Scriptures proclaim the need for maintaining a healthy body for one’s spiritual evolution when they say, “Khaluh dharma sadhanam” (body is a means for attaining to Dharma or one’s spiritual evolution). Even for a person who is not yet interested in his evolution, enjoyment of worldly objects also needs a healthy body. One cannot enjoy food, sex, painting, dance, music, adventure or any other thing in life unless one feels healthy and relaxed in body and mind. So irrespective of what our aim in life is, we owe it to ourselves to keep ourselves healthy – this is our most essential and precious resource – cannot be bartered for anything.
In my last post, for a healthy living, I had made mention of exercising discretion in our diet. Taking it forward, I would like to make a few more points.
Often people feel that their physical structure (tendency to put on weight or being underweight) and health problems (heart problem, diabetes, falling of hairs / teeth etc.) are largely governed by their hereditary background. On observation of the persons around, it appears to be correct also. The truth, however, is that in many a case similar physical attributes and health problems are found in offsprings not because of heredity but because of similar life style (diet, sleep, physical activity etc.).
I discovered this truth through my own experience and experiments. I do not remember having seen either of my parents with all the teeth. I have memories of my parents having a few loose front teeth when I may have been 5 - 6 years old. When I was about 32 years old, one of my grinding teeth also had such a deep cavity that the gum inside got exposed. Other teeth also became sensitive. Doctors advised me to go for removal of that tooth, there being no chance of it being saved or restored and if it was not done, there were all chances of development of septic conditions resulting in loss of other teeth and also other serious complications. Filling of other grinding teeth was also advised.
Not being comfortable with this idea, I took an opinion from a Homeopath as well who told me that decay of teeth (and bones) is primarily caused by high level of acids in the body. If one can stop intake of acidic contents in one’s diet, the process of decay will be stopped. I asked him that when there is such a deep and exposed cavity will there be no infection and pus formation in the gum. He emphatically told me that it would not be the case if I could control my diet and asked me to try it for three months. If this did not help, I could always revert back to my normal diet. The suggestion and logic behind it appealed me.
Acidic diet, according to him, apart from everything sour (tomato, tamarind, lemon, pickles etc.) included all milk products (curd, cheease, paneer, sweets etc.) except ghee and all fruits except papaya, chiku, watermelon and muskmelon (kharbuja). Milk products, I was told, are acidic as on digestion they get converted into lactic acid.
Till recently doctors used to advise the persons suffering with ulcers in the stomach to take cold milk as the milk was found to be alkaline. They did not see even the first step of metabolism! But now they are coming to understand that it does not help. Later, I was told by a doctor that the body manufactures acids for digestion of fried food articles and thus their intake also causes acid levels to rise. And this our experience as well.
Though I was extremely fond of curd and potato-tomato curry, I also had the will power to resist temptations and give them up. This will power was obviously aided by meditations. One more reason for giving it a try was that I was afraid of getting the tooth extracted and feared that similar fate will confront other teeth as well and that extraction was not a solution. I also used to have dreams about all my teeth crumbling into very small pieces almost like powder and come out when I was eating something.
I gave up all items suggested by him from my diet. To facilitate fast return to normalcy, he also gave me some medicine for few weeks to reduce existing acid level in the body. And it worked. The result is that in last 22 years, I never had any problem with any of my teeth and there was no occasion to go to a dentist. And I may reiterate that all teeth of both my parents fell before they reached the age of 50 years. I may also add that milk and fruits constituted major part of diet of my father.
This makes it clear that it was the life style (eating habits) and not the heredity which resulted in destruction of my tooth.
I would also like to narrate another instance in my life where change of diet alone brought me out of a very serious condition. In 1993 Pleurisy (TB) was detected in my right lung. Everybody advised me to take to protein rich diet. I started taking sprouted moong and black grams and eggs. In two months time, I started having pain in my left knee which gradually became severe with time and the knee swelled to about twice its normal size. I could not bend my knee a bit.
On consultation a doctor advised me consult a surgeon for removal of accumulated water in the knee through drilling and injections. I was averse to this idea. It was my good fortune that one of a renowned doctor (Dr. Pooran Singh Thakur, a physician and heart specialist – he updated himself on day-to-day basis with recent researches and is an honorary professor in a medical college) was a close friend of mine and used to visit me while I was ill. He said that this knee problem is because of Uric Acid formed by protein rich diet. Dropping these items from my diet along with all other items with acidic content would help me recover and that there is no need of surgery or anything like that. I dropped these items from my diet and slowly swelling and pain reduced and my knee became absolutely normal and today I can run.
