daily health tips

Recent scientific investigations have established that bitter gourd (karela) is highly beneficial in the treatment of diabetes. It contains an insulin-like principle, known as plant-insulin which has been found effective in lowering the blood and urine sugar levels. It should, therefore, be included liberally in the diet of the diabetic. For better results, the diabetic should take the juice of about 4 or 5 fruits every morning on an empty stomach. The seeds of bitter gourd can be added to food in a powdered form. Diabetics can also use bitter gourd in the form of decoction by boiling the pieces in water or in the form of dry powder.

An effective remedy for diarrhoea is the use of buttermilk. It is the residual milk left after the fat has been removed from yoghurt by churning. It helps overcome harmful intestinal flora and re-establish the benign or friendly flora. The acid in the buttermilk also fights germs and bacteria. It may be taken and mixed with a pinch of salt three or four times a day for controlling diarrhoea. Should buttermilk be unavailable, eat yoghurt. This fermented food provides useful bacteria that displace the micro-organisms that cause digestive infections. Eating yoghurt just three times a week in any amount maintains the needed bacteria for intestinal health.

Carrot soup is another effective home remedy for diarrhoea. It supplies water to combat dehydration, replenishes sodium, potassium, phosphorus, calcium, sulphur and magnesium, supplies pectin and coats the intestine to allay inflammation. It checks the growth of harmful intestinal bacteria and prevents vomiting. One pound of carrot may be cooked in five ounces of water until it is soft. The pulp should be strained and boiled water added to make a quart. Three-quarter tablespoon of salt may be mixed. This soup should be given in small amounts to the patient every half an hour.

The cherry, sweet or sour, is considered an effective remedy for gout. This was discovered by Ludwig W. Blan Ph.D. some 35 years ago. Himself a gout sufferer, Blan found some cherries to be miraculously effective in his own case and published his own experience in a medical journal in the American state of Texas. Subsequently, many people with gout used this simple therapy with great success. To start with, the patient should consume about 15 to 25 cherries a day. Thereafter, about 10 cherries a day will keep the ailment under control. While fresh cherries are best, canned cherries can also be used with success.

The most important factor in curing constipation is a natural and simple diet. This should consist of unrefined food such as whole grain cereals, bran, honey, molasses, and lentils; green and leafy vegetables, especially spinach, French beans, tomatoes, lettuce, onion, cabbage, cauliflower, Brussels sprouts, celery, turnip, pumpkin, peas, beets, asparagus, carrot; fresh fruits, especially pears, grapes, figs, papayas, mangoes, grapefruit, gooseberries, guava and oranges; dry fruits such as figs, raisins, apricots and dates; milk products in the form of butter, ghee and cream. The diet alone is not enough. Food should be properly chewed, each morsel at least 15 times. Hurried meals and meals at odd times should be avoided. Sugar and sugary foods should be strictly avoided because sugar steals B vitamins from the body, without which the intestines cannot function normally. Foods which constipate are all products made of white flour rice, bread, pulses, cakes, pastries, biscuits, cheese, fleshy foods, preserves, white sugar, and hard-boiled eggs.

Raw juices act as a cleansing agent and start eliminating toxins and morbid matter from the system immediately. This often results in symptoms such as pain in the abdomen, diarrhoea, loss of weight, headache, fever, weakness, sleeplessness and bad breath. These reactions, which are part of the cleansing process, should not be suppressed by the use of drugs. They will cease when the body is able to expel all toxins. Canned juices contain proteins that have been "shocked" in the process of heating the product to prevent bacterial growth. These "polyamines" enter the bloodstream and encourage the growth of abnormal cells, both infection and cancer. The canned juice may also contain sodium, cancelling out the nutritional effect of its large reserve of potassium. For good health, drink raw, minimally processed juices.

