Kadha Immunity booster from Granny’s Recipe Book…

In the wake of the COVID 19 outbreak, entire mankind across the globe is suffering. Enhancing the body’s natural defence system (immunity) plays an important role in maintaining optimum health. We all know that prevention is better than cure. While there is no medicine for COVID-19 as of now, it will be good to take preventive measures which boost our immunity in these times. 

Ministry of AYUSH recommends the following self-care guidelines for preventive health measures and boosting immunity with special reference to respiratory health. Drink warm water throughout the day, practice yoga, consume chavanprash (sugar free chavanprash is available for diabetic patients), drink haldi doodh and kadha.

Turmeric milk or haldi doodh can be easily prepared by adding 1 teaspoonful of turmeric in boiling milk, its regular intake helps in boosting the immunity.

Kadha is an herbal concoction that may help strengthen the immunity. It is usually prepared using herbs and spices, including tulsi (basil), dalchini (cinnamon), kalimirch (black pepper), shunthi (dry ginger) and munakka (raisin), etc. According to the Ayurveda, these herbs and spices contain several immunity-boosting properties and other healing compounds. So, including this drink in your diet may help you stay healthy and reduce your risk of contracting certain infections. Perhaps, herbs and spices are wonderful because, unlike drugs, you can just add them to your favourite dishes for a kick of flavour and stronger immunity.

Apart from giving your immunity the boost it needs to combat infections, it is claimed that the herbal drink can improve digestion and detox the body. The herbs and spices used in this drink can be especially beneficial during allergy season.

Kadha recipe: To make Kadha, your own immunity-boosting drink at home you need 1 tbsp basil leaves, cardamom, cinnamon, dried ginger and black pepper. A few pieces of raisin, 2-3 cups water, honey or jaggery to taste (optional) and fresh lemon juice.

To start with grind black pepper and cinnamon to form a powder along with dry ginger and add to  2-3 glasses of water in a pan and boil it, add basil leaves to the water and let it simmer for about 5 minutes. You may add a few pieces of raisins after a while and boil the concoction until it comes down to half. You can also add honey/jaggery and fresh lemon juice to enhance the taste.

These ayurvedic immunity boosters can be consumed as per the convenience of the individual. A regular monitoring of the comorbid conditions should not be ignored during the consumption of these immunity boosting drinks.