through the channel for ultimate
absorption into the bloodstream
 The friendly bacteria is the first line of
defense against invading organisms that we
breathe in – there is infection in every breath
we take, but the friendly bacteria doesn’t
allow the infection to grow
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The friendly bacteria keeps the immune system “intelligent” so
that it doesn’t attack foods, pollen, dust, or the body (autoimmune)
Nowadays, babies are given too many pharmaceutical
interventions (immunizations and antibiotics) which destroy the
friendly bacteria
Once the friendly bacteria are destroyed, candida albicans yeast
overgrows in the gut. Once it fills up in the gut it migrates out of
the gut, creating leaky gut. Then the immune system starts
attacking the foods
Now, we have an epidemic of children with food sensitivities
The protein in gluten and dairy are the more difficult to digest,
so unless your digestion is 100% you will develop a problem
digesting them (known as a food sensitivity or food allergy)
By fixing the gut environment and allowing the friendly bacteria
to grow, the food sensitivities usually go away.
 First,
we need a prebiotic: foods that
encourage the growth of the friendly
bacteria
 Apples have natural pectin fiber and are a
source of inulin and natural fructooligosaccharides (FOS) – beneficial type of
sugar that feeds the gut
 Two most common types of prebiotics are
inulins and fructo-oligosaccharides (FOS),
both of which pass thru the small intestine
without being digested or absorbed
 These
prebiotics, inulin and FOS, are found
in:
 Taro root, okra, tamarind, asparagus,
burdock, chicory root (available in “Vaidya’s
Cup”), artichokes, grains, cruciferous
vegetables (broccoli, brussel sprouts,
cabbage, cauliflower, kale, radish, rutabaga)
 Another prebiotic, galacto-oligosaccharides
(GOS), synthesized from lactose, a complex
sugar, is found in cow’s milk (boiled, not
cold)
Best way is to make your own yogurt at home.
All the store-bought yogurt cultures are dead.
Use a good yogurt-starter from “Natren” – read
directions on bottle to make your own
yogurt – boil the milk, let it cool down to
108-112 degrees fahrenheit. Stir in the
Natren Yogurt Starter – whisk repeatedly for
a couple of minutes. Pour into a yogurt
maker for 8-10 hours. You can use 1 cup of
your yogurt to start the next batch of yogurt,
but every two months start over with the
Yogurt Starter.
 Yogurt
is channel-clogging so it is best to
dilute ¼ cup yogurt with ¾ cup water, add a
pinch of ground cumin and 3 cilantro leaves
and blend a couple of minutes. Skim off the
foam and blend again and skim.
 Drink this lassi at lunch, in between bites of
food, sipping slowly
 Best
milk to have is raw milk from grass-fed
cows
 Pasteurizing the milk destroys all the
enzymes (lactase for the assimilation of
lactose; galactase for the assimilation of
galactose; phosphatase for the assimilation
of calcium)
 And dozens of other enzymes are destroyed
in the pasteurization process.
 Without
them, milk is very difficult to digest.
 We want full-fat milk
 The fat in the milk delivers the calcium into
the bones
 The butterfat in the milk helps us absorb and
utilize the vitamins and minerals in the milk
 Butterfat is the best source of fat-soluble
vitamins (Vitamins A, D, E and K)
 Do not get milk enriched with Vitamin D –
this is the synthetic form which is toxic to
the liver
 Nonfat
dried milk is added to 1% and 2% milk
to make it thicker.
 Unlike the cholesterol in fresh milk, which
plays a variety of health promoting roles, the
cholesterol in non-fat dried milk is oxidized
and it is this rancid cholesterol that
promotes heart disease.
 Make
sure the milk is free of Bovine Growth
Hormone (BGH)
 BGH is used by dairy farmers to increase milk
production
 It can be directly absorbed into the human
bloodstream
 And BGH promotes the transformation of
human breast cells to cancerous forms
When milk is homogenized, small fat globules
which are formed during the homogenization
process surround xanthine oxidase, a protein
enzyme which is in cow’s milk.
