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If there is one lesson Covid-19 has taught us, besides the obvious importance of hygiene, it’s the need to prevent an illness rather than seek its cure. Many of us had been trying to do that in the pre-Covid era too. It’s just that we now do it more fervently than ever before.

Our little health rituals—turmeric latte, apple cider vinegar, variety of herbal teas, to name a few—have thus remained intact even as life otherwise has switched hemispheres. Perhaps, they give us the confidence to strut on the streets, albeit swathed in masks and scarves, unrecognizable to even our closest friends and relatives. Fingers crossed, that regular cup of ginger lemon tea or tulsi infused water will prove to be our guardian angel. 

We might have broken up with ibuprofen and revamped our relationship with the peppy, yellow turmeric but have we gotten it right? Are our health rituals actually benefiting us?

Dibya Karki, program development manager at CECI Nepal, has been having ‘besar paani’ since before Covid-19 made it popular. She finds it helps keep her allergies in check. She brews her magic concoction of ginger, garlic, turmeric, and black pepper every morning, adds a dash of pink salt (because it’s considered a healthier alternative to table salt) and enjoys what’s touted to be an immunity boosting drink.

“I still have to take allergy medications but the instances have reduced,” says Karki, who also has apple cider vinegar in warm water for acidity, but also because she has heard it aids weight loss. 

Likewise, Srishti Rana, communication and partnership specialist for Hamro Samman at Winrock International, says drinking home-brewed Kombucha is a ritual that has helped soothe her digestive system, while for Stuti Basnyet, deputy team leader at UKaid Skills for Employment Programme, herbal teas are a staple.  

“I follow many wellness gurus and platforms primarily on Instagram and make choices based on what I see and hear, and also based on what’s available locally,” says Basnyet. 

Barsha Thakali, CEO of The Event House and  model, vouches for the power of white tea—four cups a day—to calm your nerves.

Rituals like these are aplenty, even more so in the wake of the pandemic when upping your immunity is the need of the hour. 

Is it for you?

Ankit Agrawal, proprietor of Naturo Earth, a brand that promotes natural and organic living, says it’s incredible that more and more people are “going back to the basics”, i.e. using herbs and plants for healing and wellness. But what needs to be kept in mind is that not everything is for everybody. 

Naturo Earth, as a brand, tries to create that awareness through their content on social media and interacting with their customers.   

“The idea is to pass on enough information for the customers to make the right choices,” says Agrawal. 

At Suiro Teas, producer of handcrafted tea blends, customers are sent an animated video on how to brew the perfect cup of tea. According to Shrisha Pradhanga, founder of Suiro Teas, the concept of using herbs to cure different ailments is nothing new, but everything has to be taken in moderation, keeping the contraindications in mind. 

“Our tea blends—both the Beauty Blend and the Clarity Tea—are packaged to be just enough for 30 cups,” says Pradhanga, explaining that herbs have to be taken slowly and their effects will be seen over time. They’re not a quick fix as many would like them to be. 

“You shouldn’t have four cups of our teas in a day and expect instant results. Rather, you could have one cup a day for a month and see whether or not it’s helping you,” she adds. 

Mona Thapa, co-owner of Farmer’s Mart in Jhamsikhel, Lalitpur, and proprietor of Ferments that produces Kombucha, Kefir, Sauerkraut, and other fermented foods, agrees that everything, no matter how good it is, has to be tested out first.

“Figuring out what works for your body is the key to good health and wellness through natural remedies,” says Thapa. She mentions that your body will respond differently than, say, your friend’s, which is why going by someone else’s experience isn’t ideal. 

“If your friend has lost weight because of having apple cider vinegar, it doesn’t mean you will too,” she says.

Try it out for a week

Priyanka Sainju, consultant dietician at B&B Hospital in Gwarko, Lalitpur, and at Vatsalya Natural IVF in Naxal, Kathmandu echoes Thapa’s views. There is no one rule that fits all where diets and supplements are concerned. To get the optimum benefit, many factors like your food habits, allergies, lifestyle, work, and health issues need to be taken into consideration. 

“Your body’s response to a certain regime or consumption of certain things will depend on all these things,” she says. 

According to Sainju, when you start having something because you think it’s good for you, it’s best to try it out for a week and see how your body reacts to it.

“Even where natural supplements are concerned, there are proper ways to go about it. What you put into your system and when and how you do it matters,” she says. 

People are largely influenced by YouTube videos, Instagram, and online content, much of which only circle around the benefits of diets and supplements. Social media is people’s go-to source for information on adopting healthier habits.

“It’s good to see people becoming more health conscious and focusing on prevention rather than cure with herbal remedies, but there are correct and incorrect ways to do that,” says Dr Ruby Bajracharya, dietician, ayurvedic doctor, and founder of Lotus Ayurdeva.  

“For example, many people have turmeric and black pepper with warm water these days. These warming spices are good for respiratory concerns but if you have piles or bleeding issues like ulcers then, it’s best not to consume them,” explains Dr Bajracharya. 

Dr Bajracharya says everything has its pros and cons and the right thing to do would be to consult an expert who can customize a plan for you rather than relying on incomplete, off-the-web information.

“There is only so much research you can do online, no matter how detailed you try to be,” she says, adding that you don’t want to waste your time and energy on something that isn’t effective or, worse, will aggravate existing health issues. 

“Natural remedies are definitely loaded with goodness but you have to first figure out whether or not they’re going to be beneficial for you. You shouldn’t base these vital decisions on what you’ve read or heard,” concludes Dr Bajracharya.   

