Teen girls and women in their early twenties experience painful periods. Menstrual pain (dysmenorrhea) is characterized by pain in pelvic and/or abdominal region.

Other menstrual disorders are infrequent or irregular menstruation, polymenorrhea (menstruation in less than 21 days), oligomenorrhea (menstruation in more than 35 days), amernorrhea (absence of menstrual periods) and Menorrhagia (an abnormally heavy and prolonged period).

Primary dysmenorrhea is not the indication of any diseases or conditions, but secondary dysmenorrhea can be the symptoms of anything from pelvic inflammation to uterine displacement.

How to control menstrual pain naturally

Many studies have found vegetarian food can reduce menstrual pain. A good advice here will be to avoid red meat from at least a week before monthly periods. Teenage girls who didn’t take meat for two months experienced considerable reduction in pain.  Fish and sea food can be included in diet.

Include fresh fruits, vegetables, and grains and avoid junk food from your dietary habits.

Menstrual hygiene should be observed to keep the pains under control. DonÂ’t use perfumed pads or tampons and change them every four-six hours.

Douching is counter productive. There is no need for douching. It actually eliminates the anti-bacterial, anti-fungal present naturally in vaginal lubrication. Your daily bath and change of pads in four or six hours is enough hygiene. Also donÂ’t use heavy soaps to wash vagina. This also destroys the bacteria fighting capacity of vaginal fluids.

Stress is a cause of menstrual cramps. Practicing yoga and relaxing meditation will help control menstrual cramps.

Commonly called pre-menstrual syndrome or PMS is a group of disorders that attack just before the menstrual periods is a nightmare to many women. The exact reasons are not known.

The imbalances to body due to unsuitable food habits and daily routines can be the main reason for PMS. Avoid alcohol, cigarette smoking, excess sugar and junk food, red-meat products as first steps to control PMS.

There is also a psychological aspect for PMS. Normally anxious woman can feel tensed when the date of menstruation ensues. This cause the woman to feel the pain that really is not there. Yoga and relaxation techniques help such women.

Regular exercises can help a young woman feel less anxious about the days. Though there is no solid clinical evidence of exercise programs reducing menstrual cramps, it is still a good idea to follow a healthy exercise regimen. It regulates blood circulation and keeps you in good mood.

Take precautionary methods to control depression and anxiety. Identify the reasons of depression and anxiety as the first step to control them.

Regular menstruation is the sign of the ability of the woman to bear a child in her womb.

According to ancient Ayurvedic principle, the menstrual flow of a woman purifies her just like the water purifies a river. This is one reason women are not easily susceptible to many diseases.

Ayurvedic relief from addictions like drugs, alcohol, smoking and over eating helps people come back to enjoying their life without addictions to any harmful substances. Ayurveda is unique system of lifestyle that helps people lead healthy lives. Ayurvedic addiction recovery therapies work with the willpower of the person.

As a first step to recover from the addiction, the person must identify he is slave to an addiction and should have a desire to recover from alcohol addiction, drug addiction or addiction to smoking. Over eating is also a behavioral problem that has far reaching consequences on one’s health.

One detrimental factor to free one from addictions is the withdrawal symptoms. The addicts feel they are punished for abandoning the use of drugs, alcohol or cigarette.

Ayurveda approaches this problem systematically and Ayurvedic system of cure from addictions is based on treating the cause instead of symptoms. The alcohol consumption or smoking is only a symptom. Underlying reasons can be stress or mental tension. The person tries to dissolve his worries in alcohol, but he or she ends up more worried and disheartened.

Ayurveda aims at removing the root cause of the addiction. Ayurveda aims at replacing the addictive behavior with some constructive behavior. For instance, smokers will be given herbal cigarettes, which satisfy their urge to smoke, but removes the toxins added to their body.

This herbal approach is supplemented with counseling, guided meditation, massage therapy, aromatherapy, etc which help in complete recovery of the addiction without withdrawal symptoms.

The inertia or the mental conditioning of the person to give up the habit is the first thing that needs attention.

Ayurveda also recommends personalized treatment programs based on the physical constitution of the person. Physical constitution, called DOSHA in Ayurvedic terms gives clues to effectiveness in recovery from any addictions.

Each type of persons have specific herbal formulations that help in removing toxic wastes accumulated to the body, strengthen internal tissues and easily recover the person from addiction.

The important factor is the mental preparedness of the person to accept he/she has some addictions and honest desire to recover. After getting the person in right mental condition, it is easy to recover from any life-threatening bad habits.

Libido and body fitness often seems to be unrelated, but the truth is it is. When you compare men and women, you will find that men have extremely high sex drive even if they are physically unfit. Women on the other hand experiences decreased sex drive even without much visible physical problems.

