Healthy Food 4

For years, I struggled with emotional eating and didn’t know how to get out of it. You can read my full experience here. One of the things that helped me was to research through meal plans to create my own, which I made flexible enough so I wouldn’t starve (this is one of my biggest fears in this lifetime).

Most of the time, the reason we go on diets is about looks, our first goal being to lose weight. Then, we end up traumatizing some part of our beings, which perceive the experience of dieting as a punishment. This happens because the core intention behind our actions is rooted in non-acceptance and self-judgement. We are sending a message to ourselves that we are not good enough and that we must change because we are not loveable as we are. We are basically telling our body: “I don’t like you”.

So, concretely, after many failed attempts, I felt that it was much better to set this initial intention: to simply feel well in my body, mind and spirit. I chose to adopt a more holistic approach where I’d communicate with my emotions, my inner child and insecurities.

Because, as we tend to forget, food is deeply linked to emotions. Therefore, setting a constructive core intention is a must. It automatically makes other aspects of our existence fall into place because everything is interconnected. If we really want to make some changes in our lives, the intention needs to come from a space of brightness and motivation. 

In this context, after researching many ways to get out of my food addiction, I finally created a meal plan that was flexible enough and that helped me build a more harmonious relationship to food. Weight loss came as the cherry on top, a positive side effect of the lifestyle I started designing for myself.

 

THE MEAL PLAN

This meal plan is voluntarily very loose. This is to avoid traumas that could result in making things worse at some point. I also adopted three simple guidelines to help me put a bit of structure without being too harsh on myself.

1. Wait AT LEAST 2 hours and MAXIMUM 4 hours between your meals

This first tip is the one who helped me the most in my binge eating recovery. Thanks to this, you won’t experience the traumatic experience of being hungry and feeling punished; since you never allow yourself to starve, you get to reduce the snacking. This way, you’ll slowly start gaining trust in the fact that you won’t be hungry.

2. The possibility of 5 meals a day

This is also a way to help both the snacking and starvation problems. 5 meals is a possibility, and it isn’t mandatory – it is comforting for the mind and emotions, especially in the beginning, to know that you have the right to eat. Very often some of the meals merge and you will eat less than 5 times a day.

3. Not eating in the evening

Intermittent fasting is a method that has loads of proven benefits. Be flexible with yourself! Start by setting your personal deadline at 8 pm, then a bit earlier when you’re getting used to it.

I first told myself, in order to avoid trauma, that I can have something lighter at night if I am really hungry – this never happened though, but my mind needed to know that it had the choice.

MEAL PLAN

MEAL 1.

Between 10-12 AM.

Lighter breakfast.

Can be a smoothie, oatmeal, buckwheat, cold-pressed juice,…

MEAL 2.

Between 12 – 2 PM.

More consistent Breakfast/Lunch/Brunch.

If the light breakfast was a juice or smoothie, the lunch can be oatmeal/buckwheat,…

If this is the first meal of the day, it is more like brunch and usually, it can be more consistent, i.e. avocado/hummus toast combined with sweet potatoes, a salad or a juice, etc.

“People who eat earlier lunches drop pounds more easily”

MEAL 3.

Around 4 PM.

Snack.

fruit, cake, biscuit,…

MEAL 4.

Between 5-6 PM.

consistent meal – dinner. This is usually the biggest meal of the day.

Soup, baked potatoes, veggie burger, rice, pasta, etc.

MEAL 5.

Between 6-8 PM.

light snack – salad, raw banana ice cream; fruit cake (some kind of dessert)

Very often the 3 last meals merge into the last meal of the day, ideally around 5 or 6 PM. Of course, you adapt to the situation and sometimes it might happen that for example you wake up early and have breakfast at 10, Lunch at 2, then you can have a snack at 4 and dinner at 6 or 7.

If your first meal is around 12 or 1 (it will probably tend to be more like brunch), you might have a snack around 3 or 4 and dinner around 6.

You might also notice that, when you’re life is fulfilled with purposeful and selfless actions, you’ll feel less hungry. This is because love if the only real food for our soul.

The most important is to remember there is no strict rule to follow here – What I am sharing are just guidelines and you can adapt this plan to your own needs and personality.

If you need any inspiration for recipes, but also specific meal plans according to your special needs, I would like to mention a website that really helped me and where you can find various meal plans and vegan recipes. I was very much inspired by them! https://www.onegreenplanet.org/

Let’s finish this month’s article on some wise words: « Eat moderately. Eat with respect. Eat just to fulfil hunger. Eat for one time each time. Eat with awareness, listen to your body while you eat. Stop eating when the body says: ”NO!”. Eat consciously. » – Mohanji on Healthy Eating.

