1. Principles of sv Ayurvedic diet
By Dr. Marianne Teitelbaum
At the Ayurvedic Nutrition and Culinary Training, Bhagavat Life, September 11, 2016

2. WHAT IS THE GOAL OF EATING FOOD?
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

3. 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

4. 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

5. 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?

6. EFFECTS ON THE ORGANS AND GLANDS
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

7. 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)

8. 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.

9. What is Ama?
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

10. What is Ama Visha?
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 auto- immune diseases

11. Why Would Ama Visha Cause Cancer?
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

12. Why Would Ama Visha Cause Auto-immune Diseases?
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

13. Can Ama Visha Also Cause Heart Disease?
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

14. SO WHICH ARE THE BEST TYPES OF FOODS TO EAT IN EACH FOOD GROUP?
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

15. WHY IS EVERYONE ALLERGIC TO GLUTEN NOW?
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

16. 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

17. The friendly bacteria keeps the immune system “intelligent” so that it doesn’t attack foods, pollen, dust, or the body (auto- immune)
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.

18. HOW CAN WE REGROW OUR FRIENDLY BACTERIA?
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 fructo- oligosaccharides (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

19. 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)

20. WHAT IS THE BEST WAY TO GET PROBIOTICS INTO THE GUT?
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 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.

21. 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

22. MILK 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.

23. 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

24. 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.

25. 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

26. 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.

27. 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

28. 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

29. vegetables
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

30. FATS AND OILS 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

31. IS GHEE HEALTHY? IT CONTAINS CHOLESTEROL
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.

32. 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)

33. 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)

34. What does butyric acid do?
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

35. BUT HOW CAN FATS BE GOOD FOR YOU?
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

36. 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

37. 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

38. 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)

39. 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

40. SO WHAT IS CONJUGATED LINOLEIC ACID (cla)?
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

41. 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 % 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

42. WHAT DOES CLA DO?
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

43. 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

44. 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)

45. WHAT ABOUT COCONUT OIL?
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.

46. WHAT ABOUT VEGETABLE OILS AND CANOLA 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.

47. WHAT ROLE DOES THE GALL BLADDER PLAY IN FAT DIGESTION?
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

48. WHAT DOES THE BILE DO? 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

49. 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

50. WHAT HAPPENS WHEN THE BILE BECOMES TOO THICK
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

51. 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)

52. 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)

53. 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

54. WHAT MAKES THE BILE THICK?
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

55. 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

56. 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)

57. PRANA IN THE FOOD
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.

58. SOME COMMON PROBLEMS I SEE ON A DAILY BASIS IN MY PRACTICE
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.

59. 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.

60. PEOPLE WHO WANT TO BE VEGETARIAN BUT ARE ALLERGIC TO MILK
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.

61. PEOPLE FROM INDIA WITH HEART DISEASE AND DIABETES
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.

62. FAST FOOD VEGETARIAN DIETS
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)

63. 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

64. SAMPLE AMERICAN VEGETARIAN DIET
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

65. WHAT’S WRONG WITH SOY?
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

66. PATIENTS ON STATIN DRUGS WITH CLOGGED CHANNELS
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

67. PATIENTS WITH ACID REFLUX ON PROTON PUMP INHIBITORS
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

68. Patients with osteoporosis
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 home- made 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.)

69. the end!
ANY QUESTIONS?