“The one thing more difficult than following a regimen is not imposing it on others“
Marcel Proust
People have different needs,goals and preferences. What matter most is your overall way of eating and living. If you indulge yourself one day,you can eat more healthfully the next. Then you are less likely to feel restricted.If you don’t have time to meditate for twenty minutes,you can do it for one minute-Consistency is more important than duration. Studies have shown that the people who eat the most healthfully overall are those who allow themselves some indulgences.
Like most things in life,the longer you do something and the more experience and practice you have,the more successful and skillful you become at doing it.
Offering a spectrum of choices is much more effective; then restrictive diet. Foods are neither good nor bad,but some foods are more healthful for you than others.Based on your own needs and preferences ,you have a spectrum of healthy choices.There’s no point in giving up something you enjoy unless you get something back that’s even better and quickly.More healthful foods make you feel good-light,clear,energetic.
“Feel better,lose weight and gain health with healthy spectrum of choices”
Even more than feeling healthy,most people want to feel free and in control. If I tell people ,”Eat this and don’t eat that” or “Don’t smoke” they immediately want to do the opposite. It’s just human nature.No body wants to feel controlled or treated like a child. Offering a spectrum of choices is much more effective; then ,you feel free. If you see your food and lifestyle choices as a way of living,you are more likely to feel empowered and to be successful.
Awareness is the first step in healing. When we become more aware of how powerfully our choices in diet and lifestyle affect us-for better and for worse -then we can make different and comprehensive lifestyle changes- not just to live longer but also to live better.
Basic principles of a healthy diet:
Consume some omega 3 fatty acids( good fats) every day
Warning: Any patient with an advanced state of impaired cardiac function should not be prescribed fish oil fatty acids or be urged to eat fish. For these people ,it may kill them- Dr Leaf, the scientific journal fundamental and Clinical Pharmacology.
2. Eat more “good carbs” and fewer “bad carbs”
Good carbs include fruits,vegetables,whole grains,legumes,nuts and soy products in their natural ,unrefined forms. Because these good carbs are unrefined,they are naturally high in fiber as well. The fiber fills you up before you eat too much. Also, the fiber in good carbs causes your food to be digested and absorbed into your bloodstream more slowly. This helps keep your blood sugar in a normal range.
Glycemic load is a better indicator of how foods will affect your blood sugar than glycemic index is. For example ,a carrot has a high glycemic index but a low glycemic load. Why? Because the carbohydrates in carrots are absorbed very quickly ,but there aren’t many of them.
When you eat a lot of “bad carbs” they are absorbed quickly ,causing your blood sugar to rise too rapidly. This doesn’t mean you should never eat bad carbs. I do, in moderation. When I eat bad carbs,I try to consume them along with good carbs and other high fiber foods.
When it comes to healthy eating,one size may not fit all. An optimal approach may be diet that pays equal attention to the high quality,unprocessed low glycemic carbs and plant based proteins and fats.
3.Energy balance is important than calories count.
When I hear the phrase”portion control”it makes me distasteful. “Eating mindfully” sounds so much better,and it’s much more sustainable. I believe “Eat more,weigh less”. When you change the type of food,you don’t have to be as concerned about the amount of food because the foods are less dense in calories. You can eat whenever you’re hungry and consume an equal or even larger volume of food,yet still lose weight without feeling hungry or deprived.
Body weight is inversely associated with dietary fiber and carbohydrates and is positively associated with protein intake.
4. What you include in your diet is as important as what you exclude
The healthy living is about abundance,not deprivation; feeling better,not just living longer. I want to emphasize eating more foods that are beneficial rather than just eating fewer foods that are unhealthful.
5. Anti-inflammatory lifestyle changes
A number of factors in our diet and lifestyle may play a significant role in inflammation. These include unhealthful dietary choices,lack of exercise,obesity,metabolic syndrome,chronic stress,smoking,environmental toxins, pollution and chronic infections.
By changing the way you eat,how much you exercise,and how well you manage stress ,and by increasing the love and intimacy in your life,you may have a significant impact on the amount of inflammation in your body. Small changes can lead to big improvements over time.
