Why Ayurveda is the Most Effective Approach to Prevention of Cardiovascular Disease Cause by Lifestyle Choices

Do you have A Vata Heart?

In my clinic, we firmly believe that Ayurveda offers an unparalleled approach to preventing cardiovascular disease resulting from lifestyle choices. In this article, we delve into why Ayurveda is the most effective solution for maintaining heart health and provide valuable insights into the various aspects of this ancient Indian practice. Understanding your Ayurvedic body type is essential for a healthy heart. Why? Identifying your Ayurvedic Body type allows you to create a daily regimen in a pattern that supports your unique needs, desires, and strengths. You can learn more about determining your Ayurveda Body Type from my youtube channel: DrHelen MaryThomasD.C. Ayurveda Teacher.

Understanding Cardiovascular Disease and Lifestyle Choices

Cardiovascular disease has become a significant global concern, primarily due to the unhealthy lifestyle choices prevalent in modern society. Poor dietary habits that conflict with your Ayurveda Body type, exercise routines that can imbalance your body type, and lifestyles, such as chronic stress and smoking, are just a few factors contributing to the rise in heart-related ailments. These general statements are factual; choosing the precise medicine for your one trillion circuits and 10 trillion cells can differentiate between inner serenity, chaos, health, and disease. Ayurveda teaches we are not treating the disease. We are treating the body type with the disease. Recognizing lifestyle choices' impact on cardiovascular health is the first step; the second is knowing what practices your body type should implement as preventive measures. With its holistic philosophy, Ayurveda addresses the symptoms and how to live an Ayurveda body-type daily regimen that is the foundation of prevention.

Ayurveda's Holistic Approach to Cardiovascular Health

Ayurveda, often called the "science of life," focuses on balancing mind, body, and spirit to promote overall well-being. It offers a comprehensive approach to cardiovascular health, emphasizing the following key aspects:

1. Personalized Lifestyle Recommendations

Ayurveda recognizes that each individual is unique, with specific needs and imbalances. Ayurvedic practitioners can provide personalized lifestyle recommendations by understanding an individual's constitution (Prakriti) and imbalances (vikriti). These recommendations encompass

Dietary guidelines are based on the unique characteristic of each physiology. Let’s first look at the Vata body type, examine a common heart symptom for that specific body type, and relate the dietary guidelines to the symptom and the Vata Body.

One common heart symptom of the vata-predominant type is a predisposition to a rapid heartbeat that can become atrial fibrillation. This vata body type has fast digestion, called a Fast Metabolic Rate. (MBR) , their nervous system can go into fight or flight quickly. This is referred to as hypersensitivity.

Here is a list of symptoms of the Vata Body Type: If you have a few or many, your nervous system is exhausted and not taking nutrients efficiently or releasing waste products. This leads to the path from dis-ease to disease.

Do you identify with any of these characteristics of a vata-predominant person are:

• can often feel restless,

• quick 

• filled with ideas but tends to follow through poorly,

•  anxious

• tense

• fast

• talkative 

• dry skin is common

• insomnia

• constipation

• slight build

  Vata Dietary Modifications for Heart Health

You are prone to Vata Heart Type symptoms if you identify with these symptoms.

Avocado’s, Vata’s Superfood.

These are foods that help you prevent heart disease. Vata Dietary guidelines emphasize avocados, sweet potatoes, parsley, cilantro, beets, seaweed, and chilies. Eat in moderation: peas, green beans, corn, artichokes, squash, turnips, okra, watercress, cauliflower, cucumbers, asparagus, celery, chard, spinach, mustard greens, and radishes. Avoid raw vegetables; eat small amounts of the following, but only if cooked: white potatoes, brussels sprouts, broccoli, cabbage, zucchini, and onions. In moderation, you may eat mung beans, tofu, kidney beans, lima beans, and chickpeas, but avoid pinto beans, lentils, split peas, and soybeans.

FRUITS

Emphasize lemons, limes, grapefruit, grapes, prunes, strawberries, raspberries, cherries, pineapples, dates, figs, mangoes, and papayas. In moderation, you may eat pears, bananas, oranges, peaches, apples (cooked), pomegranates, apricots, plums, and persimmons. Avoid cranberries, melons, and other dried fruits.

GRAINS

Emphasize rice, wheat, oats, and couscous. Eat moderate amounts of barley, corn, millet, buckwheat, rye, and quinoa.

NUTS, SEEDS, AND OILS

All nuts and oils are acceptable, but eat sunflower seeds, coconuts, and pumpkin seeds in moderation.

ANIMAL FOODS (NONVEGETARIANS)

All dairy products (except ice cream), eggs, fish, and shellfish may be eaten. Avoid pork and eat cheese, chicken, turkey, lamb, and beef in moderation.

SWEETENERS

Date sugar and fructose, barley malt, rice syrup, raw, unrefined sugar; use Sucanat, fruit sugar, and honey in moderation; avoid white sugar.

