Index

PUBLISHERS' NOTE

Sri Swami Sivanandaji Maharaj was a doctor before he embraced the holy Order of Sannyasa. Even before he began his medical career, he enthusiastically conducted a medical journal called "Ambrosia" in which he published regularly articles on health and hygiene, diet and healing.

This volume from the pen of the sage-doctor is of the greatest value, not only to the members of the medical profession, but to the layman as well who will gain immense knowledge from it, for enjoying good health and long life.

16th May, 1958 -THE DIVINE LIFE SOCIETY

CONTENTS

Chapter II

Chapter III

Chapter IV

Chapter V

Chapter VI

Chapter VII

Chapter VIII

Chapter IX

Appendix

Chapter 1

HEALTH IS ABOVE WEALTH

Health is the greatest wealth and asset for you. Without good health and strength, you cannot achieve success in life and God-realisation. Without good health, you cannot enjoy life. Good health comes from following definite rules. Those who ignore the rules of health, suffer much and die prematurely. Even for spiritual pursuits good health is the prerequisite. Without good health you cannot penetrate into the hidden depths of the vast ocean of life within and attain the final beatitude of life. Without good health you cannot wage war against the turbulent senses and the boisterous mind.

Health is wealth. Health is a covetable possession indeed. Good health is a valuable asset for one and all. You should have physical as well as mental health. If you do not possess good health you cannot prosper in any walk of life.

Health is that state in which a man sleeps well, digests his food well, is quite at ease, is free from any kind of disease or uneasiness. When you are in a state of perfect health all the organs, viz., heart, lungs, brain, kidneys, liver, intestines, work in perfect harmony and concord and discharge their functions satisfactorily. The pulse rate and the rate of respiration are in perfect order. The bodily temperature is normal. A healthy man smiles and laughs. He is cheerful and happy. He discharges his daily duties with ease and comfort. A healthy man is capable of doing work for a long time without getting fatigued. His bowels move very freely every day. He possesses the highest kind of mental and physical efficiency.

Health is a positive state. It is not simply negation of dis-ease. A healthy man can turn out more physical and mental work. He can practise good meditation for a long time. A healthy man need not be necessarily strong and robust and a strong and robust man need not be necessarily healthy. Health is a gift from Mother Nature or Lord who is the power behind life. Health is your birthright but not disease. It is as natural to be well as to be born.

Health is above all gold and infinite wealth and treasure. It enlarges the soul and opens all its powers to receive instructions and relish virtues. "This Atman cannot be attained by a weak and unhealthy man." This is the emphatic declaration of the Upanishads. Emerson says, "The first wealth is health. Give me health and a day I will make the pomp of emperors ridiculous." He who has good health has nothing more to wish for. He is really a blessed man. Ramalinga swami sings, "I want a life with health and without disease." The first requisite in life is good health. Health is a sine qua non to every kind of enjoyment in life.

DIET AND HEALTH

The meals should be taken at regular hours and nothing is eaten in the intervals. After the stomach has digested a meal it requires an interval of repose, or it will soon be worn out by an excess of labour.

Regularity in the hours of meals cannot be too strongly insisted upon. The stomach should not be disappointed when it expects to be replenished. If disappointed, either from the action of its own secretions, or from a want of sustainment in its muscular action, even a diminished amount of food will be taken without appetite and will be sure to cause bad symptoms. Any change in the time of meals and the nature of the meals should be gradually made. Sudden changes in the nature of meals are highly disastrous to the health and should be entirely deprecated.

Simple wholesome food and only enough to maintain the proper weight for age and height—as much spent for fruit and fresh vegetables as for meat; a sufficiency, but not a great ex-cess of proteins or nitrogenous foodstuffs (which are tis-sue-builders or flesh-formers); carbohydrates or starches, fats or hydrocarbons (which are heat or energy producers) in proper hygienic proportions, minerals including lime and iron; a sufficiency of that vital growth stimulating element, vitamin; and last, but not the least, a proper balance in the week's menus of fuel foods, tissue-building foods, and regulating food—all will, doubtless, pave a long way in the practical achievement of splendid health, high vitality, and remarkable longevity.

You must practise dietetic rules, if you are to enjoy good health. Merely knowing the principles will not make or keep you well. You may believe ever so much in dietetic rules, may see others benefited by obedience to them; but, if you want health, vigour, and vitality for yourself, you must yourself lay hold of them.

The diet should be such as can maintain physical efficiency and good health. The well-being of an individual de-pends on perfect nutrition more than on anything else. Various sorts of intestinal diseases, increased susceptibility to infectious diseases, lack of high vitality and power of resistance, rickets, scurvy, anaemia or poverty of blood, beriberi, etc., are due to faulty nutrition. It should be remembered that it is not so much the climate as food which plays the vital role in producing a strong and healthy body or a weakling suffering from a host of diseases. An appreciable knowledge of the science of dietetics is essential for everybody especially for spiritual aspirants, to keep up physical efficiency and good health. Aspirants should be able to make out a cheap and well-balanced diet from only certain articles of diet. What is needed is a well-balanced diet not a rich diet. A rich diet produces diseases of the liver, kidneys and pancreas. A well-balanced diet helps a man to grow, to turn out more work, increases his body-weight, and keeps up the efficiency, stamina and a high standard of vim and vigour. You are what you eat.

Health, strength, stature, weight, capacity for endurance and hard work, physical and mental efficiency, output of work, power of resistance against disease—all these depend upon diet.

The well-being of man depends on perfect nutrition. A well-balanced and healthy diet only can produce perfect nutrition and can maintain physical efficiency and health.

A man is what he eats. If he takes wholesome, well-balanced diet, he is healthy, strong and efficient. He can turn out more physical and intellectual work. If the diet is faulty, he be-comes weak, sickly and inefficient. If he takes Sattvic food, he is endowed with Sattvic qualities. He is calm and pure. If he takes Rajasic food, he is passionate and turbulent. If he takes Tamasic food, he is dull and lethargic.

From faulty, ill-balanced diet or a diet which contains too much of one thing or too little of another, man suffers from mal-nutrition. Many diseases originate chiefly from malnutrition. Beriberi, scurvy, rickets, intestinal diseases, dyspepsia, anaemia, debility, diabetes and a host of ailments and increased susceptibility to diseases, all these are directly or indirectly attributable to faulty nutrition and errors in diet.