There are solid reasons for low libido in women. Sexual dysfunction or lack of libido or sex drive is due to low levels of hormone activity. This is true in both males and females.

Ayurveda attributes the main reason for lack of sex drive and/or physical weakness to the physical condition of body. Except in unlucky instances, the physical and hormonal state of a person is directly linked to his or her food habits and daily routines.

A person continuously taking fast food, over cooked food items, low nutrient food will tend to add on unwanted bulk, which is unhealthy. A person working continuously under stressful conditions also develops unhealthy symptoms and hormonal imbalances.

All the factors including food, work, mental condition and social atmosphere has an influence on the health of a person.

Lack of libido is direct result of physical or mental weaknesses. Physical weaknesses cause due to unhealthy food habits and routines, mental disturbances are caused by stress. Both of these factors lower the sex drive of a person.

Ayurvedic aphrodisiacs are developed mainly to avoid the physical weaknesses to give the body the perfect strength and condition to have the sexual drive and ability to fulfill his or her drive.

All Ayurvedic aphrodisiacs are aimed not only at increasing sex drive or giving higher levels of endurance, but also to give the physical body fitness for libido. Stable mind and body fitness are the keys to sexual drive or libido.

LetÂ’s take some cues from ancient Ayurveda scripts and list them as a few easy to digest capsules for better body fitness, increased libido and better enjoyment of sex life.

First of all eat healthy – you are feeding your body, not your tongue. You really know what is good for your body. Go for nutrient rich food.

Exercise – you know the importance of exercise in body fitness and better health. Remember once again body fitness is directly linked to sex drive or libido.

Bad habits to avoid
Smoking – smoking puts in harmful materials to your blood vessels and respiratory system, effectively blocking nutrients to the body and blocking the release of toxic wastes from body.

Drinking – moderate levels of drinking, especially when taking non vegetarian food is actually good for your body. But when you take it beyond beer, two glass of wine and a strong drink, the alcohol starts to behave like poison. Thus alcohol is hindrance to body fitness and libido.

External Chemicals – chemicals and hormones of insecticides and pesticides reaching our body with the fruits and vegetables add to body toxins.

Drugs – several drugs have effects and side-effects. The chemicals of the drug remains in your body for longer than you want. This negatively influence physical fitness and libido.

These are the signs to watch for – you now know what actions to take. Just keep in mind body fitness and libido sex drive are inseparable.

Diabetes is a chronic metabolic disorder characterized by inability of body to produce enough insulin to facilitate absorption of sugar (glucose) for bodily functions. Failure to effectively manage diabetes can lead to heart diseases, permanent blindness, impotence and amputation of limbs.

Ayurvedic way of controlling diabetes is mostly centered around daily diet and taking of diabetes curative herbs. Ayurveda has classified diabetes into 20 different conditions.

Diet control is the first step of Ayurvedic diabetes control. Alcohol, white flour, sugar and fats are better avoided. Daily exercise, practicing yoga and controlling weight are other essential factors in controlling diabetes Ayurveda way. Get enough sleep at night, but donÂ’t sleep in daytime.

Preventive measures are not enough for diabetic patients. All they need is cure or better ways to manage the condition.

Bitter gourd (bitter melon or karela) is an effective cure for diabetes. Take half a glass of bitter gourd juice twice daily as diabetic cure. It can also be cooked as a vegetable. In case bitter gourd is not easily available at your place, you can supplement it with bitter gourd powder, which you can take a tsp daily. Bitter gourd in diabetes treatment is beneficial because of the presence of plant insulin.

Grape fruits in diabetes treatment – take some grapes everyday.

Indian gooseberry in diabetes treatment – extract a tsp of gooseberry juice from five to ten fruits. Add it to your bitter gourd juice. Take it when stomach is empty.

Chop 3-4 cloves of garlic. Swallow it without chewing. Drink as much water as needed.

If possible chew a neem leaf everyday. Otherwise make it into a paste and gulp down with a glass of water. Take it 3-4 times a week.

Turmeric and ginger powder taken in equal quantities with a glass of water is beneficial in Ayurvedic diabetic control.

Brahmi (Bacopa) powder taken with a glass of milk can control diabetes.

Shilajit is a universal curer and gives enough support to the tissue system of diabetic patients. Take 300-500 mg of shilajit on a daily basis. It is not for children below 12 years.

Include turmeric, garlic, cumin seeds, cinnamon and ginger as spices for your daily diet. Kerala and Indian traditional cooking styles have them naturally and for good reasons.

Urinary tract infection can bring a number of problems like burning urine, pus in urine, Hematuria (blood in urine), kidney infection (Nephritis), Kidney-prostrate-bladder stones, prostrate infection, kidney failure, etc.