6. Choose foods that are nutrients dense.
7. Chose quality over quantity.
8. Eat less salt
9.Drink more green tea.
10. Avoid trans and partially hydrogenated fats.
How you eat is as important as what you eat. When you eat mindlessly,you have more calories and less pleasure. When you eat mindfully,you have more pleasure with fewer calories. Based on your own needs and preferences,you can make intelligent choices in what you eat and how you live.
First decide the spectrum of foods you tend to eat most of the time. Then,according to your own needs and preferences,decide how far ,and how quickly ,you want to move towards the healthful direction. It’s not all or nothing.
Keep it simple. Make small ,gradual changes or big ,rapid changes to create sustainable transformations in your diet and lifestyle. If it is fun ,it’s sustainable. Discipline can be liberating if it’s freely chosen rather than imposed.
Abundance is sustainable; deprivation is not.Joy is sustainable; repression is not.”It’s good for me”is not sustainable; “it’s fun for me” is.-Dean Ornish
Swelling and stiffness in joints in the morning that lasts for longer than half an hour.
Severe tiredness
Pain in joints.
Low grade fever
Numbness and tingling
Redness
Decreased range of motion.
These are the early alarming signs of arthritis. Before it is too late and you are overwhelmed with the burning sensation and dull ache ,steroids and its side effects, its time for you to wake up and take the right course of actions.
We have one body and one life. Everything we do it from our birth to our old age has an impact. When the body becomes imbalanced ,due to our poor lifestyle,it becomes irritated and inflamed. The body is on Fire!Our immune system is revved up and no more able to bear the insults. The immune system goes into overdrive and switches from a controlled system into a wild overcharged system that can start hurting itself. It can start attacking its own organs. This inflammation overtime ultimately leads to illness.
There are several different types of arthritis. Osteoarthritis(OA) and rheumatoid arthritis(RA) are two of the most common forms. Although RA and OA both affect your joints, they’re very different forms of arthritis.Rheumatoid arthritis, or RA, is an autoimmune and inflammatory disease, which means that your immune system attacks healthy cells in your body by mistake, causing inflammation (painful swelling) in the affected parts of the body. RA mainly attacks the joints, usually many joints at once.OA is primarily a degenerative joint disorder caused by wear and tear on your cartilage.
The root cause of Rheumatoid arthritis :Leaky Gutand inflammation
A lot of people remain skeptical of the theory that arthritis symptoms can be caused or worsened by problems in the gut. Impressive new research led by a team from University College London is suggesting bacterial imbalances in the gut microbiome may play a major role in the development of rheumatoid arthritis.Rheumatoid arthritis is an autoimmune condition, which means it’s caused by the immune system attacking healthy body tissue which cause inflammations and painful swelling in affected parts of the body
The Gut Microbiome
Healthy intestines are naturally permeable, allowing tiny nutrient particles to flow through their lining and enter the bloodstream. Problems arise if the intestinal lining becomes damaged. Gut health play a role in RA.So achieving microbial balance in the gastrointestinal tract could be just what the doctor ordered when it comes to managing RA symptoms.
Leaky gut
A damaged intestinal lining is too permeable, allowing larger, undigested food particles (for example, gluten proteins) and intestinal microbes to escape into the bloodstream.The food particles that leak into the bloodstream are viewed by the immune system as foreign bodies, causing an immune system reaction.
Natural treatment for RA:
Fix your gut health and inflammation to heal arthritis. Try to figure out the root cause of inflammation for reversing the process where it starts: in the gut, in the mouth, from your food, or from the stress response.
Anti-inflammatory diet. A healthy plant based diet with lots of fruits and vegetables provides antioxidants, which can help reduce inflammation by eliminating free radicals from the body.
Eat whole, unprocessed foods. Make sure to include plenty of “FIBER” from foods like vegetables ,beans, nuts, seeds, and whole grains.
Avoid animal products , processed food and excess sugar. A diet rich in red meat, processed foods, saturated fat, and added sugar and salt may aggravate inflammation, which is a characteristic of arthritis.
