Ayurveda is a word that keeps popping up in the wellness world. So, what is it?
Well, according to experts, it’s an ancient Indian healing practice, which treats the whole body and relies on herbs, diet, massage, and yoga to achieve optimal health.
This very old tradition is getting a modern makeover – thanks to celebs, like Madonna, Oprah Winfrey, and Kylie Minogue, who have all tried an Ayurvedic-approach to eating.
Who better to educate Healthy Hollywood on putting Ayurvedic foods on your plate than former supermodel turned guru Yogi Cameron, who wrote the book “The Guru in You.” He’s also a favorite of celebs, like Natalie Portman, Ellen DeGeneres and Access Hollywood’s Maria Menounos.
“The Ayurvedic way of eating teaches us to eat food at restaurants and everywhere else not as a way to fulfill expectations, but as a way to live presently to exactly what our body needs,” reveals Yogi Cameron. “When we eat food that nourishes our body and mind, not only will we not feel gassy and bloated, but we’ll be far less likely to suffer from other discomfort and ailments as well. With an Ayurvedic diet, we will become healthier, stronger, and feel more content.”
Like that!
The Ayurvedic diet is based on the concept every person has one of three dominant character types called ‘dosha.’ Our dosha determines our body shape (among other things) and hence what we should eat. “An Ayurvedic lifestyle teaches us that we don’t need to wait until we’re sick to decide to live better, that illness is preventable, and that discomfort is unnecessary,” adds Yogi Cameron.
If you’re interested in finding out your particular dosha – Cameron recently released an app at the iTunes store, called “The Guru With You.” For now, this healthy living expert has a few Ayurvedic tips everyone can use – no matter their dosha.
Tip #1: Start the day with a cup of hot water. When we wake up from a night of sleep, our digestion is sluggish and won’t respond well to food. Drinking hot water first thing enkindles our digestive fire and prevents gastrointestinal discomfort when we eventually do eat. It also acts as a cleanse and will help clear out the body of toxins.
Tip #2: Use ghee. Ghee is known in the West as clarified butter. It is made by boiling off the moisture in the butter, and doing this converts its long-chain fatty acids to short-chain fatty acids. In this altered form, ghee is totally digestible and won’t clog up the arteries like butter does. It will help make you regular if you’re constipated, and will nourish all aspects of your body–especially your bones and muscles.
Tip #3: Drink tulsi tea. Tulsi is an herb that offers tremendous benefit to all people, regardless of what their specific nature or constitution is. Drinking this tea will help to promote longevity of the body’s organs as well as resolve specific ailments like the common cold.
Tip #4: Avoid activities that cause you to sweat excessively. When the body sweats continuously for more than fifteen minutes, it suffers from dehydration and dry skin issues. Activities that may cause this to happen include visits to saunas and steam rooms, power yoga, working out at the gym, excessive running, or any other physical exertion. The abundance with which these people sweat in response to these activities demonstrates how they create a lot of heat in their body. This heat not only throws the body out of balance, but it sends intense amounts of heat to the head. Too much movement and heat in the system will also create more irritated, emotional thoughts. This leads to anger and depression.
Tip #5: Breathe. As simple as it sounds, it’s also amazing how few people embrace this advice and breathe full enough so that they use the entire capacity of the lungs. Throughout our day, we hold our breath when we’re stressed about something, become short of breath when we pant after tasty food, and shortchange our well-being by breathing shallow, rapid breaths throughout the day when we try to multitask. At the beginning, set several moments aside from your day to breathe slower, longer, and with greater mindfulness. Then start monitoring how deep or shallow your breathing is in each moment. From this practice, you will eat less, react less, and generally feel an inner sense of peace that you will take into your life and share with others.
For more information on Yogi Cameron or Ayurveda, head to www.yogicameron.com.
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