He also added that idea of protein rich diet for a TB patient was relevant when there were no antibiotics for killing TB bacteria and the body had to overcome the infection through its resistance. In modern times when the bacteria are killed by the drugs and the drugs depress the functioning of liver and kidney, one needs to take lighter diet to avoid pressure on weakend digestive system.
He also used to say that one should respect one’s system for intake of water and other times rather than go by the advice of experts as the need of every person depends on many factors. He himself used to eat only once a day and that too after 11 PM in the night. Since he was not eating anything during the day, he did not need any water during the day except two cups of black tea. And taking no food and snacks during the day did not cause him any acidity or health problem (he is very energetic and appeared fresh even after working 12 to 15 hours) – even though many doctors say that remaining empty stomach causes acidity. The Jains also do not have any such problem when they do not eat for days or even weeks on end. In fact it is kind of food one takes and one's daily routine that causes acidity and it is not caused on account of being empty stomach.
Further, I have noticed that the families in which its members are fat, usually have rich diet (containing lot of oil, sweets etc.). Of course, there are constitutional reasons also. One of my close relative (his parents were overweight) and his wife are substantially overwieght and I find that roasted groundnut (they foolishly believed as if roasted groundnut will be lighter forgetting that it is the source oil - they continue eating it any time of the day), pranthas, ghee etc. are part of their everyday diet. What I wish to put across is that more often than not, common eating habits in the family and not the hereditary reasons which determine the physical attributes and the diseases.
Discrimination in diet is, therefore, a must if one wishes to be healthy.
In this connection, I remember an incident when I went to a Homeopath way back in 1984 as I used to have formation of gas after having grams in my diet. He advised me to simply drop grams from my diet. I could not understand. I had gone to the doctor to find a solution to the problem. He was expected to correct that problem in my system which caused formation of gas as all others take grams without any or much of a problem. If others can take grams why not me, I thought.
This is the main misunderstanding with all of us that causes serious health problems. Everything is not meant for everyone. Out of a millions of species of plants and animals we can eat only a few dozens. As donkey cannot survive on goat and a lion cannot eat grass, system of each human being works best with certain combination of eatables which vary from person to person, age of the person, season of the year and the occupation of the person.
For example, for a child, diet of milk alone is enough till the age of 6 months but needs of a grown up person would be different. An eatable could help in a cold climate (mustard oil) but harmful in hot and humid climate. A physical labourer may find sustenance in milk and diet rich in sugar but it will certainly harm a person with sedentary life style. Quantity of intake of food has also to change with age of the person. As one grows older, diet needs to be reduced.
Ayurveda classifies nature of human bodies to be a combination of three elements, namely, Vayu, Pitta and Kapha. Spiritually the nature of human beings is classified into Satvik, Rajasik and Tamasik. Vegetables, meat of different animals and minerals are also classified into each of these three elements. Understanding of nature of one’s body and the eatables leads to informed selection of diet which is particular to a person as against a general prescription by modern experts in medicine.
For this reason, butter milk could be a cure for one and very dangerous for a person with joint pains. As they say, one man’s nectar may be poison for another.
But for a healthy person, there is no need even to identify diet by knowing about one’s nature as described above. Self observation about effect of a particular item of diet on one’s health and avoiding the disagreeable is enough. The body sends clear signals (like blisters in the mouth, pain / sensitivity in teeth / joints, aggravation of any existing problem, vomiting, stomach upset, disturbance in sleep / bad dreams etc.) when anything which is not suitable for the body is taken. Through process of elimination and repeated observation one can easily identify such food items.
One should respect these body signals otherwise body stops giving signal and one has a false feeling that "ALL IS WELL" till some vital organ is substantially damaged. Contrary to popular belief, body of a person which reacts to and rejects (called allergy by the modern medicine) disageeable items of food is healthier than the body which does not react. A person who gets drunk with a peg or two is healthier than a person who remains in senses after consuming half a bottle of whisky.
There cannot be uniform prescription for all as is being advised by the modern day specialists. Osho used to say that every living being is borne with bio-intelligence aided by faculties of taste and smell to identify food which is suitable for sustenance of body. No animal or insect is confused on this. Human beings have messed it up through imitation, going for something different, ignoring body signals, borrowed ideas of what is good etc. With meditations, bio-intelligence is revived. He further adds that the process of diet selection even for the same person has to be dynamic. Quantity and content of diet needs to be adjusted and changed from time to time.
Of course, people find it difficult to resist temptations. Since I had no problem in giving up an item of eatable from my diet, I often used to wonder why people cannot give up eatables which they know to be harmful for them. I understood their difficulty only when I read in Bhagawat that Rasneindriya (sense of taste) is most difficult to tame – all other Indriyas can be controlled by controlling diet but Rasneindriya becomes wild with diet control.