NO! to dairy. Dairy products like milk cause inflammation to your body.
Take broad spectrum digestive enzymes food. Foods that contain natural digestive enzymes include pineapples, papayas, mangoes, honey, bananas, avocados, kefir, sauerkraut, kimchi, miso, kiwifruit and ginger.
Stay away from hydrogenated oil and Gluten . These are inflammatory in nature.
Get good fat such as coconut oil,desi ghee,Avocado,unprocessed butter, nuts and seeds to reduce inflammation.
Take extra omega 3,which help cool inflammation in the gut.
Consume food which are higher in sulfur.Sulfur contains something called a form of MSM that reduces joint inflammation and helps rebuilding your tissue. The top food rich in sulfur are -onion, garlic,asparagus ,cabbage , nuts and seeds
15-20 mins of sunbathing
Do meditation to release stress.
Manage your weight.
Get good quality to sleep.
Get enough exercise to keep your joint flexible and strengthen muscles around your joints.
Use turmeric, black pepper,ginger, herbs and spices to your dishes.
Supplements:
Good quality of collagen
High quality of fish oil(Mercury free).
Turmeric and black pepper concoction. Very powerful anti-inflammatory herb.
Cold pressed coconut oil.
Borage oil
Glucosamine,chondroitin and MSM.
Vitamin D .
Ashwagandha powder.
Evening primrose oil
Zinc(10-15 mg)
Selenium( Brazil nuts one or two in quantity)
I have written this blog to educate you,to offer you hope for options for healing and to empower you with the knowledge and tools to identify your fires and extinguish them.
Healing is not a simple task….. but it is worthwhile one!
“The body heals itself,if we create the right conditions for it.“
Polycystic ovary syndrome (PCOS) is a hormonal disorder common among women of reproductive age.However, hormonal imbalances have become increasingly with today’s fast-paced modern lifestyle.
Fortunately, a nutritious diet and other healthy lifestyle behaviors may help improve your hormonal health and allow you to feel and perform your best.
Here is the testimonial of Harshi kumar ,who was suffering from PCOS from a longer period of time. With her way power and persistent approach not only she made significant changes, she made me proud as well!
Let’s see what she has to share about her healing journey ?!
Name- Harshi Kumar
MY HEALING JOURNEY
I was diagnosed with PCOS when I was 15 years of age. Initially I used to have irregular menstrual cycles which eventually stopped completely, when I was 14. Apart from having no periods, I had signs of extreme mood swings, irritation, insomnia and exhaustion. I had always been quite active but had extremely poor dietary habits. Living under extreme environment of stress, I had unknowingly resorted to food as my coping mechanism. After months of not doing anything about my missing periods, I went to see a gynecologist and was put on the usual pills for PCOS. My experience with the medicine was much worse. It led to increased mood swings, irritability and extreme body ache.
This was around this time, I started gaining a lot of weight and my cravings increased exponentially. I started working out but poor dietary habits, lack of sleep and acute stress ensured it didn’t work. After being on, on and off, medication for almost 3 years, it was clear that I was not making any progress, even after regularly working out.
It was in February 2021 that I decided to make significant changes in my diets and lifestyle. With these changes in diet and working out pattern, I was able to lose around 15 kgs of weight. However, the three major changes which eventually helped me battle PCOS were
First, including Iodine and Magnesium supplement in my daily rituals. Taking iodine in ACV solution daily followed by magnesium really helped balance my hormones, kept my cravings in check and provided much needed energy boost. It also took care of Thyroid, which is something I was always on a verge of.
Second, taking small dose of ashwagandha first thing in the morning and again before sleeping (in a concoction of turmeric, crushed pepper, ginger and cumin). Ashwagandha is a medicinal herb known for reducing cortisol level and inflammation in the body, which are the two things it did for me as well.
Third, applying castor oil and heat pack on my lower abdomen every night for last 6 months. Castor oil therapy is the one thing which helped me restart my menstrual cycles naturally after 4 years. I have been following this practice since June 2020 and have had regular periods each month. It is nothing less than a miracle.
