Diabetes is a very common disease today, characterized by the inability of body to utilize glucose for bodily functions. This happens due to either absence of insulin or its inability to utilize the glucose or sugar for cellular energy.

The glucose remains in the blood instead of being utilized by body cells and tissues. The accumulation of glucose on blood leads to cellular fatigue. On the long run, the high levels of sugar in blood causes damage to nerves, heart and eyes. If left untreated, diabetes can cause severe problems like heart diseases, blindness, impotence (in men) and several other problems.

There are two types of diabetes, Type 1 Diabetes and Type 2 Diabetes.

Type 1 diabetes, also known as juvenile diabetes affects children. There will be total lack of insulin production by pancreas gland.

Type 2 diabetes is the common type. It can be due to either lack of insulin production in the body or the inability of insulin to bind glucose in cells.

Prevention of Diabetes
There are different tips that you can observe to prevent or at least effectively control diabetes.

Include lot of fruits in your daily diet. Also include green and red-orange vegetables and pulses. Minimize intake of fatty or salty food items. Items to avoid include ice cream, chocolate and pastries.

Lead an active life. Be physically active a lot of time. Regular exercise program help you maintain good health and guard against diabetes.

Diabetes Treatment in Ayurveda
The main herbs and medicines used in the treatment of diabetes are bitter melon (bitter gourd – Momordica charantia), Neem (Azadirachta Indica), Shilajit (Asphaltum), Triphala [a combination of three herbs viz. amalaki (Indian gooseberry, Emblica officinalis), vibhitaki (Belleric Myrobalan, terminalia belerica) and haritaki (chebulic myrobalan, Terminalia chebula)], turmeric (curcuma longa or curcuma domestica), etc.

These form the main ingredients for medicines used in Ayurvedic treatment for diabetes.

Ayurvedic cure for diabetes is not just about taking medicines. It is also about balancing your lifestyle in a healthy manner and having a healthy lifestyle.

Beauty according to Ayurveda is an elaborate topic and physical beauty is only a tiny portion of the whole beauty of human beings. It is better to wear a smile than artificial makeup. You can’t hide what is in your mind with makeup on your face.

Following are ten simple tips that help you with better natural beauty care and hair care.

1. Get regular sleep and wakeup early in the morning. Not only for health, but also for inner and outer beauty.

2. Self massage whole body with coconut oil, almond oil or olive oil. This facilitates good circulation throughout your body and keeps skin glowing.

3. Apply coconut oil or brahmi oil on head for a cool head and thick growth of hair. Also use coconut oil boiled with henna leaves as hair oil for thickly growing, dark hair.

4. Take nutritious food and drink lot of water. Healthy body is beautiful body.

5. Exercise, meditate and practice yoga regularly. This helps in calming your mind, better blood circulation and gives a healthy air.

6. Always keep a pleasant mind. Happiness at mind is quickly expressed on face.

7. Apply sesame oil on your lower feet. Believe it or not, your eyes look more shining.

8.  Avoid applying chemical makeup on your face.

9. Mingle with good natured people only. It is one step to keep your mind fresh and healthy.

10. Learn ways to control negative emotions like anger and jealousy. Also fill your mind with pleasant thoughts and positive images of life.

Beauty is not all about appearance; it is something about being too.

Indigestion is the condition that Ayurveda describes as agnimandhya, or the suppressed state of fire. Over eating or eating incompatible food can cause temporary indigestion. Indigestion can be characterized by a burning sensation in chest, heaviness in stomach, vomiting and nausea.

Tension, worry, anger can also lead to indigestion. The preventive measures for indigestion are taking only easy to digest food, avoiding too cold food items and not eating too soon. Staying away from causes of stress also is another thing you must keep in mind.

Some Ayurvedic home remedies for indigestion

Take an ounce slightly diluted wine.

Drink a glass of lemon juice as first item on morning.

Take buttermilk with chopped coriander leaves, crushed curry leaves, a pinch of salt and a pinch of red chilly (pepper) powder.

Crush some curry leaves and extract the juice. Squeeze half a lemon to a glass of water. Add the curry leaf juice and a tsp honey to the water. Quickly drink it.

Stir a teaspoon of cumin seed powder in a glass of water. Add chopped coriander leaves or its juice. Drink it two times a day.

Small cardamom, ginger, cloves and coriander grounded together relieve indigestion.

