John Douillard's LifeSpa | Ayurveda + Natural Health
Ancient Wisdom meets Modern ScienceAyurveda + Natural Health News
Prebiotic Foods for Healthy Digestion and a Healthy Microbiome I’m sure you know about probiotics. But do you know about the importance of prebiotic foods? Prebiotics are a class of food not broken down in the stomach or small intestine. Instead they find their way, undigested, into the colon, where they are gobbled up by trillions
The Mystery of the Diaphragm Did you know the diaphragm is arguably the most important muscle of the body? Sadly, few understand its function; most simply think of it as the breathing muscle. Read on to uncover the mysteries of the diaphragm! The diaphragm divides the body in half: above the diaphragm, the thoracic cavity
Where do you eat? For decades I have been teaching and writing about the three pillars of the Ayurvedic diet: How you eat: calm, relaxed and not on the run. What you eat: whole foods, seasonal foods, body type foods. When you eat: bigger lunches and lighter suppers in sync with the body’s biological circadian
What makes a dish Ayurvedic? Ayurveda has been preserved and practiced for thousands of years in India: does this mean all Ayurvedic meals are Indian food? These are the questions I had when I started my journey with Ayurveda. First of all, I was relieved that, no, I don’t have to eat exclusively Indian food
Does manjistha cause cancer? Recently, I have been getting many emails telling me it does. This is a case of mistaken identity, as plenty of science suggests the real manjistha does nothing of the sort; rather, it may actually help support healthy cell proliferation. The confusion has to do with web searches for manjistha
Understanding Your Body According to Ayurveda, taking care of your digestion might just be the most important step you can take for your health. And not just your physical health, but your emotional and mental health, too! Strong evidence suggests psychological stress has a marked impact on gastrointestinal health and digestion. Stress is processed through the
What is candida overgrowth and what are the symptoms? Candida is a naturally-occurring yeast or fungus that inhabits the mouth, gut, vagina, and other mucosal membranes of the body. Ordinarily, it is harmless, existing in balance with the trillions of other bacteria that make your body home. Concerns arise when that balance is disrupted. This
Did you know that respiratory health starts in the gut? Read on to learn how that works and how you can troubleshoot any digestive issue from an Ayurvedic perspective. Ayurveda is famous for saying 85% of all disease starts from imbalances in digestion. This premise has been backed up by the discovery of the gut microbiome and the
LifeSpa’s Microbiome Study Do you think traveling to Europe increases microbial diversity? Some of you may remember a series of articles I wrote last summer called Eat, Pray, Bugs. These articles were background research for a study we conducted here at LifeSpa, a small pilot study to see if the American microbiome would gain microbial
Gut, Lung, Skin + Blood Brain Barriers How does our body protect us? There are four main defense systems—read on to learn what they are and how to use them to your advantage! Early studies from the University of San Diego, published in the prestigious journal Nature, evaluated over 18,000 microbial samples of 33 types
Have you spent any time wondering what your lymphatic system does, or if it is healthy? According to Ayurveda, the lymph, or rasa, is always the first body system evaluated and treated. It is hugely important to our health and wellbeing, but is often overlooked in our culture. It is one factor that may play into many so-called “mystery illnesses.”
Healthy Alternatives to Laxatives Do you know how your elimination is doing? A recent review of scientific literature looked at the state of modern digestion and elimination. Researchers found reports of sluggish elimination common, but inconsistent from country to country. Americans, in particular, seem unsure how to classify their bathroom habits, with survey results ranging