Dietary fibre plays an important role in the maintenance of health and prevention of diseases. Fibre forms the skeletal system of plants. Without it no plant or tree would be able to stand upright. Dietary fibre, the roughage of yesteryears, consists of those parts of the plant foods that cannot be digested by enzymes or other digestive secretions in the ailmentary canal. There is sufficient evidence to suggest that an artificial depletion of fibre as in case of refined cereals and sugar has over the last 100 years contributed to several degenerative diseases. Recent studies in this area indicate that sufficient intake of fibre-rich diet may help prevent obesity, colon cancer, heart disease, gallstones, irritable bowel syndrome, diverticulosis and diabetic conditions. Studies have also established that dietary fibre is a collection of elements with a variety of functions rather than a single substance with single function as was assumed earlier. This new insight into the true nature of fibre has given the lie to old beliefs that bran is synonymous with fibre, that all fibre is fibrous or stringy and that all fibre tastes the same.

For a low-fat diet, eat a vegetarian diet. Another benefit of the vegetarian diet is the much lower intake of fat, if dairy products, seeds and nuts are eaten sparingly. This accounts for lower serum cholesterol levels found in vegetarians, which considerably reduces the risk of developing heart diseases and breast and colon cancer. A third nutritional advantage of the vegetarian diet is its high fibre content. Fibre, being indigestible, increases the bulk of the faces, keeps them soft and makes them easy to expel. One study has indicated that lacto-ovo vegetarians consume twice as much and vegans four times as much fibre as non-vegetarians. High fibre intake has been associated with decreased risks of diseases of the colon, appendicitis, cancer of the colon and rectum, hiatus hernia, piles and varicose veins. McCarrison, one of the greatest authorities on food, has outlined a perfect diet. According to him, " a perfectly constituted diet is one in which the principal ingredients are milk, milk products, any whole cereal grain or mixture of cereal grains, green leafy vegetables and fruits. These are the protective foods. They make good the defects of other constituents of the diet, protect the body against infection and disease of various kinds, and their use in sufficient quantity ensures physical efficiency."

Figs are an excellent food remedy for increasing weight in case of thinness. The high percentage of rapidly assimilated sugars makes them a strengthening and fattening food. The fig is also the superlative treatment for haemorrhoids.Three or four figs should be soaked overnight in water after cleansing them thoroughly in hot water. They should be taken the first thing in the morning along with water in which they were soaked. They should also be taken in the evening in a similar manner. This treatment should be continued for three or four weeks. The tiny seeds of the fruit possess an excellent quality of stimulating peristalic movements of intestines. This facilitates easy evacuation of faeces and keeps the alimentary canal clean. The pressure on the anus having thus been relieved, the haemorrhoids also get contracted.

There is increasing evidence to show that in several cases cataracts have actually been reversed by proper nutritional treatment. However, the time needed for such treatment may extend from six months to three years. A thorough course of cleansing the system of the toxic matter is essential. To start with, it will be beneficial to undergo a fast for three to four days on orange juice and water. A warm water enema may be taken during this period. After this initial fast, a diet of very restricted nature should be followed for two weeks. In this regimen, breakfast may consist of oranges or grapes or any other juicy fruit in season. Raw vegetable salads in season, with olive oil and lemon juice dressing, and soaked raisins, figs or dates should be taken during lunch. Evening meals may consist of vegetable such as spinach, fenugreek, drum sticks, cabbage, cauliflower, carrot, turnips, steamed in their own juices, and a few nuts or some fruits, such as apples, pears and grapes. Potatoes should not be taken. No bread or any other food should be added to this diet. After two weeks on this diet, the cataract patient may start on a fuller diet on the following lines:

Breakfast: Any fresh fruits in season, except bananas.

Lunch: A large mixed raw vegetable salad with wholemeal bread or chapattis and butter.

Dinner: Two or three steamed vegetables, other than potatoes, with nuts and fresh fruit. The short fast followed by a restricted diet should be repeated after three months of the commencement of the treatment and again three months later, if necessary. The bowels should be cleansed daily with a warm water enema during the fast, and afterwards as necessary. The patient should avoid white bread, sugar, cream, refined cereals, rice, boiled potatoes, puddings and pies, strong tea or coffee, alcoholic beverages, condiments, pickles, sauces or other so-called aids to digestion.