Singapore’s Ega Juice Clinic is making life easy for the health conscious. Detox juices to have on the go, beat the slump, energise and revitalize. Founder Sumit Nanda is an Ayurveda aficionado and is very conscious about what he fills in the bottles that people rave about
Sumit
Nanda’s personal favourite juice is the Natural immune-booster power
shot which is a potent dosage of turmeric (anti-inflammatory), lemon (metabolism),
ginger (digestion), amla (anti-oxidants) on a daily basis.
In
terms of fruit juice, his favorite is GLOW which is
fresh Pomegranate juice. It is full of anti
oxidants and
helps in the formation of new blood in the body. It has an astringent taste
which is good for vata (air), sour which is good for pitta (Fire) and sweet
taste which is good for kapha (earth). It is best for all times of the day and
all body types as it balances all the three doshas in the body.
Sumit’s juice concoctions are based on Ayurvedic principles. An Ayurvedic diet insists that one must eat only when one is hungry and only eat what one likes. So what does Sumit think of the clash between Ayurvedic diet principles and of Western notions of eating every two hours and eating healthy even if it seems detestable.
"An ancient Ayurvedic proverb says that anything we eat will either cure disease or cause disease, freshly cooked food combines the energy of the fire and air to nourish our body, frozen or packaged food cannot be digested easily and takes away energy from the body and is a source of disease for the body." - Sumit Nanda
“This is a very interesting question and we get this question a lot. This basically highlights the difference between Ayurveda and a modern approach to diet. Ayurveda focuses on an individual and prescribes different diet and lifestyle for different people. The main focus of Ayurveda is on the digestive fire which helps to transform the food that we eat into fuel for the cells in the body. Our human body is a colony of trillions of cells which get nutrition from what we eat. If the food is not digested well, it remains in the body as toxins which is the main cause of all disease.
The human digestive system is like a machine which once activated takes a complete cycle for digestion and absorption of food. Fruits and vegetables which contain mostly water are fastest to digest and take about 2-3 hours, grains take about 5-7 hours to digest, most processed food and meats take about 12-16 hours to digest. It is important to eat only once the food has been completely digested and we feel hungry as the digestion process has been completed and body is ready for digestion again.
Snacking
in between meals disturbs the process of digestion and absorption of nutrients
from the food in the body and leads to formation of toxins in the body. Even if
we eat the healthiest of super foods but if they are not digested well in the
body, it is of no use to the body. An ancient Ayurvedic proverb says that
anything we eat will either cure disease or cause disease, freshly cooked food
combines the energy of the fire and air to nourish our body, frozen or packaged
food cannot be digested easily and takes away energy from the body and is a
source of disease for the body.
The
process of digestion starts with the taste buds in the mouth and the saliva is
produced which is the first step of digestion. We
start salivating at the sight of good and tasty food. Taste is important
for the digestion in the body and detestable things should be avoided unless
taken as a medicine to cure any imbalance.
The
western notion of eating every two hours comes from a diet given in cases of
extreme obesity with very low metabolism, a very small meal of easy
to digest food is given which can be digested within 2 hours like one apple,
handful of nuts, bowl of porridge, soup etc in a meal. It was never
meant to be 3 proper meals along with 3 snacking meals in between.”
One wonders if juicing vegetables and fruits is an Ayurvedic practice or a modern day practice in times when one cannot sit down for a proper meal.
“Drinking
vegetable and fruit juices is an Ayurvedic practice of giving a high dosage of
raw enzymes and nutrients and used to be generally given during sickness
because of weak digestion. In old days, we used to work in the fields and
walk in the sun however. Today all of us have weak digestion because
of a sedentary lifestyle. We are mostly moving from air-conditioned
homes to cars to offices and have a sitting job throughout the day.
Since our digestion is generally poor, it is better to consume nutrients as juices.
It is not easy to eat 2-4 kg of fruits and greens everyday but it is easier to consume that amount in form of juice so that we can get the nutrients. It is also important to eat raw fruits and vegetables daily for the fibre which helps the digestive system to function well.”
"The western notion of eating every two hours comes from a diet given in cases of extreme obesity with very low metabolism, a very small meal of easy to digest food is given which can be digested within 2 hours like one apple, handful of nuts, bowl of porridge, soup etc in a meal. It was never meant to be 3 proper meals along with 3 snacking meals in between." - Sumit Nanda
Colourful juices that look and taste delicious. Deep green, mellow turmeric yellow, lively orange… how does one come up with a new recipe every time?
