Jay Brown

    I honestly had a pretty hard time taking ayurveda seriously. I think I started my research the wrong way and stumbled across articles that gave me a bad first impression. It seemed very unscientific with the doshas that can become imbalanced and cause disease. It was hard to take seriously the recommendation to eat "cooling" foods such as cucumbers to balance a certain dosha. I figured that the point, however, was to appreciate the truth that our body and mind do rely on balance, though perhaps not in the exact way that traditional ayurveda spells out. I’ve since stumbled across some other articles that have been very eye opening and put ayurveda under a much more respectable light. One article included a long list of well known Indian herbs/plants, the traditional medicinal use, and references to modern studies that have proven the herb’s efficacy. One herb that especially piqued my interest was licorice as a remedy for inflammatory bowel disease (IBD). I’ve been diagnosed with a mild IBD and take four expensive pills every night to keep it in remission. I did some research about using licorice extract as a treatment and found that it undoubtedly has powerful anti-inflammatory properties and is effective in helping treat my disease. I am going to go buy some the next opportunity I have. Thank you ayurveda, I’m sorry I doubted you. Who knows what other principles of ayurveda that seem like pseudo-science actually can help prevent and treat disease. I’m embarrassed by how much modern medicine focuses on treating symptoms rather than really emphasizing lifestyle and diet changes to prevent disease rather than treat it. It is notable that medicaid only covers medical treatment of disease and will not cover preventative well-checks. The other way around would almost make more sense. Ayurveda has it right with emphasis on keeping our lives in balance to avoid disease.

I had a native Korean companion on my mission in South Korea. He was a firm believer in "Hanyak" which was traditional Korean medicine. There was a little shop he insisted we visit when he was having stomach problems. They gave him a bottle containing several balls of what looked like dirt. He convinced me to try one at some point. I chewed it up and swallowed, as you are supposed to. It was incredibly bitter, way worse tasting than the dirt it resembled. At the time, I wondered how much it's actually the active ingredients in the herbs which help as much as the placebo effect. Now I’m convinced that there probably was something very effective in there that might be unknown to the scientific community yet. It’s also possible that the horrible experience of chewing and swallowing the herb ball is what helps the person feel better. Perhaps if my companion had just swallowed several pills containing the same amount of herbs contained in the chewable balls it wouldn't have seemed so helpful. Either way, ayurveda deserves some credit because ayurveda emphasizes the interconnectedness of the mind and body. I think the mind and spirit can have a powerful effect on the healing or causing of disease.

I am so impressed with the decades of work that has gone into unraveling the mysteries of human metabolism. I distinctly remember sitting in my seventh grade science class learning about the organelles in the cell and getting the impression that we barely understand what these things do and what their function is. My teachers might have even said something like “We don’t really know how this works”. As I took genetics, physiology, microbiology, and biochemistry, I realized that we know to a staggering degree “how this works”. It was satisfying to learn and actually understand some metabolic pathways when I took biochemistry. I am very interested in the physiology of diseases as long as it’s larger than the atomic or molecular level. I’m not interested in molecular behavior. I would much rather have a practical understanding of what an specific enzyme is needed for, the physiological effect of a deficiency, and how it can be treated. I’m grateful that some people feel as excited about the molecular level of these things and are willing to do the research. I am going into dental medicine and I know that I will owe much of what I learn to those who have done work I don’t want to do. Perhaps someday I can pay them back with the work I am passionate about that they wouldn’t want to do. It’s a good thing everyone has different passions I guess. The intricacy of metabolic pathways makes me marvel that any of us survive at all. Our bodies are so complex. Beyond description complex. So much could go wrong that it’s amazing how frequently humans don’t have a genetic metabolic pathway deficiency.

It’s also amazing that so many diseases are entirely preventable. We know what causes it and exactly how to avoid it yet society largely chooses not to do what it takes to prevent many diseases. My reaction to a question asked during a lecture recording “Why is it not easier to get people to exercise? To try to reverse the obesity epidemic?” was “Yikes, that might be offensive to some listeners . . .” And that right there is part of the problem. In American culture especially, it is not acceptable to talk about someone’s weight. I served a mission in South Korea where the opposite was true, I had someone that barely knew me tell me that I had gained weight in my face since the last time they saw me. In their culture it was a way to show that you cared and paid attention to someone. Many years ago I heard some radio program or something talking about the issue of not wanting to talk about someone’s weight. They pointed out that it wouldn’t be out of the ordinary to tell a friend lighting a cigarette that they should quit smoking, that it’s going to kill them. Why is it wrong then to tell an obese person eating a slice of cake or drinking a soda, “Hey, you really shouldn’t eat that, you need to change your diet or it’s going to kill you.” As I think about my own reservations about talking to anyone like this I realize that I would feel bad because I don’t know what it’s like. It feels unfair of me to tell someone they should control their cravings and exercise because I’ve never struggled with that. I’ve had the opposite problem of not being able to put on weight despite deliberately trying to. I recently cut added sugar from my diet but I sure didn’t for most of my life. I ate whatever I wanted as much as I wanted and it was usually chocolate chip cookies. Who am I to tell someone that they have to hold back? I remember a lesson taught in middle school that the most lasting insult you can tell a woman is about her appearance. Insults about talent or intellect are not as damaging. It was pounded into me to not comment on someone’s weight. How do you help someone avoid serious diseases like diabetes, heart disease, fatty liver, etc. while being tactful enough to not inflict self-esteem damage or influence the development of an eating disorder?  It’s a complicated issue without a clear solution. Studies on the microbiome seem to have promising insights about obesity, not only can an imbalanced microbiome influence chemical cravings for fat and sugar, mice experiments have shown how with an “obese” microbiome fecal transplant, a lean mouse will become obese even by eating the same quantity of food that it had been eating. Hopefully more studies on the balance of the microbiome will shed light on why managing weight is so difficult for so many.

Inactivity, however, definitely needs to be pounded into the brains of the public as a pandemic just as serious as Covid-19 was. It is arguably as contagious and seems like it’s costing more money than Covid did in the long run. Inactivity cannot be an acceptable way to live. I know doctors have a survey for their patients that asks about activity levels. When levels are too low, it seems like there should be a conversation as serious as if they were diagnosed with cancer. Statistically, inactivity is more likely to kill the patient. The link between inactivity and depression/anxiety is also alarming. Aren’t we facing a serious anxiety and depression pandemic? Shouldn’t physical exercise be emphasized as a critical part of well being as important as showing up for cancer treatment would be? The more I think about this, the more I’m realizing that some of the biggest issues the country is facing would be greatly benefitted by an emphasis on personal health. Taxes are high. So much of those taxes are going toward treating people with preventable diseases. I get scared even starting to look at the costs associated with healthcare and the fact that so much of it comes from taxes. I can’t wrap my head around the numbers that big. This is another topic that I am grateful for the people that aren’t overwhelmed by it. Anxiety and depression are high. Activity helps, probably better than medication would in some cases. Obesity, diabetes, and other conditions related to diet and exercise, are so detrimental to the well being of millions. So many cases could be prevented.

In conclusion, it seems like ayurveda needs a spotlight right now with the health issues the world is dealing with. Whether or not it works by the exact mechanism or doshas that ayurveda spells out, disease is caused by imbalance in our body or lifestyle and the best course of treatment is whatever can bring back that balance, whether by replacing a genetically deficient enzyme, or by changing lifestyle, an emphasis on balance seems to be the way to go.