These days just about everyone I know in Santa Fe is either suffering or just recovering from a nasty stomach flu. It seems these little buggers have become stronger and more obnoxious because hardly any adult or child seems to be immune to it. When this type of virus strikes, what can you do to shorten its duration? Here's some natural health tips from various traditions to ease the suffering and an excellent Ayurvedic recipe for your first meal when you're ready to start thinking about food.
Probiotics To The Rescue
One of the most important things you need to do when you come down with a stomach virus is to take a high quality probiotic supplement. We are exposed to harmful bacteria and viruses all the time, but they only "win" when either they are super-strength bugs, or when our own intestinal immunity is low.
Probiotics are beneficial bacteria, so when we increase the "good guys" we're more likely to win the battle against the "bad guys."And we want to increase the good guys by a lot! I'm not talking yogurt here. While it may be delicious, yogurt contains a very small amount of probiotics, and it's usually only acidophilus as opposed to a combination. One serving of the super potent Bio-K probiotic is equal to over 1000 cups of yogurt! Bio-K is my first choice heavy hitter, and if you can't find that, try to find Pharmax's HLC High Potency capsules.
Recovery Meal
Most people with this virulent bug aren't interested in food for at least 24 hours. When you're feeling hungry again and able to keep food down, miso soup is an excellent digestion balancer. Try that, and if it sits ok then you're ready to move on to something more substantial. Since your digestive fire will still not be strong, it's best to eat something that is very easy to digest but that will provide you with some nutrition so you can get your strength back.
In the Ayurvedic tradition, the best meal when recovering from an illness is kitchiri. I've written about kitchiri before as the best food to eat while doing a cleanse. It's also the best choice after this kind of stomach bug and will help speed up the recovery process. It is easy to make, and you can eat it as often as you feel up for. I don't wish it upon anyone to fall victim to this awful virus, but if you do, try out these suggestions and let me know how it goes!
Kitchiri Recipe
- 2 Tablespoons ghee
- pinch turmeric, ginger, cumin, and coriander powder
- pinch asafoetida powder
- 1 cup basmati rice
- 1/2 cup split yellow mung beans
- 5 cups water
Preparation:
Carefully pick over the rice and split mung beans to remove any stones. Wash this mixture in at least two changes of water and drain. Saute the turmeric, ginger, cumin, coriander and asafoetida in the ghee. Add the rice and mung beans and saute for one or two minutes. Add the 5 cups of boiling water and simmer for 30 minutes or until the grains are done.