The right kind of food is most important. Half the illnesses of the nation are due to an ill-balanced diet. There is no mystery about diet. It can be learnt very easily. A correct diet is a fundamental factor in the maintenance of perfect health and a high standard of vitality. Good food is not expensive. A well-balanced diet is not costly. It is knowledge of dietetics that we hopelessly lack. The Ministers of Health should tackle this problem of diet for the young, adults and the convalescents. The Board of Education should train experts in dietetics.

The function of food is to supply the body with the materials necessary for the growth, maintenance, repair and efficient functioning of its various organs and structures and in this way to ensure the harmonious working of the whole human ma-chine at its highest level.

Force or energy is needed for the bodily movements and functioning of the various organs. The second purpose of food is to furnish the materials with which the body generates this energy. Heat is produced during the generation of energy and the warmth of the body is kept up by this heat.

NUTRITION AND HEALTH

Our knowledge of nutrition has been completely changed during the past thirty years. The discoveries of physiology concerning vitamins and other accessory food factors have made it possible to set up proper standard of nutrition.

Nutrition is the most pressing of all present-day problems in India. Every one of you should learn something of the simple truth of Nutrition and how to make the best use of such food-stuffs as are available. You will be benefited by such knowledge and you will be in a position to instruct others also.

Your welfare demands the provision of food which will satisfy the physiological needs of the body. Good food plays a vital part in the promotion of good health.

Your well-being depends more on perfect nutrition than on anything else.

Just as the engine of the motor car cannot work properly without efficient lubrication and good patrol, so also this engine of body and mind cannot work efficiently without good and proper food. There must be perfect growth of mind and body. Both mind and body should be able to turn out very useful work through their vigorous employment. Only then it can be said that you live well and you are perfectly healthy.

Rickets, beriberi, pellagra, night blindness, intestinal dis-eases, kidney diseases, pancreatic diseases, dropsy, anaemia, scurvy, osteomalasia, dental caries, disorders of pregnancy,—all these are directly or indirectly due to faulty nutrition. A well-balanced diet is necessary if growth and develop-ment are to take place normally. A badly fed child is often small and thin for its age. Its weight for height will be below average. It will succumb to disease quite easily. A child who is malnourished is not enthusiastic for work and play. It is dull and apathetic.

A well-fed man has a glossy skin and glow of health. Bright clear eyes are also a sign of satisfactory feeding and good nutrition. Spongy, bleedy gums suggest Vitamin C deficiency—mild scurvy—and call for, greater consumption of fresh fruits and vegetables. Sore mouth and tongue, fissures in the tongue, etc., are due to vitamin B2 deficiency. They can be rapidly cured by taking more milk. The diet of the mass of the population of India is deficient in quality and often in quantity. Much ill-health and disease in India are attributable to malnutrition.

If you only give up your tea, coffee, smoking, chewing tobacco and aerated drinks, and if you replace your jams, sweets by milk, fruit, vegetables, brown bread, you will not only cut down your food bills but avoid disease and ill-health. You will have high standard of health, vigour, vim and vitality.

The high infant, maternal and general mortality rate is obviously due to malnutrition. If the mother is not fed properly, the newly born and the very young suffer most severely from the III-effects of malnutrition. The deficient maternal diet leads to lack of a necessary vitamin in breast milk. The milk of ill-fed mothers tends to be generally deficient in quantity and quality, so that it cannot meet the requirements of the growing infant. The anaemia of pregnancy associated with malnutrition is an important cause of maternal deaths.

Human beings and particularly children cannot thrive well on a diet composed largely of cereals such as rice, millet, etc., and not sufficiently supplemented by other foods. They must take fair quantities of foods like milk, green vegetables, fruits, etc. These are known as the "protective foods," because they are rich in protein, vitamins and mineral salts and protect the body against diseases, which are produced when the diet is largely based on less nutritious foods such as milled rice. Infants and growing children, expectant and nursing mothers suffer much if their diet is faulty. "Protective foods" will protect them. Balanced diet will make them healthy and strong.

THE BODY MACHINE

This body is a wonderful machine. The parts of the ma-chine are very, very subtle, and delicate. You cannot get spare parts from companies. The skeleton supports the body. The muscular system aids locomotion and work.

The circulatory system which consists of the heart, the arteries, the veins and the capillaries conveys nourishment to various parts of the body. The respiratory system consists of the two lungs, the trachea or the wind pipe, the larynx or the wind-box and the bronchi and the bronchicies, the respiratory tubes. This does the function of breathing, purifies the blood, charges it with pure oxygen and throws out carbon dioxide.

The digestive system consists of the tongue, the mouth, the throat, the gullet, the stomach, the small and the large intestines. It helps digestion of food and throwing of the excreta.

The excretory system (urinary) consists of the kidneys, the ureters, the bladder and the urethra. It throws out the urine from the body. The large intestines throw out faecal matter.

The reproductive system consists of the external organ, the testes in the male, the vagina, the ovaries and the uterus in the female.

The nervous system consists of the brain, the spinal cord and the nerves. This controls the working of all the organs of the body. It controls and co-ordinates activity through conduction of impulses.

The integumentary system consists of the skin, the two sets of glands, the sweat glands which secrete sweat and the sebaceous glands which secrete sebum or fat, and the hairs on the body. The sebum keeps the skin soft and shining. The skin also breathes. It throws out waste products.

The endocrine system controls the activity of the tissues by chemical means, such as thyroid, suprarenals etc. They contain endocrine glands which are ductless, which secrete hormones and throw them directly into the blood.

Health means the harmonious working of all these different systems. Each system represents a wheel of the body-ma-chine. If one wheel gets diseased the whole machine is sympathetically affected. Man is uncomfortable. He cannot work efficiently. If one endocrine gland gets diseased there is a vicious circle.

All the organs are interdependent. The brain can function properly only if it is helped efficiently by the circulatory system, only if it gets proper supply of pure blood. The heart can function properly only if it gets good blood from the food. The food can be digested properly only if stomach, liver, pancreas, the intestines function properly.

Keep the body-machine in good working order through regular exercise, simple, but nutritious diet and right, temper-ate living, and attain success in life and God-realisation.

Glory to the creator of this most marvellous machine, the wonder of wonders, the Indweller and Inner Ruler. My adorations and prostrations to Him.

