For good health, formation of pure blood is most important. Pure blood is formed from the food and drink we take and digest. Therefore, it is necessary to give proper attention to our digestive system.
All the cells of our body get changed within a cycle of seven years. So, by changing our diet, we can change the whole system-even Prakruti of our body. Thus a weakling or a patient suffering from a chronic disease can become strong and healthy with necessary change in diet and exercise.
“The case of Mr. Bernar Macfaden of U.S.A. is very illustrative. He got T.B. at an early age of seventeen. The doctors lost all hope of curing him. He changed his diet completely. He began taking only fruits and vegetables. He started nature cure treatment including fasting, sunbath exercises, etc. What he achieved was almost a miracle.”
Please note that care of our digestive system should start from the mouth. Nature has given us teeth to chew. Therefore, we should form the habit of chewing all food including liquid food and soft food like sweets, ice-creams, etc. at least 12 to 15 times. This is necessary to add saliva to the food, for it is only in saliva that the sugar is digested. That is why people eating hastily without chewing and eating more sugar invite diabetes and fat. The modern dreaded disease of diabetes can be conquered in your mouth.
Chewing less means double work for the stomach. And over-exertion of the stomach will invite many diseases and even fat.
Proper chewing gives better taste and satisfaction. Moreover, it enables you to listen to Nature’s signal that your stomach has become full. This in turn enables you to stop eating further. Therefore, discussions on a dinning table should be avoided as far as possible. Instead, soft music may be played. We should always remember that it is not more quantity or heavy food but the food that is digested that gives us energy. If everybody forms the habit of chewing food properly, less food will be necessary which will incidentally help in solving the problem of food scarcity.
Diet : The aim of eating and drinking should be to produce enough blood, produce sufficient heat and energy in the body and satisfy the taste.
There are six types of tastes : (1) sweet, (2) salty, (3) sour, (4) hot (chilly), (5) astringent and (6) bitter.
It has been observed that we avoid more and more the last two types of taste with the result that it upsets the digestive system and balance in our blood, thereby leading to a number of diseases, including cancer. These tastes nullify the effect of sweets and purify the blood. These two tastes increase the digestive power (the fire) and are like a starter in a car and therefore should be included in our diet.
It may be observed that Mahatma Gandhi insisted on paste of neem leaves in the daily diet. An English medical practitioner has observed that those Indian people who use neem leaves in their diet are healthier and are more immune to disease, including blood cancer than those who don’t use them.
We take great care about the quality and quantity of coal or wood we put in the cooking furnace or fireplace. We also give it enough air to burn properly. This enables the fire to give maximum heat and reduce smoke and ashes to the minimum. We should not forget that there is a similar fireplace in our stomach. We must think of the after-effects of the food and drink we take.
The difference in the proportion of three basic elements of water, fire and wood in our body depends upon the food we eat. As laymen, we should see that the fire in the stomach is well maintained so that the normal food is digested. After the age of 35, we should be able to know what type of food does not suit us. We should, therefore, avoid such unsuitable foods.
We must know that a particular food which may be good for certain people may not be suitable to others e.g. curd/yoghurt, buttermilk suitable to people having more elements of fire, would not be suitable to people having more elements of water in them. Again, curd/yoghurt and buttermilk are advisable in the hot season, but not in the monsoon season.
Easy way to find out what food/drink is suitable to oneself : First stand straight, keep your left hand fist closed on the heart, outstretch your right hand parallel to the ground. Ask someone to pull down the right hand.
Resist as much as possible. Now, keep the eatable in your left hand palm and keep it on your heart and outstretch your right hand parallel to the ground. Ask someone to pull down your right hand. Now if this eatable is beneficial to your body resistance power will increase. If it is harmful, resistance power will be greatly reduced and right hand will come down easily. In case of a drink you can keep it in a metal utensil preferably copper and do as shown above.
This method is based on the electricity of our body. Proper food / drink enhances the polarisation of electric flow and so increases the power of resistance. Improper food/drink depolarises the flow and so the resistance is reduced.
This way, you can find out easily what to eat and drink and what to avoid. Because of difference in the type of Prakruti, it is very possible that something suitable to someone may not be useful to another person, e.g. curd/yoghurt mixed with sugar will be found more suitable to persons having more fire but not to those persons having more of water+earth and less of fire element. So everybody can try this method and find out what foods are useful and what foods are harmful to them. This way one can find out which one drug, out of many similar drugs, would be more suitable to one.
It will be observed by this method, that just to satisfy the taste, we eat so much useless things which do not generate energy, but in order to digest such useless foods our energy has to be used and still more energy has to be used to throw out such useless dead food which many a time produces gases, constipation, etc.
If we make a habit of eating and drinking only such things as are useful to our body and chew them properly the total requirement of food will be reduced considerably, digestion will improve and in the same way discharge of stool will be easy.
Thus, maximum energy will be obtained by the body from a minimum intake of food. If this principle is accepted by mankind on a larger scale, the total requirement of food will be less and there will be minimum health problems and famines.
