Healthy eating: What Ayurveda says about consuming bathua or goosefoot

Winters are synonymous with festivities and merrymaking and no occasion is complete without a plethora of delicious, seasonal food. Keep in mind that your tastebuds need a respite from indulgence. Consider eating winter greens like spinach, mustard greens, radish greens etc., to get the most out of this season.

Ayurvedic expert Dr Nitika Kohli took to Instagram to share the benefits of a popular winter green. Bathua, also known as chenopodium album, lamb’s quarters, melde, goosefoot and fat-hen, is a powerhouse of Ayurvedic health benefits.
Take a look at the post here:

“Bathua, also known as pigweed, is a very nutritious winter vegetable that has multiple health benefits. Methi, palak, sarson ka saag and bathua flood the vegetable market and help you make your meal plates more green. Out of these, one can’t deny that bathua is lesser-known and often ignored in spite of it being super nutritious [sic],” the Ayurvedic expert captioned the post.
While bathua is extensively cultivated and consumed in Northern India as a food crop, it grows as a weed as well. Inexpensive and rich in micronutrients such as “iron, calcium, potassium, magnesium and Vitamins A, C and B6, Bathua is an incredibly nutritious winter food.”
Bathua also works as a ‘rakta shodhak‘ or blood purifier and ‘yakrit utejak‘ or liver activator, according to Dr Kohli. It helps to curb “winter toxins” as well.
According to her, bathua is best consumed in the “form of raita, parantha, sabzi or even raw.” “Ayurveda also recommends it’s topical application at the site of pain.”
In Ayurveda, bathua is considered “sattvic aahar“, which means “it’s one of the most nutritious and essential food.”

“It contains great shotha har (anti inflammatory) and vedana shamak (pain relieving properties), considered best of seasonal joint pain.”
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