FOOD AND BODY

If the human body is chemically analysed, it contains much the same elements as the foodstuffs consumed. In the body of a man of average size there are nine gallons of water, enough oxygen to fill nine gallon barrels, enough carbon to make nine thousand graphite pencils, enough phosphorus to make nine thousand boxes of matches, enough hydrogen to inflate a balloon capable of raising the whole body to the top of Badri Narayan, enough iron to make five tacks, enough salt to fill six ordinary salt cellars, and five pounds of nitrogen.

If you analyse your food stuffs all these elements are found in varying quantity. Food supplies all these elements to the body. Calcium is a main constituent of the bones. Iron is found in the red blood cells. Phosphorus is found in every cell, nerve, tissue and brain. Sodium, potassium, iron, etc., are contained in the blood.

Diet is a vital factor in one's life. Have a good knowledge of "diet and nutrition." You can save doctors' bills. You can build a healthy constitution.

In the West and America there are Nutritionists who are specialists in "diet and nutrition." They have studied thoroughly the question of diet. They give full instructions to the patients as to what diet they require, when they should eat, where to get the particular things, what it will cost, etc.

The first wealth is health. It is the greatest of all possessions. It is the basis of all virtues. Without health life is not life. It is only a state of languor, suffering and half-death. The difficulties and troubles that people suffer arise from ill-health. He who has good health has hope. He is ever cheerful and happy. He who has hope has everything.

Take care of your health. Be sober and temperate. You will be healthy. Bask in the sun. Live in the open air. Sleep in the open air. Sun and the open air are your good doctors. Let your food be simple. Never eat too much. Take sufficient exercise. If you do not keep well, fast till you are well again.

Become your own physician. Assist nature but do not force nature. Allow nature to heal you. Nature is the best heal-ing agent. Medicines and doctors only help nature in its recuperative work. An injudicious doctor who disturbs nature's work does more harm than good.

Eat moderately what you know by experience is agree-able to you, and what is digestible. A guilty and greedy tongue and stomach cause various disorders of the digestive system. Simple diet is the best. Man generally eats twice as much as his system needs.

The ingredients of good health and longevity are regular exercise, moderation in diet and everything, early rising and early retiring, simple and nutritious food, open air, sun-bath, continence, temperance and little care, worry and anxiety. May you be endowed with good health, vigour and vitality through the grace of the Lord?

THE MYSTERIOUS PALACE OF BRAHMAN

The mason builds a house out of stones, small bricks, Chunam (lime) and cement. He keeps big pieces of stones in the construction of the main wall and puts small bricks and pebbles to fill up the crevices in the wall, plasters the wall with Chunam and eventually puts a layer of cement. He polishes the wall with finishing touches and gives a colouring in the end to attract the eyes. Even so, the Divine Architect—Isvara has constructed this human body with the help of Mother Prakriti. The bones represent the big stones; the muscles represent the pebbles; the fat the bricks; dermis or white skin the Chunam; the skin or epidermis the cement; the pigment of the skin the colouring matter. Look at the marvellous skill of the Divine Engineer, Engineer of all engineers. The muscles are fixed to the bones by means of tendons. The joints are kept intact by ligaments. Deposition of fat gives good shape to the limbs, trunk and abdomen and gives beauty. The pigment in the skin at-tracts the eyes of the onlookers and people are deluded by false beauty of the perishable body. They cling to this body and through this clinging they are caught up in the round of births and deaths.

The body is a mysterjous moving palace. His Divine Majesty Brahman dwells here. Brahman is the Immortal Soul or At-man. Buddhi or intellect is His Prime Minister. Mind is the commander. The ten Indriyas are the soldiers or servants. The eyes are the marvellous windows of the palace. Mouth is the way-out. Eyes and ears are the way-in. The Devatas who pre-side over the lndriyas—eyes, ears, nose, etc.,—are the gatekeepers.

The nerves are the wires. Brain is the receiver. It receives all messages. It contains a wonderful switch-board also. Prana is the electricity. The bones are the mountains. Veins are the rivers. Bladder is the ocean. The bowels and urethra are the sewers. Heart is the waterworks. Arteries are the pipes. The astral heart is the garden of Vrindavan. Sushumna is the Kunjgalli of Vrindavan. Jiva is sweet Radha who wants to unite with Lord Krishna or Brahman through Yogic Samadhi. Sahasrara or the crown of the head is the place where Radha and Krishna or the individual soul and Brahman unite. The different Chakras are the resting places with Kadamba tree.

The body is made up of five elements. Bone is nothing but earth or clay. Blood or flesh is nothing but water. The shining in the skin and the eyes is nothing but fire. The Prana that moves in the nostrils and lungs is nothing but air. This air rests on ether. Ether is the support for all the other four Tattvas. Air, fire, water and earth have emanated from ether. When the body is buried, the bones become one with the earth. They go back to their source. Through the practice of Laya Chintan if you reduce the earth into water, water into fire, fire into air, and air into ether, the body does not really exist. It dwindles into airy nothing. Through the Mayaic jugglery you perceive this body. In reality the imperishable soul which is the support for this body and mind really exists.

The body is inert and insentient. It remains as a log of wood as soon as the Prana, mind and reflected intelligence, depart, just as a ball of iron appears to be a ball of fire till it is in contact with fire. The reflected intelligence or Chaitanya galvanises the inert intellect first as it is very subtle and as the intellect is in close contact with it and through intellect this inert body also is galvanised. So the body moves, feels and does various sorts of actions. After all mortal flesh is clay, bone is only a modification of earth. O Man! Do not cling to this body of flesh and network of bones. Give up Moha for this body. Destroy ignorance. Realise the Immortal Self and be free.

The Lord is hiding Himself in the inner chambers of this mysterious palace. He is playing the game of 'hide and seek' with you. Find Him out. Search Him out. Search Him in the chambers of your heart by withdrawing the mind and the Indriyas from the external objects and practising concentration and meditation.

