Have you ever eaten a twinkie? Drank a soda - sugar or diet? Eaten at a Chinese restaurant (MSG)? Consumed food with preservatives? Ate in your car? Watched TV while you ate? Then you probably have ama. Ama is the stuff left over in your system when you don't or can't fully digest what you ate. Ama will fill every nook and cranny of your body and it will make you sick. Every little part of you that doesn't feel 100% well probably has some ama. The following are some ideas from Ayurveda that you can use to remove Ama from your system.

 

Basics

 

Tongue

First thing in the morning, go to a mirror and stick your tongue out. It’s supposed to be pink and rounded with no cracks. You’re checking for ama - slime - green, grey, black, yellow mucus coating your tongue. If you have ama you need to do some cleansing. Your system has toxicity. If you don’t have ama, it might be a good sign. It could also mean that toxicity went into your body deeper than the digestive tract. If you’ve never done any cleansing than it’s probably the latter.

 

Buy a tongue scraper. No your toothbrush isn’t good enough. Spend the $10 to buy a stainless steel - last a lifetime - tongue scraper.

 

More info on the tongue can be found in Walter Kacera’s book Ayurvedic Tongue Diagnosis,

http://www.thelivingcentre.com/

 

Daily Flow

You have to have a bowel movement every day. Preferably first thing in the morning. If you aren’t than you shouldn’t do any other cleansing until you are. This is why so many cleanses don’t work. Your elimination system must be functioning for the toxins to come out. Here are some options to make that happen:

 

- Cumin, Coriander, Fennel - Add to every meal. These are basic spices everyone can take.

 

- Trifala - Take ½ tsp or 2 capsules before bed. Also take with meals if that isn’t enough. Tastes really bad so you might want the capsules.

 

- Be careful about taking any herb your friends recommend without researching it. Some laxative herbs are addictive. This means that if you take them daily, you’ll have to take more and more over time. Example: Metamucel

 

- Add 1 tsp each of powdered ginger, cumin and fennel to 2 cups water. Boil down to 1 cup. Add dash of lemon and salt or Bragg’s liquid aminos. Take 1 tsp to 1 Tbsp prior to eating.

 

- 10 to 15 minutes before eating, grate 1 tsp of fresh ginger and sprinkle with lemon juice and salt

 

- Toast fennel seeds and eat them after your meal. Cook your food with fennel.

 

- Sip ginger tea throughout the day and especially after eating. (meaning sliced fresh or dry ginger, not a tea bag) This will stimulate digestion.
 
- Put a hot water bottle on your abdomen for at least 20 minutes before or when you go to bed.

 

- Put a castor oil pack (castor oil on flannel covered with plastic) and a hot water bottle on your abdomen before bedtime.

 

- Some say take ½ tsp of castor oil before bed. Some people are fine with this. The rest feel castor oil is poison and will get gripping of the abdomen. Try it and see what happens.

 

- Eat ghee (clarified butter) with your meals. If you take milk, warm your milk and add ghee and spices. If you feel dried out, often feel dehydrated, have dry heels on your feet then you probably need more oil in your diet. If you have a heavy coating on your tongue you don’t want to do this.

 

- See an Ayurvedic practitioner for specific formulas and recommendations

 

- See Dr. Douillard’s article on "Constipation", http://www.lifespa.com 

 

- See the Bristol Stool Chart - used by doctors in England:

http://www.gapsdiet.com/Stools.html

 

Food

There are many arguments among Ayurvedic practitioners about what makes up a proper diet. Some say vegetarian, some eat meat and some are raw foodists. I would say that real, whole foods that are unprocessed and eaten in the season in which they were grown is the most important thing you can do. Eat them at room temperature or warmed, not cold. No processed foods! Get that MSG and high fructose corn syrup out of your diet. I read an article once that explained that a human being can only process 2 to 4 teaspoons of sugar each day and there are 12 tsp of sugar in a can of soda.  Think about that for a while.  I use the traditional food preparation techniques taught by the Weston A Price Foundation, http://www.westonaprice.org

 

If you’re still consuming twinkies, soda, and packaged foods, don’t waste your time cleansing. Clean up your diet first!

