Milk...
Moving through the aisles of supermarket makes me wonder about the different kinds of ‘Milk’ (e.g. Rice, Soy, Coconut, Almond) we get these days. Is this a sign of progress or an alarming bell for health of people? Let’s discuss…
Milk is supposed to be a Pale liquid produced by mammary glands and most of the milk that we get today do not stand to this definition. Here itself you get depth of the situation. Looking from Ayurved’s point of view; milk is the by-product (i.e. updhatu) formed after digestion of Rasa dhathu which is known as ‘Stanya’ in Ayurvedic terminology. It is primarily sweet in taste, cold in potency, unctuous and very importantly it is one among those edible substances which help in maintaining prana in our body i.e. it’s Jeevaniya. It nourishes body, bestows strength, excellent way to energize body and mind. It is naturally aphrodisiac and one helping to increase Oja in body i.e. Ojaskara. In case of breast feeding mothers, it enhances the breast milk. Thus, the liquid is supposed to have above qualities before terming it as milk. We must agree a point that now-a-days we don’t get just one type of milk but if we know basic principle of milk and the qualities it should bestow we will be able to get the best as possible.
Nuts, grains form an important part of our diet is true but the proportion of these is also defined by science. Getting over nourished by these products also lead to harmful effects. Apart from this even if we eat these nuts in their original form we can get nutrition which is required to your body. As consuming any substance in a way which is nearest to its original form is always beneficial than getting it processed and loaded with chemicals preservatives and fortified with vitamins.
Again, these almonds, soy are hard to digest, hot in potency,even they are not supposed to be consumed by people of all ages. If we take them in such quantity e.g.: 1 glass, they directly hamper our digestive system; which is in turn a very important step in pathogenesis of any disease. At the same time as it is not digested properly even so-called nutrition is not reaching the desired organs. So finally, it’s just a mess!!
Looking to coconut milk, it is supposed to be heavy to digest and kaphakara which also indicates that prolonged use can lead to kapha disorders. Rice milk derived from rice grain which is not originally any milk producing grain, so the quality is going to differ. This was in short about some of the various 'milks' available today. As its not possible to write about all varieties just giving you a line of thinking is the aim of article. Do let me know if you now think differently when you look at those milk bottles at supermarkets.
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