Tri-Doshic Raw Vegan Chocolate Mousse
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Tri-Doshic
Avoid in high ama or kapha conditions.
Every once in a while you just have to have some chocolate. And raw chocolate we should! It is loaded with antioxidants, high in magnesium, naturally low in caffeine, and contains natural MAO inhibitors that increase serotonin. Raw chocolate (cacoa), is bitter like bakers chocolate, and therefore usually requires a sweetener for most palates. I like to use agave, which is a natural prebiotic (feeds beneficial flora).
To make an easy mousse using raw cacoa and agave, combine it with avocado. It may sound suspicious, but I promise it is delicious. Cacoa is stimulating, and therefore can provoke both pitta and vata, but reduce kapha. Avocado is sweet and heavy, and reduces the dry, heating, and stimulating effect of the cacoa.
This recipe combines all of the tastes qualifying it as a ayurvedically balanced dessert! The chocolate is bitter and astringent. The cayenne is pungent. The raspberries are sweet and sour. The salt is salty. The avocado and agave are both sweet.
2 large ripe avocados
1/2 cup organic unsweetened cocoa powder
1/4 cup agave nectar, plus more to taste
4-6 large dates
1 1/2 tsp pure vanilla extract
1 1/2 tsp almond extract
1/2 pint fresh raspberries
1/4 tsp celtic sea salt
1/4 tsp cayenne pepper
*If blood sugar is an issue, exclude dates and increase agave to 1/2 cup.
Alternate version: 4-8 drops of rose essential oil; exclude cayenne pepper, and raspberries.
Cut a ripe avocado in half
Remove seed
Spoon out the meat of the avocado, put in separate bowl
Remove seeds and blend dates in a food processor.
Add remaining ingredients except: avocado, raspberries, and agave.
Add avocado, and slowly add agave until desired consistency.
Put in refridgerator for 2 or more hours.
Top with raspberries and serve! Enjoy!
H1N1 Vaccine
By · CommentsGovernment Wants to Force Vaccines Against Medical Community’s Concerns
Doctor would not give H1N1 to his own child.
Med Watch
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Zyvox: FDA has received reports of serious CNS reactions when Zyvox is given to patients taking a selective serotonin reuptake inhibitor (SSRI) or a serotonin norepinephrine reuptake inhibitor (SNRI). Similar reports are cited between SSRI/SNRI. Linezolid is used to treat infections, including pneumonia, infections of the skin, and infections caused by a resistant bacterium (Enterococcus faecium). It is a reversible monoamine oxidase inhibitor (MAOI). Although the exact mechanism of this drug interaction is unknown, linezolid inhibits the action of monoamine oxidase A — an enzyme responsible for breaking down serotonin in the brain. It is believed that when linezolid is given to patients taking serotonergic psychiatric medications, high levels of serotonin can build up in the brain, causing toxicity. This is referred to as Serotonin Syndrome — signs and symptoms include mental changes (confusion, hyperactivity, memory problems), muscle twitching, excessive sweating, shivering or shaking, diarrhea, trouble with coordination and/or fever.
Methylene Blue: Methylene blue is not an FDA-approved drug at this time, and limited data exist regarding its use in various settings, it is not known whether there is a risk of serotonin syndrome in patients taking serotonergic psychiatric medications who are given methylene blue by other routes (e.g., orally or by local tissue injection) or at intravenous doses lower than 1 mg/kg.
In addition, not all serotonergic psychiatric drugs have an equal capacity to cause serotonin syndrome with methylene blue. The cases of serotonin syndrome with methylene blue occurred in patients taking specific serotonergic psychiatric drugs, namely a selective serotonin reuptake inhibitor (SSRI), a serotonin norepinephrine reuptake inhibitor (SNRI), or clomipramine. It is unclear at this time whether intravenous methylene blue administration in patients receiving other psychiatric drugs with lesser degrees of serotonergic activity poses a comparable risk.
Orap (pimozide): The drug is metabolized by CYP 2D6; concomitant use with paroxetine or other strong CYP 2D6 inhibitors is contraindicated. Individuals with genetic variations resulting in poor CYP 2D6 metabolism (5 – 10% of the population) exhibit higher pimozide concentrations; alternative dosing strategies are recommended in such patients. Possible risk factors for leukopenia/neutropenia include pre-existing low white blood cell count (WBC) and history of drug-induced leukopenia/neutropenia. Patients with a history of a clinically significant low WBC or drug-induced leukopenia/neutropenia should have their complete blood count (CBC) monitored frequently during the first few months of therapy and discontinuation of Orap should be considered at the first sign of a clinically significant decline in WBC in the absence of other causative factors.