 

Hot Water

Sip hot water throughout the day. Really it can be that simple.

 

Tulsi Tea

http://www.organicindiausa.com/

Made from holy basil this tea will cleanse and detoxify.

 

Turmeric

Many think the reason for the low rates of alzheimer’s and dementia in India is due to consumption of turmeric in the food. One of the causes of these illnesses are plaques and deposits in the brain. Turmeric prevents these plaques from forming. Add to your food. I often add 1/4 tsp to a serving of rice while it's cooking and don't notice the taste.

 

Kitcheree

See the recipe for Kitcheree.

 

For an intense cleanse, eat kitcheree 3 times a day for a month. You will have stories to tell your grandchildren.

For the less enthusiastic, just eat it once a day. It makes a nice light dinner, but if you need a ready made lunch to take to work, make it at night in your crockpit and put it in a thermos.

 

Oleation

See the article on Dr. Douillard’s web site, http://www.lifespa.com titled "Short Home Cleanse". This is the prepatory phase of Pancha Karma and can be done as a stand alone cleanse. This cleanse is recommended to be done during the change of seasons.

 

The basic idea is that for 3 to 7 days you will eat kitcheree 2 or 3 times a day (I eat oatmeal for breakfast). Do not add any oils to your food. Each morning when you wake up you will take an ever increasing amount of ghee. This will bring toxicity to your digestive tract and you will eliminate everything when the last evening you take castor oil. Make sure you have the next day off. You want to have several bowel movements the next day for it to work properly.

 

Each day try to do an abhyanga self-massage as discussed in the daily routine. Despite all the oil, many people will dry out from this cleanse. If this happens you will need to do sesame oil enemas following the cleanse. (Approx ½ cup sesame oil warmed to body temp and inserted prior to bedtime - insert with enema bag or small $2 ear bulb from Kmart - wear diaper or pad overnight and into next day to prevent leakage).

 

The longer you do this cleanse the more time you need to rest and recover. By the end you may not be able to do your daily exercise or even take walks. You will not want to eat. After you take the castor oil, you’ll want to plan to just eat watery rice for a couple of meals. Work your way up to regular rice and then add some very soupy mung beans. It may be several days before you can even add vegetables. Use the ideas under "Basics - Daily Flow" above in order to stimulate digestion.

 

Pancha Karma

Pancha Karma is considered the full process of cleansing in Ayurveda and must be done under the care of an Ayurvedic practitioner. This is not the spa treatments you see in the fancy magazines. You will prepare with a 5-7 day oleation. After that you will have 3-7 days of clinical treatments. These treatments can include oil massage, steam bath, shirodhara (oil stream poured over the 3rd eye for 30 minutes), oil enemas, dough dams with oil placed over chakras, nasya (oil up the nose) with a sinus massage, and other options.

 

In traditional Ayurveda, Pancha Karma is recommended once each year. It is also recommended for both partners prior to planned conception of children.

 

This is not a simple cleanse. It may take several weeks to recover from this.  But, as with all things, you get out of it what you put into it.

 

There are many clinics around the country.  Make sure you check around before you do it.

 

If you cannot afford Pancha Karma, then do the oleation cleanse twice a year. Eat kitcheree frequently and practice all of the daily routine. You will get many of the same benefits but spread out over a long time rather than a short intense period.

 

PDF Handouts you will find helpful

From Banyan Botanicals:

 

 From Dr. Douillard:

 

 

 

Take care of yourself and be careful.  Cleansing can cause a lot of emotional upheaval.   Try not to quit your job or get a divorce until you've given it some time.   Your cleansing may be far more eye opening than expected.