DRK’S NEWS LETTER Issue 036

DRK’s News Letter

Issue No: 36

August, 2020

FOOD AS MEDICINE…..

“When diet is wrong, medicine is of no use. When diet is correct, medicine is of no need” - Ayurvedic Proverb

“Living creatures are nourished by food, and food is nourished by rain; rain itself is the water of life, which comes from selfless worship and service.” -Bhagavad Gita

“The wise man should consider that health is the greatest of human blessings. Let food be thy medicine, thy medicine shall be thy food.” – Hippocrates

“The aim of medicine is to prevent disease and prolong life, the ideal of medicine is to eliminate the need of a physician.” - - William J Mayo

Food is Medicine is a term which was originally coined by Hippocrates, the father of Western medicine; it was his belief that eating wholesome food is the basis for good health. Hippocrates said almost 2500 years ago “Leave your drugs in the chemist's pot if you can heal the patient with food.".

Email: drkaarthikeyan@gmail.com Website: www.goodgovernance.in www.lifepositive.com

Message from Sadhguru Shri Jaggi Vasudev, ISHA

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Using food as medicine starts by changing your approach to food from that of restriction to introduction—of an abundance of the right foods. Take on the role of a scientist and become an expert on the study of your own body and find out what makes it tick.

Most of us are conditioned to think that taking a pill out of a bottle will make us feel better. We don't generally think that fresh vegetables and fruit count toward healing. But it's true, food is the most powerful drug we have.

Why these periodic long newsletters?

It all started with my writing brief letters to my daughter Kanchana living in Melbourne, who desired to know about my constant travels and activities.

Encouraged by her response, the letters became longer and reached more and more well-wishers.

I was further encouraged by receiving complimentary comments from different walks of life, including celebrities like Sadhguru Shri Jaggi Vasudev, the Hon’ble Vice President of India Shri Venkaiah Naidu, former Prime Minister Dr. Manmohan Singh, eminent Agro Scientist Prof. M S Swaminathan, Iconic entrepreneur Dr. Ratan Tata, eminent Industrialist Dr Venu Srinivasan, Universally respected health expert Dr BM Hegde, Chairman of the most successful and fastest growing Star Health Insurance company Mr V Jagannathan and the Chairman of the world’s largest Emergency

Ambulance Service GVK-EMRI 108 Dr GVK Reddy.

I wrote one newsletter after my participation in an ISRO event delivering the Dr. Abdul Kalam Memorial Oration and staying in their campus for a couple of days at ISRO HQ at Bangalore. The Chairman of ISRO appreciated that letter on functioning of ISRO and circulated it to several thousands of ISRO employees.

Mr Ganesh Mathur, a very senior functionary in the World Bank, Washington informed me “I find your newsletter of immense value. So I have forwarded the same to the United Nations – World Bank– IMF India Club, the UN Worldwide India Club and has reached over 3870 Senior Officers around the Globe.”

Many informed me that they have shared the contents with their colleagues, associates, students and employees. Encouraged by such positive response, I continue the practice of sharing my experiences, though the newsletters can be lengthy at times depending on the subject matter.

So far 35 Newsletters have gone out on various themes of relevance and interests. Now they reach several thousands around the World!

So why the subject "Food As Medicine"?

Today I can claim to be totally cured of 30 years of diabetes. With only Food As Medicine, besides regular walking in the

With Hon'ble President of India Shri Ramnath Kovind

With Hon'ble Shri Narendra Modi

DRK’S NEWS LETTER | Issue 036 3

sun, and Nano Curcumin of turmeric, plenty of citrus and other fruits, and vegetables in addition to regular practice of yogasanas learnt from great masters, pranayama and meditation learnt over the years from various established systems.

It is a long story known to many, how I was persuaded to agree to the request from the highest levels of Government of India to take up the Rajiv Gandhi Assassination Investigation which was thought insolvable by most at that time, and that came with unprecedented challenges and enormous security risks.

I had to work 20 hours a day, 7 days a week, all the whole 12 months without any breaks. Tremendous stress and tension was caused by several factors. There were hundreds of legal issues to be handled day to day in higher courts. We had to save the investigation and trial from the manipulations of the accused, their supporters and, and many busy bodies including politicians of various hues.

