How you have been taking some foods the wrong way

There are many misconceptions about the best way to consume foods, some of which lead to health problems. Here are a few that Vedic dietician Sivananda Caitanya Dasa has shared with us Never take honey in hot water They say money is brighter than sunshine and sweeter than honey. That’s not true; nothing is brighter than the sun and nothing is sweeter than honey, not even money. Honey is what you would call a superfood, but only if it’s in its raw unprocessed form. Honey is mostly simple sugars and water, yet it contains significant healing properties. It’s rich in antioxidants and has impressive levels of Vitamins C, D, E, K and B complex. It helps heal burns and skin conditions when applied, and ulcers when ingested. Honey, when taken properly, results in a glowing radiant skin, like honey in the sunlight. Walk into any eatery in the city and ask for dawa, and they’ll hook you up. This so-called medicine is a simple mix of ginger boiled in hot water, fresh squeezed lemon and a tablespoon or so of honey. All natural ingredients and good for when you have a cold, right? Not really. Honey, when heated in any way, even adding to warm water, quickly inverts its healing properties. Heating it to 40 degrees Celsius deteriorates its quality and destroys the nutrients. The molecules, even though broken up by the heat, tend to adhere to mucus membranes like glue, and become toxic. This causes respiratory diseases, blood glucose imbalance and skin problems. Processed honey is already heated to some degree, and using it with hot water or heating it in any way causes it to become, ironically, toxic. Traditional beekeepers would place hives around specific flowers to flavour the honey and give it certain healing properties. So, honey is best in its raw state. It’s considered a hot food in its natural state, which means it burns out faster, giving a natural boost in energy without the calories. Once heated, however, it becomes gluey and counterproductive. For dawa, I boil about an inch of grated ginger in a cup of water, then add one squeezed lemon and wait for it to cool down to room temperature before adding the honey. Because ginger and lemon are also hot foods, the drink will be cool to the taste and still heating and healing to the body. If at a restaurant, the best would be to take the hot but bitter lemon and ginger first to burn out the mucus, then lick the cool honey. Don’t put it in a cake to bake or on meat to grill. The point is, never heat honey. Of sun and moon when eating This month on the 11th, Nairobi is set to experience an eclipse, but the cosmic event isn’t just a visual phenomenon. When it comes to eating, the question of what to eat and what not to eat is just as important as when to eat and when not to. Both the sun and the moon are important in this regard. The sun, as most people know, is responsible for the vitamins and wonderful healthy goodness that fruits and vegetables contain. Not only is food grown in the sun nutritious, it is tastier than greenhouse grown produce. Similarly, the moon is said to give fruits and vegetables the succulence and crunchiness, such as when you bite into an apple or a dew drenched leaf of fresh lettuce. It’s understood that because all life on earth, both directly or indirectly depends on the sun and the moon and their uninhibited influence on earth, eclipses, either solar or lunar, bring about an imbalance in the status quo. During an eclipse, the sun, earth and moon are in one straight line for some time. As a result, the combined magnetic force is strong and its impact increased exponentially. Modern science has proven that there’s enhanced radiation of ultraviolet rays during an eclipse. This accelerates the imperceptible decay of food, especially if it’s cooked. Because everything is out of balance at least for the duration of the eclipse, one is advised to avoid eating anything, including raw foods like fruits, salads and even water. While not immediately harmful, the accelerated decay of food, even after it has been consumed, could result in discomfort and gastrointestinal issues. The imbalance caused by an eclipse also confuses the body and in Vedic culture, it has been customary in the ancient times to meditate during this time as the increased bio magnetism in the body caused by the increased celestial magnetic field makes it conducive to achieve best results from a deep meditation. Meditation is also best practiced with an empty stomach, as a full stomach induces a higher metabolism. Because eclipses hide the beneficial energy from the earth, they are considered inauspicious, and it is recommended to keep the mind and body alert and pure during an eclipse. The best way to stay alert is to avoid eating a heavy meal, which would cause drowsiness. If you have to eat, keep the menu simple and easily digestible, for example with just fruits. How to breakfast The body is a machine. Like all machines, it needs fuel. Due to different metabolism levels, we all get hungry at different rates. Nevertheless, the idea of to eat to live should guide us on what to eat, when and what amount. To live simply to gratify the palate is a simplistic approach to food and digestion. For instance, everyone is familiar with the advice, ‘breakfast is the most important meal of the day’. But what are the principles that make it true? Common sense insists that because the body is now awake and getting ready for a whole day of work, it should be warmed up properly and filled up with fuel. First things first, empty the bowels from the previous day. A glass of warm water helps before sitting on the throne. Once that is done, ideally after some light exercise to get the body warmed up, this is the best time to have a fruit. It will be zapped in minutes and all those wonderful nutrients absorbed. About 20-30 minutes after the fruit, one should have a proper meal. Forget about processed junk such as cornflakes and packet juice. Cook a proper hot meal. This will not only fill your body up for when you need the energy most – in the morning – but it also eliminates the need for a caffeine fix. People who take copious amounts of strong coffee or tea in the morning substitute a good stoking fire of a proper meal for the kick of caffeine, and soon get addicted. Tea and bread is not nearly enough breakfast for an adult human. Fill yourself properly in the morning and you’ll have enough energy to be productive, and only start to feel hungry when lunch time approaches. That’s around midday, the right time to eat again. This also helps cut snacking, which if you’re watching your weight, piles on the kilos. Milk shouldn’t be served cold! Milk is regarded as a complete food. In fact, it is the reason cows are so revered in Hinduism. The cow is often inaccurately revered as God. In actual fact, the cow is respected and protected as one would their own mother, because cows give milk, the nectar of life, as mothers do with their babes. From milk, we can get products such as cheese, butter, ghee and yoghurt, but fresh milk is also a wonderful source of nourishment for those who are not lactose intolerant. However, milk, as wonderful as it is, can be a cause of discomfort and even disease if taken incorrectly. The difference between milk and yoghurt is that milk has to be curdled by the body and the milk fat has to be emulsified by bile. Yoghurt is already curdled by the lactic acid produced by the yoghurt bacteria. The fat in yoghurt doesn’t coagulate. Milk contains a protein calcium compound known as calcium-caseinat, that’s responsible for the curdling effect once acid is added to milk. If a sodium salt is added to milk, it could interfere with the calcium ions of the calcium-caseinat and thus impede with the curdling and emulsification of the milk, leading to digestive problems. If salt is added to any other milk product, that would be no problem, since the milk doesn’t have to be curdled and is already pre-emulsified. Milk should be served hot. The colder the milk, the more difficult it is for the bile to emulsify the milk. Drinking cold milk is like trying to wash greasy hands with soap (bile) and cold water. Only with hot water will the fat emulsify and the hands become nicely clean. Milk and fruits should not be consumed together because milk is a laxative and most fruits are diuretic. Also, fruits are digested quickly while milk takes longer for the body to process. During that processing time, the fruit curdles the milk, potentially creating a sour stomach and a lot of acidity.

How you have been taking some foods the wrong way

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How you have been taking some foods the wrong way

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