I still have a long way to go. I still have a lot to do to get a healthy body. But I am on the path and seeing what all I have gained in the last one year; I know it’s the right one.
How to restore your hormone?
Even small changes in hormone levels can result in adverse effects, including extra stress on the body. Symptoms can grow worse over time, and a hormonal imbalance can lead to chronic issues.
You can fix your hormone naturally with simple changes in ; Dietary,lifestyle (including exercise) and stress management.
Dietary changes:
Pay attention to how different foods make you feel. After you eat do you feel tired? Energized? Heavy? Inspired? Depressed? Cold? Hot? This is the first step in learning how various foods affect your hormone.
Eat adequate protein in your meals. Be aware of quality and quantity of food. “One man’s meat is another’s man poison”
Eat predominantly plant based diet.
Avoid stimulating food and drinks that contain sugar, alcohol, or caffeine.
Avoid excessive amounts of cold or raw food (e.g raw salads or vegetables) and cold drinks. Switch to lightly cooked/steamed foods and warming drinks. Eat whole foods.
Consume healthy fats and omega rich foods. Eggs and coconut oil are good examples of healthy fats.
Consume high fiber diet.
Take adaptogens like Ashwagandha(Indian ginseng),Turmeric,Black pepper, basil leaves.
Eat smaller meals more often than a large meal. Avoid undereating and overeating.
Lifestyle changes:
Do Intermittent fasting(calorie restriction).According to an article published by Harvard Medical School, intermittent fasting is a solution to hormonal imbalances: “Between meals, as long as we don’t snack, our insulin levels will go down and our fat cells can then release their stored sugar, to be used as energy.
Wake as early as you can(predawn ideal) and meditate ,engage in quiet contemplation,or read inspirational material. Do prayer,or gentle breathing exercises.In any case whatever you do should quiet the mind.
Exercise for 20-30 mins.This can be a combination of brisk walking, gentle stretching or yoga,tai chi,hiking or biking,depending on your energy and stamina. Do pranayama for 15-20 mins. It encourages the free flow of Prana(Qi) in the body.
Get high quality sleep. Spend the evening quieting the mind and body, in preparation for bed.Avoid too much of light at night.
Retire at the same time each evening.Create a calming, well-ventilated bedroom environment.
Avoid heavy foods or drinks or any heavy activities before bedtime.
Learn to manage Stress
Stress can wreak havoc on your hormones. Try to devote at least 10–15 minutes per day to stress-reducing activities, even if you don’t feel you have the time.
Do ABHYANGA( a form of self massage) .Apply warm oil to your body. This can take as little as 2-3 mins. This has an incredibly calming effect on the nervous system. Having a less trigger happy nervous system means less stress and more balanced hormones.
Do deep breathing and meditation for vagal toning. By stimulating the vagus nerve you can activate parasympathetic nervous system and send a message to your body to relax and de-stress.Yoga and mantra chanting has deep impact on hormone balance.
Cold bath and splashing cold water on face is quite helpful in stress. Our ancient yogis bathed in cold water to increase prana(vital force energy)in body.
Get in touch with your feelings and take time to listen to your body and emotions.Go for a meditative walk/ forest bathing,do gardening,listen music, pursue your hobbies….
“If someone wishes for good health, one must first ask oneself if he is ready to do away with the reasons for his illness.“
We are wired to feast and famine not feast,feast,feast.
If we focus on just fixing the symptoms, we are wasting our time and energy. Instead, we should shift our focus from fixing symptoms to finding a root cause and fixing that instead. And although finding the root cause may require courage and persistence, it is the only true way of fixing the problems you are facing for good.
People have the dream but not the drive.
What diabetes is and is it reversible?
Fact # 1
Indubitably it is! It is reversible and preventable under certain conditions depending upon a person’s lifestyle.Type 2 diabetes is your dietary disease and you can’t fix it by using drugs.Medications alone do not reverse it. If a person does not make healthy lifestyle changes, it persist, and eventually will need more medication to manage it.
