Therapeutic Benefits Of Cooked Apples and Cloves

 

WELCOME TO MY BLOG! I’M EVANGELINE. I AM AN RMT AND HOLISTIC HEALTH COACH. I STARTED MY BLOG DURING COVID TO STAY CONNECTED TO MY CLIENTS AND SHARE MY LOVE OF COOKING HEALTHY, AYURVEDIC MEALS.
AYURVEDIC COOKING TAKES A BALANCED, HEALING APPROACH FOR YOUR DAILY COOKING NEEDS. YOU WILL FIND SIMPLE, EASY TO MAKE NOURISHING MEALS I HAVE MADE FOR MY FAMILY, WITH A DOSE OF AYURVEDA & YOGA WISDOM.


Updated January 31, 2025

Apples, like all fruits and vegetables are the wholesome type of carbohydrates, plus they contain fibre, pectin and phytonutrients. Fibre and pectin support digestion and your friendly bacteria, and phytonutrients protect your health, imparting aspects of nature’s wisdom into our physiology that researchers have still yet to completely figure out. This simple apple recipe below may or may not come as a surprise just how beneficial it is to have first thing in the morning. A warm serving of fruit that gently kindles, cleans up and supports your digestion and friendly bacteria in your gut. As science has discovered, what helps digestion helps with brain health.

 
 
 
 

An Apple a Day…

I learned this cooked apple recipe from my Ayurvedic teacher and doctor, Vaidya Rama Kant Mishra, whose Ayurvedic family lineage, Shaka Vansiya Ayurveda (SVA) has been passed down from one generation to another for centuries. Vaidya means doctor. Ayurveda means the “science of life” (ayu means life, veda means science or knowledge), the traditional health system from India going back thousands of years. As Vaidya Mishra put it, Ayurveda is a health manual of what to do and what not to do to maintain health and prevent disease. It is an exciting time, as modern research is gradually discovering the practical health benefits of the knowledge contained in Ayurveda, heading towards a similar trajectory as Yoga and meditation. In fact, Ayurveda and Yoga have their roots in Vedic knowledge.

This cooked apple is a simple, yet profound introduction to Ayurvedic cooking as it supports gut health, viewed in Ayurveda as the foundation towards good health because it is a major determining factor to preventing illness and disease. And it is clear modern science is discovering, what is good for the gut is also good for brain health.

Cooked Apple with Cloves

Prep Time 5 minutes
Cook Time 10 - 15 minutes stovetop, or overnight on low in a slow cooker
1 Serving

Ingredients

1 apple
2 cloves
⅓ - ½ cup water

Instructions

  1. Peel and core the apple and cut in bite size pieces and place in your chosen cooking vessel with 2 cloves.

  2. If cooking on the stove, boil the water and cloves in a small saucepan, add the apples, and allow to boil for a few minutes. Cover with a lid and turn down heat to low and cook further until soft all the way through, up to another 5-10 minutes, depending on the type of apple.

  3. If using a slow cooker, place all ingredients in the container, and use the lowest temperature setting on your slow cooker and it will be ready the following morning.

  4. Remove cloves, serve warm.

Recommended to have first thing in the morning, followed by cooked grains.
Caution- Consult your doctor before consuming if you have blood sugar issues.

Enjoy!


Benefits of cooked apples & cloves

  • Apples contain fibre and pectin. Both are excellent for digestive function. Fibre supports digestion and elimination, while pectin is a prebiotic. Pre-biotics are food for your probiotics or friendly bacteria supporting the inside lining of your gut, acting as food for the friendly bacteria to grow and thrive.

  • Contains Vitamins A, E, K and rich in polyphenols, a type of antioxidant. Antioxidants protect you against free radicals which damage your body and cause chronic disease and cancer.

  • Easy on digestive system. This recipe is recommended to have first thing in the morning, and followed by whole grains afterwards if you are still hungry. Peeling and cooking the apple is more gentle on the tummy, and at breakfast time we want to be easy on the tummy because the digestive system is just starting to wake up. Ayurveda views that at breakfast time our digestive fire or agni is at its lowest. As the day progresses your digestive fire increases, peaks at lunch time, and dips down further after sunset. Lunch then becomes the biggest meal of the day, while breakfast and dinner are smaller. Raw fruit is best on the digestive system in the afternoon, rather than morning and later in the evening.