Risperdal (risperidone) tablets, oral solution, Risperdal M-Tab orally disintegrating tablets, Risperdal Consta injection : Atypical antipsychotics have been associated with metabolic changes that may increase cardiovascular/cerebrovascular risk (hyperglycemia, dyslipidemia, weight gain). While all drugs in the class have been shown to produce metabolic changes, each drug has its own specific risk profile.
Chantix (varenicline) : Monitor patients for neuropsychiatric symptoms. DA informed healthcare professionals of reports of suicidal thoughts and aggressive and erratic behavior in patient who have taken Chantix, a smoking cessation product. There are also reports of patients experiencing drowsiness that affected their ability to drive or operate machinery. FDA is currently reviewing these cases, along with other recent reports. A preliminary assessment reveals that many of the cases reflect new-onset of depressed mood, suicidal ideation, and changes in emotion and behavior within days to weeks of initiating Chantix treatment. The role of Chantix in these cases is not clear because smoking cessation, with or without treatment, is associated with nicotine withdrawal symptoms and has also been associated with the exacerbation of underlying psychiatric illness. However, not all patients described in the cases had preexisting psychiatric illness and not all had discontinued smoking.
Sprycel (dasatinib): May increase the risk of pulmonary arterial hypertension.FDA notified healthcare professionals that Sprycel (dasatinib) may increase the risk of a rare but serious condition in which there is abnormally high blood pressure in the arteries of the lungs (pulmonary arterial hypertension [PAH]). Symptoms of PAH may include shortness of breath, fatigue, and swelling of the body (such as the ankles and legs). In reported cases, patients developed PAH after starting Sprycel, including after more than one year of treatment.
Nostrilla Nasal Decongestant: Bacterial contamination with Burkholderia cepacia: Insight Pharmaceuticals, LLC recalled one lot (lot #11G075, UPC Code 6373673005, 34,092 bottles) of Nostrilla Nasal Decongestant nasal spray to the consumer level, because it may contain the bacteria Burkholderia cepacia. Burkholderia cepacia may cause serious infection in individuals with a compromised immune system or chronic lung condition (i.e. cystic fibrosis).
Uprizing 2.0: Contains an undeclared drug ingredient, superdrol, a synthetic steroid. DA notified the manufacturer that lab analyses found that the product, sold as a testosterone booster, contains superdrol, a synthetic steroid, making it an unapproved new drug. Acute liver injury is known to be a possible harmful effect of using products containing synthetic anabolic steroids. In addition, use of synthetic anabolic steroids may cause other serious long-term adverse health consequences in men, women, and children. These include shrinkage of the testes and male infertility, masculinization of women, breast enlargement in males, short stature in children, a higher predilection to misuse other drugs and alcohol, adverse effects on blood lipid levels, and increased risk of heart attack, stroke, and death.
MAP & Crohn’s Disease
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Pathogenic Bacteria have long been suspected to contribute to IBD, however, a specific strain has not been conclusively identified. Elevated antibody levels and characteristic changes in intestinal flora, between IBD and infectious bowel diseases inspire researchers to investigate a shared bacterial trigger. Some researchers theorize, invasive pathogenic bacteria cause IBD, while others believe IBD patients have a hyper immune response to normal gastrointestinal bacteria. IBD reactions have been observed from both pathogenic and normal bacteria, and include severe intestinal inflammation, degradation of mucosa, and cytokine hyper production. Research indicates that predispositions differentiate bacterial responses from person to person, further complicating the quest to identify a single cause for every individual. The most commonly indicated bacteria involved in IBD include mycobacterium avium paratuberculosis, M. paramyxovirus, Escherichia coli, Listeria monocytogenes, Helicobacter hepaticus.
Internationally recognized Chron’s disease expert, Dr. Jon Hermon-Taylor, and several researchers, believe the bacteria mycobacterium avium paratuberculosis, (MAP) is responsible for the Chron’s disease epidemic, and is transferable through bovine milk and contaminated water. MAP is a bacterium responsible for Johne’s disease, and causes chronic inflammation and fatal intestinal disease in several domestic animals, especially dairy cows, and has similar characteristics as Chron’s disease. MAP can be detected in commercially purchased dairy products and meat, but because it is not considered a human pathogen, MAP may be continually entering the food chain. Presently, tests used to identify MAP are costly and take 10-14 days to complete, and impede dairy processing which leads to financial loss. There is no way to visibly identify MAP in cattle until the latter stages when the animal is approaching death. MAP has the ability to survive high levels of heat. In one study done by the Department of Food Science in Ireland, several pasteurization methods were exercised on cow dairy including variables in duration, heat and homogenization. Results concluded that MAP is capable of surviving commercial pasteurization regardless of method applied. Samples have been identified in milk pasteurized at temperatures up to 179.6 degrees, but countries such as America, only require farms to pasteurize at 71.1 degrees. The American Journal of Gastroenterology printed in 2005 that MAP bacteria exist in the intestinal lesions of most Crohn’s disease patients, and can be detected by blood in 50% of those same patients, indicating that like livestock infected with MAP, the bacteria is capable of traveling into the human circulatory system from the gastrointestinal tract, and provoke additional complications. In one recent study, biopsies from the intestinal lesions of Chron’s disease patients contained MAP bacteria in 83% of patients compared to zero levels in controls.
