Tips for Winter

By Dr. Ajit

Once again, winter is upon us and I am sure you are all ready of enjoy the season balanced. Some of us are already feeling the cold, damp, moist, cloudy and rainy days and wondered how to cope with them. As we all know, in this part of the world we experience four seasons and year after year these seasons keep coming and arrive in the most rhythm/cycles and time frame. This is what’s known as nature’s intelligence.

As long as nature’s intelligence is intact these seasons will keep coming in this rhythmic time frame and bring the same qualities for what they known for. In the same way, everyone of us has our bodily intelligence and as long as our bodily intelligence is in balance state we can enjoy every weather to its optimum.

It is important to keep our bodily intelligence in a balanced state all the time so the body can flush out all the toxins that get built up in our body on a daily basis due to wear and tear and impact of physical, mental and emotional factors. The ancient science of Ayurveda advises us to follow certain daily and seasonal routines so was can keep ourselves in an optimum state.

One can suffer naturally in this season from problems such as common cold and sinus congestion, cough, sore throat and runny nose. If you follow these regimes I can assure you most of your problems will be taken care of and you won’t need to become a slave to anti-histamine and flu shots.

• Brush teeth and scrape tongue

• Within 5 minutes of getting up, go to the bathroom and brush your teeth and scrape your tongue with a copper tongue scraper to remove the toxins that have accumulated there overnight. Anyone suffering from anxiety will always have light white or brownish coating on their tongues. This is nothing but toxins produced by the body.

• Morning De-tox drink

• Brush teeth and scrape tongue

• Immediately after brushing and scrapping make a drink:

-        ¼ tsp of grated ginger 

-         ½ tsp of lemon juice 

-         ½ tsp of honey 

-         ½ tsp of fenugreek powder

Fenugreek is good to take excess mucous from body’s tissue as well it works with fat metabolism and counters sluggishness from lymph.

Steam inhalation 

In winter, naturally the lungs, sinus and nasal passage can get congested with mucous. This regime helps to clear the congestion and also us to breathe easier. Boil water in a container, add 10 drops of eucalyptus oil. Lean over the container, covering your head with a big towel or blanket and take deep long breaths. Do this for 7 minutes. Dry your face and go to bed. This helps to melt the mucous accumulation in the lungs and sinus areas and helps to breath. This should be done every night before bed.

Nasal drops

At least three times a week, put three drops of warm sesame oil in each nostril and massage the area x3 times. This will helpcounter congestion from deep seated mucous in sinus areas as well as heaviness in head.

Gargles

One should gargle at least once a day by adding 1tsp of black salt in warm water. This helps to clear excess mucous in the mouth as well as in the back of the throat. This is a very effective daily regime for those who suffer from post nasal drip or have a sore throat in winter.

Diet 

One should eat warm nourishing food and avoid foods that are naturally heavy, sticky, damp, cold and thick such as yoghurt, ice cream, cream, butter, muffin, cakes, bread, cheese, cold drink, juice, white flour, cold meats, cold homongenised milk and oily foods such as chips, noodles and pasta. As all these foods have such qualities, regular use can build mucous in the body and that much can start accumulating in areas such as nose, lungs, sinus area, throat, lymphatic system as these areas are naturally weak due to winter season. The reason to avoid such foods is that regular use allows more mucous production and the body is not in a position to easily flush them out so his mucous slowly starts accumulating in the bodily tissues and organs and resultant ailments will come.

Eat almonds and raisins as a snack instead of muffin and cake.