UPANISHADS ON FOOD

The Upanishads are not one-sided philosophies and as such do not neglect the development of the all-round man. They have much to say about the keeping up of the physical body in spite of their being authorities on the transcendental philosophy of the Atman or Brahman. And body is food. Food is life. Without food man cannot live. No scientific Yoga discards the physical body. The body is a help and a stepping-stone and not an evil hindrance in the path of Self-realisation. Man possesses a body because it is necessary for his evolution. One does not get what is not good for him from the ultimate stand-point. The body is a production of the desires latent in man and body is an instrument to subjugate such desires through experience and activity. The body is not only good for one's own evolution, but it is for universal good; it is for the good of the world at large. One's body is to be used for spiritual rejuvenation, not for the satisfaction of the animal cravings in him. The body is the temple of God. It should be clean and free from taint. The temple is not a brothel, it is a place of divine worship. Even so, the body is not a storehouse of terrestrial attraction, but a means for liberation from the round of birth and death. The Upanishads are philosophies of universal application and they tell us the truth, that the body is necessary for Sadhana, that the body is dependent on pure food, which is a necessity and not a luxury.

Here is a beautiful account of the creation of food as given in the Aitareyopanishad: "In the beginning there was only At-man, the Soul, and nothing else. He thought within Himself, 'let me create worlds.' He created water, light-rays, death, the waters. Above the heaven is water, the light-rays are the atmosphere. Death is the earth (for men die here). Underneath are the waters.

"He then created guardians of the world. He shaped a per-son from the waters. From His mouth came speech and from speech Agni. Similarly from his different parts came out other principles. All these divinities which He created fell down rest-less in that great sea of existence. They said, 'find out for us an abode to live and give us food to eat.' Then He created a bull for them. They said that it was not sufficient for them. Then He made a horse for them. Even then they were not satisfied with it. Then He created a person for them. They were now satisfied. They entered into their respective abodes in the person. But hunger and thirst said to him, 'find out for us a place.' He made these two partakers among the offering made to these divinities.

"He then thought within Himself, 'let Me create food for these.' He produced the material form of food from the waters. The food wanted to flee away. He tried to catch it with speech. He failed to catch it with speech. Otherwise by mere uttering the name of food one could have appeased his hunger. He could not grasp it through the breath, sight, hearing, touch, thought, virility. But he grasped it with the digestive breath. He then consumed food. This one living on food (Annayu) is the wind that digests food (Vayu)."

The Prasna Upanishad says, "Food is the controller of creation. From food is semen. From this all creatures are born."

The Brihadaranyaka Upanishad talks of the mystery of food. The Supreme Father created seven kinds of food. One of them was common to all. Two he gave to the gods. Three he kept for Himself. One was given to animals. Everything here depends on food. How is it that this food does not perish even if it is eaten all the time? He who knows this imperishableness eats food forever and goes to the gods and lives powerfully. Food is imperishable, for it is produced by the Imperishable Purusha."

The Chhandogya Upanishad expounds the science of food. "The essence of things is earth (food). The essence of food is water. The essence of water are plants. The essence of plants is man. The essence of man is speech. The essence of speech is Rik. The essence of Rik is Saman. The essence of Saman is the Udgeeta (Omkara)." Thus food is the source of the Ideal before man.

The priests who perform the sacrifice sing "Om, let us eat. Om, let us drink. May the gods Varuna, Prajapati and Savitri bring food here? O Lord of food! Bring food here! Om!"

"When one hungers and thirsts he does not enjoy himself! When one eats and drinks, he enjoys himself."

A sick man should not eat food. "On account of sickness Upakosala did not eat. His teacher's wife said to him, 'O student of Knowledge! Why don’t you eat? He said, I am sick. Therefore I do not eat.

Man eats food because he considers through ignorance that food is separate from his own self. "You, verily, eat food, knowing this Universal Atman as if something separate."

"The first food which one may get should be offered to the sacrifice in one's own self. (This is the mystical Agnihotra sacrifice to the Universal soul in one's own self.) As hungry children sit around about their mothers here in this world, so also all beings sit around the sacrifice of food here in Agnihotra of the self."

Food is the keeper of life. Without food man does not work. He collapses without food. Uddalaka asked Svetaketu to fast for fifteen days only with water as his diet. "Breath, which consists of water will not be cut off from one who drinks water." For fifteen days Svetaketu did not eat. After fifteen days Uddalaka said, "Now repeat the Rik verses." Svetaketu said "They do not come to me." Uddalaka said, "Now eat." And Svetaketu recited the Vedas after eating. Uddalaka said, "My son! Mind consists of food, the breath consists of water, the voice consists of heat." Food, thus, keeps up the body.

Sanatkumara said to Narada, "In purity of food, there is purity of nature. In purity of nature, there is established memory. In established memory, there results the release from all knots of the heart."

The Taittireeya Upanishad considers food as sacred, be-cause it is the expression of divinity. It is even Brahman Itself.

"Bhrigu, son of Varuna, meditated and considered food to be Brahman. For all beings here are born from food, when born they live on food, and into food they enter on death."

"Annam na nindyaat. Tad vratam. One should not talk ill of food. Thus is the rule."

Here is a mystical rapture of the knower of the Unity of the Self. "Aham annam, aham annam, aham annam. Aham annado, aham annado, aham annadah. 0 wonderful! I am the food, I am the food, I am the food! I am the eater of food! I, who am food, eat the eater of food!"

The Upanishads teach us that food is sacred and that should be taken as a sacred divine sacrifice meant to help us in Self-realisation.

"Food, when eaten, becomes divided into three parts. The roughest part becomes faeces; the medium part becomes flesh; the finest part becomes mind. The mind consists of food, the breath consists of water, the voice consists of heat."

