daily health tips

A majority of patients suffering from kidney stones can be treated successfully by proper dietary regulations. These regulations will also prevent a recurrence of the symptoms. Only a few cases require surgery. The patient should avoid foods which irritate the kidneys, to control acidity or alkalinity of the urine and to ensure adequate intake of fluids to prevent the urine from becoming concentrated. The foods considered irritants to the kidneys are alcoholic beverages, condiments, pickles, certain vegetables like cucumbers, radishes, tomatoes, spinach, rhubarb, water-cress and those with strong aroma such as asparagus, onions, beans, cabbage and cauliflower, meat, gravies, and carbonated waters.

Eyestrain is a common cause of headache. In such cases, an eye specialist should be consulted and proper treatment taken. Simple eye exercises such as moving the eyes up and down and from side to side, palming, rotating the head, with neck outstretched, forward and backwards three times, then three times clockwise and three times counter clockwise, can relieve eyestrain. A surprising way to relieve eyestrain is to give gentle massage to the neck. Bring the shoulders together and release. Then take a few minutes to place a moist cool compress over the eyes to give them rest and recuperation.

High blood pressure can cause pounding headaches. The headache usually starts at the back of the head on getting up in the morning. A safe method of treatment for this is to immerse your legs to calf-level in a tub of hot water for 15 to 20 minutes. This draws the blood away from the head and down to the feet, relieving the headache. Also helpful is the yogic practice known as pranayama. Stand erect with the feet aligned straight and touching each other. Lock the fingers together with the hands beneath the chin and keep them there through the entire exercise. Slowly raise the arms as you inhale, filling your lungs with air. Feel the action of the breathing through your throat. Then raise your arms above your head as you lean back and exhale, all the while keeping the hands at your chin. When you completely exhale, feeling the movement of the air through your throat, lower your arms and repeat the exercise 20 times.

Hydrocele is the painful swelling of the testes. It can be painlessly relieved. Tapping (removing fluid with a long needle) is the method usually resorted to for removal of the fluid in hydrocele. This, however, does not remove the cause of the trouble but only its effects. The correct way in which the condition can be really dealt with successfully is through constitutional treatment. Such a treatment should aim at removing the underlying toxicity of the system which is at the root of the trouble. The sufferer from hydrocele should begin with an exclusive fresh fruit diet for seven to ten days. In this regimen, he should have three meals a day of fresh juicy fruits, such as apples, pears, grapes, grape-fruit, oranges, pineapple, peaches, melon or any other juicy fruit in season but no bananas or dried, stewed or tinned fruit, and no other foodstuff whatever. For drinks, lemon water unsweetened or water either hot or cold may be taken. If constipation is habitual, all steps should be taken for its eradication. During this period the bowels should be cleansed daily with a warm water enema.

The feelings of discomfort and distress in the abdomen are often caused by overeating, eating too rapidly or not chewing properly. Overeating or eating frequently produces a feverish state in the system and overtaxes the digestive organs. It produces excessive acid and causes the gastric mucus membrane to become congested. Hyperacidity is usually the result. Overeating makes the work of stomach, liver, kidneys and bowels harder. When this food putrefies, its poisons are absorbed back into the blood and consequently, the whole system is poisoned. Many people gulp their food due to stress or hurry. When food is swallowed in large chunks, the stomach has to work harder and more hydrochloride is secreted. Eating too fast also causes one to swallow air. These bad habits force some of the digestive fluids into the oesophagus, causing burning, a stinging sensation or a sour taste, giving an illusion of stomach acid.

Influenza, like all other acute diseases, is a natural attempt at self-cleansing and if rightly treated in a natural way, immense good can ensue so far as the future health of the patient is concerned. In the acute stage of influenza, a patient should abstain from all solid foods and only drink fruit and vegetable juices diluted with water, 50- 50 for first three to five days, depending on the severity of the disease. The juice fast should be continued until the temperature comes down to normal. The warm water enema should be taken daily during this period to cleanse the bowels. After fever subsides the patient may adopt an all-fruit diet for two or three days. In this regimen, the patient should take three meals a day of fresh juicy fruits such as apples, pears, grapes, oranges, pineapple, peaches and melons at five-hourly intervals. Bananas or dried, stewed or tinned fruits however, should not be taken. No other food stuff should be added to the fruit meals, otherwise the value of the treatment will be lost. This may be followed by a further two or three days on fruits and milk diet. Thereafter, the patient may adopt a well-balanced diet of three basic food groups namely, (i) seeds, nuts and grains, (ii) vegetables, and (iii) fruits. Spices and condiments, and pickles, which make food more palatal and lead to overeating, must be avoided. Lemon juice may be used in salad dressing. Alcohol, tobacco, strong tea and coffee, highly seasoned meats, over-boiled milk, pulses, potato, rice, cheese, refined, processed, stale, and tinned foods should all be avoided.

Hypoglycaemia is a condition of low blood sugars. Ironically, it is aggravated by consuming too much sugar. Hypoglycaemia is usually caused by an excessive intake of refined carbohydrates and sugar foods. These substances cause the pancreas, the adrenal gland and the liver to lose their ability to handle the sugar properly. Other causes of low blood sugar are a tumour, disturbed functioning of the liver, pituitary gland or adrenal glands. Stress intensifies this condition as it weakens the adrenal glands and starts a faulty pattern of glucose intolerance.

Gout was at one time considered the disease of the rich, when in the West only the rich ate meat. The gout patient should avoid all purine and uric acid producing foods such as all meats, eggs, and fish. Glandular meats are especially harmful. The one who has gout should also avoid all intoxicating liquors, tea, coffee, sugar, white flour and its products and all canned and processed foods. Spices and salts should be used as little as possible.

Meditation involves training the mind to remain fixed on a certain external or internal location. All the mental faculties should be directed, without cessation, towards the object of meditation. It can be achieved by constant practice. It will be advisable to meditate on God or Atman as one becomes imbued with the quality of the object on which one meditates. Meditation will help create an amount of balance in the nervous system. This would enable the glands to return to a correct state of hormonal balance and thereby overcome the feeling of depression. Regularity of time, place and practice are very important in meditation. Regularity of practice conditions the mind to slowing down its activities. The most effective times for meditation are early dawn and dusk, when the atmosphere is serene and peaceful.

All drugs against hypertension without exception, are toxic and have distressing side effects. The safest way to cure hypertension is to remove the real cause. The natural way of dealing with it is to eliminate the poisons from the system which cause it. Persons with high blood pressure should always follow a well-balanced routine of proper diet, exercise and rest. Diet is of primary importance. Meat and eggs cause the blood pressure to rise more than any other food. The pressure is lowered and blood clotting diminished by partaking of a higher fruit content, lower protein and non-flesh diet. A natural diet consisting of fresh fruits and vegetables, instead of a traditional diet, is helpful in getting rid of the poisons from the body. A hypertension patient should start the process of healing by living on an exclusive fruit-diet for at least a week, and take fruits at five-hourly intervals thrice in the day. Oranges, apples, pears, mangoes, guava, pineapples, raspberry, water-melon are the best diet in such cases. Bananas and jack fruit should not be taken. Milk may be taken after a week of "fruits only"' diet. The milk should be fresh and should be boiled only once. The patient can be permitted cereals in his food after two weeks.