 Normally proteins are broken down once you
digest them.
 But when milk is homogenized the xanthine
oxidase is absorbed intact into your blood
stream, increasing the risk of heart disease.
 Many people think they can get enough calcium
through just eating greens, however, the calcium
absorption in the greens is minimal due to the
oxalates in the greens, which bind the calcium
and prevent its absorption.
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 To
aid in the digestion of milk, always cook
milk with cardamom pods and cinnamon
sticks
 The cardamom helps the digestion of the
protein in the milk
 The cinnamon helps digest the carbohydrate
in the milk
 There
are 7 tissues in the body (rasa, rakta,
mamsa, meda, asthi, majja, shukra)
 In English these 7 tissues are: the blood
plasma, blood, muscle, fat, bone, bone
marrow, reproductive fluids
 Foods we eat spend 3-5 days in each tissue
before making their way into the next tissue
 Thus, the foods you eat today may not
nourish all 7 tissues until one month from
now
 The only exception to this is milk: it
nourishes all 7 tissues in one day
 Vegetables:
the chewing process alone isn’t
enough to break down all the fibers so you
get more absorption into the cells if the food
is cooked.
 If you add ghee to the cooked vegetables,
you get more absorption, because the ghee
facilitates the absorption into the cells
because all the cell walls in your body are
made of cholesterol
 If you cook the vegetables with spices, there
will also be more absorption
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Ghee (clarified butter) and olive oil are the best
Ghee is made from simmering the butter, leaving behind the
casein (the protein in the milk), whey and lactose (the sugar in
the milk)
Thus, people who are allergic to dairy can usually digest ghee
Two ways to make ghee: first is where you melt butter,
simmering it over a low heat for about a half hour, skimming the
white foam off into you can see through the butter (it becomes
clear) and it starts to crackle.
Second way is where you take heavy cream and make yogurt out
of it using Natren’s Yogurt Starter. Churn this yogurt cream into
butter and make ghee from that cultured butter.
The resultant ghee is more divine since the yogurt cultures break
down the fats into smaller particles for better absorption.
This ghee will not create as much kapha or high cholesterol
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Ghee is considered to be one of the most health-promoting
of all foods
It pacifies all 3 doshas, strengthens the body, improves
memory and mental functions and promotes longevity
The brain is made of cholesterol and the reproductive
hormones which keep us young are made of cholesterol
The cholesterol residing in the various layers of the skin is
converted into Vitamin D when the sun hits the skin.
Vitamin D prevents auto-immune diseases, prevents colds
and flus, aids in the absorption of calcium from the
intestines. Thyroid hormones cannot work inside the cell
unless there is adequate levels of Vitamin D there. This is
why many people have normal thyroid hormone
production, but present with all thyroid symptoms such as
hair loss, arrhythmias, weight gain, poor circulation.
 It
has numerous medical applications
 It if useful applied topically on burns
 It is helpful to the eyes
 It is used in some herbal mixtures such as
Chyawan Prash. It serves as a vehicle that
carries the nutrients across lipid-permeable
cell membranes and into our cells. (All the
cell walls in our bodies are made of
cholesterol)
 Ghee
has one of the highest flash points (485
degrees fahrenheit) of any cooking oil, thus
the creation of free radicals and oxidized
molecules from high temperature cooking is
prevented.
 Butter got its name from butyric acid and
ghee, which is concentrated butter, is the
highest known food source of butyric acid (a
short-chain fatty acid)
Butyric acid:
 Is the primary fuel for cells of the colon
 It boosts immunity
 It feeds the friendly bacteria
 Blocks the growth of bad bacteria in the gut
 Helps adjust water and electrolyte concentration
in the gut
 Is a monosaturated fatty acid that reduces
inflammatory conditions
 Reduces leakage of undigested food particles
(leaky gut)
 Aids in repair of gut mucosal wall

 Fats
fall into two categories: saturated and
unsaturated.
 Saturated fats are of two kinds: long-chain
and short-chain fatty acids.
 Short-chain fatty acids are assimilated,
absorbed and then metabolized so they
release energy.
