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 9, 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 in general 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 gut microbiome. 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, Vaidya R. K. Mishra, whose Ayurvedic family lineage, Shaka Vansiya Ayurveda (SVA) has been passed down from one generation to another for centuries. 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 like a health manual of what to do and what not to do to maintain health and prevent disease. SV Ayurveda or SVA brings authentic teachings of Ayurveda by shining light on the sutras. It may or may not come as a surprise that the knowledge found in Ayurveda for a healthy, happy life is found in many cultures around the world. Now, it is an exciting time, as modern research is gradually uncovering and proving the practical health benefits of the knowledge behind Ayurveda, in the same way the practices of Yoga and meditation are written about in the scientific circle.
This cooked apple is a simple, yet profound introduction to Ayurvedic cooking that promotes a healthy gut. Modern science is discovering, what is good for the gut is good for brain health.
Cooking vs Raw
Apples contain fibre and pectin- great for digestive function, your thriving colonies of friendly bacteria that protect your health and brain function, and also 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. Fibre supports digestion and elimination, while pectin acts as a prebiotic. Prebiotics are food for the probiotics, acting like a fertilizer for the friendly bacteria to thrive.
Peeling and cooking the apple is more gentle on the tummy, and at breakfast time we want to be easy on the tummy. Cooking infuses agni energy or heat in food, helping your body digest food. Raw fruit is harder to digest than cooked; in Ayurveda, raw fruit contains a lot of soma energy, and requires agni to support your body digest it. Raw food also contains compounds that cannot be fully broken down and absorbed by the human body. In fact, raw vegetables contain compounds that inhibit mineral absorption, as researchers have discovered, which leafy greens, vegetables, grains, legumes, beans contain, coined as “anti-nutrients”. But cooking the food releases these compounds, making them more assimilable for human digestion. Ayurveda has known that food needs to be cooked for human consumption for better digestion and absorption of nutrients.
Ayurveda views that at breakfast time our digestive fire or agni is at its lowest and highest at lunch time, and dips down again after sunset. So raw fruit is better digested when your digestive agni is highest, which is in the afternoon. So lunch should be the biggest meal of the day, while breakfast and dinner comparatively are smaller in portion and food should not sit heavy in the tummy. Adding cloves in this cooked apple recipe gently opens up physical, circulatory channels of the body, further promoting smoother digestion. Cloves are not aggravating to pitta dosha, making this recipe ideal for many.
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. Apana vata and prana vata are two of the five sub-doshas or categories of vata dosha. 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. In Ayurveda, your body and mind are governed by energetic forces called the three doshas- vata, pitta, kapha. The source of the doshas are the five fundamental elements of nature- space, air, fire, water earth, which are the same elements that make up prana, the life force or vibrational energy that makes everything grow. So prana is in food, water and air we breathe, and prana is circulating in our body, travelling in our nadis or vibrational channels. At any given moment, your doshas are trying to keep balanced because they are affected by everything- what you eat and do and by the external environment, this includes not just the weather, but other people, news, social media etc. There are 15 locations where sub-doshas reside in your body (5 sub-doshas per dosha) so it’s quite the juggling act. Vata dosha is considered the “king of the doshas”. Vata governs all movement in the body, from circulation of fluids and substances, its quantity, and where they need to go to do their job, the timing of everything, thoughts, fluctuations of feelings, emotions, sensations etc. Vata dosha is the intelligence behind everything in the body, and allows for pitta and kapha to move and flow. Pitta dosha is responsible for heat, transformation and metabolism, while kapha dosha governs structure, lubrication of the body, including joints, the stomach, lungs, brain and spinal cord.
Vata, pitta and kapha doshas all work together to keep the body functioning.
Getting back to the gut-brain axis, apana vata and prana vata are sub-doshas of vata, and located in the gut and head respectively. Prana vata is located in the head, and is the main controller of all 15 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 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 described in Ayurveda centuries ago as apana-prana.
A good place to start to keep apana vata and prana vata balanced, and overall vata dosha is to maintain a steady routine, don’t push your bed time past 10pm, eat fresh, warm, unctuous meals on time, try not to rush around too much and have daily quiet time.
According to Ayurveda and modern science good digestion is needed for brain health. When digestion is in good order ojas is made. This apple recipe is good for digestion, and when food is digested well, our friendly bacteria thrive, and we make lots of ojas. Ojas is the last and finest product made after food has been properly digested, absorbed and assimilated. When we eat food we nourish all of our seven tissues- your physical body as Ayurveda outlines has seven tissue layers. Transformation of one tissue to the next follows this order: blood plasma (rasa) makes blood tissue (rakta), blood makes muscle tissue (mamsa), muscle makes fat tissue (meda), fat makes bone tissue (asthi), bone tissue makes bone marrow (majja), and bone marrow makes reproductive fluid (shukra). When all the seven tissues have been nourished, the final product that is made is ojas. Ojas is what gives us mental and physical stamina and a strong immune system. Ojas also gives us a beautiful glow and aura, translated by Vaidya Mishra as the “neurotransmitters and hormones” of the human physiology. When digestion is not good, or food is too heavy for your digestive system to digest, then ama is produced, and less ojas is made. Ama is partially digested food that clog up our physical channels. Examples of physical channels would be arteries and veins, lymphatic vessels, the digestive tract, including the colon.
This takes us to why good digestion is key to optimum health, simply because if too much ama is being made, and not eliminated they block circulation of wherever they are stuck, then not enough ojas, which means a decline in neurotransmitters and hormones. Ama is the opposite of ojas. Ama turns acidic in the body when it does not get cleared out in a timely manner. In Ayurveda, acidic ama is called amavisha; visha means poison. Evacuating amavisha safely out of the body requires preparing the physical channels first before their release. But this is another subject discussed in this blog.
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.
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
Peel and core the apple and cut in bite size pieces and place in your chosen cooking vessel with 2 cloves.
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.
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.
Remove cloves, serve warm. Recommended to have first thing in the morning, followed by cooked grains.
Enjoy!
Caution- Consult your doctor before consuming if you have blood sugar issues.
References
Vaidya R. K. Mishra- Notes from Shaka Vansiya Ayurveda Courses, Practicum, Conferences and Lectures 2003-2015
Marianne Teitelbaum, Healing the Thyroid with Ayurveda, 2019
https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC4367209/
https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC5198827/
https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/22392290/
https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC1392256/
https://www.healthline.com/health/chronic-inflammation#causes
https://www.apa.org/monitor/2012/09/gut-feeling