Eight Ways to Reduce Ama( toxins) in your Daily Life

Dear friends,
Ayurveda teaches that ” ama” is a common pathology for ALL diseases! The word “ama” means toxins.
I think we are all somewhat concerned about our toxic overload- from the health of our soil to the quality of the air we breathe to molds, heavy metals, and viruses it’s overwhelming.
As I wrote about in the second article below in Natural Awakenings Magazine ” The Fire of Digestion” Ayurveda aims to remove ama from the body so it can function optimally.
Cleansing in Ayurveda as I’ve talked about before can be done with kitchari or going away to an Ayurvedic Spa or Institute to do a full panchakarma cleanse.
Those are ideal. However, many of us cannot get away to indulge in such practices on a regular basis.
These are eight simple ways to reduce ama in your daily life:
You don’t need to do all of these every day.  You might aim to incorporate these practices on along term basis. Creating these types of long term habits is like making deposits in your savings account.


1. Avoid fried food including cheese and yogurt plus no deep-fried foods.
2. Include fresh fruit and freshly prepared fruit juice ex. carrot and beet juice
3. Include dates, raisins, and figs in your diet.
4. Morning and evening include soaked and peeled almonds in warm milk with raisins.
5. Drink Hot water frequently throughout the day. A few sips at a time.
6. Don’t take food and eat directly out of the refrigerator
7.Use cumin, ginger, turmeric, black pepper, cinnamon, cardamom, rock salt cloves, mustard seed when cooking( not all together).
8. One day per week take only liquids. ex. first day of period or the first day of the month
A liquid diet means soup, fresh juice, herbal tea, plain hot water, carrot juice.


 Read the first of my three series article in Natural Awakenings

The second of this three-part series is now available at Natural Awakenings Atlanta October issue