Is the pollution choking you? This is what you should eat to stay healthy
With no immediate solution at sight, the smog situation in Delhi is only getting worse. However, by strengthening our bodies with the right kind of food, we can combat, to a large extent, the harmful effects of such staggering levels of pollution. Ayurveda considers food to be one of the most potent medicines available to mankind, and consumption of certain foods, regularly, and in the right quantity, can cure almost any disease. In order to strengthen the body against toxic air, one has to increase the body’s capacity to carry oxygen, which can be done by increasing the haemoglobin level, as well as by consuming anti-inflammatory food items.
The level of haemoglobin can be increased with a two-pronged approach: consume food that are rich in iron, and boost mechanisms that help the body absorb more iron from the diet. In short, we must try to increase haemoglobin by increasing consumption of foods like jaggery, pomegranate, spinach, beans, lentil, meat etc. At the same time, we have to consume food which will help in absorption of the same. The key to eating iron-rich food lies in the fact that you have to combine them with citrus-based fruits like amla, lemon, and oranges, because Vitamin C facilitates the absorption of iron. Similarly, it’s advisable that you don’t consume tea immediately after eating, because some of the studies have shown that tea reduces the body’s ability to absorb iron.
Furthermore, there are food that help detox the body and an extra dose of these wonderfood can be almost life-saving, especially when you have no choice but to breathe in the poisonous air.
Jaggery, once again, is a natural detox as it contains vital nutrients that helps remove harmful elements from the bloodstream, lungs, respiratory tract, as well as the food pipe. According to ayurveda, it even dilates the respiratory tract and is extremely efficient in curing cough, asthma, and even bronchitis. The raw material used to make jaggery- sugarcane juice- is also an efficient detox. However, ensure that you either eat sugarcane, or juice it at home, because often times the unpackaged sugarcane juice available in the market is not hygienically made, and puts the consumer at risk of water-borne diseases, like typhoid.
Curd is known to be extremely helpful in developing healthy bacteria in the gut, which helps in efficient absorption of iron. It is, however, important to consume fresh curd, preferrably made at home, and one which is not sour. The ideal kind of curd is one which has been set for six to seven hours, because it would contain a good amount of active culture. The useful bacteria in curd is known to increase immunity, reduce inflammation, and generally develop the micro-flora of the gut, resulting in better assimilation of nutrients from digested food.
Similarly, consuming turmeric-milk at night can be helpful in reducing inflammation, increasing immunity, as well as regulating bowel movements which is essential for a healthy gut. You can also add some saffron and jaggery in it, to enhance its nutritional value and taste.
Dried ginger, commonly known as saunth, is a good item to be added in your diet. Its anti-inflammatory properties are attributed to ‘gingerol’, and it’s known to act as a detox too. A great way to have it is to mix it with jaggery and sesame and roll the ingredients into laddoos that can be consumed anytime of the day, and even carried to work. It can work as a nutritious mid-meal snack.
It is noteworthy that the human body is designed to detox itself, and there is a general misconception that expulsion of toxins can happen externally, through the skin (hence the many skin-based detox plans), or through bodily fluids like sweat (sweat is only a reaction by the body to regulate its temperature, there’s no detox involved in sweating). The only way we can enhance our body’s detox mechanism is through consuming food that are natural cleansers, and the only way to flush out harmful elements is through excretion of urine and faeces.
Also read: Why the Indian moringa has left all superfoods behind