Why Ghee is beneficial for our health?
The saying goes: There is no Ayurveda without Ghee.
Ghee is an absolute must in Ayurveda to maintain good health, might it be adding a teaspoon of Ghee to your food or using medicated Ghee, where herbs such as Brahmi, Shatavari or Triphala are added, to help prevent or heal certain diseases.
What is Ghee?
Ghee is clarified butter. When unsalted butter is cooked until all impurities and milk solids are removed and a clear, golden coloured, silken liquid is left, this is Ghee.
Ghee is widely used in cooking as the base of the traditional masala, or in frying because of its high smoking point. A teaspoon of Ghee is added to freshly cooked rice or dal soup or spread on freshly made chapatis. It forms the base of most Indian sweets because of its silky texture and delicious buttery/nutty taste.
If you have ever undergone a Pancha Karma, a traditional ayurvedic deep cleanse, you might have consumed up to one cup of Ghee in the morning during the Ghee days, to help draw the fat-soluble toxins from the tissues into the gastrointestinal tract to be removed from the body.
One of the foundational texts of Ayurveda, the Charaka Samhita (dated about 100 BCE), mentions Ghee as a substance per excellence, which alleviates Pitta and Vata dosha, and is conducive to the blood, semen and immune system. Charaka Samhita furthermore states that Ghee has cooling and softening effects on the body and adds to the clarity of the voice and complexion. (Charaka Samhita XIII, 13, 14).Despite all the goodness, Ghee got a bad reputation following a study in the 1980ies which named Ghee as the main contributor to cardiovascular diseases due to high cholesterol in the Asian population.
But is that still true?
Is Ghee good for cardiovascular health?
In short: Yes!
More recent research shows that Ghee (obviously in case of taken in moderation and as part of a balanced diet and with regular exercise) has the ability to lower bad cholesterol and increase the good one. Furthermore, it protects the blood, and enhances memory and wound healing.
Ghee contains a high concentration of monounsaturated Omega-3 fatty acids which support a healthy heart and cardiovascular system.
Other ways how Ghee can help our body
Good fat
Ghee is good fat. With not much else to it than fat content, it is easily absorbed by our body.
It contains medium chain fatty acids which get absorbed directly by the liver and burned to provide energy.
It contains further butyric acid, which is a short chain acid which is easy to digest. Our gut bacteria produce their own butyric acid, which means that our body recognizes the butyric acid in Ghee as a familiar substance.
Butyric acid converts fibre into energy and support for our intestinal wall.
Another job of the butyric acid is to support the production of T cells, which are part of our immune system, there they are responsible for tracking down and eliminating foreign substances.
This makes Ghee an important part of a strong immune system.
But there is more to Ghee.
Ghee contains fat-soluble vitamins
Vitamin A
Vitamin A is a nutrient for vision, cell division, growth, reproduction, and the immune system. In addition, vitamin A has antioxidant properties too.
Vitamin E
Vitamin E supports the maintenance of healthy skin and eyes; it strengthens the natural defence of our body against illness and infection.
Vitamin K2
Vitamin K2 binds Calcium to bones, helping to improve bone density. This is an important aspect during and after menopause in women when the bone density naturally decreases, opening the risk of bone fractures.
Ghee for the Skin
Ghee is known in Ayurveda to bring lustre and softness to the skin, as it oleates the body from the inside out. Remember the Charaka Samhita was talking about the softening qualities of Ghee.
Ghee can also be applied externally.
Here is a quick face mask:Apply Ghee onto the face and neck, leave it for 10 - 15 min, wash off with warm water. It leaves your skin clean, soft and nourished due to both the cleansing and moisturising properties.
Other external uses for Ghee:
Make-up remover.
Soothes skin rashes, and nappy rashes in babies.
Moisturises dry skin.
Can be applied as a hair pack to nourish and cool the hair follicles.
1 drop of warm Ghee can be applied to the eyes in case of burning or dry eyes.
Other internal uses:
A couple of drops of warm Ghee in the nostrils (Nasya), help to moisturise the membranes in the nose and help with heat-related headaches. This can be applied in the morning, after rising or in the evening just before going to sleep, here to help with a good night’s sleep.
The moisturising properties of Ghee translate to the inside of the body too.
Ghee helps to alleviate constipation.
It can be taken in the morning with 1 tsp warm Ghee followed by a glass of hot water; this enables easy absorption into the tissues of the body.
If needed this can be repeated in the evening before going to bed to help line the walls of the gut and ensure easy passage of the stool.
Internally Ghee also helps with lubrication of all membranes and the joints, ensuring easy movement throughout the body.
Some substances, such as tea and coffee, have highly drying effects on the tissues, to balance these drying qualities, a teaspoon of Ghee can be added.
Who would have thought that?
Ghee in your coffee? You might ask. If you are a coffee lover, try the bullet coffee recipe and let me know what you think.
Bullet coffee
Add 1 teaspoon of Ghee to your coffee, add 1/8 tsp cardamom (helps to balance the irritating effect on the nerves) and ¼ tsp cinnamon (helps circulation, coffee contracts the tissues).
Blitz for 2 min and enjoy.
Ghee balances the doshas
As seen above, Ghee helps to alleviate Pitta and Vata dosha. The cooling properties help to soothe and calm an elevated Pitta dosha.
Cooking with Ghee can support internal use.
Externally a changed Pitta dosha can show in irritated skin or skin rashes, in which case Ghee can be applied externally.
The drying qualities of Vata dosha can be balanced out with Ghee, both internally and externally.
Ghee and lactose intolerance
Ghee is a dairy; this is for sure.
However, the transformative process when making Ghee will burn off most of the milk sugar and milk solids, together with other impurities, which leaves Ghee a nearly pure fat with 99.3 % of pure milk fat.
Ghee is the one dairy product that many with lactose intolerance or other sensitivities (like casein) can and do eat!
So, how to make Ghee?
Use 2 pounds of good quality unsalted butter
Different stages during making Ghee
Preparation:
Place the butter in a pot and allow it to melt on middle heat. Once it starts boiling, reduce to low flame and let it simmer, till the liquid has turned clear with a golden yellow colour. Don’t stir!
During the simmering froth develops on top of the butter, which partly sinks to the bottom of the pot. The other part remains on the surface and gets removed when straining the liquid at the end, so there is no need to remove it in-between.
Check in regularly with the process and towards the end, you need to stay with the Ghee as it burns easily.
When the liquid is clear, of a yellow-golden colour and has a nutty fragrance (appr after 20 – 30 min. in case of 2 pounds), remove the pot from the cooker and let the Ghee rest for a few minutes. Strain it through a thin cotton cloth into a clean glass jar or stainless-steel container.
For the cooling cover, the ghee with a kitchen towel or tissue, then close the container and store it in the kitchen cupboard.
Store the Ghee in your kitchen cupboard.
Ghee should not be “disturbed” too often. Therefore, fill your daily amount into a smaller container; it stays longer fresh this way. Don’t leave a spoon in the storage container.
Conclusion
Ghee has so many fantastic benefits for our health. We absolutely need good fats in our diet to ensure the smooth running of our system. Ghee is good fat, which Ayurveda has known for thousands of years and is now being confirmed by recent scientific studies.
So try it out, integrate Ghee into your diet, as it is fat, Ghee needs to be taken in moderation according to one’s individual constitution and notice how it makes you feel.
Resources
H Sharma, X Zhang, C Dwivedi - Ayu, 2010 cholesterol – Effect of ghee on serum lipid levels
A Kumar, S Tripathi, N Hans, HSN Pattnaik… ghee its properties, importance and health benefits
Charaka Samhita