How to get maximum energy from the food : Recent experiments by nutrition experts in the U.S.A. have confirmed the finding of the Indian philosophy that the best time to eat food is one hour after we get up in the morning till sunset when internal temperature increases and the food is digested more easily and so more energy is obtained. They have maintained that eating late and taking heavy foods after sunset, tend to slow down digestion and produces more fat and problems of the stomach.
In Ayurved, the Indian medical system, a detailed description of the after-effects of all the different types of cereals, vegetables, spices, fruits, milk, curd, buttermilk, herbs, minerals, etc. is given. This shows a deep study and research over hundreds of years. Ayurved describes minutely what food to eat, how to eat and when to eat and also shows the effective use of kitchen spices in curing certain diseases. It would be worth the effort to study the same and implement it. Out of so many important ingredients of the kitchen spices, one is turmeric powder. It is very useful as described below :
( 1 ) On any cuts, bleeding or burns, turmeric powder should be applied immediately. It is antiseptic and will stop bleeding and heal the cut / burn effectively.
( 2 ) Whenever there is pain in bones or swelling due to a fall, this powder is to be boiled in water and a thick paste has to be applied for 3 to 4 days on that swelling or the part that pains and cover it with a bandage; and without any other medication, the pain and the swelling will subside.
( 3 ) In case of Tonsillitis, apply a paste of this powder and glycerine tanic acid, massage on tonsils with the tip of the finger, and then gargle with lukewarm salt water. Do this for two to three days.
In the case of small children, if they do not allow such a massage, globules of the size of green peas may be made with this powder and jaggery and 8 to 12 pills a day be given to children.
( 4 ) Turmeric is blood purifier and so can be taken with milk. It should be given this way to the mother after delivery. This helps faster contraction of the ovaries and inner parts.
( 5 ) A paste of turmeric powder and sandalwood powder mixed with a little edible oil can be applied on your face as a face mask. Keep it for 15/20 minutes. Then wash your face with tap water. Within 15/20 days your face will look bright and radiant.
( 6 ) In diabetes, regular intake of turmeric powder and Amla powder has been found very effective.
Like turmeric, other spices are also useful in many ways. So we should learn about their usefulness and make use of them accordingly.
To maintain a good digestive system we should see that —
( 1 ) the food is well cooked and eaten warm /hot.
( 2 ) the use of whole wheat and rice is adequate. Please try to reduce or avoid use of fine flour and polished rice.
( 3 ) use of fried things is reduced.
( 4 ) enough buttermilk and curd are included in the diet.
( 5 ) enough vegetables, raw and cooked and seasonal fruits are taken.
( 6 ) the food is properly chewed.
( 7 ) a time gap of 5 to 7 hours is kept between two meals.
( 8 ) the habit of drinking liquids except water or buttermilk or eating between the meals is stringently controlled.
( 9 ) the stomach is given rest of at least one or two meals a week as it is a machine. At that time, only fruits or fruit juices or boiled water may be taken.
Traffic Signal : To satisfy our palate is one of the greatest enjoyments of life. Eat anything you like once in a while. But respect nature’s signal which is given in the form of belching. Nature gives a first signal to say that the stomach is full. You should stop eating further at that point. It is an orange/amber signal like the one at the traffic lights. If that cannot be done, You must stop at the second signal which is like a red light. If you continue eating even after the second signal, please be warned that you are inviting trouble. Necessary changes in the food/diet, should be made according to the changes in the seasons.
Please observe the motto that the fire in the stomach should be well preserved and should remain capable of digesting the food you eat.
A liberal use of ginger, pepper, eatables of bitter taste, sunbath, regular exercise, etc. helps this fire, while cold water, cold drinks, icecream, etc. reduce the fire and increase the burden on the digestive system. Please note that Heat is Life while Cold is Death. Eat or drink accordingly.
Sprouted Pulses : The beans like green peas and gram etc. which can be splited into exact two parts should be first sprouted and may be taken by all people uncooked, but can be mixed while preparing green juice or mixed with til (sesame), groundnut, raw cabbage, dates, dried grapes or a little jaggery. They have vitamin B Complex, plenty of vitamins C and E, proteins and minerals. Children, expectant mothers and old people should be given this important food. Sprouted pulses are also very good for reducing weight. In that case the use of dates, dried grapes or jaggery should be avoided.
Test of proper digestive power and proper eating : After the meals, you should feel energetic, light in body and capable of work-even running if necessary. If you feel heavy, sleepy or dull, it indicates overeating or fast eating or a weakened digestive system.
Assistance of Acupressure for the digestive system :
Sit on a chair. Keep the wooden roller on the ground, giving as much pressure as possible, roll the feet on the foot roller for five minutes-each foot. This will activate all the organs of the digestive system, kidney, lungs, etc. It is of great help to people above the age of 40 (See fig. 69). They should increase the use of ginger, Amla and lemon in their diet.