Fact #2
Empty bowl
Bowl full of sugar
Imagine your body as a big sugar bowl. At birth,the bowl is empty.Over several decades ,you eat sugar and refined carbohydrates and the bowl gradually fills up.When you next eat,sugar comes in and spills over the sides of the bowl because the bowl is already full.
The same situation exists in your body.When you eat sugar,your body secretes the hormone insulin to help move the sugar into your cells,where its used for energy. If you don’t burn off that sugar sufficiently,then over decades your cells become completely filled and cannot handle any more. The next time you eat sugar,insulin cannot force any more of it into your overflowing cells,so it spills out into the blood. Sugar travels in your blood in a form of glucose ,and having too much of it-known as high blood glucose – is a primary symptom of type 2 diabetes.
In response to excess glucose in the blood,the body secretes even more insulin to overcome this over flood of glucose. This forces more glucose into the overflowing cells to keep blood levels normal. This works ,but the effect is only temporary because it has not addressed the problem of excess sugar,it has only moved the excess from the blood to the cells,making insulin resistance worse. At some point,even with more insulin,the body cannot force any more glucose into the cells.
Lets think about packing a suitcase.
At first the clothes go into the empty suitcase without any trouble. Once the suitcase is full ,however ,it difficult to jam in those last two T-shirts.You could say the luggage appears to be resisting the clothes. This is similar to the overflow phenomenon we see in our cells.
Once that suitcase is full,you might simply use more force to shove those last T shirts in .This strategy will only work temporarily,because you have not addressed the underlying problem of the overfilled suitcase. As you force more shirts into the suitcase,the problem-lets call it luggage resistance -only become worse. The better solution is to remove some of the clothes from the suitcase.
Your doctor may prescribe a medication such as insulin injections or perhaps a drug called metformin,to lower blood glucose,but these drugs do not rid the body of excess glucose.Instead ,they simply continue to take the glucose out of the blood and ram it back into body. It then gets shipped out to the heart,where it can eventually create other problems. The underlying problem is unchanged.
Remember the bowl that overflowing with sugar? It still is.Insulin has simply moved the glucose from the blood ,where you could see it,into the body ,where you cannot.
At first,you need only a single medication,but eventually it becomes two and then three,and the doses become larger.And if you are taking more and more medications to keep your blood glucose at the same level,your diabetes is actually getting worse.
Conventional diabetes treatments: How to make the problems worse.
The blood glucose got better with the insulin,but the diabetes got worse. Here’s is an analogy.Consider that hiding garbage under your bed instead of discarding it allows you to pretend that your house is clean. When there’s no more room under the bed,you can throw the garbage into the closet.In fact,you can hide it anywhere you can;t see it; in the basement,in the attic,even in bathroom. But if you keep hiding your garbage ,eventually it’s going to begin to smell really,really bad because it’s starting to rot. Instead of hiding it,you need to throw it out.
Get rid of it!But the standard treatment for type 2 diabetes follows the same flawed logic of hiding the glucose instead of eliminating it.
Fact#3
Type 2 diabetes affect every organ in the body.What happens when excessive glucose piles up in the body over ten or twenty years? Every cell in the body starts to rot,which is precisely why type 2 diabetes affect every single organ. Your eyes rot,and you go blind.Your kidneys rot,and you need dialysis.Your heart rots and you get heart attacks and heart failure. Your brain rots ,and you get Alzheimer’s disease. Your liver rots, and you get fatty liver disease and cirrhosis. Your legs rot,and you get diabetic foot ulcers.Your nerves rot ,and you get diabetic neuropathy. No part of your body is spared.
Fact#4
Type 2 diabetes is reversible and preventable without medications. Once we understand that type 2 diabetes is simply too much sugar in the body,the solution is obvious. Get rid of the sugar.Don’t hide it away. There are only two ways to accomplish this:
Put less sugar in.
Burn off remaining sugar.
That’s all we need to do. It’s all natural and completely free. No surgery ,no cost!
