The next few weeks will be lit with festivities around. It is also the time when we feed ourselves liberally with outside meals, alcohol and late nights, so our stomach ends up going for a toss. It is important to take extra care of our stomach during this season so we don’t face any indigestion, bloating and acidity. And to help us with the same our age-old Indian spices come to the rescue. Among many of them, one important spice is ajwain also known as carom seed or bishops weed, which is slightly pungent in taste. We can use this spice to enhance our gut health immediately. Issues like acidity, bloating, smelly gas and stomach discomfort reflect on the bad health of our digestive system which ultimately leads to compromised physical and mental health and immunity. When I say mental health, it means our cognitive function or the brain function which is related to the working of the gut. If the stomach is affected, the absorption of various nutrients required for the proper functioning of every cell in the body gets affected and that’s where we face problems. In addition, an acidic environment in the body creates a breeding ground for most diseases and inflammatory conditions.
Mind your gut
So how do we improve gut health gradually? It’s simple! For instance, our ancestors used Indian spices to treat all issues in our body and we too, can follow the same. We can start using ajwain on a daily basis to get natural digestive enzymes which will keep one’s digestion in check and the stomach issues at bay. As a tradition, we used to have ajwain and fennel as a mouth freshener post meals, but now no one really takes effort to follow the same. Ajwain post-meal helps secrete more digestive enzymes and stomach acids to break down food that we have consumed. Usually, people think that if they have acidity that means they have more acid but the actual case is that their body may be suffering from less acid production and hence it makes them more acidic, particularly post meals. That’s why eating ajwain after meals will be useful to improve the stomach acid or to control hyperacidity, bloating as well as gas.
Seeds of health
Ajwain also contains essential oil like thymol which helps in relaxing smooth muscles in the stomach, therefore, preventing stomach or even menstrual cramps. It also helps in attenuating respiratory problems and has anti-fungal and anti-bacterial properties which help in fighting various bacterial infections in the stomach. That’s why it’s still used in many villages as a deworming agent. People with worms in their stomachs are malnourished despite eating a healthy and balanced meal, to help such people we can mix 1 tsp ajwain and 1 tsp of jaggery to make small balls and take it towards bedtime followed by a cup of lukewarm water. The jaggery attracts the worms to come out and ajwain secretes stomach acid which eventually helps to kill the worms/parasites. This can be used as a home remedy but if you haven’t done deworming for ages, then do check with your doctor to get one done soon. Ajwain helps to keep the system clean and it has antimicrobial and anti-fungal properties that help with gut health and maintaining the microbiome thus improving our immune system as well. So let’s try and add this mighty spice post meal on daily basis.
Note: If you are allergic or can’t tolerate ajwain then it is better to avoid it or take it under your healthcare provider’s guidance.