THE DARK SIDE OF SUPERFOODS LIKE GREEN TEA / TURMERIC / CHOCOLATE – THEIR INDISCREET USE COULD BE MAKING YOU VERY SICK. SURPRISED!!! READ ON TO KNOW HOW…

Turmeric– the Wonder spice (off late being consumed in the West as Turmeric Latte). Green tea – the healthiest drink (also a status symbol in certain places). Chocolate the wonder food (termed as the food of Gods)… The world is running crazy after such fads. But do you know that instead of benefiting you, these things in all likelihood are creating severe and sometimes unmanageable imbalances inside you like chronic body aches, insomnia, anxiety, short temper, mood disorders, headaches, depression, fluctuating blood pressure, type one diabetes, obesity, osteoporosis etc. (collectively all these issues are found in people suffering with a chronic and painful condition called fibromyalgia). In fact, I personally know several cases of people who, in order to stay healthy or to reduce weight had resorted to using one of these items but finally ended up developing these issues as mentioned above. On top of it, in many cases, this suggestion to drink green tea to stay fit and healthy has come from their nutritionists.

***This post is an extract from the book THE ROOT CAUSE- Ayurveda, Astrology and beyond for a blissful life”. To pick up a copy of the book, please click the link/s mentioned at the end of this post ⇓⇓⇓⇓⇓

Confused that how can such healthy foods be harmful???? Read on to understand the logic…

SCIENCE OF NUTRITION IS INCOMPLETE WITHOUT THE SIX TASTES

The world has begun to appreciate the importance of nutrition for staying healthy and fit, however, the current understanding of modern science of nutrition is confined primarily to proteins, fats, carbohydrates, vitamins and minerals (with some discussion on antioxidants and enzymes/hormones). And exactly this is the reason that the world is still not getting rid of diseases. This is because the science of nutrition is incomplete unless it understands;

• that all our foods contain one or many of THE SIX TASTES, which Ayurveda (the ultimate science of human physiology/psychology) has mentioned in its texts and;
• that how these tastes work on our body and mind.

So before we proceed further, it is essential that you read the following blogs (and the links in those blogs) to visualize how six tastes act on our mind and body and change its biochemistry altogether by altering the blood flow (remember, knowledge is the most important tool to gain vibrant health and ultimate bliss) :-

WEIGHT LOSS/GAIN/VIBRANT HEALTH- AYURVEDIC FOOD PYRAMIDS CAN GET YOU THERE- UNDERSTANDING SCIENCE OF FOOD

AYURVEDIC FOOD PYRAMIDS-Part II- THE RIGHT WAY TO LOSE WEIGHT/ GAIN HEALTH

FINALLY-WHY IS IT DANGEROUS TO HAVE GREEN TEA/CHOCOLATE/TURMERIC INDISCREETLY

So once you have understood how various tastes work on our body and which taste is good for which constitution, let’s begin with Green tea first..

DANGERS OF GREEN TEA

Green tea is highly pungent, highly astringent and highly bitter ( I am sure you can feel it when you take a sip of it when it suddenly gives you a high feeling along with a dry mouth) and that’s why it is okay for a very high kapha mind and body to have it in moderation. However, the fact is that in today’s world, no one has a true kapha mind (who are always lethargic, slow, calm). In fact, most are vata minds (who get bouts of high energy/anxiety and then get tired temporarily). So what green tea does is the following:-

• Due to the vasodilating effect of its bitter taste and the constriction effect of it’s (green tea’s) astringent taste, peripherals of the body i.e. skin, voluntary muscles/tendons, brain and other tissues etc., receive less blood and core receives more blood and body assumes the shape like that of a deflated balloon (this also means that foods with such tastes are ok for those with highly inflated balloon type body meaning they are kapha body and mind).  The result is that lack of nutrition in peripherals due to less of blood creates a hyperactive mind (leading to unnecessary stress, insomnia etc). Lack of nutrition also leads to high catabolism (breakdown) and poor anabolism (creation) of all tissues and that’s why it results in the loss of muscles, fat, nerves, bones leading to chronic pains and osteoporosis etc.