DIGESTION, ABSORPTION AND ASSIMILATION

The digestive system or the gastro-intestinal tract is made up of the mouth, pharynx or throat, the gullet or the oesophagus, the stomach, the small intestine, the large intestine and the rectum. In a full-grown man it is about 25 or 30 feet long. It is lined throughout its whole extent by a velvety lining called 'mucous membrane.' The small intestine is 20 feet long. The salivary glands which secrete saliva, the tongue, the teeth, the pancreas and the liver are the accessory organs of digestion. It is not enough merely to consume food of nutritive value. The food must be actually digested and absorbed in order to supply energy to the body. The process of digestion is one of the most wonderful works of nature. The mechanism of digestion is not the same in all animals. Birds, for example, have no teeth at all. They simply swallow foods. The foods enter into a milling ma-chine called the gizzard where food substances are disintegrated and digested. But we digest our food chiefly by the use of acids, enzymes and chemical products. The process of digestion is begun in the mouth through the medium of mastication. During the process of mastication the saliva is produced in large quantities in the mouth. The saliva moistens the food and reduces it to a soft pulpy condition. The chief function of saliva is to soften and moisten the food and to assist in mastication and deglutition (swallowing). Saliva has a solvent action on cooked starch. It has the power to turn starch into a form of sugar known as Maltose by means of an enzyme or ferment known as Ptyalin. Saliva is an antiseptic. Mastication is the chewing of the food and the breaking up of the food we eat by the action of the teeth, tongue, cheeks, and hard palate or roof of the mouth. The food is mixed with the saliva. The saliva starts the process of digestion. If you simply bolt your food and do not chew it properly you give the digestion a bad start. You do not get the beneficial effect of saliva. The stomach is overtaxed. The saliva is alkaline. After mastication comes deglutition. Deglutition means swallowing. The food is swallowed and passes into the stomach through the gullet or oesophagus by means of the dilatation and contraction of its walls. Here it comes in contact with the gastric juice which is acid. This stops the action of the saliva. The gastric juice contains hydrochloric acid, which kills away germs not killed by the saliva. The walls of the stomach churn up the food and mix it with the digestive juices.

Digestion is the process by which the foodstuffs are con-verted into simplified soluble substances which can be absorbed into the blood and lymphatic system. Absorption is the process by which the final products of digestion pass through the wall of the small intestine into the lymph stream through the villi, the small processes which line the small intestine.

The gastric juice contains two ferments called Pepsin and Rennin. The gastric juice has no action on starches. It has the power of decomposing protein matters, and of converting them into a soluble substance called peptone. The ferment pepsin does this work of conversion of protein into peptone in the presence of hydrochloric acid. The gastric juice breaks faulty sub-stances into small particles of fat which are finally dissolved in the intestines. The Rennin in the gastric juice coagulates the caseinogen in milk. This hinders the passage of milk solids through the stomach and exposes them longer to the action of the pepsin. The food passes into the small intestine, where it comes in contact with the bile, the pancreatic juice and the in-testinal juice which carries the digestive process still further and ultimately reduce the food to a liquid state called chyle, a white milky substance.

The muscular walls of the small intestine drive the food along its course through the tube by their contraction called peristalsis or vermicular movement. Bile has the power of breaking up fat into very small droplets, a process known as emulsification. The pancreatic juice secreted by the pancreas contains three ferments: (a) Trypsin which acts on peptones and changes them into amino acids (Serum albumin); (b) Amylopsin which continues the work of ptyalin and converts starch into maltose and dextrose; (c) Steapsin which emulsifies the fats and changes them into fatty acids and glycerine or glyceril. The ferments of the pancreatic juice split the proteins, fats and starches through a number of stages into simple things as would render them easily absorbable.

The residue consisting of undigested and unabsorbed food particles, the waste product, then goes into the large intestine, and is passed into the rectum as faecal matter.

The normal passage of food from the time of its ingestion to evacuation requires approximately thirty six hours.

After absorption the nutritional elements enter the blood stream and the lymphatic system (lacteals) and through the blood in the capillaries all tissues assimilate the nutritional elements. This process is called assimilation. Sugar in the form of glycogen is stored in the liver for future use. This is reserve sugar for emergency use.

The intestinal juice secreted by the glands in the small intestines converts the disaccharides into monosaccharides.

Glucose is the ultimate product which is utilised by the body. The glucose resulting from digestion of starch and sugars enters into the circulation and passes first through the liver. Some of it is here changed into a substance known as glycogen for storage in the liver. The final products of digestion that are obtained from starch and sugar are glucose, galactose and fructose. All three are absorbed but galactose and fructose are, converted into glucose by the liver. Some glucose remains in the blood. Some of the glucose in the blood enters the muscles where it is changed and stored as muscle glycogen. Glycogen thus stored both in liver and muscle can be changed back into glucose when necessary. Glucose is the chief food required for the release of energy for muscular work and for keeping up the temperature of the body. Fat is stored in various parts of the body and is drawn upon when food is insufficient or during fast-ing. Fat under the skin helps to reduce the loss of heat from the body. The mineral salts, vitamins and water are absorbed with-out any change. There is no necessity for them being digested. They supply essential elements in various body-fluids. They play a vital part in the activity of various organs. They are concerned with the regulating process of the body.

MASTICATE WELL

Watch Ram carefully

When he takes his food.

How quickly he cleans his plate,

He gulps each mouthful down

Very, very rapidly.

Mastication is unknown to him.

He forces the stomach

To perform the work

That should be performed

By the teeth and salivary glands.

Stomach is taxed very much

He gets indigestion.

O Man! Eat slowly.

Masticate well every morsel,

You will enjoy good health.

CARE OF THE TEETH

The teeth are really designed by Nature to serve the pur-pose of a mill for crushing the food. The tongue acts the part of a mill-hand by bringing the food under the mill. The teeth play a vital part in the body. They are the most important structure in the body. Good digestion and good health largely depend upon! Their proper development and care.

Teeth begin to form when the embryo is in the mother's womb. The small buds or tooth germs begin to calcify as early .is the seventeenth week of prenatal life. The teeth are made up of a hard substance called "dentin". It is hollow inside and is filled with a substance called tooth pulp. The crown of teeth is covered with a very hard white glazy material called enamel. I his coating protects the soft dentine. If it is broken or worn .away it does not grow again. Each tooth consists of three parts, the root, year and crown.

The chief building materials used in making the teeth are calcium, phosphorus and fluorin. Vitamins A and D build the materials into sound teeth. Vitamins B and C help in the build-ing process. The food of the pregnant mother and the nursing mother should contain these building materials and the Vitamins. Only then, the baby will have proper, developed teeth. She should take plenty of milk, milk-products, green leafy vegetables, and fruit. She must be out in the sunshine as much as possible. This will help her skin to take vitamin D.

If you wish to have perfect health and strength you should pay particular attention to the teeth. You should have a perfect set of your teeth so that you can masticate your food in an efficient manner. If every particle of food that enters your mouth is not thoroughly masticated, you put an unnecessary amount of work on the digestive organs. In the long run they get diseased. The gums also should be healthy in order to keep the rest of the body healthy.

The teeth play a prominent part in masticating the food. The process of cutting, grinding, pasting and mixing with a sufficient amount of saliva is done by the teeth. Hence the teeth must be kept in a healthy and efficient state.