 Long-chain fatty acids are not completely
metabolized and are associated with cancer
and blood clots
 Most
animal fats are long chain fatty acids
 Unsaturated fatty acids can be either
monounsaturated or polyunsaturated
 The monosaturated fats are very healthy
 The polyunsaturates are very unhealthy
 Monounsaturated fats form single bonds
 Polyunsaturated fats form multiple bonds
which encourages oxidation of the fatty
acids, which makes the fats toxic
Foods cooked in polyunsaturated fatty acids such
as vegetable oils become oxidized
 Oxidation is a process where there is a loss of
electrons which affects double bonds in fatty
acids, so that they become injurious to the body
 During this process of oxidation there is
generation of free radicals which cause cancer
and damage to the arterial walls caused by
oxidized lipids, leading to plaque formation and
heart attacks
 Most vegetable oils contain predominantly
polyunsaturated fatty acids and are therefore
not advisable for consumption
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Monosaturated fats are associated with
prevention of heart disease and cancer.
 Olive oil is a monosaturated fat
 Most of ghee’s saturated fats are short-chain
fatty acids (only 11% long-chain fatty acids), and
is mostly monosaturated (27% monosaturated
and only 4-5% polyunsaturated fatty acids)
 The body requires intake of both saturated and
unsaturated fatty acids and ghee comes closest
to having the right ratio of these types of acids
(about 60-66% saturated fats, mostly short chain
fatty acids)
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 Also,
ghee contains 2-3% conjugated linoleic
acid, a chemical that has anticarcinogenic
properties as well as high amounts of
antioxidants
 Ghee is not susceptible to oxidation which is
why its shelf life is so long
 Ghee made from yogurt produces almost
twice as much conjugated linoleic acid as
ghee made from melting butter and removing
the water and dairy solids
 Conjugated
Linoleic Acid (CLA) is a slightly
altered form of linoleic acid, an omega 6
fatty acid important to human health
 CLA is found primarily in meat (beef and
lamb) and dairy products (milk and butter)
 We get CLA from our diets
 Synthetically made CLA (in supplement form)
is made by chemically altering safflower and
sunflower oils, which are unhealthy
vegetable oils
 It
forms a CLA which is not found in nature
and does not have the same health benefits
as CLA from foods
 CLA supplements can therefore cause a fatty
liver
 Cows have to be grass-fed for optimal CLA
production
 CLA from grass-fed cows contains 300-500%
more CLA than grain-fed cows
 Contemporary Americans are deficient in CLA
due to changes that have occurred in feeding
cattle grains rather than grass
 It
prevents inflammation in the walls of the
arteries and hardening of the arteries
 Increases the metabolic rate
 Enhances muscle growth and since muscle
burns fat it contributes to weight loss
 Lowers cholesterol and triglycerides
 Lowers insulin resistance, therefore
preventing diabetes and making it easier to
lose weight
 Improves lean mass to body fat ratio
 Decreases
fat deposition, especially on the
abdomen and enhances muscle growth
 Enhances sugar and glucose absorption into
the cells so they are not turned into body fat
 Linoleic acid (LA)is different from conjugated
linoleic acid, by a few double bonds, which
make a huge difference in their effects on
the body:
 LA stimulates fat formation; CLA inhibits fat
formation
 LA
promotes tumor growth; CLA prevents
tumor growth
 LA makes cholesterol more susceptible to
oxidation; CLA makes cholesterol more stable
 LA is found in the cheap vegetable oils
 CLA is found in ghee (and found twice as
much in ghee made from yogurt)
 Doctors
have agreed that they made a
mistake, that saturated fats are actually
good for you.
 So everyone is eating coconut oil. It is a
good oil, but hard for some people to digest,
since it is heavier and colder than ghee.
Thus we normally recommend ghee for your
saturated fat, unless you feel you have
strong enough agni to digest the coconut oil.
 Vegetable
oils (sunflower, peanut oil,
safflower, canola, etc.) are extremely bad
for your health.
