Ghee is one of the most widely used substances in Ayurvedic medicine. It serves both as food and as medicine - depending on the intensity of its use.

Ghee is clarified butter. Even in our latitudes, this clarified butter was produced in the form of clarified butter before the invention of the refrigerator as an important durable food from the perishable butter.

Ghee is tasty and solid at room temperature and liquid at temperatures above body temperature.

The professional production of ghee is complex and can only be done by hand. It differs from industrially produced clarified butter. The latter is obtained by centrifuging melted butter. Ayurvedic ghee is produced by a gentle maturing process that takes several days. Butter is carefully heated and "matured" at temperatures between 80 and 100 degrees until the water content of butter has completely evaporated and casein, whey protein and lactose have solidified. These solidified protein and sugar residues are completely filtered out of the ghee. This makes ghee a very valuable and easily digestible food even for people with milk-protein allergies and lactose intolerance.

Maharishi Ayurveda GmbH has recently expanded its scope of operations and acquired Lakshmi Ayurveda Ghee. Through a sophisticated, unique know-how in line with traditional guidelines, we now produce the highest quality premium ghee. This ghee is excellent for cooking, as a food supplement and can also be used as a base for medicinal preparations.

Ingredients

Ghee consists of a unique blend of heart-healthy short, medium and long chain fatty acids. In addition to the predominantly saturated fatty acids (60 percent), ghee also contains about 30 percent monounsaturated fatty acids. The content of polyunsaturated fatty acids varies greatly and is up to 1000 times higher in butter from hay and pasture-fed cows than from silage-fed cows. The Ayurveda Lakshmi Ghee we produce comes from the milk of meadow- and hay-fed cows. As a result, this ghee also has a particularly high content of unsaturated fats of the Omega 3 and Omega 9 fatty acid classes.

Unfortunately, modern medicine has taught us in recent decades that fats, especially butter, are bad. This information is increasingly turning out to be a scientific fallacy. More and more studies are showing that cholesterol is a vital building block of the diet and by no means has only bad properties. Cholesterol is an essential component of cell walls, especially of nerve cells, and the basic building block of our body's most important hormones, the so-called steroid hormones. Without cholesterol, life is impossible!

Scientific research shows us that the most important thing about cholesterol is that it is not loaded with free radicals (oxidised LDL cholesterol). According to Ayurveda, a strong digestive fire and the intake of free radical scavengers like Amrit Kalash are important measures to prevent the formation of harmful fats in the body.

Best fat for cooking

Ghee has a flash point of 251 degrees Celsius, making it the fat that can be heated the most in cooking without any problems - without leading to the formation of free radicals. This not only gives a meal cooked in ghee a particularly good and round taste, it is also very filling and satisfying. Food cooked in ghee is not exposed to harmful oxidation processes.

Other important ingredients

In addition to saturated fatty acids, ghee, especially when produced from hay and meadow milk, is high in omega 3 and 9 fatty acids, which are particularly important for a healthy heart, efficient brain and strong skin and mucous membranes that are free of inflammation. Ghee also contains the 4 fat-soluble vitamins A, D, E and K, some minerals and at least 9 different phenolic antioxidants.

Butyric acid (butyrate)

Butter gives its name to butyric acid, a fatty acid that is found in particular quantities in butter and ghee. Butyrate is an essential nutrient for the cells of the large intestine, strengthens the immune system and is the most important food for a healthy intestinal flora. A healthy intestine not only feeds on the butyric acid contained in ghee, but also contains intestinal germs called Clostridium Butyricum. These germs are only detectable in gut-healthy people and can produce and multiply the anti-inflammatory butyric acid themselves if we don't get enough of it in our diet.

Here are some of the effects of butyric acid:

• Supports the digestive process and nourishes the intestinal mucosa.

• Prevents the growth of pathogenic intestinal germs and eliminates toxin-producing bacteria in the intestine

• Supports the growth of healthy intestinal bacteria such as bifidu bacteria

• Normalises peristaltic bowel movement and ensures regular bowel emptying

• Regulates water and mineral balance in the intestine

Ghee as a "medicine" for Ayurvedic detoxification procedures.

A large proportion of the environmental toxins that we all inevitably ingest through food, water and air consist of fat-soluble molecules. These include herbicides and pesticides, preservatives, solvents, many ingredients in cosmetics, heavy metals and industrial agents such as adhesives and surface materials. All of these substances are fat-soluble or lipophilic. Frighteningly, many of these substances also have a similar biochemical structure to our body's own hormones and, as "xeno-hormones", can block our hormone receptors. Such substances are also called endocrine dysruptors (=hormonal disruptors) because of their harmful effects on health. The increasing number of infertile couples is attributed by many experts to the harmful effects of xeno-hormones. Other diseases that are becoming more common are also associated with fat-soluble environmental toxins: chronic fatigue, exhaustion, susceptibility to allergies and infections.

For thousands of years, ghee has been used in Ayurvedic purification therapy - Pancha Karma - as a solvent for fat-soluble toxins and harmful substances. In this process, ghee, which is additionally mixed with medicinal herbs that are suitable for the liver, is administered in high doses, especially in the preparatory phase for the Ayurvedic cleansing cure. This ghee also penetrates the blood-brain barrier and releases toxins, which are considered possible causes of Alzheimer's and dementia, from the nerve cells and their interstitial spaces. In a toxicological study, it could be shown that many environmental toxins such as PCBs and herbicides could be reduced by more than 50 percent in test persons who completed a 7-day Ayurvedic detoxification cure using ghee. This shows how effective ghee and Ayurvedic oil massages are in reducing exposure to fat-soluble toxins.

Food supplements

In Maharishi Ayurveda, ghee is also used as a carrier substance for various dietary supplements. Ghee-containing food supplements can be used in these areas, depending on whether nerve-supporting medicinal herbs are used as in MA421, or anti-inflammatory medicinal herbs as in MA367, or eye-care medicinal herbs as in MA550, or sexual power-supporting medicinal herbs as in MA450. In this context, ghee acts equally as a food, a nutrient for the intestinal flora and a carrier substance for medicinal herbs. The Ayurvedic panacea " Maharishi Amrit Kalash" also has a high content of ghee, which is responsible for the extraordinarily high radical scavenging effect of this food supplement.

Healthy fats are important

After decades of being told by nutritionists to avoid fats in our diets, there is now a major shift in thinking. Increasingly, studies are showing how important dietary intake of saturated and unsaturated fats is to our health. Healthy brain, healthy heart, healthy gut and strong immune system depend on the intake of "healthy" fats like ghee. The important scientific finding of recent years is that it is not the fats that are to blame for our civilisation diseases, but a generally too high calorie intake, especially from sugary products and white flour.

Ghee in the diet is an essential ingredient for health and well-being!