How Food You Eat Determines your Energy Levels

The belly rules the mind. ~Spanish Proverb
We are all dietetic sinners; only a small percent of what we eat nourishes us; the balance goes to waste and loss of energy. ~William Osler

There are three important components involved in having a healthy life ~ Exercise, Rest and Food. You cannot ignore any of them in order to have a healthy life, but subject of this article is the role food plays in determining the energy levels we experience.
Role of Food
Most people like certain kinds of food depending on region and the food habits of the family they belong to. But the food you have been eating for years and are habituated to may not necessarily be healthiest option available. When we take food which are difficult to digest, the over activity of the digestive system induces lethargy and brings down the energy levels.

Usually food that are overcooked, or super refined or cooked with too much oil and spices slow down the digestion process. Bad thing about these food is, they will also stop the easily digestible food from being release from the stomach to the intestines, thus producing gas and acidity.

Some examples of difficult to digest foods are over cooked meat, especially pork, deep fried meats, milk, bread and thick gravy curries. Some other food to avoid are too much of hot pepper or chilli as these cause heartburn, more than one or two pieces of chocolates, ice creams, raw broccoli - use boiled version. Also Pizzas should be taken very occasionally, since they are great in taste but play havoc with your digestive system.

Include simple food in more quantity like, fruits and boiled vegetables in breakfast and see the difference. Use can also include boiled eggs and moderate quantity of rice and wheat chapati(Indian bread).

Another important factor is the quantity of the food. Unless you do very heavy exercise, just include food which fills your satisfies your hunger but still leaves some room for more. Have water after around 45 minutes of taking the food.

Just following these two tips - Simpler food and at reduced quantity will increase your energy levels and also you would remain alert all day and accomplish more. You will also feel less tired at the end of the day. I have followed this and seen the results and wouldn't you like to try it and see the results?

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Connection Between Fasting and Good Health

All religions understand the significance and importance of fasting in promoting the spirituality and therefore promote the concept of fasting. Fasting is so much part of major festivals that most religiously inclined people undertake fasting on certain period during the year.

Fasting has significance not only from spiritual perspective but also from health perspective. Many traditional health care system including Ayurveda recommend fasting as a part of healing process. Let us understand the health gains of fasting.

Fasting is useful in conditions of Arthritis, Asthma, High Blood Pressure, Chronic Fatigue, Colitis, Irritable bowel syndrome, paralysis and various nervous disorders. It is also believed to be useful in curing cancer though not much useful in cancer of the Liver. Longer fasting has more beneficial effect and the breathing becomes deeper. The taste buds get activated and work in a better fashion. Fasting improves the self control and thereby increases your self confidence.

How Fasting Works
Our body has a self healing mechanism and when we fast the metabolism comes at the optimum level. The immunity system and its constituents are charged. Fasting also eliminates the toxins from your body. The toxins which are present in the body get eliminated via cough, saliva, sweat and sometimes as vomiting and loose motion. This is the reason that frequently during longer duration of fasting of more than a day, bad smell starts coming from the mouth. Some people also feel like vomiting. These are symptoms of detoxification. Fat starts melting down, all the worries and negative energies accumulated in the cells also start coming out. If done properly you would end up energized and refreshed.

Precautions
Do not start a long fast all of a sudden. Start with a day and once your body adapts to this then you can do it once a week. Then after a few weeks you can do for two day fast. Initially you can avoid grains and continue to take raw vegetables and fruit and vegetable juices, fruits and water.

Do not take cooked vegetables, cereals and grains, bread, pasta or other processed food. Apart from these avoid egg, ice cream, meat fast food etc.

If you are suffering from diseases for a long time, suffering from diabetes, pregnant or breast feeding then do not start fast without consulting you doctor.

Benefits of Fasting

1. Improves the function of nervous system.


2. Increases the energy levels and increases the sensitivity.


3. Increases the energy levels of various organs.


4. Balances the cellular biochemistry.


5. Skin becomes softer and glow increases.


6. Improves the digestive system.


7. Increase the absorption ability of the intestines.


8. Increases mental clarity.


9. Healthy way to lose weight.

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Benefits of Fasting

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Benefits of Fasting

Fasting is one of the better ways to achieve good health. It is recommended in Naturopathy and Ayurveda to fast once in a while for maintaining your health and recovering from various diseases. Fasting is an important ritual in many of the religions like Hinduism, Jainism, Islam and almost all religions.

