One Ayurvedic recipe we liked was an Ojas Tonic made with milk, chopped dates, almonds and coconut plus cardamon and ghee. However I’m more cautious since my diagnosis about dairy and dried fruits so didn’t continue with this one.
I also for a long while made the ‘Golden Milk’ made with a non-dairy milk, tumeric and cinnamon with a pinch of black pepper and shaving of coconut oil. Turmeric is fat-soluble, meaning that without a little bit of fat the curcumin and other wonders will not be absorbed into your blood stream as well - hence the coconut oil - or alternatively using a full fat milk. The black pepper is also key as piperine is said to improve the bioavailability.
Sleep is key and in Ayurveda it is considered to be as important as nutrition in terms of maintaining health and wellbeing. Sleep was one of the ‘basics’ covered by Ayurvedic consultant Dr Sam Watts (i) - but also covered when he discussed our circadian rhythms (ii) - amazingly “when” we eat is turning out to be just as important as “what” we eat.
Sleep, not surprisingly, features as a key factor in many books about cancer - for example is one of six key factors in Dr Lorenzo Cohen and Alison Jeffries book “Anti-Cancer Living”. They see that getting sleep right is a crucial part of a healing journey. I can certainly recommend that book.
Anyway it was Sam that put us onto the Nutmeg Night Time Milk - and also asked all to pass it onto others - so here it is - possibly with a slight adaptation as I can’t find my original notes - online there are some other slight variations of this but guess you can adapt to your own taste. It has now become a firm favourite and we have it three or four times a week.
Nutmeg Night time Milk
Cup of milk - your favourite non-dairy
Pinch of black pepper
Half a teaspoon tumeric powder
Half a teaspoon cinnamon
Teaspoon nutmeg
Small pinch of ginger
Large pinch of ground cardamon
Half teaspoon of ghee or coconut oil
Whisk ingredients then bring to boil then on low heat simmer for 2-3 minutes to extract the medicinal qualities. Add honey (or not) to taste. One cup recommended between 7 and 8 in the evening so can start working its magic for sleep at 10.
Nutmeg is one of the clinically proven herbal sedatives - it is proven to induce better quality and quantity of sleep. It is also worth a mention that the National Cancer Institute of Maryland demonstrated chemopreventive properties of nutmeg extract. It is found to induce cell death in leukemia cells (iii). However use with care as it can in excess cause a high and not so good effects (iv)!
Large pinch of ground cardamon
Half teaspoon of ghee or coconut oil
Whisk ingredients then bring to boil then on low heat simmer for 2-3 minutes to extract the medicinal qualities. Add honey (or not) to taste. One cup recommended between 7 and 8 in the evening so can start working its magic for sleep at 10.
Nutmeg is one of the clinically proven herbal sedatives - it is proven to induce better quality and quantity of sleep. It is also worth a mention that the National Cancer Institute of Maryland demonstrated chemopreventive properties of nutmeg extract. It is found to induce cell death in leukemia cells (iii). However use with care as it can in excess cause a high and not so good effects (iv)!
Ginger has also had some research indicating it "can reduce the size of cancer tumours, and causes apoptosis of both normal cancer cells and cancer stem cells”(vii). Similarly cinnamon has research showing its impact on cancer (viii). So not only can this wonderful tasting drink help sleep - and it does with us - but also it seems to have anti-cancer properties as well. Enjoy!
Lastly if you are interested in an Ayurvedic approach to health then I can recommend joining Sam’s Facebook page for more Ayurvedic wisdom at: https://www.facebook.com/mindbodymedical
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