WINTER DIET (Hemanta ritucharya) TO REMAIN FIT & DISEASE FREE -AS PER AYURVEDA

Long nights, short days, sparkling snow flakes and people dressed in warm clothes are the images evoked for the word winter. The winter season is marked as Hemanta ritu in ayurveda. Hemanta ritu starts from mid November and ends in mid January. This falls in southern solastice which is called as visarga kala or dakshinayana in ayurveda.

Winter causes health problems when adequate precautions and safety measures are not taken. But winters can be enjoyed to full extent when we alter our diet and lifestyles a little as nature desires. As we are part of nature these changes help us to face the seasonal changes without much serious health problems.Winter is actually the best season to improve immunity. It's not a weakening season if you know how to strengthen immunity.

Winter is the season when nature is ready to nurture us. Due to the digestive level being very high, people feel hungrier, and can actually digest food better in winter, thus nourishing their bodies more.

In Ayurvedic terms, immunity is connected with the digestion. When digestion is strong and appetite is good, then immunity is strengthened.

For this reason, it's more important that people eat immunity-boosting foods in winter, and that they follow the Ayurvedic daily routine. This should be the regimen in winter, to nourish the mind and body by getting more rest and eating well. Other seasons are better for purifying, but winter is the time to build up and nourish all systems--the hair, the nails, and the skin. It's also the best season for taking Rasayanas and herbal products, because the high level of digestion helps people to assimilate them better.

Try these if you want to improve your immune system for the big freeze…

Food Favor :
-Sweet, sour and salty taste.
-Heavy and oily food stuff.
-Grains of new crops
-Indian clarified butter
-Dairy products
-Eat carrots,yoghurt,spinach and leafy greens vegetables,Pomegranate,Brussels Sprouts,Kivi fruit,Guava,Grape-fruit

Avoid Food :
-Light and restricted diet
-More pungent and astringent food items.

Lifestyle favor :
-Exercise
-Massage with herbal powders and with oils according to your Doshas.Doing a daily self-massage (abhyanga) will also help enhance immunity. Self-massage stimulates all of the organs of the body, flushes out impurities, and builds resistance to stress and disease.
-Spices: Ginger, turmeric, coriander, fennel and fenugreek help open up the channels of the body and support the flushing of toxins via the skin, urinary tract, colon and liver. Add spices to soups and dahls as they cook, or sauté the spices in Ghee and add to dishes when the cooking process is completed.
-Use lukewarm water for all daily activities

Avoid Lifestyle
-Laziness and leisure
-Dryness increasing activities.
-To stay in direct air.

Useful herbs & spices best to beat the winter chill are pepper,ginger,chamomile,garlic ,turmeric etc