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Day 23 – Asparagus Health Benefits

28th August 2020 by Eat & Breathe

Welcome to day twenty three of my 30 Days of Ayurveda series! Throughout these blogs and videos, I will be sharing some upbeat thoughts and wellness tips, as well as some Ayurvedic tricks and food recommendations to help you lead a balanced life.

During the height of lockdown, I was thoroughly enjoying all the fresh, wonderful asparagus that was being grown locally in Norfolk. It is such a delicious and versatile vegetable, and was perfectly suited as a springtime treat!

What are the health benefits of asparagus?

From an Ayurvedic perspective, we understand that asparagus is both sweet (madhura) and astringent (kashaya) by its taste. Sweet taste promotes enzyme and pancreatic activity, helping to nourish all components of the body while also being high in minerals and anabolic in action. Meanwhile, astringent taste is high in polyphenols (micronutrients that are packed with antioxidants) that can help improve digestion issues, diabetes, and weight management.

Asparagus has this lovely cooling property on the body. We see it and understand it as being slightly diuretic, so if you have any excess water retention, eating asparagus regularly can help to keep that under control. It also really supports the lymph and the blood: this is because asparagus contains potassium, a mineral that can help lower high blood pressure.

In Ayurveda, we also have a sister plant that we use as a tonic.

If you are familiar with Ayurveda, you may have heard of it before. It is called shatavari, and it is a member of the asparagus family. As an adaptogenic herb, it is said to help your body cope with physical and emotional stress. It does this by helping to balance the hormonal system, at all stages of life. Shatavari has cooling, calming properties that can help to balance Vata and Pitta (two of the three doshas). In Ayurveda, we particularly use it for women’s health to support the female’s reproductive system.

How should I look after asparagus?

When you get some fresh asparagus, trim the bottoms just as you would a bunch of flowers. Next, place the spears in a glass with about an inch of water and store them in the fridge. If the water gets cloudy, change it to keep the asparagus fresher for longer.

How should I cook my asparagus?

When you come to cook asparagus, my preferred way is to steam it for a couple minutes. Until, when you put a knife into your spears, it goes through like a knife into butter. However, make sure your asparagus is not too soft, and that there is a little bit of firmness.

To serve, take out your asparagus and drizzle it with a little bit of oil. I also like to add some cracked salt and pepper. The result is a delicious treat that is quick and easy to make!

Over the next 30 days, I will be sharing even more tips and tricks to help you build some great Ayurvedic routines. Hopefully, they will soon be imbedded in your life and you can progress with them. Be sure to let me know how you’re getting on, and why not share how you like to eat your asparagus? Find me on Instagram @anneheigham and on YouTube

Filed Under: 30 Day Series, Blog Tagged With: ayurvedic food, Ayurvedic herbs

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Brain boosting rosemary πŸ’œπŸ’œπŸ’œ For the last Brain boosting rosemary πŸ’œπŸ’œπŸ’œ

For the last month or so I have been loving my big rosemary that I have in a pot outside the backdoor. If you have one have you ever put just a single flower in your mouth and really slowly savoured and chewed it??? 

It has such a soft mellow rosemary flavour, a little more sweetness than the bitter, astringent and pungent tones of the leaves. 

Taking time to stop and mindfully savour such gifts from nature is great for mental health. 

Rosemary in particular serves our mental health by boosting cognition and clarity. 

Whether you use it in a tea form or as an essential oil added to a base oil for massage, it is uplifting and invigorating. 

It can lift our senses and thus our mood. 

In ayurveda it is seen as pacifying vata and Kapha through its warming nature.
Sharing πŸ₯° The pots in the image were gifted to Sharing πŸ₯°

The pots in the image were gifted to me by a beautiful neighbour who in turn was gifted them by another lovely soul. They are now planted up with some early potatoes and I am so excited about sharing some of the crop with my community when it emerges later in the year. Hopefully they will do better than the last time I grew potatoes in a pot that were blighted by blight 🀞crossed that doesn't happen this time. 

I feel so lucky to live and have lived in places where I can get to know my neighbours and build a sense of community, it can have such a wonderful positive influence on our physical, mental and emotional health and well-being.