“All
the recipes are based on the Ayurvedic principles of food
combination. We are all part of nature and regional and seasonal fruits and
vegetables help us to maintain our balance with the nature around us. To give
an example, we get melons, watermelons and mangoes in summer when the
weather is very hot and these help to cool down the body. Similarly,
we get oranges in the winter which help to heat up the body. Ayurveda has
classified each and every plant and fruit according to its effect on the body
and we follow these principles to make the combinations. We add turmeric and
ginger to most juices as it helps with digestion and absorption of nutrients.”
Drinking turmeric requires a whole new shift in thinking. How is it better than putting it in food?
“We
all need to consume about 5-10 grams of turmeric on a daily basis, it has the
best anti-inflammatory, anti-bacterial, anti-viral effect on our body. It
improves our liver function helping our digestion and cleans the blood. We
use fresh turmeric juice as it is relatively easier to digest and can be
consumed by people of all ethnicity and background who are
not used to the taste of turmeric and are not consuming turmeric in
food.
Indian
cooking uses a lot of turmeric powder so that we get our daily dosage of
turmeric from food. Powdered turmeric has very low absorption in the body
and has to be mixed with some natural fat and penetrating spices like
black pepper to increase absorption which is the reason it is consumed as
curry.
As per Ayurveda, turmeric should never be exposed to any
heat to retain its medicinal properties. It has be harvested at night
to avoid exposure to heat from sunlight and should be dried in the shade. Most
of the turmeric available in the market is dried in ovens and ground in
machines generating heat so the medicinal effect is almost destroyed.
It is safer to use fresh turmeric because of adulteration in the market.”
How does one avoid changing the chemical composition of ingredients?
“Normal
centrifugal juicers use blades and grinders to shred the fruit or
vegetable to extract the juice, the blades cut the cell walls and cause
oxidation of the juice. The shelf life of the juice is very low and it
gets spoilt very fast. The pulp or residue in these juicers is very wet and
most nutrients are lost in the residue.
In the cold pressed juicers, the pressure is used to extract all nutrients at cellular level and no oxidation takes place, the shelf life is more and most nutrients are extracted as the residue is very dry almost like wood.”
One of India’s favourite satvik juices is Panakam, made during Ramanavami. Is that on the menu?
“Panakam is
very cooling for the body. It is associated with Ramnavami which falls in
the summer months and is very good to consume in hot season. We have a pipeline
of new product offerings and panakam is on the list. We are
experimenting with taste and ingredients and shall be adding it in the
future.
Disease
manifests itself last in the body. Before that it manifests in the
mind. We think we are not well before we start feeling unwell. Can we can
invert this and say if we feel physically well, we will also experience
mental wellbeing.
“This
is a very important aspect to understand as mind and body are completely interrelated.
Stress is one of the major cause of health issues in modern day life
as our digestion is completely compromised when we are in stress. We cannot
digest or absorb when mind is in stress which shows up as many
lifestyle disease and symptoms like hypertension, diabetes,
migraines etc. Similarly if
we are sick, our brain function is affected and we cannot think straight or
perform well.
The definition of
good health as per Ayurveda is ‘One is in perfect health when the
three doshas (vata, pitta, kapha) are in balance, Digestive fire (digestion,
absorption, metabolism) is working well, the excretory functions to eliminate
toxins are in perfect order, and also be contented in the mind, senses and
spirit. The physical body and mental state work in complete harmony, so it is
important to keep the body clean for the brain to function well.”
Juices in India are restricted to single fruit juices. How does mixing of different ingredients help?
“It
is best to have single fruit when eating fruit as the digestion of each fruit
is different from another. It is easier to digest and absorption of nutrients
is better when consumed as a mono fruit. When it is in juice or liquid form it
is easier to digest without the pulp.
Fruit
juices can be combined however one needs to understand the compatibility of
fruits when mixing fruits even for juice. Vegetables can be mixed together to
eat or in juice. Mixing ingredients helps to get all the wide spectrum of
vitamins of minerals available in different fruits and vegetables at the same
time in a form that is easy to digest.”