 

Author: Tea Klincov,  Mohanji Acharya

Her philosophy is to live one day at a time, second per second, feeling per feeling, breath by breath. She loves everything that has something to do with making the world a better place. She is an advocate of a conscious and low impact lifestyle, more in tune with nature and our true inner nature. https://www.facebook.com/good.vibes.sharing

Disclaimer : I am not a nutritionist and am sharing tips based on my personal experience. If you suffer from any ailment, you should visit a professional.

 

 

 

 

In the article published in previous number of The Awakening Times we highlighted the health problems caused by our own faults: consumption of milk and milk products; hybrid vegetables and genetically modified crops and cereals as staple food, highly potent toxins in the name of drugs, over use of drugs, contaminated water with plastics and other heavy metals, meat and meat products etc. We talked about food habits that affect the diseases like cancers and diabetes and how to improve our food habits.

In this article we talk about importance of consciously understanding and opt for right food which play a role in healing and eliminating the diseases and ailments. Find out what are those foods that must be our staple food.

A Revival of our Tradition and culture of Food, III part

There are several types of millets or otherwise called Chirudhanya or Trunadhanya now called as Siridhanya by Dr. Kadharvali. He did intense research and revived five types of millets which were all most in extinct stage. Among those five, three types are cultivating in different parts of South India especially in Andhra Paradesh, Telangana, Karnataka. In Kerala Chama or Sama (Little millet) is used once on an auspicious occasion known as Tiruvadira. Now most of the southern states started cultivating these millets and we can say that the Millets occupied their own space back.

MILLETS

There are so many grains all over the world using as main course of food. Among them:

Ragi or Finger millet

Jowar

Bajra/Sajja

Proso

Tiff

Maize

Corn

Quinoa

Foxtail/Italian

Kodo/Arka/Himalayan

Barnyard/Japanese

Browntop/American

Little millet/Sama etc

We lost all the natural seeds of those wealth grains. In India and in some parts of the world all the other grains are modified genetically. But by our luck here and there some farmers preserved the desi seeds and still cultivating.

We almost forgot our food habits and agriculture being adopted by our ancestors. Ragi has been the mainstream food in some parts of South India (AP, Karnataka, Telangana) Millets are not a temporary food instead they occupied the main course of food and in many diets all over the world and in India also. They were back they probably belong. Millets are healthy and wealthy substitute to rice and wheat largely due to their nutritional values and low glycemic index that makes them more suitable for diabetics. Millet not only a food but also provide therapeutic effect also because of low GI. Now this is the time to replace our diet and food with the super millets.

Above all, there are five millets to be used for healthy wellbeing. They not only provide nutrient but also medicinal properties they possess. These millets are categorized based on their Carbohydrate and Fibre ratio. They are:

Foxtail millet/Italian Millet

Kodo millet/Himalayan Millet

Barnyard millet/Japanese Millet

Browntop millet/American Millet

Little millet/African Millet

These five millets called Siridhanya or Rich/Wealthy millet because they cater all essential nutrients and also healing properties by Nature. By practical experience and research by Dr. Kadharvali (Dr. Kadharvali Revived all those lost millets again) and several others including myself can say is a very balanced food gives energy and health.

By nature, the grains are provided with carbohydrate interwoven with fiber and possess all other vital elements for our nourishment.  All the above mentioned rich millets or siridhanya the fibre content ranges from 8 to 12.5 percentage and carbohydrate content is in the range of 60 to 69 percent and the ratio is about between 5 to 8.8.

The foods whose carbohydrate ratio is below 10 are have shown healing properties. If we consume these foods, glucose is released into the blood in a regulated manner that means these foods offers slow and steady release of glucose into the blood and by this energy is generated in required amounts as and when needed. So, there would be no sudden shock of glucose in the blood and no diabetes. Release of glucose into the blood is determined by the dietary fibre present in the food grain. The ability to not release glucose more than the required quantity into the blood, the presence of nutrients and proteins make Siridhanyam or Rich micro millet extraordinary. When people with persistent non communicable ailments or diseases like diabetics, kidney ailments, blood pressure, heart ailments, malignancies etc., adopt eating these millets from six weeks to two years depending on their conditions they can get rid of their ailments and can lead a healthy life. The uniqueness of this millets is they not only offer dietary fiber but also healing effect of diseases and it meets the specific requirements of the body. The balanced availability of natural dietary fiber along with all essential nutrients, minerals, proteins etc., inherently makes Siridhanyam very special. In these millets the fiber is present from the core of the kernel to the outer layer which is encapsulated with carbohydrate, they fully enable in providing good health and this piece of information helps us in protecting our health. If we adopt eating these Siridhanya or Rich micro millet, bone marrow would be invigorated, and blood would be purified. Kodo millet offers cleansing of blood and blood related organs, kidneys, liver, good for diabetes. Foxtail millet offers health in nervous system and all nerve related problems and joint problems. Barnyard millet provides healing for liver and liver related ailments. Brown top millet act on gastrointestinal ailments, constipation, all nerve related ailments, joint related ailments etc. Little millet provides health to reproductive systems etc. Other disease conditions related to different systems in the body will get healed by this millets. Prevention is better than cure by choosing right food as staple food rather medications. There is no doubt these are A Nature’s gift. It’s a great boon to all of us to live a healthy life through our own age old food. One can eat all types of millets as mainstream food (major and minor millets).