If one is not sensitive enough to observe and lacks willpower to avoid disagreeable items of diet, one can be helped by taking to some physical, breathing or spiritual practices.
Diet is but only one part of life style having bearing on health. Sleeping habits and physical activity are two other major contributors. These aspects will be discussed in the next post.
To be continued ......
In my last post, for a healthy living, I had made mention of exercising discretion in our diet. Taking it forward, I would like to make a few more points.
Often people feel that their physical structure (tendency to put on weight or being underweight) and health problems (heart problem, diabetes, falling of hairs / teeth etc.) are largely governed by their hereditary background. On observation of the persons around, it appears to be correct also. The truth, however, is that in many a case similar physical attributes and health problems are found in offsprings not because of heredity but because of similar life style (diet, sleep, physical activity etc.).
I discovered this truth through my own experience and experiments. I do not remember having seen either of my parents with all the teeth. I have memories of my parents having a few loose front teeth when I may have been 5 - 6 years old. When I was about 32 years old, one of my grinding teeth also had such a deep cavity that the gum inside got exposed. Other teeth also became sensitive. Doctors advised me to go for removal of that tooth, there being no chance of it being saved or restored and if it was not done, there were all chances of development of septic conditions resulting in loss of other teeth and also other serious complications. Filling of other grinding teeth was also advised.
Not being comfortable with this idea, I took an opinion from a Homeopath as well who told me that decay of teeth (and bones) is primarily caused by high level of acids in the body. If one can stop intake of acidic contents in one’s diet, the process of decay will be stopped. I asked him that when there is such a deep and exposed cavity will there be no infection and pus formation in the gum. He emphatically told me that it would not be the case if I could control my diet and asked me to try it for three months. If this did not help, I could always revert back to my normal diet. The suggestion and logic behind it appealed me.
Acidic diet, according to him, apart from everything sour (tomato, tamarind, lemon, pickles etc.) included all milk products (curd, cheease, paneer, sweets etc.) except ghee and all fruits except papaya, chiku, watermelon and muskmelon (kharbuja). Milk products, I was told, are acidic as on digestion they get converted into lactic acid.
Till recently doctors used to advise the persons suffering with ulcers in the stomach to take cold milk as the milk was found to be alkaline. They did not see even the first step of metabolism! But now they are coming to understand that it does not help. Later, I was told by a doctor that the body manufactures acids for digestion of fried food articles and thus their intake also causes acid levels to rise. And this our experience as well.
Though I was extremely fond of curd and potato-tomato curry, I also had the will power to resist temptations and give them up. This will power was obviously aided by meditations. One more reason for giving it a try was that I was afraid of getting the tooth extracted and feared that similar fate will confront other teeth as well and that extraction was not a solution. I also used to have dreams about all my teeth crumbling into very small pieces almost like powder and come out when I was eating something.
I gave up all items suggested by him from my diet. To facilitate fast return to normalcy, he also gave me some medicine for few weeks to reduce existing acid level in the body. And it worked. The result is that in last 22 years, I never had any problem with any of my teeth and there was no occasion to go to a dentist. And I may reiterate that all teeth of both my parents fell before they reached the age of 50 years. I may also add that milk and fruits constituted major part of diet of my father.
This makes it clear that it was the life style (eating habits) and not the heredity which resulted in destruction of my tooth.
I would also like to narrate another instance in my life where change of diet alone brought me out of a very serious condition. In 1993 Pleurisy (TB) was detected in my right lung. Everybody advised me to take to protein rich diet. I started taking sprouted moong and black grams and eggs. In two months time, I started having pain in my left knee which gradually became severe with time and the knee swelled to about twice its normal size. I could not bend my knee a bit.
On consultation a doctor advised me consult a surgeon for removal of accumulated water in the knee through drilling and injections. I was averse to this idea. It was my good fortune that one of a renowned doctor (Dr. Pooran Singh Thakur, a physician and heart specialist – he updated himself on day-to-day basis with recent researches and is an honorary professor in a medical college) was a close friend of mine and used to visit me while I was ill. He said that this knee problem is because of Uric Acid formed by protein rich diet. Dropping these items from my diet along with all other items with acidic content would help me recover and that there is no need of surgery or anything like that. I dropped these items from my diet and slowly swelling and pain reduced and my knee became absolutely normal and today I can run.
He also added that idea of protein rich diet for a TB patient was relevant when there were no antibiotics for killing TB bacteria and the body had to overcome the infection through its resistance. In modern times when the bacteria are killed by the drugs and the drugs depress the functioning of liver and kidney, one needs to take lighter diet to avoid pressure on weakend digestive system.