Crohn’s disease occurs concurrently with MAP prevalent areas affecting small groups of people, called cluster patients, who live in the same geographic location. Map contamination runs off livestock areas, and into river systems that feed areas that have higher incidences of crohn’s disease diagnosis. In Olmstead County Minnesota there was a shocking 31% increase in the diagnosis of crohn’s disease between 1991 to 2000. Clusters of Crohn’s disease patients living in close proximity, who did not know each other, developed the disease and positively tested for MAP bacteria, as did their water supply. Local water sources including a frequently swam in lake, and rivers contained significant levels of MAP. Water treatment and chlorination do not typically kill MAP bacteria. Cluster cases of Crohn’s disease reported in correlation with water contamination by MAP and other pathogenic bacteria have come from several countries over the world. The Nord-Pas-de-Calais region of northern France is of great interest to health practitioners for its extremely high incidence of IBD disorders and diagnosis. One study indicated that two out of every 100,000 children developed Chron’s disease in Northern France. Clustering of Crohn’s disease in Mankato, Minnesota analyzed a group of high school students who graduated in 1980. 7 out of 285 contacted students were positive for crohn’s disease; an incident rate of 2,400 out 100,000, that gives strong evidence to a pathogenic bacteria cause. Local water testing showed high levels of fecal contamination from animals and/or humans in 52-67% of samples.
Therapuetic Fasting & Samsarjana Diet
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Therapuetic Fasting. Digestion, as well as elimination, may be improved by regularly restricting food intake. Understand restricted eating is not starvation. It is identified in Ayurveda as a viable means to restore agni and detoxify the body. Many studies have shown how therapeutic fasting is anti-aging and life extending. The concept of fasting, according to ¨ayurveda, is not going for days and weeks on end without food. This practice can be risky, and even dangerous, when not done with professional guidance or knowledge. Ayurvedic fasts include easy to digest juices, spiced waters, teas and liquefied soups, or kichadis.
Samsarjana Karma is the name for diet control during and after the purifying therapies of Pancha Karma. Samsarjana diet can also be used on its own independent of panchakarma for gentle detoxification and agni restoration. Generally samsarjana consists of very liquefied soups that increase in consistency over a seven-day period. It is made from grains, legumes, vegetables and spices. Refer to your recipe section for samsarjana recipe examples.
Ayurveda calls therapeutic fasting langhana therapy, which means “reducing, or to make light.” Therapuetic fasting has numerous health benefits, and is well tolerated by all doshic types in the right season. Spring and summer months are better times of the year for fasting therapies. Vata types, who are out of balance, need to be mindful of fasting applications. If not prepared properly, fasting can send vatas in a state of worry and shock. Pittas can do well with fasting for moderate amounts of time, and kaphas do the best for extended periods of fasting. Kaphas benefit the most from frequent fasting, and can safely fast one day out of the week.
Fasting, or restricted eating, can include consuming only juices, water and tea. It can also refer to kichadis, a detoxifying soup that is easy to digest, and commonly used in panchakarma for detoxification.
Water fasting is very rigorous for all types, unless done with absolute shraddha. However, numerous scientific articles have shown at great length, how powerful water fasting is in disease reversal.
Raw food fasts can be good for kaphas, pitta-kaphas, and some pitta/vata types. It is a good antidote for the standard American diet. It is astringent and bitter, so reduces excess in the tissues. Ayurveda recognizes the detoxification abilities raw food diets contain. Because raw food diets are ethereal, light and dry, they can elate the mind and encourage a genuine feeling of well-being. In deed, many sadhus and renunciation yogis live on raw foods only, such as roots, milk, and berries. Long term, raw foods can be depleting for many types. Those with excess vata can struggle the most with this.
While undergoing a fast, it is good to consume ama pachana water, and other spices. This is “dipan” in Ayurveda, which means it stimulates digestive fire to help destroy ama. Refer to the recipe section for spiced waters.
Contraindications for fasting include vata excess or emotions such as fear apprehension or uncertainty around fasting.
Samsarjana is a fast used in panchakarma between eliminatory procedures when agni is depleted. Eating simply restores agni. Samsarjana diet consists of simple liquefied soups made of rice, beans and spices. Typically it is eaten over the course of seven days. The first day the soup is very thin, consisting mostly of water. As each day passes, and agni increases, the soup is made thicker and with a wider range of ingredients. One can follow a course of samsarjana fasting on its own.