I remained undeterred by constant threats to my life by the most deadly terrorist organisation in the world at that time. There was constant travel between Chennai, Hyderabad, Delhi dealing with two high powered Commissions of enquiry. Also the preparation of thousands of objects of evidence and several thousands of pages of documents for the trial of the

century in the TADA courts. All this stress resulted in my being diagnosed as having diabetes, by the time we filed the charge sheet against the accused in the TADA court.

That was three decades ago. Even thereafter I had to handle two full time jobs in the CBI- Central Bureau of Investigation and the CRPF-Central Reserve Police Force, the largest paramilitary organisation in the World fighting insurgency, terrorism, naxalism and ensuring internal security.

Even otherwise I had not had a smooth sailing in my life. I have gone through tragedies in my family. Many challenges in my hectic official life being entrusted with more than one full time job most of the time.

I was on medication of all sorts including insulin for a long period. I did however try to keep up yoga, gym, swimming and walking, though not very regularly in view of constant travel commitments and heavy responsibilities.

In the last couple of years, I am totally free off any allopathic medicines and insulin, taking only herbal supplements twice a day.

I attribute it totally to my regulated life style of yogasanas, increased pranayama and meditation and more than anything else by treating Food as Medicine-eating the right food at the right time and in right quantities.

In the last few months I have further improved my health and never felt better.

With Hon'ble Vice President of India Shri Venkaiah Naidu and Governor of Tamil Nadu Hon’ble Shri Banwarilal Purohit

With Hon'ble Minister for Ayush Shri Shripad Naik

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Recently during the lockdown, I have been following Breath Mindful Meditation-Aana Pana Sati a vital component of Vipassana, with which Lord Buddha attained Enlightenment.

My breakfast consists of sprout and salad-a normal simple vegetarian lunch of millets, greens, vegetables and pulses-and for dinner I have only fruits including banana and mango.

I feel naturally pleasantly surprised when even high functionaries and many participants in the ongoing countless webinars compliment me that I look calm, healthy and 10 to 20 years younger than my actual age of 80+!

We are all aware that impermanence is the only reality – truth. Everyone born on the planet has to go one day. Otherwise there will be no place for the new arrivals.

The idea is not at all to prolong one’s life-but to lead a healthy life as long as we are destined to live and to be happy and useful. To a large extent it is in our own hands. We create our own health and destiny!

So I thought why not I share with all that food alone can act as medicine, both preventive as well as curative. Hence this humble effort!

Ancient scriptures and books from India and many parts of the world contain enormous material on the various aspects of good health.

Modern research both in the west and the east also have come out confirming the validity of the ancient traditions and teachings of value of food as medicine.

Using food as medicine starts by changing our approach to food from that of restriction to introduction—of an abundance of the right foods. Take on the role of a scientist and become an expert on the study of our own body and find out what makes it tick.

“Tell me what you eat, and I will tell you what you are." The words of the 18th century French epicure Jean Anthelme Brillat-Savarin hold true even today in more ways than we can imagine.

Ayurveda goes a step further to say “You are what you digest, If digestion is strong, we can turn poison into nectar, but if digestion is weak, we can turn nectar into poison.”

We will learn how to eat simply in accordance with the right time and nature support to maximize our health and well being. Daily habits and patterns will give us enormous long-term benefits along with short term tangible gains. The body is intelligent and self regulating and healing if we support and not hinder its functioning. It is also essential to remember we are a composite of body, mind, emotions and consciousness, all layers affect and influence each other. Why wouldn’t we give ourselves the best chance to thrive rather than just survive?

At the Vipassana Meditation Centre, Hyderabad, 1992

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Food is Life

Gurudev Sri Sri Ravi Shankar Padma Vibhushan Awardee (www.artofliving.org) Food is one of the main sources from which we gain energy. Not only that, the kind of food we have influences our mind, thoughts and behavior. There is an ancient saying in India - “as is the food, so is the mind”.

The debate on 'why it is good to be a vegetarian' has long been settled. People all over the world have started understanding that human physiology is made for a vegetarian diet. The internet is full of information on why eating meat is not good for both one's own health or the environment. There is plenty of very disturbing footage also available on what treatment animals are subjected to in slaughterhouses, like the documentary 'Meet your Meat'.