Effects of raised insulin levels
It causes water and salt retention(Edema), which causes raised blood pressure
You become at risk of atherosclerosis (“furring of arteries”), which can lead to heart attacks
Raised insulin levels increases VLDL (very low density lipoprotein), a type of blood fat and one of the “bad” forms of cholesterol
Can drive the growth of certain cancer cells
In women, it can cause the ovaries to produce more testosterone, which is associated with Polycystic Ovarian Syndrome
Significantly increases your risk of getting type 2 diabetes
If I has a flood in my house…. I would not spend day after day,week after week,&year after year buying buckets,mops and towels.I would not be inventing different types of buckets and more expensive mops or drainage systems to ensure the water drained away quickly.I would find systems to ensure the water drained away quickly. I would find the source of the water and turn it off!!
Dr Verner Wheelock
The only way to effectively reverse type 2 diabetes (or even pre-diabetes) is to deal with the underlying cause – Insulin Resistance. Trying to address the blood sugar levels (with medication) without addressing the insulin levels is treating the symptoms, not treating the root cause. It is similar to using a bucket to remove water from an overflowing sink rather than actually turning off the tap!
The most important thing to do is to stop adding fuel to the fire. If Insulin Resistance is driving the condition, you need to firstly stop consuming foods that increase insulin production. Secondly, you need to make some lifestyle changes so that you can become sensitive to insulin once again.
There is no one perfect diet for everyone. Different people respond to different diets.
THREE RULES FOR REVERSING TYPE 2 DIABETES:
Rule#1:Avoid fructose
The most important rule,without exception is to eliminate all added sugars from your diet. Insulin resistance is the result of fatty liver becoming overfilled and unable to accept more glucose.The most important determinant of fatty liver is not just carbohydrates,but the fructose.
What about fruit? The truth is there is no chemical difference between the fructose contained naturally in fruit and the fructose contained within sucrose( table sugar). The dose makes the poison.Best advice is to avoid eating excessive amounts of fruit,especially as many modern varieties are now available year round and have been bred to be sweeter than in the past. Dried fruits are usually high in sugar.
Avoid ALL refined carbohydrates. That means no pasta, rice or bread (even wholegrain bread will spike your insulin)
Avoid ALL added sugar. If your body is already in a state where you cannot process carbohydrates and sugars properly, you are going to have to take steps to fully eliminate all sugars, at least in the short term.
Avoid ALL sweet drinks. It is best to stick to water, tea, coffee.
You should maintain a moderate,not high ,intake of protein. Adequate protein is required for good health,but excess cannot be stored in the body and so the liver converts them into glucose. Therefore,eating too much protein adds sugar to the body.
Do not be scared of good quality, healthy, natural fat – avocados, olives, almonds etc. Don’t worry about this causing you to put on weight. A study published in 2003 showed that people who supplemented their diet with almonds lost more weight than those who supplemented with so-called “healthy, complex carbs” Eggs are an excellent choice.
The industrially processed,highly refined seed oils that are high in omega-6 fat are not recommended because they can cause inflammation and adversely affect human health. These oils include sunflower,corn,canola,safflower,and vegetable oils. Do not use these vegetable oils at high heat because they release harmful chemicals called aldehydes when heated.
Do not waste your energy counting calories. Concentrate on the quality of the food that you are eating and the calorie control will take care of itself.
Rule#3 Eat real food
FEED YOUR GUT BUGS, not just yourself. There are trillions of bugs that live in your gut – their health is critical in determining your health. Start improving the health of your gut immediately by eating five servings of different coloured vegetables each day. The non digestible fibre in vegetables is the preferred food for your gut bacteria and when your gut bugs are happy, you will be happy. The wider the variety of colours, the more phytonutrients you will be getting.
If you like to snack, keep some high fat healthy snacks with you, such as olives, nuts or hummus. When you snack on refined carbohydrates such as biscuits, you go on a blood sugar roller coaster that results in you feeling hungry shortly after. Fats, on the other hand, will keep you fuller for longer.
Include high quality protein and fat with EVERY single meal. This helps to stabilize your blood sugars and promotes satiety and fullness, making it less likely that you will want to reach for dessert after your meal.
