With my blood work panel showing everything as normal, Dr. Rajah explained that there were three phases to his treatment. Phase 1 was the preparatory diet in which the digestive fire, or agni, would be stoked so that I would be able to digest the medicated ghee efficiently during phase 2. The ingestion of ghee (Sneha-paana) during phase 2 was the primary treatment, and its purpose was to lubricate the cells in the body in order to dislodge toxins, which are known to have a sticky quality in Ayurveda. It could last from 5-7 days, and having experienced choking down ghee first thing in the morning in preparation for panchakarma, I prayed for the shorter duration.
Following the ghee treatment, the final phase would be a period of recuperation during which I would follow the same diet protocol as in the first phase while gradually re-introducing prohibited foods. He promised me that my high blood pressure and other complaints would be alleviated if I followed his instructions strictly, and that I would be rejuvenated down to the level of every cell in my body. It helped to keep his words in mind to encourage me as I struggled with the diet in the days that followed.
It was a pretty simple regimen in that I had only to remove anything that takes the act of eating from the mundane to the sublime:
- no oil or butter, not even for cooking
- no dairy
- no fruit, raw or cooked
- no raw anything as it’s understood to be hard on digestion in Ayurveda
- no meat
- no honey or sugar in any form
- no bread or bakery products
- no beans because of the digestive difficulties they presented, although pulses were fine
- nothing metabolized in the liver, like alcohol, nicotine, or drugs, including OTC substances like Ibuprofen. Luckily, I had let go of my last bad habit, nicotine gum, a few weeks before.
He did allow me small amounts of salt and also a little black tea or coffee, the latter of which I had also managed to give up but then started to drink in modest amounts if for no other reason than it seemed a little naughty. And my menu was in serious need of naughty.
At a loss for how to make my usual Indian vegetarian foods, like palak paneer or any subzi (veg dish) cooked in oil, I began to research no-oil recipes online. The best advice I found was to brown the vegetables in a pan while using small amounts of water to keep them from sticking. The broth with the browned veggies would form the base of the curry or soup I was making, and it would be a little more flavorful than simply boiling the vegetables in water. The most helpful websites that I could find invariably catered to people on Candida diets or to those with horrible, incurable diseases.
To complicate matters further, I was in a small village with a limited selection of vegetables, many of which were unfamiliar and sold by vendors with whom I did not share a common language. I took some chances and bought some of the stranger looking ones, like bitter gourd (Karela), which I later determined I could not make palatable without oil, but mostly I stuck to what I knew: beets, okra, tomatoes, potatoes, carrots, ginger, onions, garlic, pulses, and basmati rice.
After much experimenting, I was able to cook a decent curry, but I still missed oil. The food was good in a simple, humble way, but lacked the depth and flavor that oil imparts.
There were also restrictions on the water I drank as it had to be boiled with herbs. It was very important that I drank only boiled water, and it could not be chilled afterward. I had heard that drinking cold drinks is bad for digestion as it cools the digestive fire, but I had not heard of drinking water that had been boiled for several minutes. After some online research, I learned that Ayurveda teaches that boiling water raises its energetic qualities to a level of sharpness that helps to dissolve toxins in the body and also stimulates the agni toward better digestion.
Do you remember in school learning about “suspension of disbelief,” that strategy of the mind that allows us to watch a play without having the enjoyment of it ruined by constantly thinking about how the actors on stage were just people and that they weren’t really falling in love or stabbing each other? I am employing that technique every time I boil water for drinking. I am not sure if I buy the theory, but I want to follow the instructions strictly so that if the cleanse/reset doesn’t work, then I won’t be left wondering if the results would have been different if I would had drank the boiled water.
After about a week on this diet, I got my first normal blood pressure reading at the doctor’s office even before starting the main ghee treatment. I also lost a little weight, which I didn’t really want because I was already where I wanted to be, but I know how to fix that later. I did find the diet to be constipating at times (my vata dryness issue), but the good doctor promised that issue would be addressed as well. One thing I know is that I will appreciate the day I can eat some heavenly paneer again, but I think I will also try to make these simple oil-free dishes more of a mainstay in my diet. They might not thrill my palate, but my heart seems to like them.