• Moreover, high pungency of the green tea further increases catabolism (breakdown) leading to further loss of tissues and painful conditions.
• Overall, it also leads to severe inflammation (since catabolism / breakdown increases inflammation) of the organs like the pancreas affecting the production of insulin which leads to onset of diabetes type one (to convey the ill-effects of such foods, it is worth mentioning here that I have been able to cure diabetes of people at initial stage within just 5-8 days, by just removing foods like tea (especially green tea) from their diet along with introduction of foods like bael fruit/aloe vera to heal their pancreas).

***  this is not to say that tea with milk or black tea or coffee are okay for health. They too damage our health (bitterness reduces blood from the brain making it hyperactive and pungency increases pitta thereby reducing overall blood in the body and damaging organs due to vata.. However their damaging potential is lesser than green tea.

WHAT ABOUT TURMERIC

Turmeric gets its healing and immunity properties (especially of combating cold and cough which is usually due to excess sourness/coldness in the body thereby reducing the blood flow in the body and thus immunity) due to its astringent, warm (slightly pungent) and bitter taste (meaning tastes similar to green tea but with a catch), where :-

• astringency neutralizes too much of sourness,
• warmth neutralizes coldness and
• bitterness helps to combat invading microbes in the body and flush them out..

This is the reason that to neutralize sour taste in the food (like tomato etc) or sourness in the body, this spice has been an intrinsic part of various cuisines in the Indian kitchen. However the issue is that in today’s world of an impulsive approach, we, instead of understanding the science of the six tastes, start following/rejecting various foods blindly the moment we learn that they are good for health, not realizing that they are good for health in certain conditions and certain quantity only whereas in different conditions and quantity, they can be harmful even.

Exactly the same happened with turmeric when some institute of great repute called it as a Wonder spice. The rat race started immediately with people gulping down rhizomes of turmeric in the morning with warm water to stay healthy/fit or to reduce weight while not realizing that only a pinch is added  (and required) in Indian cuisine (and that’s the catch). This is the reason that the cases of fibromyalgia (a deadly condition as mentioned above) has increased many folds in the world today due to indiscreet/excess consumption of turmeric, green tea etc.

*** Exactly the same is the story about chocolate which is highly astringent, hot in nature, pungent and highly bitter and is ok for kapha people (but without too much of milk and cream) in small quantities but not at all good for vata minds, though unfortunately in today’s world to make the drinks delicious, chocolate is added to all health drinks making them unhealthy. And this is one of the big reasons for increasing incidence of hyperactive i.e. high vata pitta mind in kids, putting them into a vicious circle of falling prey to other addictive substances as VP mind are more prone to them.

To conclude:-

(a) Science of Nutrition is incomplete or rather illogical without understanding the six tastes as postulated by Ayurveda. So, do not blindly follow any report (whether against or in the favor of some food) even if it is from some international institute of great repute (use this checklist to know the availability of ayurvedic tastes in different foods ayurvedic tastes of different foods). Apart from the above mentioned examples, here are some more to support this statement….

          (i) Ghee was suddenly rated as a bad food for many years when refined hydrogenated oil took over and damaged the health of millions before the world re-realized that ghee is an elixir of life.

         (ii) Same ways the pharma introduced statins-the blood thinners to combat cholesterol ever since the latter earned the reputation of a villain and again spoiled the health of millions until the world realized that cholesterol is a produced by the body as a bandage to combat high inflammation (Ayurveda already called this inflammation as high vata and/or pitta).

                (iii) The latest in the series is Coconut oil which has been rated as bad by Harvard Professor whereas the fact is this oil is cold, sweet, astringent and is an excellent food for climates high on pitta i.e. India especially South India and that’s why it is a wonderful food for them. However in west where, as such the weather is comparatively cold, this oil is likely to create health issues especially in those cases where the blood is already thickened due to excess use of cheese which is extremely sweet and dense.

(b) Not every food is good for everyone e.g. Green tea is okay in moderation for Kapha minds but vata minds should not consume it at all and that’s why

                       “ONE’s NECTAR CAN BE ANOTHER’S POISON AND VICE VERSA”

Not only that, the following is also true:-

 ” SAME FOOD CAN WORK AS NECTAR AS WELL AS POISON FOR THE SAME PERSON IN DIFFERENT CONDITIONS” and these conditions could be weather, time of the day, quantity of the food used, quantity of the neutralizing food used.