How Fasting works
There are various theories on fasting. The most popular theory is, that the digestive system gets well deserved rest during the fasting. This gives the body time to detoxify itself. The toxins accumulated in the tissues are flushed out and the body is rejuvenated. Also, the body burns the existing fat accumulated inside our bodies and supplies the energy, which helps in reducing the body fat.

Another aspect of fasting is the mental aspect. We all have craving for food, and especially the salty food on routine basis. When we undertake fast we have to control our cravings and it increases will power and determination in other fields also. It becomes easier not to buckle under pressure and take decision as per our principles. This is the reason that so many religion emphasize the importance of fasting.

I my view, the environment also benefits from fasting. Just imagine that the whole world does fasting for one time a week, how much food and energy will be saved. Millions of hungry people can fed with that food.

Types of Fasting
Fasting can be done in a different number of ways depending of the purpose and goal.

1. Complete Fasting where no food or water is taken for the period of fasting. This type of fasting is done more due to religious reasons. This type of fasting is more for spiritual progress.


2. In second type, solid food is not taken for 8-10 hrs and only water or juice is taken. This type of fasting is good for detoxification of the body.


3. Juice feasting or fasting is another type of fasting. Here the person takes freshly made fruit and vegetable juices for a prolonged period of time, which may range from 3 days to 3 months. No solid food is taken. I have read several reviews of this kind of fasting and it not only detoxifies but there are several beneficial effect on our thinking process also.


4. Fruit fasting may not be purely fasting but here the diet is restricted to fruits only. The thinking is since fruits are raw food they are better than cooked and processed food and provide some benefits of the fasting for people who cannot do complete fasting.

How to Practice Fasting
For normal people fasting can be done once a week. I will suggest food fasting. It is very simple. Just take a day of the week when you want to do fasting. On that day, after you get up in the morning do water therapy. This will help in easier detoxification. Then through out the day do not eat any solid food. If you want you can take fruit juice. You may feel that you have headache, but that is due to detoxification. Having juice will make it disappear. In the night or evening take light dinner. When you think that you will practice fasting for 10 weeks on a particular day of the week, you will find that there are lot of parties falling on that day of the week. I have seen that myself :). That is your real test.

It is recommended to have a fasting once a week or fortnight.

I have also tried juice fasting, where in I even bought an expensive juicer. But it is very much time consuming and not a very practical solution for most people. Steve Pavlina has written a lot on Juice Feasting. You can read his experiences here.

Benefits of Fasting

1. Increases determination.


2. Reduces fat and obesity.


3. Detoxification of the body happens. Provides rest to digestive system, kidney and liver. Brings a more youthful look if food is done once a week for one meal.


4. Calms down the mind.

Precautions

1. Those with weak bodies, or anemia should avoid fasts.


2. If you have ulcers in the stomach then consult your doctor before undertaking the fast.


3. If you are breaking the fast after a long time, take some liquid food like milk or juice first, then go to semi solid food like curd, boiled vegetables, and then gradually to cooked food.

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Sprouts - Food for Rejuvenation of Body and Mind
Fruit Breakfast - Healthy Way To Loose Weight

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Sprouts - Food for Rejuvenation of Body and Mind

Sprouts are one of the best food which is available to us. It is easy to grow, inexpensive and to top that is excellent for overall health. It is always consumed fresh therefore has all the useful enzymes, proteins which our body needs. It does not contain the harmful fat, and since it is easy to digest, not much energy is consumed in the digestion process, therefore the mind remains alert. What else would you expect from food?

How to grow Sprouts
Sprouts are easy to grow. Just take beans or lentils or seeds which you want to use and soak them in a bowl for 8 to 10 hours. Then take out the water and wash the seeds and drain the water. Keep these in a dark place for faster germination. After 5-6 hours again rinse them with water and drain out the water again. Each type of seed has its own germination time. Usually sprouting will start in 24 hrs.

