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Are you one of 98.6 million Americans today who has elevated total blood cholesterol levels? If left unchecked, you may be at risk for heart disease, stroke and hypertension.

Right, you may think. I’ve heard all this before—I should eat less fat. Yet according to Vaidya Manohar, a Maharishi Ayurveda health expert, a certain amount of fat is important for keeping the brain and body functioning properly.

“Balancing cholesterol may be more a matter of eating the right kinds of fats in the right amounts for your body type,” he says.

Here are five dietary tips for keeping your cholesterol in balance the ayurvedic way.

1. Reduce toxins. The liver not only produces cholesterol, it’s also part of the digestive system. It’s the place where toxins are screened before they enter the bloodstream. If the liver becomes overloaded with toxins, its functioning can become impaired and toxins can enter the body.

When toxins mix with the fat tissue, it changes the quality of cholesterol. This mixing of toxins with fat tissue is the main cause of imbalanced cholesterol.

There are two kinds of toxins: environmental and digestive. To avoid environmental toxins, drink pure water, avoid air pollution and avoid exposure to harmful chemicals. Eat organic vegetables, as these are grown without chemical fertilizers and pesticides, and thus protect the body from toxic overload.

The other kind of toxin is called ama, and is caused by weak or incomplete digestion. To strengthen your digestion, eat fresh, whole foods, cooked foods and avoid left-over, processed, canned or frozen foods.

The way you eat also affects digestion—eat your main meal at noon, when digestion is at its peak. Eat lighter at breakfast and dinner. And try eating your meals at the same time every day—your digestion will thrive on a regular routine.

2. Avoid bad fats like the plague.
Certain fats are impossible to digest and cause ama. Take the modern invention of trans fats (also known as hydrogenated vegetable oils or partially-hydrogenated vegetable oils). These have been formed by adding hydrogen to liquid fats to make them more solid, adding to shelf-life and taste. Used in fast foods and most processed foods, they are blamed for rising cholesterol levels.

Saturated fats—found in butter, hard cheeses, coconut and palm oils, red meat and chicken skin—should also be avoided. Difficult to digest, they cause imbalances in cholesterol production.

3. Eat healthy fats.
The best kinds of fat for nourishing the brain and body alike are olive oil and ghee. Ghee (clarified butter, made from simmering butter for an hour and separating out the milk solids) is by far the ayurvedic favorite, because it is medhya, or brain-enhancing, while also being more easy to digest. Ghee provides essential fatty acids, Vitamin A and Vitamin C.  It’s also practical—it can be heated at high temperatures without destroying its nutritional qualities. This makes it a good choice for baking and sautéing foods.

Olive oil is the other healthy fat recommended. It’s a mono-unsaturated fat that lowers cholesterol and triglycerides. But it’s important to choose first cold-pressed, extra-virgin olive oil, which means that the oil is pressed from the olives without heat or unnatural processing. This ancient method of processing doesn’t destroy the nutritional quality of the oil. It’s also important not to heat olive oil at high temperatures for cooking. If you need to heat the oil at higher temperatures, it’s better to use ghee.

4. Eat for your body type. How much fat you need depends on your body type and health needs. For people with high cholesterol, it’s usually recommended to follow a Kapha-pacifying diet and daily routine. This means avoiding sweet, sour and salty tastes. Stay away from heavy, fried or fatty foods, and eat very small amounts of good fats. Eat more pungent, bitter and astringent foods, such as spiced, freshly-cooked green vegetables, to tone the digestion and stoke the digestive fire.

Cholesterol Balancing Spice Mixture
* 3 parts ground turmeric
* 6 parts ground cumin
* 6 parts ground coriander
* 6 parts ground fennel
* 2 parts ground fenugreek
* 1 part dried powdered ginger
* 1 part ground black pepper

Combine the spices and store in a sealed container. When preparing your meal, sauté a teaspoon of spices in a small amount of a high quality organic ghee or olive oil. Combine with vegetables or grains to give them a satisfying flavor and to enhance digestion.

5. Take herbal supplements. Specific formulas for lower cholesterol help improve bile production, strengthen liver function, and improve fat metabolism, and flush cholesterol from the elimination system, thus helping produce more balanced cholesterol levels and preventing disease.
Cholesterol Protection, BP Balance, Liver Balance, Digest Tone are a few suggestions. In addition their are Cholesterol Rescue Kits with special combinations that target specific causes for this imbalance.

Five aids to help support your system.

My mother calls it having a yearly MOT (like a vehicle check-up) and she is a pretty smart lady.

