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Healing The Planet, And Ourselves: Thoughts For A New Year

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As each new year begins, we tend to reflect on the year that has passed and our learnings from the same. This year, as situations around the planet demand our attention, I feel like offering more than a wish for a happy 2024. We all deserve that, but in order for that to happen, we must all make changes in our lives. Myself included.

So here is my personal resolution, something that I strongly felt during the recent festive season: the endless use of plastic and the vast amount of food wastage that occurs during special occasions in the name of gifting needs to end. I want to become even more conscious about my choices in this regard, and minimize my impact.

These thoughts occurred to me for two reasons. One is that I observed the contradiction of celebrating Deepavali and other special days even as thousands of children were being killed in a war elsewhere in the world, and I contemplated these tragedies. Yes, we must celebrate, but we can no longer do so without being mindful of others, as well as our own impact. I say “can no longer do so” because we literally cannot afford to, and this is because of what is happening to the environment.

Human beings have the innate ability to adapt, and we have for millennia, but there may be a tipping point for the planet. The human species does not have much time left here, as experts keep warning us. This is because of human-made pollution and destruction of Nature and how this is making our one true home uninhabitable for us.

If I’m being honest, I sometimes have sleepless nights thinking about what we as human beings are doing to Earth. I recently learned about something called eco-anxiety, and I think it may be something I experience. It has motivated me to do things differently on an individual level. All of us have a carbon footprint. So do I, and I want to make mine lighter.

On the subject of light and lightness, I believe that the last rays of hope are still there – provided that we are respectful of Nature, and kinder to one another. This is my heartfelt wish for us all. Here’s to a healthy planet, and to healing for humankind. Happy new year!

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Recipes

Recipe: Tinged With Goodness – Turmeric Tea

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I was recently down with a virus (thankfully, it was not COVID), and that was when I began consuming this turmeric tea every night. I had long been making it on a nightly basis, for my husband who insists on a cup of it before bedtime. Despite his urging me to have it as well, I somehow never did. That bout of illness was an important reminder for me that we need to keep our immunity high. Healthy, homemade remedies are a time-honoured way of doing this.

It isn’t that I wasn’t occasionally consuming turmeric-based boosters – such as this turmeric shot and this sniffle-season tonic  – but making a point to have a beverage like this one every night was just not part of my routine until a few weeks ago. However, there was a nightly drink that my mother would prepare for us while we were growing up. She would put a drop of ghee in a cup, add two pinches of turmeric powder, pour hot milk over this, stir it and make my siblings and I drink it. Like most children, we hated it. Now that I am older and appreciate the medicinal values of common ingredients, it’s been a pleasure to bring some turmeric back into my bedtime routine. Now, I can’t get enough of it, and even look forward to it.

I first consumed this drink while visiting my son in Bangalore. The lady who comes in to do his cooking prepared it one day when the kitchen ran short of tea leaves. She called it “a healthy tea” and offered it as a substitute. It was so refreshing that it became a keeper in my family, and I got the recipe from her and began making it once I got back home too. It was reminiscent of the homemade remedies I’ve known, and easy to prepare as well. When I look back on my childhood, I hardly recall being given pills; nor do I recall falling seriously ill. Common, seasonal illnesses were always treated with traditional, natural cures.

It’s a healthy tea indeed, made with the goodness of turmeric. Turmeric is an antioxidant, anti-bacterial and anti- inflammatory ingredient, and has been trusted for centuries as a disease preventative. It is not for nothing that a turmeric stamp is re:store’s signature, and has taken pride of place in the brand logo for six years now. You can see it right there on this blog’s header and on my product packaging too. To me, it represents good health and vibrance in all aspects of life. I love the ingredient for its versatility: it’s as useful in a curry as it is in a beverage like this.

It happens to be turmeric season now, and I’m planning to go to the South Indian heartlands where it is harvested to track the process. This adventure is something I will be sharing with you in time.

Coming back to this turmeric tea itself: you can experiment with more spices to flavour it with, depending on the season and what’s on hand in your kitchen. In rainy or wintry weather like what we’re having now in Chennai, the spices can be warming too. I like to just add lemon and honey, and sometimes a cinnamon stick or star anise. At home, we are currently mostly off dairy so we prefer it as a turmeric tea. You can turn it into a turmeric latte by adding milk and eliminating the lemon. As long as turmeric is the base, you can play around with the rest of the recipe.