If you are like me and been quarantined or self-isolating at home and you live alone you will not have felt human touch for over four months! Who would have thought that even possible unless they were marooned on a desert island! And like me you are probably horrified when venturing out to see people shaking hands in the street. This shaking of hands, being a formal gesture, indicates these people are not living in the same household. So why are you touching each other unnecessarily?

Shaking hands has become widespread throughout the world as a sign of greeting and of sealing a deal. But where did it originate? Some scholars put the origin back in the fifth century BC, apparently to show neither person was holding any weapons with the intention of attacking the other. A sign of goodwill and peace.  

There are some countries that uphold other methods of greetings. Thailand, Japan, India and Nepal still often opt for the more traditional greeting of placing two hands together with a slight bow. A deeper bow for senior and/or respected persons. Yes, all over the world correct etiquette can be confusing. Should you start with the oldest person in the room? Probably yes, to be on the safe side.  Should a man shake a woman’s hand? In some countries only if she offers hers first, so hold back guys! Should I give a firm grip or a weak one? In some countries a firm grip is considered rude yet in others a limp handshake is considered as a sign of being ‘weak’ and offering a half-hearted greeting. Is very confusing. There are even classes for business people entering different cultures on how they should act.

But, overall, the handshake has taken the world by storm. Here in Nepal you rarely saw handshakes in the past. The Namaskar gesture was traditional, simple and need I say, hygienic. But somewhere over the past few decades the handshake has become the modus operandi of doing business in Nepal too. Not just business, it has crept into daily greetings between friends also. The hug and kiss on the cheek has also made its way into Nepali society, particularly in the younger generations.

Growing up in Scotland we did not hug and kiss friends when we met. Today still I don’t hug or kiss British friends unless for a celebration or a long separation. It’s just not British! Well at least not among my and my parents’ generation. I do confess to (pre-2020) kissing the cheek of European friends. When in Rome and all that.

In these days of Covid-19 the world has switched to a ‘Namaskar’ or ‘Wai’ greeting.  For obvious reasons. So why then am I seeing people, mostly men, still shaking hands in the streets of Kathmandu? In the first week of lockdown I saw two elderly friends meet and give each other fist bumps. Both laughed raucously, no doubt thinking they were being young and ‘trendy’. Yesterday again, I was very happy to see other men doing the same thing. The laughter was still there though. Seems the fist bump has not quite reached the status of being standard procedure. But those people I feel are the few exceptions.

With social distancing pretty much forgotten and pictures of young people carousing in bars, the handshake is, I’m sure, making its come back. Along with the hugging and kissing. Need I say what it is also probably bringing with it? I shudder.

How about we retain the Namaskar greeting? Grandparents will be very happy, and you won’t offend anyone, quite the opposite actually. What’s more, you will be doing your bit to slow down the possible community spread of Covid-19. 

Namaskar and #staysafe.

If you are a lover of old English literature you might be familiar with ‘The Canterbury Tales’ by Chaucer (1340 to 1400). Chaucer is reportedly the greatest English poet of the Middle Ages and the father of English poetry; his most famous work being The Canterbury Tales.  

Relevant to this article is the fact he was the first to coin the phrase ‘each man for himself’. What he meant by this was if you don’t look out for yourself, no one else will. Today we are more likely to use the phrase ‘every man for himself’. The meaning has been adapted a bit since Chaucer’s day and now tends to mean, ‘look after your own interests, not others’.

And that is what we are having to do in this 2020—look after our own interests because it appears no one at a higher level is helping us out. Looking at the mistakes made in the UK and the US we can see how the general population were basically told to ‘get on with it’. Which led to many of them into believing it is their constitutional right to do whatever they pleased. For example we see this in the gun laws of the US—where it is written into the Constitution that citizens have the right to bear arms. Of course this was written in the days where the majority of citizens were pioneer farmers living and hunting off the land. Whereas not many live off the land today. Yet this provision has not been repealed.

This seems to have filtered down in current times to it being a ‘right’ to choose not to wear a mask against Covid-19. Even if that mask could protect both the wearer and others. My choice not to protect myself, for whatever reason, potentially impacts the health of others. But using the ‘every man for himself’ policy, that’s just fine and dandy!

In recent news I read that a bus driver in France was killed by three male passengers when he challenged them for refusing to wear a (government mandated) mask. What the heck? We also saw how some took advantage of protests and peaceful demonstrations to loot shops in the US. These are extreme examples of ‘every man for themselves’. Less obvious is the fact some countries, like England, are leaving their citizens to decide for themselves whether in the face of Covid-19 they take a serious stance by socially distancing, wearing a mask, etc. 

In other countries we can see how there has always been a culture of the individual taking care of their immediate family. This in the past included those within the same community. Now with urbanisation, communities are not as strongly linked as they once were. Resulting in every family having to fend for itself. Which is not the best approach in a public health emergency. We can see the success of countries like Scotland (which has taken its public health initiative into its own hands rather than follow Westminster), New Zealand and some other countries where focus has been on the whole, and not the individual. 

While not every country or region resorts to violence under the guise of ‘every man for himself’ some have a history of weak authorities and individuals have always had to fend for themselves. And many areas/communities/families manage quite well like this. Perhaps because it is the culture they have been raised to and so expect nothing more than having to take care of their nearest and dearest. But wouldn’t it be so much better if we all pulled together as one team? Being globally in the same ‘2020 boat’ wouldn’t it be great if we all had equal access to life rafts and had a sensible captain to steer us, rather than having ‘every man for himself’?