Lifestyle –

Drink plenty of water, eat lot of fruits, don’t spend too much time in sun, and drink water of tender coconut, carrot juice, etc on a regular basis.

Diet –

Diet should include lime juice, orange juice, sugarcane juice, apple, grapes, pineapple and other fresh fruits.

Hot spices are better avoided.

Replace consumption of aerated/carbonated drinks with fresh juices.

Don’t suppress the urge to urinate –

Never suppress the feeling of urination. This is a precautionary step to avoid infection.

Ayurvedic Remedy for Urinary Infection and Stones in Urinary Tract

Banana stem juice (only the core of fruited banana plant) is excellent remedy for different kinds of urinary infection. It dissolves kidney stones, bladder stones and removes infection from urinary tract, urethra, kidney, and prostrate.

This is the most beneficial treatment against kidney stones and infections in urinary tract.

Other Home Remedies for Urinary Infection

Lemon juice, carrot juice, tender coconut water and sugarcane juice consumed on a regular basis can help you control urinary infection. Half a cup of radish juice two times daily can also help. Liquid food (not carbonated drinks) in almost all forms is beneficial to treat urinary infection.

Shilajit, Guggul, Punarnava, and Chandana supplements may also be of help when it comes to treating urinary infection.

Urinary infection is painful situation. Proper lifestyle and diet can help you keep away from urinary infection, kidney stones and other painful conditions.

Brahmi (Bacopa monnieri) is a herb beneficial to students and young children. It helps in proper development of mental powers, intelligence and memory.

Brahmi is a brain and nervine tonic. The herbal combination assists in better cognition and balances the physiological aspects of relaxation.

Brahmi is good not only for school-going children but also for adults. The positive effects of bacopa monnieri on memory and relaxation of individuals are clinically established by double-blind placebo tests.

Brahmi is useful in treating senile dysfunctions. It is nervine, calms down nervous systems and facilitates natural relaxation. The persons also get a cool head and will be able to have normal sleep at night. It nourishes brain cells, prevents ageing and treats cognitive disorders.

It is effective in improving academic performance of children. Children regularly taking brahmi show high levels of intelligence, short and long term memory and performance in co-curricular activities.

The effect of brahmi on brain cells is quite visible in several studies. Brahmi facilitates protein production in brain cells and nerves, thereby strengthening nerve cells. This has direct influence on increased intelligence, alertness, memory power, reverts aging. Effective treatment for senile disorders, brahmi also offers longevity of life.

Soothing effects of brahmi comes with no side effects. That is you have plain normal sleep at night. You donÂ’t feel dull when waking up in the morning. You donÂ’t feel anxiety or restlessness. To completely get the benefits of brahmi, one needs to take the prescribed amount of supplement for three to six weeks.

Brahmi supplement is usually taken as brahmi-ghee, an Ayurvedic ghee. Brahmi capsules too are available today.

According to Ayurvedic principles, overweight and underweight are signs to imbalances in body system. Some people experience little weight gain with whatever amounts of food intake. The more known problem is undesirable weight gain even with moderate eating habits.

Ayurvedic home remedy to weight loss depends mostly on your physical type – vata, pitta or kapha. Vata type persons have underweight problems, as their digestive fire is not that active. Pitta types have moderate built bodies, but can become obese with gluttony. Kapha type persons quickly add on weight.

Home remedies to quickly lose weight

Include bitter gourd in your daily vegetable menu.

Take lots of fibrous fruits like mango and papaya. This fruits add bulk to your food and helps in healthy food metabolism.

Take pineapple everyday.

Take a glass or two of ginger tea on a daily basis.

Drink 8-15 glass of water in the daytime.

Use triphala as a mild laxative once in two or three weeks. This is a way to eliminate accumulated bodily wastes called ama. These are wastes that block exchange of nutrients between bodily tissues. Ama also brings about severe imbalances that even starvation can’t help the person lose weight.

Other purifiers of blood and body are – turmeric, neem, ginger, black pepper and Indian long pepper.

Take Indian gooseberry either fresh or dried and powdered. You may also include gooseberry in vegetarian preparations.

Take 300mg of shilajit daily. (Not for children below 12 years).

Additional tips for weight loss

Prepare your own food. This will give control to your hands as to which ingredients to take and what not to take. Take to work the food you prepared.

Avoid sugar, potatoes and white rice.

Take green vegetables, broccoli, lettuce, green peas, beans, spinach, apple, orange and grapes.

Eat in a calm environment and thoroughly enjoy your eating the food. This will make taking food a slow process. When you eat quickly you don’t know your stomach is full till after 30 minutes.

Don’t skip breakfast. Taking fruits as breakfast ticks off metabolism. You also don’t add up high carbohydrate food items.