Chew peppermint leaf for immediate relief.

Add two drops of peppermint oil to a glass of lukewarm water and drink it immediately.

Avoid cigarette.

DonÂ’t eat after sunset.

DonÂ’t sleep in daytime.

A pinch of baking soda in a glass of water can suppress the symptoms of indigestion.

Take a tsp of triphala. It is a mild laxative; strengthens colon and reinstates digestive fire.

A balanced life is healthy life. Balance should be visible in diet, lifestyle, thoughts and activities. Imbalances in diet can bring disease to body. Imbalance in lifestyle can bring diseases to both mind and body.

One may break this law of balance with laws of pleasure and excitement.

If you take a close look at the traditional food practice of India, you can find excellent balance of food selection, choice of ingredients, and a fine balancing power of all the components.

The preparation method also demands careful preservation of the nutrients. Overcooking can destroy the nutrients of any food material. Moderate cooking is a must to retain the nutritional value of any food item.

Including food items of varying properties in the menu is essential to maintain bodily balance and physical health.

It is said variety is the spice of life. Ayurveda tells variety in food is spice to good health. Include all types of food items including whole grains, milk, lean meat, fruits, vegetables, nuts, seeds and eggs on your daily menu. Give soybeans, almonds, poultry, grapes, blackberries, cram berries, cucumber, watermelon, mango, tomatoes etc a place in your platter.

Just like a balanced diet, it is also essential to maintain a balanced lifestyle. Ayurveda dinacharya and ritucharya are daily and seasonal routines prescribed by Ayurveda.

These routines have directions to lead the most balanced lifestyle, which talk everything about time to wake up, food, time to work, what to think about, which type of people to mingle with, how to conduct in society, how much to enjoy pleasures and how – Ayurvedic lifestyle directions are complete guidelines for healthy well being.

Obesity, in normal cases is referred to as the unnatural accumulation of fat in one’s body. An obese person has body weight 5% more than normal body weight. Sometimes the excess weight can be prelude to other serious physical conditions.

Kapha type persons are more prone to overweight or obesity. However, pitta type persons too can get overweight. Vata type persons generally are lean built and they need to add in weight to achieve ideal body weight.

Ayurveda cure for obesity first starts with identifying the physical composition of the person and balancing his or her calorie intake and bodily activities to achieve normal body weight.

The normal diet pattern recommended to an overweight person includes has items that promotes digestion and assimilation of nutrients.

Ginger, papaya, mango, banana, pineapple, bitter gourd etc are the main items that a doctor recommends. While ginger promotes digestive fire (agni), fibrous fruits like mango add bulk to the food and facilitates easy digestion and freshens digestive system.

Other preventive measures include

Drink warm water many times in the daytime.

Use spices and/or vegetables that are spicy, bitter or sour. This promotes digestion.

Exercise daily according to your physical capacity.

Avoid binge eating and eating between meals.

Replace fried/baked/canned food items with fresh fruits.

Reduce food items that are very sweet.

Take non-vegetarian food in very limited quantities.

Don’t drink full milk or take curd. Skim milk and buttermilk are ok.

Indian gooseberry (amlaki) is beneficial in weight loss.

If obesity is linked to hormonal or genetic imbalances, food and lifestyle regulations may not be good enough. In that case you need to correctly identify the underlying reasons of obesity to find an effective cure for the condition.

Back pain is so common a problem. Only at an advanced stage do people seek medical attention for back pain. Back pain occurs when the flexibility of spine is affected.

Back ache or back pain can be of short term (lasts for only a few weeks), recurrent or chronic.

Poor posture and resultant muscular tension and stress on disc are the main result of back pain, especially lower back pain. Nutrition deficiency, lack of exercise etc are other reasons for back pain.

In some cases, back pain can be symptoms of serious arthritis problems, infections, or ovarian cysts.

Back ache, according to Ayurveda is primarily a vata related disorder. Therefore the first step in treating back pain is to avoid vata aggravating food items like chilled items.

Don’t physically exert too much.

Sexual activity is better minimized. Take the passive position when having sex.

Practice yoga, meditation, stretching and mild exercises.

Massage – there are several Ayurvedic massage oils for rheumatic pains and general body pains. Your physician prescribes a medicinal oil to massage your lower back with. It relives pain.

