by Sheela Rani Chunkath
"You will live to be a hundred years blessed with physical strength, a healthy complexion, with all senses alerts with internal systems functioning optimally, a clean gut and great digestive ability" says Acharya Vaghbhata. You might well ask how does one achieve this enviable state as often old age is accompanied by a myriad health problems. Acharya says this can be achieved by the judicious use of fat. In spite of US health authorities going back on their 'fat is bad for you' campaign, the phobia against fat still persists. There are still many industries which were spun off from this fat phobia – low fat biscuits, low fat savouries, low fat sweets etc. Probably the industry–government nexus in many parts of the world prevents the government from coming out with the truth.
In Ayurveda, panchakarma treatment is often preceded by a procedure called snehapanam. This is an extremely technical procedure. The cautions prescribed and advice of the vaidyar must be followed meticulously. The reason I am sharing this is because the procedure seems simple but the internal systems undergo a thorough overhaul and hence one needs to be careful.
In snehapanam, suitable fats such as ghee (mostly medicated ghee) is administered to the patient for 3-7 days depending on the prakriti of the individual and the health condition one is trying to address. The quantity of ghee is measured as per the digestive ability of the patient. In uttama matra or maximum dose, the amount of ghee that can be digested by the patient in 24 hours is administered. Normally this is done when snehapanam is to be followed by one of the Panchakarma procedures such as Vamanam (therapeutic vomiting) or Virechanam (therapeutic laxative procedures). The ghee has the ability to travel to all the tissues and collect all the ama or toxins during the seven days of administration of ghee. Once the 7 days are up it is followed by sudation or sweating therapy (swedhanam) when the toxins are liquefied and expelled out through vamanam or virechanam. Once the shodana has been completed the patient has to be very careful regarding his day-to-day routine. He should not travel, talk a lot, sleep during daytime, walk a lot or sit around for a long time. He should avoid exercising and generally be of a sattvic frame of mind, eschewing anger, grief etc.
If you can spare about 3 to 4 weeks this is what you should get done. This is a better stress manager and overall health maximiser than all the holidays one goes on. However, for those who may find it difficult to spare the time and could find the procedure tedious, Acharya has said that ghee or taila can be added to foods and taken along with soups, food etc. Rich meal soups, kheer with ghee, powdered sesame seeds (with or without rice) with fat and jaggery are some of the ways Acharya has recommended for including fat in one's diet. I wonder whether the sesame preparation indicated by Acharya Vaghbhata is something traditional in some parts of India. In the South, we have the puliodarai (tamarind rice) which is made with sesame seed and gingelly oil (but not with much jaggery). Anyway, love tamarind rice and I now have a good excuse to indulge in it. A word of caution, for those who have pitta constitution, go easy on the tamarind and chillies. We want the fat not the chillies!
--- The writer is retired Additional Chief Secretary, Government of Tamil Nadu. She can be reached at Sheelarani.arogyamantra@gmail. com. Earlier articles can be accessed at http://arogyamantra.blogspot.com/