Eat your meals sitting down at a table and before 6.00 pm. Better to skip dinner if you are not very active. Eating on the sofa while watching TV encourages a mindless form of eating – this can lead you to eat higher quantities than you otherwise would. If you sit at a table and concentrate on what you’re eating, you are more likely to enjoy your food, feel satisfied at the end of your meal and eat less.
The fourth rule,in case the first threearen’t enough- FASTING!!
It’s the oldest dietary intervention known to humans,its natural cleansing power has been harnessed by virtually all religions in the world,it’s free ,and it can be done anywhere.
Fasting, the voluntary abstinence from from food,has been known to cure diabetes for close to 100 years. For type 2 diabetes,its seems self-evident that if you don’t eat your glucose levels will drop and you will lose weight.As you lose weight,you type 2 diabetes will reverse.
Exercise- Resistance training and aerobic training – can have a beneficial effect on type 2 diabetes,but it is far less powerful at reversing the disease than Dietary interventions. And FASTING is the simplest and surest method to force your body to burn sugar.
There is difference between intermittent fasting and continuous caloric reduction.The portion control strategy of constant caloric reduction is the most common dietary approach recommended. Does it work?
But why doesn’t it work? Because restricting calories causes a compensatory increase in hunger and decrease in the body’s metabolic rate. This effect derails weight loss efforts and ultimately ends in failure. The secret to long term weight loss is to maintain your basal metabolism.
Intermittent fasting succeeds because it produces beneficial hormonal changes,keeps basal metabolism high and most importantly reduces insulin and insulin resistance. Fasting is four times better at preserving lean mass!
During fasting,the body opens up its ample supply of stored food- body fat! Basal metabolism stays high,and instead of using food as our fuel,we use food our bodies have stored as body fat. During fasting ,we burn glycogen stored in the liver. When that is finished,we use body fat. To burn off sugar ,a popular strategy is to fast for 24 hrs ,two to three times per week. Another popular approach is to fast for 16 hours ,five to six times per week.
Both fasting and LCHF(low carbohydrates ,healthy fat) diets effectively reduce insulin,and thus can cause weight loss and reverse type 2 diabetes.
How long it takes to reverse the disease depends on the intensity of the fasting regimen and the length of time you’ve had the disease.
IF YOU ARE TAKING MEDICATIONS,THEN YOU MUST SPEAK WITH YOUR PHYSICIAN BEFORE STARTING A FAST. Carefully monitoring and adjusting your medications is essential.
Adjusting to a fast can take a bit of time. It’s not unusual to get hunger pains or headaches or even to experience muscle cramps or skin irritations. This side effects are often signs that the body is dumping its toxic sugar load.
If losing weight was the key to reversing diabetes,how could medications like insulin,which causes weight gain,be beneficial?
The secret to reversing type 2 diabetes now lies within our grasp. All it requires is having an open mind to accept a new paradigm and the courage to challenge conventional wisdom.
Some say knowledge is power. I strongly disagree and believe that information is everywhere, but power is not. The real power is applied knowledge. I hope by now some of you would have tried our concept to some extent.
If you are curious and adventurous enough, you could be your doctors, scientists, and artists like us. We will soon publish a follow-up blog to share our scientific backing of how the dilution method is simple, safe, and sustainable. Thanks to medical and technological advancements, we are living longer than we used to a century ago.
The question is how long is the health span (not life span) and how sustainable our lifestyle choices are. I see most effective fad diets fail (the Atkin, Dukan, Mediterranean, Keto, Carnivore, vegan, Rosedale etc.) because they are too restrictive, expensive, rigorous or complicated. Even the most effective diet plan fails, in the long run, if it is not sustainable and straightforward in our ever so hectic life with more urgent tasks to hand- kids exams, boss’s marriage anniversary, corporate deadlines, emergency ailments, utility bills etc. We hardly ever come off the metaphorical urgency treadmill.
However, if we focus more on changing our HABITAT (the environment) than changing our ingrained HABITS; if we focus more on WAY POWER (how many ways we can) than WILL POWER (in short supply), we might change the equation by counting on small wins. These principles have already been worked out for you in the previous blog.