Posture – don’t lean forward when standing or sitting. Take an upright position or comfortably press against the chair you sit. The angle between your legs and torso should be more than 90 degree but less than 135 degree. Practice sitting like this earlier in your life.

Don’t lift very heavy objects. Never lean to your side when lifting heavy objects on one hand. Try stay erect when lifting heavy objects.

Common cold is an infectious disease caused by virus, affecting respiratory system. Nasal congestion, running nose due to mucus, sneezing, coughing, headaches, tiredness, etc are the symptoms of common cold.

There is a common joke about common cold that ‘it is a disease that will be cured in seven days with treatment and in one week without treatment. That is not normally the case.

Almost everyone experience common cold at least once a year.

Here are some Ayurvedic home remedies for common cold. Try it when you feel it is about time your nose open mucus pipes.

First tip straight from Indian granny – boil a few Tulsi (holy basil) leaves in a glass or two of water. Take the pan from the stove and take a facial steam bath with the steam emanating from the vessel. Cover your head with a cloth to ensure steam is not lost out.

There are boilers and inhalers available in the market that lets you direct the steam straight to your nose.

Ginger is another effective remedy to common cold. Boil half a tsp of ginger powder in a glass of water for five minutes. Strain it and drink when lightly warm.

You can elaborate the above mixture to a herbal tea by adding fennel seeds, a pinch of clove powder and a little of cinnamon powder. Drink it one or two times a day.

Cardamom, cinnamon, licorice and cloves also can be singly boiled for a few minutes and taken warm.

More ginger – take two inches of fresh ginger. Crush it and get the juice. Add half a teaspoon honey. Take this mixture two or three times a day.

Squeeze half a lemon to a glass of warm water. Add a tsp of honey. Drink it two times a day.

Care to try some Nasya? Try this if you have a stuffy nose. Add a little sea salt to a tsp of water. Slightly warm the water if it is too cold. Use this as nasal drops.

Additional Tips

Wear a cap and a muffler when stepping out to a cold winter day or night.

Take only warm food. Completely avoid cold drinks, food items. Avoid sour items too.

India has one of the richest and the spiciest culinary traditions of whole world. Just as Indian traditional is tasty, it is also healthy. Going by the traditional food practices of Kerala and India, one can find all the healthy elements of balanced diet weaved together in a unique manner.

Ayurveda explained qualities of food based on its taste. A balance in taste is balance in dietary and nutritional requirements.

Tuber crops of India, which is a rare and priced commodity is rich in easy to digest carbohydrates, which are easily assimilated by the human body.

Compulsory inclusion of fruits of varying kinds ensures supply of essential vitamins and trace minerals to the body. It also adds bulk to the food, keeping colon and digestive system healthy and functional.

Spices and condiments used in Indian food especially promote digestion and assimilation of food. Ginger has cooling effect on body, while turmeric has purifying and detoxification capacity. Indian black pepper, fenugreek, cumin seeds, mustard, chillies (cayenne pepper), asafoetida, cardamom, etc have medicinal properties.

Each and every part of traditional Indian food items plays a significant role in getting a balanced diet. There is balancing force acting within the dietary components, which can’t be found in any diet anywhere in the world.

Indians traditionally were not so fond of non-vegetarian food. The requirement of proteins and lipids were mainly met by consumption of legumes, lentils, green gram, etc.

Indian traditional food also put great emphasis on balancing of food items. Incompatible food items were considered poisonous. Ayurvedic food combination was the general principle followed in Indian food tradition.

Leaving this wonderful food habit behind necessarily is one of the prime reasons for Indian people succumbing to more diseases than in the past.

Constipation is the condition when a person has difficult bowel movement. In cases you feel like bowel movement is not over. The main reason for this state can be attributed to lesser daily intake of water and fruits.

Other reasons for constipation can be suppressing the urge of bowel movement. Constipation can also be the side effect of certain drugs you take. Excess use of laxatives can also cause constipation.

The main symptoms are harder stools, infrequent or decreased passage and the feeling that you need bowel movement immediately after you have had one.

Herbal Remedies for Constipation
Triphala is the most effective cure for constipation. Triphala is a mild laxative. It strengthens digestive tract. It acts as a laxative without causing any irritation or pains. Triphala is a combination of three fruits. The three fruits are amalaki or amla (Indian gooseberry, Emblica officinalis), vibhitaki (Belleric Myrobalan, terminalia belerica) and haritaki (chebulic myrobalan, Terminanlia chebula). {read more about triphala- link}

Triphala offers most natural constipation relief. Triphala acts as a mild laxative and colon tonic. It strengthens colon walls and removes unwanted materials accumulated in the walls of digestive tract.