Decayed teeth are one of the great causes of internal troubles such as gastritis, dyspepsia or indigestion, constipation, intestinal ulcers, flatulence, etc.

If you do not wash the teeth carefully, tartar collects at the roots of the teeth. This helps the accumulation of germs. If the food is faulty and the mouth and teeth are not cleansed properly you will get pyorrhoea.

If particles of food are allowed to remain in the teeth, they irritate and injure the teeth. They decompose and produce fermentation. The gums get swollen and pus forms there. The enamel is eaten away and the dentine is exposed. The teeth decay and dental caries occurs.

Do not give much sweetmeat to children. Excess of sweetmeat causes the teeth to decay. Give them more fruit and milk.

If the teeth are a bit shaky do not get them extracted. You will suffer from dyspepsia. Use 'Divyamrit Danta rakshak toothpowder'. The tooth will become steady and firmly fixed.

The mouth should be kept very, very clean. The tartar should be removed. Cleansing of the teeth and mouth with salt water daily in the morning and at night is highly beneficial. Rinse the mouth nicely with salt water twice at the end of each meal and tiffin. Potassium permanganate gargle is highly efficacious. Those who suffer from pyorrhoea should cleanse their mouth as often as possible with salt water or the permanganate lotion. Chewing a few neem leaves and keeping the juice in the mouth for a few minutes is very efficacious and beneficial. Neem leaves are a powerful antiseptic. They kill the disease causing germs.

Avoid too cold or too hot food or drinks. This is injurious to the whole system and affects the teeth. It produces caries in teeth and pyorrhoea.

From this it is quite obvious that every seeker after health should keep his teeth in a very clean and healthy condition. Re-move the particles of food that stick to the teeth with a tooth-stick or toothpick or fingers. Wash the mouth thoroughly after food. Clean the teeth with a nice tooth powder composed of alum, black pepper, gerrua thrice or twice daily. Do not use tooth-sticks or brushes. Violent rubbing with these sticks re-moves the enamel quickly. Use your finger only. This is the readily available and cheap toothbrush. Do not use any toothpowder or paste that is sold in market. Do not be carried away by pompous advertisements. Salt mixed with mustard oil is a valuable dental paste. It is useful in inflammation of gums, pyorrhoea. Do not use carbolic toothpowder. Carbolic acid corrodes the enamel quickly.

Fresh milk, whole grains, cereals, fresh vegetables and fruits are highly beneficial in preserving the teeth in a healthy condition.

AVOID OVER-EATING

Man eats too much. This is admitted by all. Most of your diseases are due to over-eating. Your kind mother and grand-mother have taught you over-eating from your childhood through their affection and indulgence.

Even when you are not hungry you try to stuff your stomach by taking recourse to spices, chutneys and pickles. It is the tongue that deludes you and does too much havoc. It goads you to eat this thing and that thing. The stomach really wants only a little. Even if you overload the stomach it throws the extra foodstuffs through vomiting and makes you give up the next meal by producing a bad sensation in your throat.

Simple natural foods are quite sufficient to keep up good health and a high standard of vigour and vitality. You will have to create a good appetite by fasting but not by taking recourse to highly seasoned dishes, pickles and chutneys.

You eat even when you are not hungry. This is a sad mistake. If you are not really hungry, fast. You will have a good appetite for the next meal. Thousands of educated people load their stomachs even when they have no appetite, even when they suffer from dyspepsia on the strength of some digestive mixture or pill or choorna. They do this act of folly daily and suffer afterwards and still they call themselves highly educated, cultured and civilised.

Take simple, natural food. Eat only when you are hungry. Do not overload the stomach. Such is the law. You will have wonderful health if you follow this simple law.

Nature herself does rationing. If you eat too much sweet-meat and take too much sugar, the pancreas is over-worked, you get diabetes and nature forces you to give up sugar. If you eat too much meat and proteins, the kidneys are overworked and you get albuminuria. Nature forces you to give up protein substances.

You can give up food for some days but you cannot give up water for some days. You can even give up water for some days but you cannot give up air even for a short time. Yogins suspend their breath, get themselves buried for some months and yet there is life in them. Their life is kept up by some mysterious vital fluid, the nectar that dribbles from the Sahasrara or the thousand petalled lotus on the crown of the head. Modern physiologists cannot explain how life is kept up in Yogins even when food, water and air are entirely withdrawn and how their bodies derive their nutrition when they are buried. Earth, water. Fire, air are all products or modifications of Akasa Tattva. If you know through Yoga how to tap Akasa it will provide you all the things supplied by food, water and air, because Akasa is the mother substance.

Yogins tap the source, the Akasa, which is in the brain, drink the nectar and maintain life in their bodies. This is a secret known to Yogins only.

A glutton is unfit for the practice of Yoga. He who eats much deprives the food of others and commits a great sin. He must be punished. Give rest to the internal digestive organs by fasting. You can have a healthy long life.

May you grow wise from today at least and lead a healthy life by taking simple natural foods and giving up over-eating.

DIETETIC RULES

If you follow these dietetic rules you will surely attain wonderful health, longevity and high standard of vigour and vitality.

1. Fruits should be perfectly ripe. Do not eat sour or unripe fruit.

2. Eat only when you are really hungry. Beware of false hunger.

3. Eat less, masticate more. Masticate your food thoroughly. Chew every mouthful 30 times. Do not eat too rapidly. Do not bolt your food hastily.

4. Fast one day in a week. Fasting eliminates the poi-sons, overhauls the internal mechanism and gives rest to the organs.

5. Do not overload the stomach. Take Mitahara (moderate diet). Get up when three quarter of the stomach is full.

6. Do not eat anything which you do not like but do not oat everything which you like most.

7. Take always some raw vegetables like cucumber, radish, with your food. Reduce cooked food to a minimum.

8. Eat only 4 or 5 kinds of food at one meal. Abandon too many mixtures or combinations. It is difficult for the digestive juices to digest complex, diverse combinations.

9. Eat only combinations that are compatible. If you take incompatible mixture, there will be fermentation in the stomach and intestines. All cereals can be taken with milk, fruits and vegetables. Do not take milk with milk products—such as Rubbadis, Peda, Kalakand, etc. Nuts, bread, apples, lemons, whey, butter can be taken with everything. Proteins and starches, and fruits and cereals or other carbohydrates are compatible combinations. Experience and instinct will guide you in making compatible mixture of diets.

