Discover The Miraculous Triphala Benefits
Triphala is a cleanser, balancer and refresher, rolled into one. Take a closer look at Triphala benefits and how to restore the balance in your body.
One of the most ancient sciences about health is known as Ayurveda which is derived from the understanding that there is a relationship between the physical body of the human being or microcosm and the universe or macrocosm. These 2 objects are actually made up of 5 necessary elements which are the air, water, fire, earth and space.
These 5 elements can be again classified into 3:
- fire and water for pitta
- air and space for vata
- earth and water for kapha
When there is an imbalance among them that is when a disease occurs. This can be due to exposure to pathogenic substances or an unhealthy lifestyle. To offset this, powerful herbs are used to restore the balance in the body.
More than 7000 herbs are used in the Ayurvedic medicine. Sometimes, they are utilized in combination in order to maximize their effectiveness. One classic example of this combination is triphala or three fruits in literal translation. This was used in the ancient times to strengthen the body and slow the process of aging.
What is Triphala?
Three fruits are combined in triphala. These are the Indian gall nut or the Chebulic myrobalans (Terminalia chebula), the Indian gooseberry (Emblica officinalis) and the Belliric myrobalan (Terminalia belerica). Let’s take a closer look at each of their benefits.
Chebulic myrobalans cleanses the vata, the Indian gooseberry however is responsible for pitta’s balancing and cleansing, and the belleric myrobalans cleanses the kapha.
Triphala, therefore, is a cleanser, balancer and refresher in one or more known as tridoshanashak in Sanskrit that has the property to avoid and cure various body illnesses.
Chebulic myrobalan is known as a potent invigorator. It is Vayastha in Sanskrit which means as stabilizing youthfulness. There is 24 to 32 percent of tannin in the fruit which is made of gallic acid, Corilagin, Chebulinic acid and Chebulagic acid. Corilagin has anti-hypertensive properties and can boost the action of the enzyme beta lactamase against bacteria that are resistant to methicillin. This makes it very helpful in the prevention and cure of wound infections. Chebulagic acid has the ability to protect the liver. It is an anti-diabetic and an anti-hypertensive because the acid is also known as an alpha glucosidase inhibitor.
This fruit can be used safely in the management of liver disorders, constipation, hemorrhoids, shortness of breath, leucorrhea and prevention of kidney stone formation.
The Indian gooseberry has antimicrobial properties and is considered to be the best antioxidant in nature as evidenced by its cancer-lowering incidence by battling free radicals in the body. It has a composition of 80% water together with carbohydrates, proteins, minerals, vitamins and fibers. It has galic acid which is known to be an antioxidant that contains strong anti-fungal and anti-viral characteristics. It destroys cancer cells without causing any harm to healthy normal cells. It also prevents internal bleeding and can be used in the treatment of diabetes and albuminuria. 100 milligrams of Indian gooseberry has about 700 milligrams of Vitamin C, making it one of the richest sources of this vitamin. Furthermore, it shows to be effective in reducing blood cholesterol levels, lowering blood sugar levels, curing scurvy and preventing the graying of hair prematurely.
The third composition of triphala is Belleric myrobalan. It is also known as bibhitaki which literally means as fearless of disease. It relieves long-term constipation by softening the impacted feces in the rectum. It is also used in the treatment of insomnia, excessive thirst, infectious condition and in hoarseness of voice. It is very good for the eyesight and has anti-spasmodic and anti-asthmatic properties. Eye disease such as conjunctivitis and others can be treated by using triphala eye drops. This fruit is also composed of tripenoids such as saponin glycosides bellericoside, bellericanin, siosterol and belleric acid.
Lignans such as flavan, anolignan and termilignan as well as polyphenols like chebulagic acid, ellagic acid, gallic acid and phyllembin are also part of the fruit. Lignans are known to have inhibitory effects on HIV-1 reverse transcriptase, fungi and malaria. Gallic acid is found to have liver protectors and T. belerica can lower down blood cholesterol levels.
How To Use Triphala
These three fruits can be taken with warm water and 2 grams of triphala powder (or triphala capsules as it’s not the most delicious powder 🙂 ) in the evening. In the morning, just add a bit of honey. With all of its health benefits, triphala is worthy to be included in anyone’s diet.
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Sources:
http://www.naturalnews.com/033372_triphala_herbal_remedy.html
http://ayurveda-foryou.com/ayurveda_herb/triphala.html
http://www.alternative-healthguide.com/ayurveda/triphala.htm