 They hydrogenate easily when cooked and
create dangerous compounds which react in
the lining of the arteries, creating
inflammation and plaque.
 These are responsible for more heart attacks
than cholesterol.
 The
liver makes bile which is held in the gall
bladder
 When we eat, the stomach squirts acid into
the duodenum
 The gall bladder then squirts the bile into
the duodenum which neutralizes the stomach
acids before they go through the rest of the
digestive tract
 The
liver is the main detoxifying organ
 It processes all the toxins in the blood and
dumps them in the bile
 The bile then squirts into the intestines and
the toxins come out through the bowel
movement
 The
bile has two detergents in it which
emulsify the fats we eat, breaking them
down into smaller and smaller particles so
they can absorb through the cell walls
 The bile also keeps the food flowing
downwards, preventing acid reflux, hiatal
hernias and gastroparesis (where food does
not flow through the GI tract quickly enough)
 In addition, proper bile flow stimulates
bowel movements, preventing constipation
 Since
the bile digests all the fats in your
body, over time, it can become thick, like a
sludge and not flow properly
 If the bile doesn’t flow, you can become
constipated, nauseous, have pain under the
ribs on the right, radiating into the back
 The fats won’t metabolize and breakdown
well, remaining in the channel, and not
absorbing in the cell. Then they go rancid,
and are dumped into the fat tissue, creating
cellulite
 If
the bile gets too thick and doesn’t flow,
the fat globules from the food you eat won’t
absorb into the cells and remain stuck in the
bloodstream, creating high cholesterol
 The answer is to thin the bile and promote
the flow of bile out of the gall bladder (not
the use of statin drugs to artificially lower
the cholesterol)
 If
the bile doesn’t flow, the toxins get stuck
in the gall bladder, never making their way
into the intestines for removal, and they
reabsorb back into the system
 If the bile doesn’t flow downwards and out,
food can move up (creating hiatal hernia and
reflux) or just sit there (creating
gastoparesis)
 If
the bile doesn’t squirt into the duodenum
then the stomach acids sitting in there won’t
get alkalinized and you can develop GERD,
acid reflux
 95% of acid reflux comes from improper bile
flow. Only a small amount comes from
making too much stomach acid
 This is why proton pump inhibitors and
antacids don’t work in the majority of the
cases
 Taking
capsules of oils, such as fish oil, flax
oil, primrose oil
 Latest research shows that the fish oils don’t
digest due to their clogging effects on the
gall bladder, then the fats remain stuck in
the arteries thus clogging the arteries
 Cooking with cheap vegetable oils, peanut
oil, canola oil
 Deep frying
 Taking
heavy foods when the digestive fire is
low, such as smoothies with yogurt and
coconut oil for breakfast or ice cream at
dinner or before bed
 Drinking cold beverages with your meals
thickens the fats in the bile
 Some
forms of cholesterol can clog your
arteries (red meats, hard cheeses)
 Some forms of cholesterol (as in boiled milk
and ghee) do not clog the arteries
 Some foods clog the arteries and have no
cholesterol (peanutbutter and soy, for
example)
Prana is the vital life force, the combination of the
vibration from the sun and moon hitting the food
as it grows in the fields, the water as it flows
down the mountain streams and it is in the air
we breathe.
Prana imparts intelligence to the cells. Therefore,
we don’t want to kill the prana by:
Microwaving, canning, freezing the food or eating
it leftover.
If we break these rules, the food coming into the
body is now dumb or dead and then our cells do
dumb things, which is how disease can form.
 Smoothies
for breakfast: lots of patients are
eating cold food, such as smoothies, at a
time when the digestive fire is very low.
 In the morning, when the sun is low in the
sky, your digestive fire is also low
 As we go through the morning, as the sun
gets higher and higher in the sky, our
digestive fire slowly ignites, so that by noon,
our flame is the highest, when the sun is the
highest in the sky.
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So for breakfast, we want to eat food that is warm
and cooked – it will digest and absorb better than
cold raw food.
Also, some smoothies contain heavy coconut oil, flax,
hemp and chia seeds, bananas, kale and spinach.
