daily health tips

To cure disease, the first and foremost requirement is to regulate the diet. To get rid of accumulated toxins and restore the equilibrium of the system, it is desirable to completely exclude acid-forming foods, including proteins, starches and fats, for a week or more. During this time, confine the diet to fresh fruits which will disinfect the stomach and alimentary canal. If the body is overloaded with morbid matter, as in acute disease, a complete fast for a few days may be necessary for the elimination of toxins. Fruit juice may, however, be taken during a fast. A simple rule is: do not eat heavy foods when you are sick, stick to a light diet of fresh fruits. Wait for the return of the usual healthy appetite. Loss of appetite is Nature's warning that no burden should be placed on the digestive organs.

Based on the principles of the nature cure, here is a comprehensive daily menu for your greatest health. Upon arising: A glass of lukewarm water mixed with the juice of a half a lemon and a teaspoon of honey, or a glass of freshly squeezed juice of any available seasonable fruit such as apple, pineapple, orange, sweet lime and grapes. Breakfast: Fresh fruits such as apple, orange, banana, grapes, or any available seasonal fruits, a cup of butter-milk or unpasteurised milk and a handful of raw nuts or a couple of tablespoons of sunflower and pumpkin seeds. Mid-morning snack: One apple or a banana or any other fruit. Lunch: A bowl of freshly prepared steamed vegetables using salt, vegetable oil and butter for seasoning, one or two slices of whole grain bread or chapattis and a glass of butter-milk. Mid-afternoon: A glass of fresh fruit or vegetable juice or any available fruit. Dinner: A large bowl of fresh salad made up of green vegetables, such as tomatoes, carrot, cabbage, cucumber, red beet and onion with lime juice dressing, any available sprouts such as alfalfa seeds, and mung beans, a warm vegetable course, if desired, one tablespoon of fresh butter, cottage cheese or a glass of butter-milk. The above menu is a general outline around which an individual diet can be built. It can be modified and changed to adopt to specific requirements and conditions. The menu for lunch and dinner is interchangeable. Do not drink liquids with meals. The water should be taken half an hour before meals or an hour after meals. Milk, buttermilk, and vegetable soups are foods and can be taken with meals.

Other natural methods useful in the cure of diseases are air and sunbaths, exercise and massage. Air and sunbaths revive dead skin and help maintain it in a normal condition. Exercise, especially yogic asanas, promotes inner health and harmony and helps eliminate all tension: physical, mental and emotional. Massage tones up the nervous system and quickens blood circulation and the metabolic process.

Another useful remedy for leucoderma is red clay found by the riverside or on hill slopes. The clay should be mixed in ginger juice and applied over the white spots once a day. The copper contained in the clay seems to bring back skin pigmentation and ginger juice serves as a milk stimulant, facilitating increased blood flow to the spots. Drinking water kept overnight in a copper vessel also helps.

A paste made from the seeds of the radish is valuable in treating leucoderma. About 35 grams of these seeds should be powdered in vinegar and applied on the white patches. For better results, seeds should be finely pounded, mixed with a little white arsenic and soaked in vinegar at night. After two hours, when leaves appear, it should be rubbed on the leucoderma patches.

The use of turmeric and mustard oil is also considered beneficial in the treatment of leucoderma. About 500 grams of turmeric should be pounded and soaked in eight kg of water at night. It should be heated in the morning until only one kg. of water is left. It should then be strained and mixed with 500 grams of mustard oil. This mixture should be heated until only the oil is left. It should be applied on white patches every morning and evening for a few months.

The best remedy to prevent headaches is to build up physical resistance through proper nutrition, exercise and constructive thinking. As a first step, the patient should undertake a short fast. During the fast, citrus fruit juices, diluted with water may be taken six times daily. By taking the load of digestion, the patient will at once save nervous energy which can be utilised for more important purposes. The blood and lymph will also be relieved of a great burden. After a short fast, the diet should be fixed in such a way as to put the least possible strain on the digestion. The menu should be as follows:

Breakfast should consist of fruits, both fresh and dried.