  • Adding cloves in this cooked apple recipe gently opens up physical, circulatory channels of the body, further promoting smoother digestion.

  • Ayurveda places a huge emphasis on good digestion as it was understood then that the gut contained small organisms, what my Ayurvedic teacher called “yoginis”, which we know now as friendly bacteria. Research show the gut contains the largest number at 30 trillion friendly bacteria.

Modern Science Agrees with Ayurveda- Digestion is Key to Health & Happiness

Science has discovered a special connection between the gut and the brain. Researchers have coined the term, the gut-brain axis upon discovery that the central nervous system (brain and spinal cord), digestive system and the enteric nervous system (ENS- the “brain in the gut”) are inextricably linked. In fact, research points to the ENS being the “brain of the brain”, and acts independently from the central nervous system. Fundamentally, this means that the gut is actually connected to, and communicates bidirectionally with our thoughts, feelings and emotions through chemical interactions. These interactions happening inside each and everyone of us are mainly because of neurotransmitters and hormones made by the friendly bacteria in your gut. In fact, research has shown that the friendly bacteria in your gut produce 90% of the neurotransmitters in your brain. Take for example the chemical, serotonin, known as the “happy hormone”. Serotonin is a hormone that aids in your sleep, appetite and digestion and stabilizes your mood and your feelings.

What the research is pointing to is that brain function and our health and happiness is dependent upon the quality of our digestive system, coined as the gut-brain axis. Ayurveda had outlined the relationship between the gut and brain, and called it the apana-prana relationship. I have seen this in my practice with clients, when apana vata and prana vata dosha are out of balance there are digestive issues, and symptoms such as anxiety, hyperactivity, or sleep issues. Prana vata is a sub-dosha located in the head, and is the main controller of all fifteen sub-doshas. Prana vata which governs the area of the brain and head area responsible for your senses, thinking, creativity and reasoning. Prana vata imbalances show up as anxiety, restlessness, sleep issues, attention disorders, hyperactivity and headaches. Apana vata is the downward movement in the lower abdomen, large intestine, excretory channels and pelvis. Digestive issues reside in the apana vata area. Imbalances in apana vata manifest as digestive issues such as constipation, diarrhea, irregular bowel movements and elimination issues, irregular menses, low back pain or urinary issues. So you can see the gut-brain axis was described in Ayurveda centuries ago as apana-prana!

Vaidya Mishra pointed out a good place to start to keep vata dosha balanced is to maintain a steady routine, eat fresh, warm meals, such as cooked apples and cloves first thing in the morning, don’t push your bed time past 10pm, have meals on time, don’t rush around too much and have daily quiet time.

According to Ayurveda and modern science thriving colonies of friendly bacteria are needed for brain health. Moreover, Ayurveda understood that the final product of well digested food is ojas.This apple recipe is good for digestion, and when food is digested well, our friendly bacteria thrive, and when friendly bacteria is thriving, we make lots of ojas. Ojas gives us strength, stamina, vitality, increase immunity. Ojas also gives us a beautiful glow and aura, translated by Vaidya Mishra as the “neurotransmitters and hormones” of the human physiology.

Conclusion

As research points out, our health and happiness is largely dependent upon our mental, emotional and physical habits which in turn is dependent upon a complex network of chemical interactions, contained within the gut-brain axis. Ayurveda highlights the importance of the digestive system because improper digestion is the root cause of many diseases, and perhaps also a significant role in some mental health afflictions, as researchers learn more about the gut-brain axis. In Ayurveda, good digestion means less ama, less amavisha, and optimum production of ojas, translated as the neurotransmitters and hormones in SV Ayurveda, and as we know in modern science neurotransmitter and hormones carry out all of our physical and mental functions. In light of the apana-prana or the gut-brain relationship, whichever way you look at it, any nourishment given to the belly synchronously nourishes the mind. Happy belly, happy mind as this apple recipe will provide.

 
 
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