Vata Exercise routines :

Vata Stress management techniques

Vata Herbal supplements

This is an example of a Vata Heart PreventionCare System tailored to address the specific imbalances contributing to cardiovascular disease.

Herbal Support for Heart Wellness

Ayurveda harnesses the healing power of herbs to support heart health. Several Ayurvedic herbs, such as Arjuna, Brahmi, Ashwagandha, and Vata Digest, can be bought online, and all have been extensively studied for their cardiovascular benefits. These herbs possess potent antioxidant, anti-inflammatory, and cardioprotective properties. When incorporated into a well-rounded Ayurvedic regimen, they can help strengthen the heart, improve circulation, and reduce the risk of cardiovascular disease.

4. Stress Management and Mind-Body Connection

Chronic stress is a significant contributor to cardiovascular disease. Ayurveda recognizes the mind-body connection and provides techniques to manage stress effectively. Meditation, yoga, and pranayama (breathing exercises) help reduce stress, lower blood pressure, and improve cardiovascular health. By incorporating these practices into your daily routine, you can experience a significant reduction in the risk of heart-related ailments. Fight or flight is the signature of stress in the Nervous System. Triggering the Relaxation response is the Antidote: Check out more information on The Life Vessel here on my site. Go to stress relief and learn more.

5. Detoxification and Cleansing

Vata Heart Prevention uses daily oil massage to detox the body of the neurotoxins that cause stress responses.

OIL MASSAGE (ABHYANGA)

Oil massage is one of the several purification techniques collectively known as pancha karma. In India, massage is a natural part of daily life. Infants are massaged every day from the day they are born to age three and weekly after that. By age six, children are massaging their elders. It's common for entire families to massage one another once a week. Pregnant women are massaged daily during pregnancy and for more than a month after giving birth.

In Ayurveda, bathing is a ritual designed to clean you inside and out and begins with applying oil. Applying oil to your skin lubricates, protects, detoxifies, and rejuvenates your skin and nervous system while soothing your endocrine system. The oil helps loosen and liquefy ama so that the toxins can drain into the body's gastrointestinal tract for elimination. It is an excellent antidote for modern stresses and is said to help you achieve the balance that is the foundation of spiritual development. Your skin deserves daily abhyanga as the body's largest and most sensitive organ. In Ayurveda getting a massage or giving one to yourself is one of the most influential and pleasant ways to balance vata and is a beautiful way to start the day. With regular practice, you'll see why abhyanga is considered the crown jewel of rejuvenation, prevention, and longevity.

Vata Oil massage can be bought online.

"If I get lazy or pressed for time and skip my daily abhyanga, I start to miss it. I feel scattered, less grounded, and less able to cope. I love the little pool of serenity it creates in the morning . . . a quiet, sensual time just for myself before I get swept up in the madness of the day. It would be a different world if everyone had a sesame oil massage in the morning.

How to Do Self-Massage

We have found that while patients used to balk at doing self-massage, this is no longer the case. Today my frazzled patients welcome setting aside this particular time in the morning for themselves. And it's even nicer if you can exchange messages with someone. Abhyanga can take as few as ten minutes or up to twenty minutes if you work slowly and take your time. If you are pressed for time, you can do a mini-massage instead of the full-body massage; this involves just the ears, feet, and forehead. If you perform abhyanga regularly, you'll never have to spend time and money applying "moisturizing" skin creams.

To begin, warm the oil (slightly less than 1/4 cup is enough for the whole body) to skin temperature or slightly warmer to make the massage more pleasant. Neway is to use a small ceramic cup placed on an electric coffee warmer; you may also put the oil in a

Set a small dish or container in a bowl of hot water until it reaches skin temperature. Be careful not to make the oil too hot to avoid burning and scalding. Begin at the top of your body, work your way down, and do about twenty strokes on each part of your body, as described below.

First, apply a thin coat all over your body to maximize the time the oil comes into contact with your skin. Then massage your face, ears, and back of the ears, using short, vigorous strokes. It is traditional to apply oil to your scalp, but I have found this strips my hair and body. If you have little or no hair or wash your hair every day, this may not be a problem; alternatively, you can give your scalp an invigorating oil-free massage instead. Proceed to your neck and shoulders, using your fingers and the flat of your hand. Then massage your upper arms and lower arms, using long back-and-forth strokes. Use a circular motion for the joints, including your shoulders. Massage your chest and abdomen using a clockwise motion. Next, massage your hip joints, buttocks, legs, and then the soles of your feet.

The oil is usually left on while you do some light exercise, such as yoga, and then washed off in a bath or shower with warm water; use mild soap, but only on the body parts that need it. In India, people chant mantras or sing devotional songs while bathing, which, according to Ayurvedic scholar Robert Svoboda, "makes the bath or shower water into a vehicle for those vibrations and transports their purifying power into the deepest levels of being." Whether you chant or sing, avoid slipping on the oil—shower and off to your Day.

YOu can call my office at 707-527-7313 if you would like a personalized Ayurvedic consultation.

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