10. Do not eat when you are angry. Rest for a while till the mind becomes calm and then take your food. Poisons are secreted by the glands when you are angry and thrown into the bloodstream.

11. Take medicine as food. Give up gluttony.

12. Do not eat anything between meals. Do not drink be-tween meals. Do not eat late at night.

13. Do not remove the skin of apples and carrots be-cause the skin has valuable minerals and vitamins.

14. Do not take tinned foods and old butter. Vegetables and rice should be steamed. Over-cooking will rob the vegetables of their value and flavour. Do not throw away the canjee and the water in which vegetables are boiled. They contain valuable materials. Drink them also.

15. Take food at fixed hours. Take only two meals. Never heat the food again over the fire. Do not take too many dishes.

16. Sit on Vajrasan for 10 minutes after meals. This will digest well your food.

17. Take food when the breath is passing through the right nostril.

18. Make a change in your diet gradually. If an article of diet disagrees, reduce the quantity. It will be agreeable to you.

19. Observe silence when you take your food.

20. Protect the articles of diet from flies. Keep the milk in cool place.

21. Do not do any strenuous work physical or mental after taking food. Take rest for half an hour. Do not run immediately after food to catch the train.

22. Remember God, the Indweller in all foods, fruits and vegetables, the bestower of bounties to you during meals and at all times. Pray to Him just before and after meals.

GIVE UP MEAT-EATING AT ONCE

Meat-eating is not only unhygienic but often dangerous. Flesh-eating is not only unnecessary but also unnatural and a violation both of physical and moral law. Butchery and blood-shed is a great disgrace to civilisation and culture. Let me re-mind you of the words of the Great Teacher, Lord Jesus, "Go ye and learn what this meaneth, I desire Mercy and not sacrifice."

Avery large number of medical men who have studied the subject of "Diet in relation to Health" are forbidding their patients to eat animal flesh, not only as a means of cure for such diseases as gout, rheumatism, etc., but also as a preventive against uric acid ailments and diseases of many kinds, including consumption, cancer and appendicitis.

Dr. Josiah Oldfield, D.C.L., M.A., M.R.C.S., L.R.C.P., Senior Physician, Lady Margaret Hospital, Bromley, writes: "To-day there is the scientific fact assured—that man belongs not to the flesh-eaters, but to the fruit-eaters. Today, there is the chemical fact in the hands of all, which none can gainsay, that the products of the vegetable kingdom contain all that are necessary for the fullest sustenance of human life.

"Flesh is an unnatural food, and, therefore, tends to create functional disturbance. As it is taken in modern civilisation it is affected with such terrible diseases (readily communicable to man), as cancer, consumption fever, intestinal worms, etc., to an enormous extent. There is little need for wonder that flesh-eating is one of the most serious causes of the diseases that carry off ninety-nine out of every hundred people that are born."

Sir Henry Thompson, M.D., F.R.C.S., in "Diet in Relation to Age and Activity," says:

"Meat is absolutely unnecessary for a perfectly healthy existence, and the best work can be done on a vegetarian diet. People take too much meat, and they could live much more healthily on a vegetarian diet than a whole meat diet. Vegetarians have done a great deal in a quiet way to make possible that simpler life for which a great number of people are crying out very loudly without any definite idea of what they mean.

"Doctors are looking to prevention rather than cure as the great agency in raising the physical condition of the nation. The medical training of the present day is directed much more closely to the prevention of disease than it ever has been be-fore. It is being realised that every means should be resorted to so as to prevent the accession of disease rather than merely at-tempt to cure it when it comes, and the Vegetarian Movement will, I think, do a very great deal towards this." Meat is not at all necessary for the keeping up of health. Meat-eating is highly deleterious to health. It brings a lot of ailments such as tapeworm, albuminuria and other diseases of the kidneys. Pythagoras, the Grecian Sage preached: Not to kill nor injure any creature." He condemned meat diet as sinful food. Just hear what he says: "Beware, 0 mortals, of defiling your bodies with sinful food! There are cereals, there are fruits, bending their branches down by their weight, and luxurious grapes on the vines. There are sweet vegetables and herbs which the flame can render palatable and mellow. Nor are you denied milk, nor honey, fragrant of the aroma of the thyme flower. The beautiful earth offers you an abundance of pure food and provides for meals obtainable without slaughter and bloodshed."

If you want to stop taking mutton, fish, etc., just see with your own eyes the pitiable, struggling condition at the time of killing the sheep. Now mercy and sympathy will arise in your heart. Then you will determine to give up flesh-eating. If you fail in this attempt, just change your environments and live in a vegetarian hotel where you cannot get mutton and fish and move to that society where there is only vegetable diet. Always think of the evils of flesh-eating and the benefits of a vegetable diet. If this also cannot give you sufficient strength to stop this habit, go to a slaughter house and butcher's shop and person-ally see the disgusting rotten muscles, intestines, kidneys and other nasty parts of the animals which emit bad smell. This will induce Vairagya in you and a strong disgust and hatred for meat-eating.

When man abandons flesh foods and takes his nutriment direct from Nature's hand, of well ripe and healthy fruits and grains, nuts and vegetables, with the addition of honey, cheese and milk, we shall find a large number of diseases disappear-ing. People will have more power of endurance and attain longevity. It is easily possible to sustain life on the products of the vegetable kingdom. The vegetable diet produces supreme powers both of mind and body.

Scientists are coming to the conclusion that there are in meat certain things which are absolutely poisonous. It is a serious mistake to believe that meat can make good fighting men. That a non-meat diet can make good soldiers and generals is beyond a shadow of doubt.

All slaughter houses should be abolished, and the use of animal flesh as food should be absolutely given up. Flesh-eat-ing is unnecessary, unnatural and unwholesome. The count-less instances of reputed philosophers, authors, scholars, athletes, Saints, Yogins, Rishis who lived on vegetable diet conclusively prove that vegetarian diet produces supreme powers both of mind and body and is highly conducive for di-vine contemplation and practice of Yoga. Pythagoras, Plato, Aristotle, Socrates, Plutarch, Buddha, Zoroaster, Milton, Isaac Newton, Benjamin Franklin, Shelley, Swedenberg, Newman, Edison, the Christian Fathers, Tertullian, Origen, Clement and others, the Christian apostles, James, Mathew, Peter were all vegetarians. Man is created a frugivorous or fruit-eating creature. This scientific fact is evident from a comparison with the carnivorous animals from whom he differs completely in respect of his internal organs, teeth and external appearances, whereas anatomically, he is most intimately allied to the anthropoid apes whose diet consists of fruits, cereals and nuts.