The burning feeling while passing urine can be sign of urinary tract infection, stone in urinary bladder, obstruction in urinary passage or formation of stone in urinary bladder.

Sufferers may also find pus in urine, bleeding and fever.

Herbal remedies for urinary infection

Juice from banana stem (banana stem juice) is effective in treating a variety of urinary infections and to dissolve kidney, prostrate and gall bladder stones. Banana stem is the core of banana plant. Remove the leaf bracts to reach the banana stem that runs from the base of the plant and ends at the banana bunch. Crush the stem with any solid material to extract the juice. Drink a glass each in the morning and evening. The juice from leaf bracts are of no use in this regard.

Taking banana stem juice (vazhappindi neeru in Malayalam) is single best remedy for all types of kidney stones.

Bael fruit (Aegle Marmelos – Kuvalam) is also known to have positive effects on reducing urinary tract infection. Take ripe fruits fresh or make a drink. Leaves and bark of the tree are poisonous.

Take 2-3 glasses of lemon juice (lime juice) daily.

Drink 2 glass of carrot juice daily.

Water of a big tender coconut a day can give relief to urinary tract infection.

Take 300 mg of Shilajit (Mineral Pitch, Asphaltum) daily.

Lifestyle adjustment

Persons suffering from urinary infection must not spend too much time in sun and must drink plenty of water. Don’t suppress the urge when you feel like urinating.

Mental fatigue is akin to modern busy lifestyle. There can be different reasons for depression. The main among them is due to suppressed emotions. Decreased nutrition to brain and nervous system is another reason.

Simple Ayurvedic home remedies and lifestyle adjustment can help you fight loneliness, depression and mental fatigue.

Wake up early in the morning (before 5’o clock) and practice yoga, listen to music and do things that are most pleasurable to you.

Practice slow breathing.

Practice meditation.

Lavishly apply coconut oil or some Ayurvedic hair oil on your head and retain it for 30-90 minutes before bathing.

Inhale the smell of rose. Rosemary is also a good aromatherapy mood enhancer.

Reduce intake of coffee. Though coffee temporarily lifts your mood, it quickly pushes you to depressed state.

Avoid fatty food. Take fresh fruits and drink lots of water.

Give up smoking. The chemicals in cigarette block free exchange of oxygen and carbon dioxide at the lungs, thereby effectively reducing the amount of oxygen in your blood.

Take an apple with milk and honey.

Chew the seeds of a cardamom three to four times a day. If you donÂ’t like the idea of chewing cardamom seeds, you can also boil one or two cardamom in a glass of water and drink it. Add sugar or honey for taste.

Take 500mg Ashwagandha extract capsule two or three times a week. You need to consult an Ayurvedic physician before starting using ashwagandha.

If you have a stagnant life, find some activities or join any activity group. Better still participate in lightly competitive and funny events.

Avoid staying awake after 10pm. This will preserve energy to start your day on a positive note.

Shilajit or mineral pitch is considered a herb in Ayurveda. Shilajit (shilajith) is master herb in Ayurveda, which is considered to be supportive of any Ayurvedic medication. Shilajit enhances the medicinal power of every known Ayurvedic medicines.

Shila means a stone and jit or jith means borne. Shilajit thus means stone-borne. Shilajit is considered to be a vegetative fossil found in the Himalayan ranges. The chemical combination of shilajit proves it has an abundant supply of several essential minerals. The fossilization occurred during the formation of The Himalayas.

Shilajit is also considered master rejuvenator. It works on a cellular level, strengthening each cell of the body, revitalizing a person.

The major benefits of Shilajit are

Health tonic
Enhances immune system
Revitalize body cells and muscles
Anti oxidant
Anti-allergen
Anti-asthmatic
Highly nutritive
Anti-stress agent
Improve heart functioning
Lessens general weakness
Enhances sexual performance

Shilajit brings to old age people the enthusiasm of a teenage boy or girl. Both men and women can take shilajit. Children below 12 are not indicated for the use of shilajit.

The discovery of shilajit by humans can be attributed to Himalayan monkeys, which migrated to higher mountains to lick a material out of rock crevices. Some Ayurveda practitioners observed the monkey and found the monkeys have better digestive health, occurrence of sex, and displayed higher levels of memory. The Ayurveda vaidyas then found out ways to purify shilajit from raw mineral deposit.

Shilajit, along with Aswagandha is used for several sexual problems afflicting man and woman. It helps in revitalizing reproductive systems, gives increased vitality and improved sexual pleasure. It is also cure for menstrual problems.

Persons suffering from memory problems, anemia, bronchitis, skin and respiratory diseases etc also benefit from the powers of shilajit.

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.