Sadhguru Jaggi Vasudev Padma Vibhushan Awardee (www.ishafoundation.org) Your body is just an accumulation of the food that you have eaten, after it has been transformed and assimilated. There is a certain intelligence, memory, and genetic code in the body that determines what the food that you eat is converted into. For example, the same apple, depending on

who eats it, becomes part of the body of a woman, a man, or a cow.

So, do not make food some kind of a religion. If it is a question of survival, eat what is available. But when survival is taken care of, there is a choice. When you have a choice, you must eat sensibly, what is best for your system. The ideal fuel for your body is what leaves you alert, agile, and active. You could experiment. One day, just eat fruits; another day, just eat raw vegetables; yet another day, you cook the vegetables. If you are interested in your wellbeing and that of your children,

you must ensure that the food you eat is fresh. With what kind of food you are experiencing maximum levels of energy and alertness, please eat that, and you will be healthy.

Brahmarishi Patriji Founder, Pyramid Spiritual Societies Movement Promoter of Aana Pana Sati Meditation (www.pssmovement.org) • Human physical bodies are meant only for “plant-based food”. Humans are herbivorous animals, not carnivorous.

• Again, in the process of cooking, MICROWAVE should never be used! When you use MICROWAVE, the vibrations in foods are killed, and it is as if you are ingesting energetically “DEAD FOOD”.

• And FOOD should always be cooked just before the time of eating. Only freshly cooked food should be ingested.

With Gurudev Sri Sri at AOL Ashram, Bangalore

With Sadhguru Shri Jaggi Vasudev at ISHA Coimbatore

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Refrigerators are not meant for storing cooked foods but only to preserve Vegetables/Fruits.

• FRUITS are really the best possible foods – spiritual foods – medicinal foods! RAW VEGETABLES and FRESH VEGETABLE JUICES and FRUIT JUICES detoxify the otherwise toxified human bodies.

• We have toxified our respective physical systems by having toxic foods and we are here to reverse the process by ingesting only detoxifying foods by eating only FRUITS/VEGETABLE SALADS.

‘FOOD AS MEDICINE’ Dr. GBK Rao, Pragati Green Meadow (www.pragatiresorts.com)

FOOD HABITS & THE ENVIRONMENT:

• Healthy thoughts – Healthy food habits

• Healthy food habits – Healthy farming

• Healthy farming – Healthy Environment

• Healthy environment - Healthy five elements

• Healthy five elements – Healthy living beings

• Healthy living beings – Healthy ecology

• Healthy ecology – Wealthy living • Wealthy living – Happy living • Happy living – Peaceful living

Right food habit is the secret of our Health and the PLANET.

Dr B M Hegde, Padma Bhushan Awardee, Universally Respected Health Expert (www.bmhegde.com)

As Ayurveda rightly says "Hitha, Mitha, Aahaara Sevi" - food has to be both good and pleasing. One must enjoy eating food when hungry. Eating food when not hungry is an important cause of disease. Periodic intermittent fasting is good for health. That can be included in our routine food habits. For example, one can finish the last meal of the day in the early evening and then fast overnight before breakfast giving oneself more than 12 hours of fasting daily and the food must be full of varieties of fresh vegetables and fruits.

Dr HR Nagendra, Padma Shri Awardee, Chancellor, SVYASA Vivekananda University, (www.svyasa.edu.in)

Food is ‘life’ of all living beings. The traditional texts say that the food that supports life should combine right

With Brahmarishi Shri Patriji at Great Pyramid, Cairo, Egypt

With Dr GBK Rao at Pragati Meadows, Hyderabad

DRK’S NEWS LETTER | Issue 036 7

quantities of color (varna), smell (gandha), taste (rasa) and touch (sparsha), pleasing to one’s mind and prepared and /or processed in a proper way with love. Therefore Aahaara itself is called Praana or life.

Aahaara is also considered to be the best medicine (Mahaa-Bhaishajya). Many life style disorders and diseases occur due to faulty dietary habits which may be prevented by proper Aahaara and eating habits.