Lunch should consist largely of protein foods.

Starchy foods such as whole wheat bread, cereals, rice or potatoes should be taken at dinner along with raw salads.

Spices, tomatoes, sour buttermilk and oily foodstuffs should be avoided.

Drinking a glass of water (warm water in winter and cool water in summer) mixed with a teaspoonful of honey the first thing in the morning, is also a good remedy.

The diabetic should not be afraid to eat fresh fruits and vegetables which contain sugar and starch. Fresh fruits contain sugar fructose, which does not need insulin for its metabolism and is well tolerated by diabetics. Fats and oils should be taken sparingly, for they are apt to lower the tolerance for proteins and starches. Emphasis should be on raw foods as they stimulate and increase insulin production. For protein, home- made cottage cheese, various forms of soured milks and nuts are best. The patient should avoid overeating and take four or five small meals a day rather than three large ones. The following diet should serve as a guideline.

Upon arising: A glass of lukewarm water with freshly squeezed lemon juice.

Breakfast: Any fresh fruit with the exception of bananas, soaked prunes, a small quantity of whole meal bread with butter and fresh milk.

Lunch: Steamed or lightly cooked green vegetables such as cauliflower, cabbage, tomatoes, spinach, turnip, asparagus and mushrooms, two or three whole wheat chapattis according to appetite and a glass of butter-milk or curd.

Mid-afternoon: A glass of fresh fruit or vegetable juice.

Dinner: A large bowl of salad made up of all the raw vegetables in season. The salad may be followed by a hot course, if desired, and fresh home-made cottage cheese.

Bedtime Snack: A glass of fresh milk. Flesh foods find no place in this regimen, for they increase the toxaemic condition underlying the diabetic state and reduce the sugar tolerance. On the other hand, a non-stimulating vegetarian diet, especially one made up of raw foods, promotes and increases sugar tolerance.

Celery, cucumbers, string beans, onion and garlic are especially beneficial in diabetes. String bean pod tea is an excellent natural substitute for insulin and highly beneficial in diabetes. The skin of the pods of green beans are extremely rich in silica and certain hormone substances which are closely related to insulin. One cup of string bean tea is equal to one unit of insulin. Cucumbers contain a hormone needed by the cells of the pancreas for producing insulin. Onion and garlic have proved beneficial in reducing blood sugar in diabetes.

Treatment of neuritis by painkilling drugs may give temporary relief but it does not remove the trouble effectively. The pain is relieved for the time being at the cost of the health of other parts of the body, especially the heart and the kidneys, and the neuritis remains. The best treatment for neuritis is to ensure that the patient gets optimum nutrition, well assimilated with all the vitamins and other nutrients. The emphasis should be on whole grains, particularly whole wheat, brown rice, raw and sprouted seeds, raw milk, especially in soured form, and home-made cottage cheese. In this regimen, the breakfast may consist of fresh fruits, a handful of raw nuts or a couple of tablespoons of sunflower and pumpkin seeds. Steamed vegetables, whole wheat, chapattis and a glass of butter-milk may be taken for lunch. The dinner may comprise a large bowl of fresh, green, vegetable salad, fresh home made cottage cheese, fresh butter and a glass of butter milk. In severe cases, the patient should be put on a short juice fast for four or five days before being given the optimum diet. Carrot, beet, citrus fruits, apple and pineapple may be used for juices. All vitamins of the B group have proved highly beneficial in the prevention and treatment of neuritis. The disorder has been helped when vitamins B1, B2, B6, B12, and pantothenic acid have been given together, and extreme pain, weakness and numbness in some cases have been relieved within an hour. The patient should avoid white bread, white sugar, refined cereals, meat, fish, tinned foods, tea, coffee, and condiments which are at the root of the trouble, by continuously flooding the tissues with acid impurities.