1. Schedule a Fall Cleanse.
Fall is a season of change—when the warm, humid days of summer are changing to the cool, dry, windy weather of autumn. This fluctuating weather can make our digestion weaker and cause us to fall sick with colds and flu in the fall.

The antidote? Avert the danger with a cleanse during the few weeks when the weather is making its transition from summer to fall. Fall cleansing serves two purposes. First, it clears the toxins that have built up in the summer. And because digestive strength tends to fluctuate when the seasons are changing, eating lighter during this transition can actually build your immunity and help avoid sickness.

Cleansing doesn’t mean that you have to fast for two weeks. It just means eating fresh, easy-to-digest foods that give your digestion a break and help it to process and eliminate toxins. Eat warm, cooked organic vegetables seasoned with spices, rice or whole grains such as quinoa and bulgar wheat, and for proteins favor soupy split-mung dhal or other soups made from lentils or small legumes.

Light dairy products, such as ghee (clarified butter), whole milk, and lassi, a probiotic digestion-enhancing drink made with water and freshly made yogurt, improve digestion and enhance immunity. Avoid eating cold foods and drinks, fried foods, hard cheeses, and meat during this time.  And drink plenty of hot fluids between meals, such as hot water with lemon or herbal, uncaffeinated teas.

Eating lighter will help your digestion fire up, toxins to be eliminated and your immunity quotient to soar. Maharishi Ayurveda also recommends taking a mild herbal laxative, such as senna tea, at night during this two-week cleanse.

2. Flavor your foods with Immune-Enhancing Spice Mixture.
Mild spices actually boost digestive power and prevent toxins from building up. Here’s a mixture you can make at home.
* 6 parts turmeric
* 3 parts ground cumin
* 3 parts ground coriander
* 6 parts ground fennel
* 1 part powdered dry ginger
* 1 part ground black pepper
* 1/4 part ground cinnamon

When cooking, measure one teaspoon of the spice mixture in one tablespoon of Ghee and heat until aroma is released. Apply spiced Ghee mixture to cooked rice, vegetables or other dishes before serving. These spices will support your immune system and digestion.

3. Use Herbs to assist a cleanse and support the immune system.
There are several combinations of herbal formulas that will enhance a deep and genital detoxification program. Fall purification and season cleanse will allow the body to
and herbal formulas that will enhance the immune system will support better health.

4. Get Plenty of Rest.
Lifestyle also impacts immunity. Staying up late, working at night, eating at irregular times, and sleeping during the day can all affect the digestion and body rhythms—and thus compromise the immune system. That’s why it’s important to follow the Ayurvedic daily routine, arising early in the morning, before 6 a.m. and retiring before 10:00 p.m. Using essential aroma oils such as lavender and sweet orange can create a calming, peaceful atmosphere conducive to sleep.

5. And If You Do Fall Sick Consult Your Doctor!
Stay home drink plenty of hot liquids, get plenty of bed rest and follow all of the precautions mentioned above to help strengthen you through illness faster with more comfort.

Prepare For The Flu Now

With so much H1N1 talk and vaccinations going on at the moment across the world, everyone is wondering how to avoid getting the flu this fall.

Supports body’s natural defenses; aids in detoxifying body; nutritional support for increased comfort.The herbs in Flu Season Defense help boost well-being and comfort, help balance the moisture level and mucus in the lungs and sinuses, aid digestion for decreased production of toxic food, nourish the body’s defense mechanisms.

In the U.S. alone, an estimated 25–50 million cases of the flu are currently reported each year—leading to 150,000 hospitalizations and 30,000–40,000 deaths yearly. And while health authorities race to develop a vaccine for specific strains, until then they can only advise us to avoid traveling to affected areas and to wash our hands frequently to avoid the spread of germs.

Yet there is so much more that we can do to build our immunity. In fact, the ancient science of Maharishi Ayurveda specializes in just this area: strengthening the body’s natural defenses. Even now, with this new virus testing our immune systems, there’s time to fortify our resistance to colds and flu.

If your body is filled with toxins, infection will find fertile ground for spreading disease, just as land that is fertile will sprout many seeds. Symptoms of the sticky, obstructive toxins that result from undigested food are stiff joints, sluggish digestion, dullness or headaches, and fatigue. If your digestion is strong and there is lightness and strength in your body, then the seeds of infection will not be able to take hold.

Bio-Immune helps root out the source of poor health and bolsters the immune system without side effects.Bio-Immunce helpsnstrengthen your defenses on many fronts. Enhances liver function and purifies blood. Increases resistance to stress. Aids assimilation and metaboism of nutrients. Helps eliminate digestive imputiries and toxins that cause viruses and infections to grow.