Preventing Constipation
If you experience chronic constipation problems, it can primarily be of your wrong diet habits. Include more fibrous and fruit items in your diet. Drink minimum of 8-15 glass of water daily. Soft drinks, cola, coffee and tea donÂ’t count to daily water intake.

When necessary use mild laxatives like triphala. DonÂ’t depend on harsh laxatives. It can make the condition worse. Triphala is safe.

Other thing is to maintain daily physical activity. Moderate levels of physical activities and aerobics strengthen colon and facilitates free bowel movement.

Prevention for constipation can be concluded in three points

1. Drink lot of water daily
2. Eat fruits
3. Follow daily exercise regime

This will help you manage constipation.

It is quite easy to find fruits in open market. We know the fruits come chemical treated at various stages. Most fruits we consume are grown and preserved with chemical aid.

Think how a fruit is grown in a farmerÂ’s orchard. The plant is supported by chemical fertilizers. These fertilizers help the plants grow fast and yield more fruits. Abundance of pesticides and insecticides are applied at the orchards to prevent pests and insects. In many cases of mechanized harvesting, chemicals are also applied for quick falling of unripe fruits.

It goes without saying these chemicals ultimately accumulate in human bodies, causing several health problems at a later period.

Naturally occurring fruits are hard to come across and usually involves efforts from your own part to take a trekking to the wilderness. If you are at the local markets near hill stations of Kerala, your luck rate is higher to find naturally bred fruits grown in thick dense forests. Not only Kerala South India, but tropical countries of Africa are also rich source of natural fruits that are not contaminated by chemicals.

Wild plants generally produce lesser number of fruits and the size will also be smaller. Such fruits however have the advantages that they are never fumigated or otherwise chemically treated for bigger size, better taste or large quantity produce.

The grapes you buy from general market have pesticides on its skin. This pesticide is not quickly rinsed away. The result will be more chemicals in your body.

There are also scalable differences in the performance of naturally grown fruits and chemically treated artificial fruits.

While natural fruits stay fresh for a few days after falling down or harvesting, chemically treated fruits rot in a day or two. This is the same for all kinds of fruits.

Natural fruits tend to bear highly functional seeds. Most artificially cultivated fruits have seedless varieties or varieties with poorly developed seeds. The artificial fruits generally are in the ‘sterile’ zone. I.e. they are not capable of reproduction. All of the examples suggest that cultivated and chemical treated fruits are inferior to naturally occurring fruits.

It is not practicable for everyone to find naturally occurring fruits from the forests. The closest healthy alternative to going to forests is growing organic crop. Though the plants doesnÂ’t get a wild environment where there is the right supply of temperature, water, bio-nutrients etc; chemical treating is absent.

No GM crops apply here. Organic food is fresh and doesnÂ’t inject harmful chemicals to your body.

Vegans claiming to eat only healthy food do have a challenge before them to ensure if they are eating healthy fruits.

Protein is essential body building component of body and is required for formation of healthy cells responsible for healthy body growth.

Meat, milk, egg and fish are the main natural sources of animal protein. Among them fish is the best source of protein, as the protein is easily digested and absorbed by body. Meat and milk protein is harder to digest and get absorbed by body, when compared to fish and egg.

Vegetarians and vegans too require adequate supply of proteins. They can depend on abundance of plant protein sources to supply their body with essential protein content. The main plant sources for protein or plant protein sources are whole grains, grams (green peas), legumes, nuts and vegetables. These protein sources deliver protein requirements. Fibrous fruits give little usable proteins.

Not all plant protein sources have all the proteins or amino acids. Amino acids are the basic building blocks of protein. Vegans and vegetarians need to include variety of grains, legumes and nuts to ensure daily supply of amino acids required by the body.

Soy protein is generally touted as a complete source of protein. It is however not advisable to depend solely on soy protein powder as protein source for your body. Ayurvedic view of taking a balanced diet is including a variety of food items in your daily diet. DonÂ’t try to obtain any essential nutrient from a single source.

Researches have proved that there is no requirement to include different food items like legumes and grains in a single meal. Just make sure you get you daily protein supply over four to six daily meals.