Another way is to use a fine cloth. After the soaking, put the seeds in the fine cloth and hand the cloth in the kitchen. Keep on applying water the the cloth bag after 5-6 hrs.

I also use a food grade plastic sprout maker. After the soaking just seeds on the top container and fill it with water. There is a outlet which slowly drains out the water and here also the sprouting happens easily. Best part of using a sprout maker is they are easier to handle and convenient. Once you pour the top part with water you do not need to worry about applying the moisture as container will retain the moisture. You can also buy sprout makers which have multiple shelves, therefore you can have different seeds in different shelves.

Sprouts are Nutritious
Sprouts have the highest amount of nutritional value per ounce. They are abundant in various enzymes, Vitamin C, Vitamin B, digestible starch. Sprouts also have amino acids and proteins and best part is all these are available in a easily digestible form. Most of the bodily needs of different compounds are easily met with sprouts.

Save Time
Sprouts are the favorites of raw food enthusiasts. There are increasing number of people who are turning into raw food fans. Sprouts are one of the favorite food as it contains more nutrition than any one single vegetable. Just imagine the time and cooking energy it will save if most people turned towards raw foods. In case you do not like to have it raw just boil it with little salt and eat with some pepper.

Loose Weight
Since it does not contain harmful fat and in case we eat it raw, then we do not use the cooking oil, it leads to healthy weight loss. Also it relieves constipation as there is lot of natural fiber in it. Usually you will have to chew the sprouts more as compared to cooked food therefore the eating satisfaction will come earlier there by preventing you from overeating.

How to start eating Sprouts
In case you cannot see yourself eating sprouts for the meal, then make it as the starter, or breakfast. Gradually you will start liking the taste and when you see the benefits you will automatically be drawn towards this. There are lots of seeds to choose from for sprouts. My suggestion is to start with the seed which you use more in day to day life. For example you can go for Moong (Chinese pea) or any other lentils. Then try to experiment with other seeds. For me such type experiment is always fun and you never know when you will come across a food which was genuinely missing from your gastronomic life.

From Yogic point of view also it is a good food and it prevents lethargy and overeating. Include a healthy proportion of sprouts and see the results.

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Fruit Breakfast - Healthy Way To Loose Weight

It has been mentioned we should have breakfast like kings, lunch like queen and dinner like pauper for good health. Most of us follow the advice for the breakfast but forget to follow it for lunch and dinner :)

Though eating a raw fruit breakfast, does not exactly match eating like a king, but it does have lots of benefits which should convince you to try out raw fruit or vegetable breakfast.

Most of us consume more energy that it is required and most of the people I know do not follow any kind of physical exercise, and as they grow older, they keep on getting unfit and becoming prone to diseases. Fruit breakfast will leave you focused, alert and energetic till your lunch time. One more benefit of fruit breakfast is the natural cleansing which happens as a result of fiber that goes in. Eating fruits like apple which have fiber also helps curing constipation as it helps in peristaltic movements.

Having a raw breakfast starts your day on the right note. Consuming fruits and vegetable in their raw form, ensures that we are high on energy levels through out the day. Eating cooked diet, especially the oily stuff which we love to gorge upon, makes us sluggish, and put more pressure on the digestive system. Body has to spend more energy in digesting processed stuff which makes us sluggish. Fruit is being eaten by human beings from time immemorial and our digestive system is better equipped for fruits and vegetables.

In Hindu traditions, normally a diet of fruits and milk is advised for those who fast on festival days. This provides required amount of energy and keeps the mind alert. Similarly having a raw breakfast keeps our minds fresh and is a great way to start the day. Eating a raw diet needs more chewing and therefore more saliva is secreted which is good for digestion and also reduces the need for consuming more food to satiate ourselves. In an earlier post on Food from Yogic Perspective, I mentioned about the importance of having Satvik (which enhance purity and stillness of mind) food. Fruit breakfast can be considered to be recommended food for yogis.