Krishna in Bhagavad Gita (most popular Yogic text) says, Saatvika Aahaara (freshly cooked, juicy, wholesome, vegetarian diet that has moderation in spices, variety, quantity and frequency) when consumed will bring about clarity of mind (Sattva Shuddhi). When the mind is clear and is free of blemishes, the memory power (smriti) increases, emotions are under control and cognitive efficiency improves.

Aacharya Charaka gives a beautiful concept about Aahaara. Aahaara not only nourishes this body but also contributes to several diseases; If wholesome food (Hita Aahaara) is responsible for Sukha (happiness, health), the unwholesome food (Ahita Aahaara) causes Duhkha (misery, disease). He also says that Aahaara or food is the best component of lifestyle that sustains life.

After 5 decades of research, modern medical science has clearly recognized the need for lifestyle change that has four major components: (a) personalized wholesome regime of diet (b) good habits

(sleep hygiene, abstinence from addictive substances, screen and/or work addiction) (c) regular exercise and (d) freedom from stresses. Today, there is enough scientific evidence for the role of proper Aahaara that has all these components of varna, rasa, gandha, sparsha as described in traditional Indian texts, for prevention and management of lifestyle diseases, both communicable and non- communicable, where medicines and formulations can only be supportive or emergency therapies.

Dr S V Balasubramaniam, Progressive Agriculturist, Industrialist, Educationist (www.bannari.com)

• “People are fed by the food industry, which pays no attention to the health, and are treated by the health industry which pays no attention to food”. The famous quote by Wendell Berry seems to be appropriate in describing a picture of our current lifestyle and the role of food in it.

• The right food will shape our physical, mental, and emotional well-being. A poor diet has been a singular reason for stress-induced hypertension, obesity, and diabetes mellitus. We have a tradition where food was eaten like medicine, but now we are taking medicine like food.

• In order to reduce the risk of human, animal, and environmental issues, the adoption of organic farming is a crying need to improve soil fertility, soil structure, biodiversity, conserve water,

With Dr BM Hegde

With Dr H R Nagendra

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reduce soil erosion, and balancing ecology

• Excessive use of pesticides kills insects and makes lands barren. Even grass, a fodder, turns poisonous to domestic animals. Pesticides have proved to be more harmful than pests as those destroy the nutrition sources which finally disrupt the food chain and significantly devastate the agrarian economy of the nation.

• The application of chemical fertilizers and pesticides on the soil and plants gets into food. Therefore, we must first heal the agricultural land

• Excessive use of chemical pesticides resulted in residues of chemicals in the agricultural products, which will end up in the consumer’s plate

• Therefore, Bio-safety is an important concern in the production of food products. The only way to achieve Bio-safety is to practice organic farming for crop production using organic fertilizers and pesticides

• As compared to a longer time conventionally grown food, organic food is much richer in nutrients. The nutritional value of a food item is determined by its mineral and vitamin content. Organic farming enhances the nutrients of the soil which is passed on to the plants and animals.

K Ramasamy, Chairman RK Nature Cure Home, Industrialist, Agriculturist (www.rknature.com)

Even according to the famous Tamil Classic Thirukkural written over 2000 years ago by the saint Thiruvalluvar, Food is Medicine.

He says there is no need for medicine if one eats only after making sure that what has been eaten is digested fully. Only suitable food is to be eaten that too after experiencing good hunger. Further He explains, those who eat less will enjoy good health and those who indulge in too much food will always be unhealthy.

80% of the health problems are due to food, ie., overeating, eating improper food, untimely food, eating too frequently. Therefore, 80% of the diseases can be either avoided or cured simply by food.

By fasting, we can heal many diseases. The fundamental principle of Naturopathy is, our body has the ability to heal itself. We only have to provide conditions for it to heal itself. The disease is mostly due to toxins getting deposited in the body. To dislodge the toxins, fasting is the main method. If we do fast, all energy required

With Dr S V Balasubramaniam

With Shri K Ramasamy

DRK’S NEWS LETTER | Issue 036 9

for digestion is diverted towards the removal of the toxins. Once the toxins are removed, health returns.

There is a saying, those who eat three times a day is ROHI – means diseased, those who eat two times a day is BOHI- means overindulge and those who eat one time a day is YOGI.