Happy Thursday beautiful IG community πŸ€—πŸ€—πŸ’•
Nature fix = re-charge via the senses πŸ’ͺ πŸ˜‹ e Nature fix = re-charge via the senses πŸ’ͺ

πŸ˜‹ eating tender beech and hawthorn leaves.

+ 

πŸ‘ƒ intoxicating smell of the bluebells

+

πŸ‘€ the cool lime green, bright green, purplish blueish hues only available for a mere few weeks 

+

πŸ‘‚spring bird song and crunching of autumns' past leaves

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πŸ– bark of trees, velvet soft leaves

Wishing you a wonderful weekend hope you find some peace in nature somewhere πŸ’œπŸ’šπŸ’™
Head over to @aga_cookers to watch the #livecookin Head over to @aga_cookers to watch the #livecookingdemo I gave earlier today. Hope you enjoy it, I really enjoyed cooking and sharing and many thanks to Aga/Laura for having me on.

I cooked one of the recipes from my book The Ayurveda Kitchen with a few adjustments. I added some wild garlic into the middle of some goats' cheese and cooked it....this can also be done in a frying pan on a low heat on a hob or gas stove. Goats' cheese is sweet, a little sour sometimes and astringent, the cooked wild garlic is mildly pungent and so many of the tastes are present. It is usually also more easily digested than other types of cheese and tends to produce less mucous. So a good way to incorporate dairy this time of the year πŸ§€ πŸ˜‹πŸ€
Join me LIVE tomorrow at 10.30am GMT on @aga_cooke Join me LIVE tomorrow at 10.30am GMT on @aga_cookers where I will be cooking up a delicious spring time lunch dish....clues are in the photo....πŸ’šπŸ€πŸ’š I will be cooking both a vegetarian and fish version.  If you can't join live it should be available on catch up afterwards.

Now we are in the fullness of spring here we are coming towards the end of the winter crops of leeks, cauliflower and kale and the early spring shoots are coming through especially wild garlic, so this seasonal dish is a great example of the types of foods we can be enjoying right now πŸ’«πŸ½πŸŒ±
Spring cleaning last week and I discovered these b Spring cleaning last week and I discovered these beauties.....I had put them in the top of a dark cupboard at the beginning of the winter and then forgot about them πŸ˜‚πŸ€¦πŸ½β€β™€οΈ

What a fantastic surprise 😍 they have dried beautifully and I cooked a curry with one of them and ooh they pack a punch, I ended up adding a lot of cream to the dish to simmer them down πŸ˜…

So when I get home from work tonight i am going to make my own dried chilli flakes and plant some of the seeds as they are way to πŸ”₯ for me πŸ˜… and here in lies the magic of growing and making you own 🌢 flakes you can find the right heat for you.

 My fired up Pitta doesn't require much additional heat and usually my dried chilli flakes sit in the cupboard for way too many years πŸ˜†

Happy Tuesday πŸ€—πŸ€—
Wild Garlic is back πŸ’šπŸ˜‹πŸ’š Every year I cel Wild Garlic is back πŸ’šπŸ˜‹πŸ’š

Every year I celebrate its return. I have been piling it into all sorts of dishes this week adding it liberally just as you would spinach. Here I folded some through some couscous and topped it with its flowers. 

Here in Norfolk this weekend it is feeling properly spring like and this weekend I made some seasonal crossover salads. Feels so good to have a lighter, fresher and crunchy vibe. Think I might even brave putting some seeds in the ground later this week. 

Wild Garlic is such a great tonic for the blood, a perfect seasonal food. Thank you @riverford for incl in our box delivery. Will have to go on my usual hunt in Norfolk in the forthcoming days.
A reminder that we are still in March and how unpr A reminder that we are still in March and how unpredictable the weather can be....18 degrees last week and snow today πŸ™ƒ

Crossing my fingers that the blossom on the fruits is going to be OK...I managed to cover up the goats but forgot the honeyberries πŸ€¦πŸ½β€β™€οΈ 

Layers on, hot drinks and warm nourishing foods continuing......

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