Eat to Beat Cold and Flu Season

Ayurveda offers us the secret to staving off illness this winter and throughout the year: Keep your doshas balanced and your immune system in top disease-fighting shape by eating for the season and adding some simple steps to your routine that promote warmth and health. Winter’s cold winds and dry air increase vata and can lead to an imbalance. Some signs of excess vata during the winter include insomnia, stress, worry, constipation, colds and ?us, and joint pain.

Follow these tips from John Douillard, MD, PhD, ayurvedic physician and director of the LifeSpa Ayurvedic Retreat Center in Boulder, CO, to help balance out the season’s vata-amplifying effects.

Stay Warm, Relaxed and Healthy:

• Add ghee, avocado, sesame oil or olive oil to your grains and soups.
• Start your day with warm lemon water to cleanse your lymph.
• Follow a regular rhythm of sleep, exercise, mealtimes and rest.
• Sleep with a warm mist humidifier to keep your sinuses clear.
• To keep your ears lubricated and thus prevent infections, place a few drops of warm Tri-Doshic Massage Oil in each ear and leave a cotton
  ball in for 15 minutes. Perform weekly, particularly for children.

• Self massage with warm Tri-Doshic Massage Oil or raw sesame oil.
• For 8 minutes each morning and evening, breathe slowly and quietly in and out through your nose to calm your mind.
• Exercise in the morning to improve circulation, mood, and immunity.
• Perform Neti (you can buy a neti pot at most natural health stores) by irrigating your nasal passage with warm salt water.

• Perform Nasya by dipping a Q-Tip in warm Tri-Doshic Massage Oil or warm sesame oil, swirling it inside your nostrils, and inhaling deeply.