Dr E Sreedharan – Padma Vibhushan, popularly known as Metro Man (www.delhimetrorail.com)

Bhagwat Gita is an administrative gospel enjoining right values in life. It categorises food and food habits into three.

1. Sattvik (Righteous type)

2. Rajasic ((Belligerent nature)

3. Tamasic (Devilish)

These are described in Slokas 8 to 10 of Chapter 17 of Bhagwat Gita.

Food items that are delicious, soothing, sustaining and pleasing to the heart are said to be Sattvik. They enhance longevity, spiritual strength, health, happiness and contentment.

Rajasic food items are extensively bitter, sour, saline, extremely hot, pungent, dry and burning. They cause suffering, grief and disease.

Tamasic food items are those cooked unduly earlier, tasteless, stinking, stale, leftover by someone after eating and

impure. These are relished by people of Tamasic temperament.

There is another Sloka No.18 in Chapter 6 which emphasises the need for moderation in food and food habits.

Bhagavat Gita does not proscribe non-vegetarian food but our heritage is “Ahimsa paramodharma” meaning, non-injury is the highest form of righteousness. If we have to adhere to the principles of Ahimsa, one has to be a strict vegetarian so that no injury is caused to a living being.

Dr Salila Tiwari, Naturopath, Champion of holistic health (www.drsalilanaturopath.com)

Ayurveda says, “There is no medicine like diet. It is only through regulation of diet that human beings can be healthy forever”.

Many kinds of disease can be supported and or treated by diet because the main cause of disease is malnutrition in the body, which in turn leads to certain deficiencies and hence diseases.

The reasons behind this malnutrition could be wrong diet, excessive diet or unnatural diet – due to which many vitamins and minerals deficiency surface in our body; proper removal of foreign matter gets affected and our immunity power starts diminishing. The Pranashakti or Vital

With Dr E Sreedharan

Dr Salila Tiwari

DRK’S NEWS LETTER | Issue 036 10

Force of the body is deprived of proper energy to execute the functions of the physical body and all its components, on one hand, and functioning of the endocrine glands, on the other. Due to this, all other functions of the body get disturbed and finally, weakened. Repair, rejuvenation and enhancement of the body come to a halt, leading us to fall sick.

In case of chronic ailment, one can bounce back to health with the help of largely alkaline fruits, greens and vegetables, their juices and sprouts. Regular consumption of such vegetables and fruits with some special properties, like lemon, amla, alfalfa, carrots, orange, barley, wheat, onion, ginger, garlic, turmeric etc., have immense medicinal properties. These carry the potency to cure all diseases. A predominantly alkaline fruit-vegetable juice intake can cure even a most incurable disease like cancer.

Bitter gourd juice is good for diabetic patients. They can really be benefitted by taking sprouts of alfalfa along with lemon, gooseberry juice, raw turmeric etc. Drumsticks and their leaves are considered superfood. Ragi also benefits a lot. Sprouted fenugreek is particularly beneficial in diabetes and joints pain. Berries, guava, papaya also distribute benefits of their special properties. Omega-3 available in flaxseed and soyabean is very beneficial.

Similarly, for cancer patients, wheat grass juice, carrot juice and grape juice have special benefits. Raw garlic is very

important, especially in the problems of high blood pressure, heart disease, high cholesterol, obesity, joints pain etc. An element called 'allicin' in garlic keeps the blood thinner.

All the grains can be sprouted and taken daily, like grams, mung beans, Alfalfa etc. Dry fruits like figs, dates, apricots, raisins, and all the nuts and seeds like almonds, walnuts, cashewnuts, pistachio, chestnuts, and seeds like sesame, sunflower pumpkin, melon ,cucumber seeds should be soaked to make them live and more potent .They are great source and bounty of countless minerals and cure many Diseases and great food.

Dr O P Tiwari, Director Kaivalyadhama, Oldest Yoga Research Centre (www.kdham.com)

The food should be not only nutritious but tasty also & 1/4 of the space in stomach should be left empty for liquids & gases. Further, food must be taken after giving thanks to provider & eaten with peaceful mind.