The best part of this drink is that unlike my other turmeric remedies, which I use seasonally or only when I have fallen sick, this is good as a year-round drink. Many of us enjoy a warm beverage at night, and this makes for a great replacement (especially if you prefer to be dairy-free). Also, it kills your night-time sugar craving. This is good news for those of us with a sweet tooth, and I’m telling you this from experience! Something about this drink just takes away that itch. Quite the benefit, in addition to all its healing properties, no?

Turmeric Tea
(Yield: 1 cup)

¼ teaspoon turmeric powder
1 small piece of ginger
A few drops of lemon juice
¼ teaspoon honey
1 cup boiling hot water
Some star anise

Boil the water along with the ginger and star anise. In a cup, add the turmeric powder, honey and lemon juice.

Once the water boils, pour it into the cup.

Stir and drink while it’s hot.

Incredibly simple, yet so very soothing. As I said earlier, add selected spices to flavour the beverage further, as per your wish. Let this turmeric tea relax you, and heal you as you sleep. Sweet dreams!

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Recipes

Recipe: Deep Healing – Daikon Tea

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If you ask me what I think of as the star among all vegetables, you may be surprised to learn that in my opinion it is the underestimated radish. Specifically, I mean the long-rooted winter radish known as “daikon”, from the Japanese words for “big root”. In India, you may know it as “mulli”, the main ingredient of mulli-mulli paratha in the North; its leaves are eaten in the South as “mullangi-keerai”. My appreciation for daikon was inculcated when I was a student of Macrobiotics at the Kushi Institute a few years ago. The Macrobiotic principle of yin & yang is based on the belief that food has healing properties, and that with the right food we can actually improve our health and immune system in many ways. It is an old Indian Ayurvedic principle too, and the two differ only slightly.

Macrobiotics is a culinary science with a foundational principle of the incorporation of local and seasonal logic to our cooking and eating methods. Logic, not just ingredients. It is a holistic system that considers the effect of food on mind, body and spirit. While Macrobiotics began in Japan, daikon is locally-grown and widely-available in India, and so the daikon tea recipe that I am sharing today fits the principle well.

This daikon tea is known for being effective against deep-rooted cancer and pain. In general, it also has a cooling effect, and is anti-inflammatory. Daikon itself is highly nutritious, and contains phosphorus, calcium, magnesium, vitamin C and potassium. It is beneficial for kidney function, respiratory health and immunity. Its high folate content makes it good for pregnant women, while its low carb content makes it good for diabetics. Daikon can be eaten raw, so you can have it sliced or grated too. In a future post, I’ll discuss Macrobiotic pickling (which is often probiotic), which is something this ingredient is good for as well. In tea form, it helps remove the oil from any heavy food consumed, and lowers cholesterol and cleans the intestines.

As it is quite powerful, daikon tea is recommended only for healing purposes. It is to be had a couple of times a day for three days, with a break afterwards, and for no more than two weeks at a stretch (including breaks).

 

Daikon Tea

(Yield: 1 small pot)

Ingredients

½ cup grated daikon

3 portions water

Place the grated daikon in a cheese cloth and squeeze out the juice into the pot. Add 3 equal portions of water to it.

Place the pot to boil gently on a medium flame. Lower the flame when it begins to boil, then allow it to simmer for 1-2 minutes. Add a pinch of sea salt.

Switch off the stove. Your daikon tea is now ready to be served. Drink sparingly, and remember that this is a medicinal supplement.

I learnt some very important basics during my Macrobiotics course, about how the energy and environment matter to what is being cooked and eaten. While in the kitchen, and especially when preparing healing food, it is important to keep sound to a minimum. For instance, while stirring the tea, do not allow the spoon to clank with the pot or cup.  Try and maintain a calm, almost meditative, state. So as you stir this tea, serve it, and and sip it, always allow good thoughts to be the most important ingredients.

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Recipes

Recipe: An Introduction To Macrobiotics – The Goodness Of Gomashio

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There I was in the freezing cold of the Berkshire mountains in Massachusetts, USA, telling my friends and family back home that I was finally about to do for fun what I didn’t enjoy doing in school – study! I had given myself the gift of learning: specifically, the subject of Macrobiotics, a system of mindful cooking and eating. My classes at the Kushi Institute often took place in the snowy winters, and even from indoors the beauty of my surroundings inspired me every day. Chirping birds, beautiful trees, and a healing science drawn from the principles of Zen Buddhism… Which I brought back to my home in Chennai, with its own trees and birds and mouths to feed.

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