Coconut oil is too heavy to have at breakfast
Flax seeds heat the liver and spleen too much
Chia and hemp seeds are channel-clogging
Bananas are channel-clogging
Kale and spinach and other green leafy vegetables
contain oxalic acid, which binds the minerals in your
body preventing their absorption. But if you cook the
greens, the oxalic acid evaporates out.
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This, by far, is the biggest stumbling block I have to
deal with in my practice every day.
If there is no animal protein in the diet, the B12 goes
low, creating depression; if no milk in the diet, the
bones become weak; if no ghee or butter the whole
physiology ages rapidly
A diet comprised of just fruits, vegetables, grains and
lentils is too light – creates vata disturbance in the
mind and pitta disturbance as the liver (the largest
digestive organ with five agnis or digestive fires) is
looking for more heavy food. Since the food is too
light, the liver overheats and creates the tendency
towards auto-immune diseases.
This type of a diet, a vegan diet, is very dangerous.
Most people I see eating like this are extremely sick
and weak.
I see so many patients from India who cook at home, vegetarian,
making their own yogurt, flatbreads, vegetables, panir, etc.
Many of them have heart disease and diabetes.
Why is this?
I have found that just about everyone from India is having vegetable
oils and/or peanut oil. Their ghee can be made from vegetable
oils or even margarine. They fry their foods with these oils. The
oils oxidize (hydrogenate) and over time clog the liver.
Once the liver gets clogged, diabetes can result and the arteries
clog from the hydrogenated oils creating inflammation in the
arteries with the subsequent calcium plaque formation.
People are afraid to eat ghee because it has cholesterol in it and
they believe cholesterol is bad your arteries.
The opposite is true – the ghee is a totally saturated fat, it cannot
hydrogenate when heated, and it actually protects the lining of
the arteries due to its cooling nature.
 Many
people I see want to be vegetarian but
they don’t have time to cook
 They make poor food choices, thinking that
a) if the food is “organic” it is automatically
healthy b) eating food with poor prana
(canned, frozen, microwavable and leftover
foods), and c) eating lots of soy (edamame,
tofu, soy burgers, soy milk)
 Their
pulses are filled with ama through all
the 7 tissues
 They don’t understand why they have low
energy and feel joint pain and stiffness as
the ama settles in the tissues and joints
 Vegetarians
from America usually eat all the
channel-clogging foods, such as large beans,
soy, brown rice, nut butters, peanutbutter,
frozen veggie burgers, smoothies for
breakfast with yogurt, bananas, coconut oil,
kale, hemp seeds
 The
isoflavones in soy depress the thyroid
gland (creating irregular rhythms in the
heart, hair falling, weight gain, cold hands
and feet, constipation, osteopenia and/or
osteoporosis
 The fat in the soy bean is too large to cross
through the delicate cell walls, thus clogging
the channel
 Artificially
lowering cholesterol with use of
a statin drug does not protect against heart
attacks
 The cholesterol could be low, but the
arteries (and other channels) could still be
clogged due to poor digestion of the foods,
poor food choices, thick bile, improper fats,
etc.
 Patients need to eat healthy, keep their bile
flowing and need to be educated on the
types of fats they are eating
 The
majority of the patients I see with acid
reflux, GERD, Barrett’s esophagitis don’t
have a problem with too much production of
stomach acid. Therefore, they are still
symptomatic while on these medicines which
lower their stomach acid.
 Instead, they have very thick bile, creating
acidity in the digestive system
 Teaching them a good diet and use of our
herbs which thin the bile and promote the
flow of bile out of the digestive tract often
brings instant relief
 Most
new patients we see do not take any
form of milk
 As a result their bones are weak
 We instruct them in proper diet – if they are
allergic to cow’s milk then we give homemade almond milk and/or goat’s milk
 We teach them about the good fats since the
fat tissue forms the bone
 Then we look for any imbalances that may be
contributing to the bone loss (weaknesses in
digestion, Vata imbalances, thyroid
weakness, etc.)
ANY QUESTIONS?