For future generations, we must provide a healthy atmosphere for their healthy survival. We need to promote organic agriculture or ecofarming. Promote farmers for the cultivation of millets which is dry land farming. By this the farmer also benefited. A balanced ecosystem should be maintained. How we need to preserve our natural resources to our coming generations is a big question. But there is a simple way.

Adopting eco-friendly farming methods and cultivating our own staple food but not genetically modified rice or wheat.

For cultivating rice, we need approximately 6-8000 liters of water, for wheat 10,000 liters of water, for sugarcane 30-40000 liters of water, and meat and meat products about 50,000 liters of water. For the cultivation of millets, we need only 300 liters of water. So, if we adopt and promote cultivating millets as our mainstream of food we could save our natural water resources. This is a piece of information presented here. In later segment we can discuss about millet agriculture and its methodology in an elaborated way. By this we can reduce the effect of global warming. Present Food is the main cause of global warming and no one is interested to talk about this. We must protect our earth and resources provided by Nature and offer a disease less life for future generation through a balanced ecology and biodiversity. We must switch over to conserving culture than consuming culture.

I sincerely thank to Dr. Kadharvali for his intense research in revitalizing the lost grains and established it in prevention and eradication of different ailments. It triggered my research and observation turned to these millets rather on new chemical entities for new drugs for cancers. I could be able to see the evidence practically in so many people with various ailments. The information is not limited and in the present article it is mentioned that each and every issue is interconnected, and remaining topics will be published later.

 

LET THY FOOD BE THY MEDICINE – HIPPOCRATES

 

Author: Dr Sudha is founder of Anamaya Charitable Trust and Research Foundation in the Domain of Ethnopsychopharmacology – Drug development. She actively participates in Awareness programs on preventive Health care, Food and Nutrition, Yoga, Environment and Ecosystem. Currently doing research on a selected plant to prove as drug in Homeo System Through Anamaya (Trust) and Research Foundation.

The aim of this article is to present our current situation of different ailments and sufferings and the root cause of all these elements and how to curb the diseases and lead a happy and harmonious life on earth by keeping our ecosystem in balanced way. – A Revival of our Tradition and culture of Food.

First of all we need to have the knowledge about our past culture and tradition. What is staple food! Our staple food must be a Nutrient Rich food which not only fills our stomach but also gives all essential vital components which is required for our metabolism proper, health and ease in our life. In todays’ world it is the time to rethink on where we reached and where we are heading. In this context, we need to have a look at our previous years or ancient cultures and habits they followed and lived a smooth healthy life. When we look at our past, food and life habits occupy a major place. I would like to discuss briefly about our ancestral food heritage and because of these how the ecosystem is well maintained then.

