Dairy
is a builder, not a cleanser. Dairy is used as
a prelude to some Ayurvedic cleansing. It gives
grounding, mass, sweetness, and usually coolness
to meals. For these reasons, it is excellent for
children, teenagers, pregnant and nursing mothers,
those seeking calm and grounding, and convalescents.
It is superb for Vata, miserable for Kapha (with
a few key exceptions) and at times quite beneficial
for Pitta. It offers calories, calcium, protein,
and some vitamins. It builds bones and teeth,
and in Vata strengthens the heart and nervous
system. In Kapha it can do the opposite for the
heart, adding congestion where it is not needed.
Its cool sweetness is good for tonifying Pitta,
if the appropriate dairy products are used.
As Robert Svoboda points out in his excellent
book Prakruti, Your Ayurvedic Constitution, dairy
has gotten a bad name in health circles more through
its methods of preparation and mode of consumption
than through its innate qualities. In the West,
it is usually served cold, unspiced, homogenized,
with other foods, and in excess. Its high-fat
content, heaviness and coldness does not lend
it to these uses. Served in this way, it can increase
one's risk of heart disease, cancer or obesity.
Dairy needs to be used skillfully and not in excess.
Cow's milk was highly regarded by the Ayurvedic
sages, being lighter and easier to digest than
most dairy. It invigorates and works well for
both Vata and Pitta, so long as they are not allergic
to it. Unfortunately, cow's milk was introduced
extremely early to Western babies of the post-war
period, for widespread sensitivities to it as
a food now. If it agrees with you (i.e. does not
cause diarrhea, gas, congestion, or other discomforts)
it is an excellent and balancing food, when properly
prepared.
Preparation is the key. There has been a lot of
controversy over raw versus pasteurized homogenized
milk in the last few decades. In Ayurveda, raw
milk is recommended whenever possible, and milk
is always boiled before serving. This high heat
effectively kills bacteria in raw milk. It may
also denature the proteins of pasteurized milk
further, causing their breakdown into shorter
amino acid chains which are then easier to digest.
In general, boiling makes it safer and easier
to digest; this is especially true when it is
raw. The boiling process also warms a usually
cold product as will the addition of warming spices
such as cinnamon, cardamom, ginger, and black
pepper. A bit of honey added after heating will
also balance the qualities of the milk, warming
and drying it.
Pasteurization
has made the consumption of mass-produced dairy
safer in terms of eliminating the chance of bacterial
infections for large groups of people. But its
lower heating point (15 seconds at 161 degrees
Fahrenheit or 30 minutes at 145 degrees Fahrenheit)
does not make the dairy more digestible nor does
it eliminate the risk of potential viral contamination.
The incomplete heating of pasteurization seems
to cause the partial breakdown of proteins into
tangled coils. These disorganized tangles are
difficult for digestive enzymes to hold on and
break down. For some people, this raw dairy does
not. The homogenization process is another controversial
one. It apparently splits the fats down into small
enough globules that some pass into the blood
stream whole, initiating a complex process which
may lead to a greater tendency to create atherosclerotic
clots. Whether such a tendency actually exists
is still being hotly debated in medical and health
circles. In any case, the cow's products extolled
by the ancients is not the same as that sold in
most markets today.
Cow
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