He also used to say that one should respect one’s system for intake of water and other times rather than go by the advice of experts as the need of every person depends on many factors. He himself used to eat only once a day and that too after 11 PM in the night. Since he was not eating anything during the day, he did not need any water during the day except two cups of black tea. And taking no food and snacks during the day did not cause him any acidity or health problem (he is very energetic and appeared fresh even after working 12 to 15 hours) – even though many doctors say that remaining empty stomach causes acidity. The Jains also do not have any such problem when they do not eat for days or even weeks on end. In fact it is kind of food one takes and one's daily routine that causes acidity and it is not caused on account of being empty stomach.
Further, I have noticed that the families in which its members are fat, usually have rich diet (containing lot of oil, sweets etc.). Of course, there are constitutional reasons also. One of my close relative (his parents were overweight) and his wife are substantially overwieght and I find that roasted groundnut (they foolishly believed as if roasted groundnut will be lighter forgetting that it is the source oil - they continue eating it any time of the day), pranthas, ghee etc. are part of their everyday diet. What I wish to put across is that more often than not, common eating habits in the family and not the hereditary reasons which determine the physical attributes and the diseases.
Discrimination in diet is, therefore, a must if one wishes to be healthy.
In this connection, I remember an incident when I went to a Homeopath way back in 1984 as I used to have formation of gas after having grams in my diet. He advised me to simply drop grams from my diet. I could not understand. I had gone to the doctor to find a solution to the problem. He was expected to correct that problem in my system which caused formation of gas as all others take grams without any or much of a problem. If others can take grams why not me, I thought.
This is the main misunderstanding with all of us that causes serious health problems. Everything is not meant for everyone. Out of a millions of species of plants and animals we can eat only a few dozens. As donkey cannot survive on goat and a lion cannot eat grass, system of each human being works best with certain combination of eatables which vary from person to person, age of the person, season of the year and the occupation of the person.
For example, for a child, diet of milk alone is enough till the age of 6 months but needs of a grown up person would be different. An eatable could help in a cold climate (mustard oil) but harmful in hot and humid climate. A physical labourer may find sustenance in milk and diet rich in sugar but it will certainly harm a person with sedentary life style. Quantity of intake of food has also to change with age of the person. As one grows older, diet needs to be reduced.
Ayurveda classifies nature of human bodies to be a combination of three elements, namely, Vayu, Pitta and Kapha. Spiritually the nature of human beings is classified into Satvik, Rajasik and Tamasik. Vegetables, meat of different animals and minerals are also classified into each of these three elements. Understanding of nature of one’s body and the eatables leads to informed selection of diet which is particular to a person as against a general prescription by modern experts in medicine.
For this reason, butter milk could be a cure for one and very dangerous for a person with joint pains. As they say, one man’s nectar may be poison for another.
But for a healthy person, there is no need even to identify diet by knowing about one’s nature as described above. Self observation about effect of a particular item of diet on one’s health and avoiding the disagreeable is enough. The body sends clear signals (like blisters in the mouth, pain / sensitivity in teeth / joints, aggravation of any existing problem, vomiting, stomach upset, disturbance in sleep / bad dreams etc.) when anything which is not suitable for the body is taken. Through process of elimination and repeated observation one can easily identify such food items.
One should respect these body signals otherwise body stops giving signal and one has a false feeling that "ALL IS WELL" till some vital organ is substantially damaged. Contrary to popular belief, body of a person which reacts to and rejects (called allergy by the modern medicine) disageeable items of food is healthier than the body which does not react. A person who gets drunk with a peg or two is healthier than a person who remains in senses after consuming half a bottle of whisky.
There cannot be uniform prescription for all as is being advised by the modern day specialists. Osho used to say that every living being is borne with bio-intelligence aided by faculties of taste and smell to identify food which is suitable for sustenance of body. No animal or insect is confused on this. Human beings have messed it up through imitation, going for something different, ignoring body signals, borrowed ideas of what is good etc. With meditations, bio-intelligence is revived. He further adds that the process of diet selection even for the same person has to be dynamic. Quantity and content of diet needs to be adjusted and changed from time to time.
Of course, people find it difficult to resist temptations. Since I had no problem in giving up an item of eatable from my diet, I often used to wonder why people cannot give up eatables which they know to be harmful for them. I understood their difficulty only when I read in Bhagawat that Rasneindriya (sense of taste) is most difficult to tame – all other Indriyas can be controlled by controlling diet but Rasneindriya becomes wild with diet control.
If one is not sensitive enough to observe and lacks willpower to avoid disagreeable items of diet, one can be helped by taking to some physical, breathing or spiritual practices.
Diet is but only one part of life style having bearing on health. Sleeping habits and physical activity are two other major contributors. These aspects will be discussed in the next post.
To be continued ......
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