The satvik food gives peace to the mind & keeps other body functions in control (Like: BP& cardiac conditions under control) i. e. why they have recommended good grains (Like: wheat, rice, barely & sastika (a special variety of rice), cows ghee, milk, sugar candy, honey, dry ginger, the patolaka fruit (paravara - a kind of cucumber) the five leafy vegetable, green gram & rain - water collected when sun is in magha (the 10th lunar mansion) etc., are considered to be wholesome food. Further, It is advised the food should not be heated

Dr O P Tiwari

DRK’S NEWS LETTER | Issue 036 11

again & again. Excess of salt & sour should be avoided. Further, in short they say food should be healthy, tasty, nutritious which supports tridhatus & a person must like it i.e. in brief is recommended by (Hathapradipika).

Nayaswami Jyotish, Spiritual Director, Ananda Sangha Worldwide, USA (www.anandasangha.org) Paramhansa Yogananda said, “Health does not mean mere existence. Keeping out of the hospital is not health. To be able to resist disease, to bear strain, to stimulate mental vitality, and to feel the body as a luxury, as a child does, is health.”

Here are some keys that he suggested to help achieve this:

Right Diet including lots of fresh fruits, vegetables, and whole grains draws prana into the body. Fasting one day a week also cleanses the system and eliminates toxins. Regular exercise is important. This can be as vigorous or gentle as you are able, but one should try to break into a sweat so that the heart rate is accelerated.

Sun-bathing in which you consciously draw the ultraviolet rays of the sun into your body facilitates healing and protects the body from disease. Balanced

living which includes sufficient time for rest, exercise, work, family time, and reading keeps the different pranas in the body in optimum harmony for good health.

Meditation and feeling our oneness with the Divine Source of all creation calms and expands our consciousness so that we are not subject to debilitating negative thoughts, worries, and fears. Regular meditation also helps us to be more responsive to the healing power of God.

Radiant health is much more of a choice than most people realize and can be put under our conscious control.

Dr. Jacob Vadakkanchery, Naturopath, (www.naturelifeinternational.com)

The best way to stay clear of disease is not having exotic health insurance policies or regular hospital visits for check-ups but minding your bites: making the right choice of food is the safe, sure and cheapest way to health and happiness.

In simpler words, disease is the symptom felt as a result of the inability of the organs to function properly.

The fact that a single cell can grow into an adult with trillions of cells are awe-inspiring. Everyday around 50 to 70 billion cells die in an average adult body. This creates a necessity for the body to make

With Nayaswami Jyotish and Devi and Shri Rajnikanth

Dr Jacob Vadakkancherry

DRK’S NEWS LETTER | Issue 036 12

new cells. In addition to this, regular metabolic activities must take place to keep the body from decaying. For this, the body requires a constant supply of food. Thus, it is evident that the food is a raw material and the body is a product. Therefore, disease is nothing but the poor product quality. For this the raw materials must be of good standard, and the production equipment and method must be correct.

Diseases that are not inborn, that is the acquired diseases, develop due to the poor quality of raw materials, which results in a faulty product. In other words, the unfortunate consequences of unhealthy food appear as ill health of the consumer.

Sunyogi Umashankar, Universal Peace Foundation, Lachipur, WB (www.sunyogainda.org)

Food is one of the basic elements that sustain our life. Normally we take food a few times a day and it builds our body, gives us energy, health and pleasantness. Sometimes it happens that after taking food our body weakens, energy is drained, and we feel tired. This situation we can say that food acted as poison. Medicine we can not take every day but proper taking food every day will act as a medicine.

Our meals should be taken following the body organ clock. We should fix our meals

in the following times to get maximum digestion, absorption and elimination from food. Dinner should be taken between 5 p.m. and 7 p.m. It is very important to have a gap of at least two or three hours between a meal and going to sleep. Reason for that is if we go to sleep before that at the same time our sleep will block our digestion process and our digestion will block our sleep process. So the result will be big drainage of energy from our body.

Our body naturally knows how much food is necessary and will bring energy, health and pleasence. Excess food will consume a big amount of enzymes which will put stress on our organs which produce those enzymes and will drain our energy and create lethargy. If we take with awareness we will feel content with the amount we have eaten and the body will feel light and ready to continue our work.

If we can do proper meditation, we will find a different kind of inner satisfaction replacing that derived from our bad eating habits; it will be easier to drop the old habit, effortlessly. Sun Meditation can bring the best out of taste and experiences by giving the best of nectar from within. In this way, we will be less attracted to our bad habits and thus will be able easily to avoid them, and so the change will happen naturally.

