Oh, The Wonderful Food Called Ghee!

What is this stuff called Ghee?  A form of Clarified Butter, Ghee is easy to make at home and very nourishing to all the tissues in the body. 
Did you know that it actually feeds all the subtle tissues in the body including bone marrow, nerve tissues and the brain?  According to Ayurveda, the sister science to yoga, it is an important rejuvenating tonic for the brain and the nervous system.  That means its calming for the Vata and Pitta Doshas.  

According to David Frawley and Dr. Vasant Lad, Ghee enhances Ojas – the essence that governs all the tissues of the body and balances our hormones. “Ample Ojas ensures a strong mind and body, resistance against disease and is essential for longevity.” 1. When this essence is depleted in our bodies, we lack the vitality to fully engage with life.  Ghee also increases our digestive fire and helps maintain adequate reproductive fluids. This delightful and easy to make substance has been found to strengthen the liver as well, rather than clogging it, as other oils and fats have been known to do. 


Fine chefs consider Ghee – or Clarified Butter – to be one of the finest cooking oils available.  By heating butter until it’s clear, the milk solids fall out and are removed, giving Ghee unique healing properties not found in other saturated fats. Timothy Harlan, MD also known as Dr. Gourmet is a practicing, board-certified Internist who answers common questions regarding whether or not ghee contains lactose on his website, Dr.Gourmet.com. Most dairy intolerance is caused from foods that contain a high amount of milk solids (where the proteins and sugars are found).  “It is for the most part true (that ghee is lactose-free). Butter has few milk solids to begin with. The milk solids that do remain in butter are removed when the butter is clarified. There might be minute amounts of lactose in ghee but it is unlikely to be enough to have an effect on those who are lactose intolerant."  2 

Additionally, Rudolph Ballentine, MD has found that Ghee contains the fatty acid Butyric Acid, known to have antiviral and anticancer properties.  This important fatty acid raises levels of the antiviral chemical interferon in the body and has been found to be helpful in treating and preventing Alzheimer’s disease. 3 

With all of these benefits, why not consider adding some to your diet today?  Ask me about our monthly Ghee Making workshops, too.  I think that once you try what some consider to be the nectar of the gods, you'll like it!

1. The Yoga of Herbs, Dr, David Frawley and Dr. Vasant Lad, 1986
2. www.DrGourmet.com
3. Healing with Whole Foods, Paul Pitchford, 1993

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