By changing how we breathe (AIR), drink (LIQUID), eat (FOOD), move (SPACE) and spend the day (TIME) we control our habitat and work with natural forces not against them.
However, we cannot control where we live, work, rest, exercise or spend leisure time. It is startling to know that our homes could be more polluted (indoor pollution) than the outside. Hence dilution strategy for indoor pollution is the key to improving our health as we spend a great deal of time indoors. I can say with my two decades of experience and Gunjan can attest how we have practiced these principles successfully.
Some of our astute readers asked me to write this interval supplementary blog (kindly invited by Gunjan Mishra) on how to dilute the increasing indoor pollution coming from overcrowding, chemicals, air conditioners, smoke/ food/ drinks, perfumes, petroleum products etc. causing Sick Building Syndrome.
I selected the following resources from my wellness repository while I was organising my indoor habitat. I suggest you grow these plants – Aloe Vera, Chrysanthemum, Peace Lilly, Areca Pam, Snake Plant, and Money Plant -recommended by NASA and WHO for indoor pollution. They are simple to grow and maintain. They purify the air and keep humidity at an optimal level. They also improve our mental health and may improve our productivity. Furthermore, we need to make sure that we keep the windows open for a while everyday for cross ventilation.
A-Alcohol in all forms, B- Baked food-biscuits, bread and cake etc, C- cigarettes, D- Diary in all forms except milk in tea and coffee may be.
ABCD is a concept to keep things simple, sustainable and satisfying for those who are busy working full time or full time taking care of the family. This concept is based on the Pareto principle where you get 80% benefits from eating healthily by devoting only 20% time and resources! In this concept, you regulate only one meal of the day which is -breakfast. It gives you flexibility and vast array of choices.
Scientific studies have shown that when you do something in the morning for your health or wellness, you feel confident, energetic and resourceful all day long. Healthy and highly productive people focus on getting up early, exercising in the morning and writing a few lines in the journal and then starting the day.
By regulating your one meal, you will feel like a champion all day and will have enough self-esteem and willpower to do other things well. You can exercise your creativity and imagination to make it wholesome and tasteful to your liking. The emphasis should be to choose at least five nuts from each category because that will give you nutrient density and satiated feeling. Rahim knew it long before our scientific community could prove it.
Rahim Ke dohe-
एकै साधे सब सधै, सब साधे सब जाय।
रहिमन मूलहिं सींचिबो, फूलै फलै अघाय।।
Ekai sadhe sab sadhai, sab sadhe sab jay
Rahiman mulahin seechibo, foolai falai aghaay
अर्थात (Meaning in Hindi): मन को एक समय में एम विषय पर केंद्रित किया जाए तो उसमें असफलता असंदिग्ध है। एक समय में अनेक विषयों में बुद्धि लगाने से किसी में भी सफलता अर्जित नहीं की जा सकती। कहा भी गया है कि जो आधे को छोड़ पूरे के चक्कर में भागता है, उसे पूरा तो नहीं मिलता, आधे से भी हाथ धो बैठता है। सदैव एकल सिद्धि करनी चाहिए, इसी से सब सिद्ध हो जाता है।
रहीम कहते हैं, एक को साधना ही पर्याप्त है, इससे सब सध हो जाते हैं। यदि सबको एकसाथ साधने का प्रयास किया गया तो सबसे हाथ धोना पड़ेगा। पौधे को सींचने के लिए आवश्यक नहीं कि उसके तने, पत्तियों व फूलों की पंखुड़ियों को अलग-अलग सींचा जाए। इससे तय है कि पौधा नष्ट हो जाएगा। पौधे के मूल (जड़) को सींचना पर्याप्त है, इससे पौधा तृप्त होकर फलता फूलता है।
If you have any Liver, kidney and heart problem, please contact your registered medical practitioner before following this concept.
Follow this concept for at least 6-8 weeks to perceive and enjoy sustainable results supported by recent research in London.
Stay tuned to follow the ABCD concept and its benefits in the future.
We would value your mindful feedback and thoughtful suggestions.
Cosmic wellness 