With Sunyogi Umasankar

With Dr Hansa Yogendra

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Dr. Hansa Yogendra, Director The Yoga Institute, Santacruz - oldest organized centre of Yoga in the world (www.theyogainstitute.org)

It has been scientifically proved that food where the mind is present, gets assimilated and absorbed quickly. So ensure that you put all your awareness into your food and abstain from talking while eating. Because if the food is not digested and converted into energy properly, all the storage diseases take place, for example, cholesterol and obesity.

Learn to listen to your body and fine-tune yourself to it. If your body feels hungry or thirsty, only then eat or drink. Try not to sit at the table, just because the clock says, ‘meal-time.’

We should consider ourselves to be lucky that we access to all the Indian spices and herbs right from our kitchen. Spices have been used for generations by humans as food and to treat ailments. The turmeric that we use in our everyday cooking can increase the antioxidant capacity of the body. Cloves have anti-inflammatory and anti-bacterial properties. That’s why it has been recommended to keep a piece of clove in your mouth if you have any toothache. Cinnamon is diabetes friendly and can help to reduce the symptoms of insulin resistance. Cumin helps to control blood pressure. All the spices have some or the medicinal properties that help to improve our overall health.

Kanchana, Yoga and Reset teacher, Melbourne (emailkanchi@gmail.com)

How we eat is perhaps the most important act and choice we make on a daily basis. Not only does it determine our well-being, vitality and immunity but our choices reflect how we support the wider community, the planet and many others involved in the process of bringing food to our table.

When every act we do should be adding to our evolution, intelligence and well-being it may require changing patterns.

When we choose Seasonal Organic Unprocessed Life (SOUL) foods we are halfway there.

The next step is to introduce is an earlier lighter dinner and having the biggest meal at lunch. Keeping clear gaps between meals and sipping warm water are also highlights to feeling energetic. Not letting any processed foods and sugary treats into the house avoids us reaching for them too easily. Instead we can reach for a fruit or a herbal tea till it's meal time and truly delight in our hunger and satiation.

Simplicity is the key! we do not need to make food complicated as the digestive system does not enjoy this. We are best eating what our ancestors have been accustomed to and keeping each meal simple but with live foods, cooked freshly as possible with spices and herbs to aid digestion, cleansing greens and the many

Kanchana Ranjit with HH Dalai Lama and parents

Kanchana Ranjit and children with President Dr Kalam

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bountiful nourishing gifts of nature's wholefoods.

The whole act of procurement, preparation and ingesting of food is the most physical aspect of the world that we make part of ourselves. Hence it can be called a daily sadhana (spiritual act) or mindful ritual.

When we cook with awareness and love, sit to eat calmly and quietly keeping good company and good thoughts, there is no doubt that this very human daily experience can be elevated and uplifting.

The material I have collected and the expert opinions I have received can easily form a bulky book. The credit for summing it up in the form of this newsletter goes to my Melbourne based daughter Kanchana who is in the field of holistic well-being.

Flowers always make people better, happier, and more helpful; they are sunshine, food and medicine for the soul. - Luther Burbank, Botanist Plant Breeder (to whom Paramahans Yogananda dedicated his book Autobiography of A Yogi)

A merry heart doeth good like medicine. - King Solomon

Conscience - man's moral medicine chest. - Mark Twain

Prayer is the best medicine. God is the best doctor. -Unknown

Forgiveness is the medicine that heals a broken heart. - Unknown

A popular Ayurvedic expression states, “If digestion is strong, we can turn poison into nectar, but if digestion is weak, we can turn nectar into poison.”

“Just like your body and lifestyle can be healthy or unhealthy, the same is true with your beliefs. Your beliefs can be your medicine or your poison.” - Steve Maraboli

We live in a strange world where the poor walk miles to get food, and the rich walk miles to digest food. - Mufti Ismail Menk, Global Islamic Scholar

More die in the United States of too much food than of too little. - John Kenneth Galbraith

We live in a strange world where the poor walk miles to get food, and the rich walk miles to digest food. - Mufti Ismail Menk, Global Islamic Scholar