Millets

When we are talking about our tradition and culture, it is not correct to talk about only two or three generations. Where I think we need to understand hundreds and thousands of rich heritage and culture which our ancestors followed. In olden years what might be the crops and foods they cultivated and consumed paved way to curb the present unwanted situation of diseases and ailments (non communicable) all over the world. Yes, I am discussing about the Millets also called Siridhanyam by Dr. Kadhar vali also known as Rich Grain or Rich Minor Millet. There is no doubt about that it is our oldest food grains ever known to humans. Millets are highly variable small seeded grass family widely indigenous to many parts of the world as cereal crops for food and fodder.  Coming to the crops and food grains I would like to mention our Puranas and Itihasas clearly mentioned in it the nature and type of food crops used. In Vishnu purana, a term Priyaangu is mentioned denoted as Korralu/Thina/Foxtail millet. In Story of Tirupati Blaji, Little millet or African millet was mentioned as it was given to Balaji by Vakuladevi to heal the wound (Little millet – Chama/Sama). Various types of millets have been mentioned in Yajurveda texts and in various scriptures. There was a discussion in Bible when Jesus and his disciples were on their mission to spread their beliefs and Christianity, it was mentioned about the food they had is the unleavened bread or roti made with the grain which was grown by absorbing the dew or mist from atmosphere and grow under 60 days. By this we can say the millet they used to have their bread is Browntop millet, certainly not the rice or wheat as these are not grown under 60 days and without large irrigation. This showed that from the ages millets have been on use. Millets have been cultivated and consumed by humans for about thousands of years and these occupied a major place of its own in cultivation as these crops grow well in semiarid tropics and are favourable for its production and short duration under dry land conditions. When we dig out the history of these grass family seeds, the cultivation of millets was greater prevalence in prehistoric period than rice and formed important parts of the prehistoric diet in Bharat, Chinese, Korean, African societies. Around 4000 BCE then population started cultivating millets as staple food. There are different types of small grains or millets cultivated. In India it was known that around 1200 BCE millet cultivation was happened. Different types of millets native Africa and many other had spread to South Asia and the domesticated varieties have been spread beyond their native area to different parts in the world. This is a very brief information of Rich Millets or cereals in the past age. This is because we must recall our past culture to revive our lives in a healthy manner rather a diseased. We forget about our ancient traditions which occupy a vital space in every aspect of life.

In course of time we forgot those practises which our ancestors practised. They led a quality value-oriented life. Today we are claiming the life span has been increased but what we observed is the quality and quantity of life is not in worth speaking.

Present Scenario

Now coming to present scenario, our food, health and lifestyle, health of the soil and earth, our environment etc heading towards where! We are moving against the Nature and forgot to live with Nature is the cause of present situation. What is the reason behind the rise in temperature on earths’ surface? We must get an answer. This is not a single issue but connected to every aspect of life on earth. All are well aware of present situation and some are started thinking about it. In each and every family one or more members are stuck by several diseases like dreaded cancer to diabetes etc., irrespective of age, gender etc. All parts of the world population are affected because of fast industrialized cultures, genetically modified crops, processed foods, fast food or junk foods culture, utilization of chemicals in the name of fertilization, pesticides, water in plastics, foods in plastics and aluminium, excessive use of drugs especially hormone related therapies, misleading information on hereditary diseases, contaminated drinking waters, drugs, consumption of mineral oils in the name of edible oils, excessive use or consumption of milk  and milk products of cross bread animals, hybrid crops, vaccination, meat and meat products etc.. etc.., the entire system has been changed drastically over a period of 70 years. Prior to this there is no utilization of chemicals in the soil and in foods also. Our own system of agriculture is totally wiped off. Now we all are living in highly commercialized economic model and different diseases also make fit into the economy model. This situation must be changed. We need to understand the position of our life and the health of earth is in an alarming condition. We lost our Rivers, and almost not only in India, but also in different parts of world, all the water bodies are contaminated and highly polluted by hazardous chemicals like glyphosates. In everywhere we are talking about development. But what we see is the construction of hundreds of multispecialty hospitals and number of hospitals has increased over the past 15 years, dialysis centres, infertility centres etc are the indication of development. According to WHO, Cancer- is the second leading cause of death globally and is responsible for an estimated 9.6 million deaths in 2018. Globally 1 in 6 deaths is due to cancer. Around one third of deaths from cancers are due to behavioural and dietary risks, lack of physical activity, alcohol, environmental pollution. Excessive unscientific utilization of drugs is one of main reason. The patient with one or more diseases suffering with the side effects of which he/she had undergone treatments rather the disease itself. The human race is going to face a serious situation in future if we continue like this. Because of the greed human beings destroying the environment in a large extent that in future we could not get the oxygen also. Rapid industrialization and industrialized products occupied a major space in our lives. We are living in chemical, eating chemical, cultivating chemical, producing chemical and everything is chemical that our soil also lost its fertility. We dispose everything which Nature supplied instead we deposited unwanted non disposable to the earth causing serious troubles to us and other animals and this is going to donate to our next generations.

 

To be continued…

In the next issue of Awakening Times  magazine we will highlight the problems caused by our own faults.

 

 

Author: Dr. Sudha is founder of Anamaya Charitable Trust and Research Foundation in the Domain of Ethnopsychopharmacology – Drug development

She actively participates in Awareness programs on preventive Health care, Food and Nutrition, Yoga, Environment and Ecosystem.

Currently doing research on a selected plant to prove as drug in Homeo System Through Anamaya (Trust) and Research Foundation.