How to maintain the balance?
Fresh fruit like apples, grapes, bananas, pears, oranges, guava, oranges, strawberries, cherries, are all great to have in breakfast. It is better to have more than one type of fruit supplement with a nuts like almond & cashews and glass of milk. You can also replace milk with fresh curd or yogurt. Another excellent thing to add is the sprouts which are full of vitamins and minerals. I will write about sprouts in more details later.


Can Juice Be Replacement for Fruits?
Is drinking a glass of juice same as eating the fruit? The answer is no. Usually when we drink juice it the pulp is missing, therefore we miss out on various beneficial things like fiber which is in the fruits. Also when people consume juice mostly they take packed juices which are pasteurized and lot of preservatives are added to enhance the shelf life. This reduces the food value in them. Also juice will make you hungry sooner as it will get absorbed sooner in the intestines.

Benefits of Fruit Breakfast In Brief

1. Take fruit breakfast for a month and you will definitely loose weight in case you are obese.


2. Keeps you more energetic and you feel alert and light.


3. Keeps you healthier and relieves constipation.


4. Enhances digestion and reduces food craving as we need to chew more while eating a fruit.


5. Saves cooking time

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Food from Yogic Perspective.

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Types of Food from Yogic Perspective

In the last post titled Wonders of Garlic, I wrote about how garlic can be used for curing various ailments. Someone rightly pointed out that Garlic is a Tamasic food which is not good for Yogic journey, but my intention was to point out its benefits from the point of Ayurveda and health care.

In the "Bhagwad Gita" the most famous scripture on Hinduism which has been dictated by Lord Krishna the supreme Yogi, there is mention of various categories in which food can be divided. Type of food we consume determines our temperament and outlook on life. In the chapter 17, verses 8, 9 & 10 Sri Krishna describes the food which should be consumed or avoided.

Food which promote life, vitality, strength, health, happiness and satisfaction; which are succulent, juicy, nourishing and pleasing to self should be consumed. These are known are Saatvik food.

According to the Bhagavad Gita, foods which are too bitter, sour, salty, pungent, dry, and hot can lead to pain, distress, and disease of the body.

Foods which are tasteless, stale, putrid, decomposed and unclean should be avoided by spiritual aspirants and those who seek excellent physical and mental health.

These are considered to be Tamasic food which leads to various vices like anger, greed and passion.

Although there is no unanimity regarding milk and other dairy products, they are still considered to be better than meat products.

Usually food consisting of sprouted beans and cereals, leafy vegetables, ripened fruits are good for yogic and spiritual growth.

My Personal Experience

Although I do eat meat, that is mainly because of cultural background, I come from. As I am into Yogic journey, I have a urge to avoid eating meat, I am planning to quit non vegetarian food gradually. I belong to Bengali ethnic group which resides in Eastern state of India called West Bengal and Bangladesh. Bengalis have been meat eaters traditionally and even the priest cast to which I belong have been eating meat. Usually, Brahmins, which is a priest cast in India does not eat meat. I feel this is mainly due to earlier prevalence of animal sacrifice in Bengal famous for Tantrik style of worship. Therefore people used to eat the meat which was offered to gods. Although the animal sacrifice is now very less seen now a days, but people continue to eat meat. In fact in Bengali marriages, a big fish is a gift compulsorily presented to other side.

Vivekananda, the great Hindu Sage of last century, advocated that certain castes should eat small quantities of meat so that they can perform more physical activities and also defend the country. Vivekanada used to consume fish, so did his master Sri Ramakrishna Paramhansa. Gautama the Buddha also ate meat; in fact he is supposed to have died when piece of pork got struck in his throat. I think so they were so much spiritually advanced that external entities did not affect them. Tibetans also consume meat because in the harsh climates of the Tibetan plateau not vegetation grows.

I personally feel that Non vegetarian food is not good for health as well as for spiritual progress. It is not easy to digest compared to vegetarian food, and in India non vegetarian food is cooked with lots of spices which is more harmful to the body instead of nourishing.

As per Bhagwad Gita, food should also be offered to god to make it Saatvik. Any food we consume without dedicating to god is sinful and equivalent to theft. We should be thankful to god for proving us the food we eat and dedicating the food is saying "Thank you God".

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