Meat generates diseases, excites passion and produces restlessness of mind. Therefore, abandon meat; totally live on vegetable diet. Take plenty of fruits. May you all attain perfect health, and longevity and peace by living on a vegetarian diet which is helpful for meditation and superb living?

THE INNER FACTORY

The food that you take consists of nitrogenous elements and proteins, fats or hydrocarbons such as ghee, and carbohydrates such as rice and sugar. Proteins build up the tissues and the muscles. Carbohydrates produce energy. Besides these, there are various kinds of salts also. The various digestive juices, saliva in the mouth, gastric juice in the stomach, bile, pancreatic juice and the Succusentericus or the intestinal juice in the intestines act upon the particles of food during their pas-sage in the alimentary canal or digestive tube. Saliva acts upon starch. It converts it into sugar. This action is further taken by pancreatic and intestinal juices; in the intestines. Bile acts upon fats. Gastric juice and pancreatic juice set upon proteins. The whole thing is converted into a milky juice called chyle. This chyle is absorbed by lacteal vessels and it is mixed with blood.

The right side of the heart contains impure blood. This impure blood is sent to the lungs for purification and after being purified is brought back to the left side of the heart, and from there it is pumped through the big artery aorta, throughout the body. In the capillaries the blood exudes as lymph and bathes and nourishes the tissues and cells of the body, and the impure blood is carried back by veins to the right side of the heart.

The waste products of food are carried along the large intestine which is six feet in length, to the rectum where it is retained as faecal matter. When the nervous impulse is carried to the rectum from the defaecation centre in the spinal cord, it is discharged in the morning through the anus, the terminal open-ing of the alimentary canal.

The kidneys, that are situated in the loins, one on each aide, eliminate the urine from the blood and send it through two tubes called the ureters to the reservoir of urine called 'bladder.' From the bladder it is discharged through the urethra.

The nervous system consists of cerebrum or forebrain, cerebellum or hindbrain, spinal cord and the sympathetic nerves. There are various centres in the brain for hearing, see-ing, tasting, smelling, speaking, etc. The afferent impulses from the hands when a finger is stung by a scorpion, are carried through the sensory nerves to the spinal cord and from the spinal cord to the brain. Mind that has taken its seat in the brain, reacts. It feels. An impulse travels from the spinal cord and thence along the motor nerves to hand. At once the hand is taken back within the twinkling of an eye. The sympathetic nerves supply the internal organs of the abdomen, liver, spleen, heart, etc.

Now I will describe, how this vital fluid semen is manufactured. The two testes or seeds that are located in the scrotal bag are called secretary glands. These cells of the testes have been endowed with the peculiar property of secreting semen drop by drop from the blood, just as the bees collect honey in the honeycomb. Then this fluid is taken by the two spermatic ducts or tubes to the two small bags or reservoirs for the semen called Vesiculae Seminalis (bags for storage of semen), one on each side. Under excitement, it is thrown out by small ducts called ejaculatory ducts into the prostatic portion of urethra or urinary canal, where it is mixed with the prostatic juice, secreted by the prostate gland.

Who is the real Director of these internal organs? Who has created this subtle, internal, magnanimous machinery? Are you not struck with awe and wonder, my dear friends, when you think for a moment seriously about the Divine Grandeur and Divine Glory, that are exhibited in the structure of these miraculous mechanisms—heart, lungs, brain etc.? How harmoniously do they work! Who converts food into blood? Who pumps the blood into the arteries? It is He. Feel His Indwelling Presence. Pay your silent homage to Him. Glory, Glory, unto the Lord, the Creator of this wonderful body, His own image, His own dwelling house, the Navadvarapuri, the nine-gated city!

Chapter 2

CONSTITUENTS OF FOOD

Song of Vibhuti Yoga

Bhajo Radhe Krishna

Bhajo Radhe Shyama

I am spinach among leafy vegetables,

I am almond among all nuts,

Milk am I among perfect foods,

Tomatoes am I among all vegetables:

I am potatoes among tuber and roots,

I am Basmati rice among all cereals,

Soya bean am I among all pulses,

Cow’s Ghee am I among all fats;

I am mango among all kinds of fruits-

I am Alphonso among all mangoes,

Buttermilk am I among all beverages,

Glucose am I among all sugars;

I am phosphorus among all minerals,

I am vitamin C among all vitamins,

Lady finger am I among green vegetables,

Barley water am I among invalid foods;

I am first class Protein in milk among all proteins,

I am white sugar among carbohydrates,

Turnip am I among English vegetables,

Lemon juice am I among anti-scorbutics

Tastes Differ, People Fight

Alas! One man’s meat is another man’s poison

Various tastes in food

Divide the human brotherhood.

A Chinaman likes pork;

An Englishman likes rabbit and herring:

A German likes Kipper or dripping;

The Siamese eat puppy dogs;

The French are fond of slugs and frogs;

Colonials like their Oysters hot;

The Gujaratis like tea; Madrasees coffee.

A Madrasi likes Sambar, Rasam,

Iddali, Uppuma and Dosai;

A Bengali likes rice, Rasagulla and Sandesh;

A Punjabi likes Parotta, Ghee and milk;

A Hindustani likes Urad ka dhal;

A Telugu likes his Imli chutney;

A Maharashtrian likes his Varan' and 'Amti'.

Hindustani `Kadi' is only Madrasi Moorkolambhu';

But they fight `Kadi is better; that is inferior'!

A Gujarati comes now; he adds some sugar to it

And says: 'My Kadi is far superior'.

All the world is torn and rent

By varying tastes on food.

This is Maya's trick

To separate man from man.

0 man! Do not fight over little tastes.

Eat anything you get easily.

Control your enemy, this little tongue,

An organ of two inches

Train it in any way you like.

Penetrate deep,

Find out the essential unity

And rest in peace for ever!

Constituents of Food

We need food for two purposes: (1) to maintain body heat and (2) to produce new cells and to make up for the wear and tear of our bodies.

Foodstuffs are, therefore, divided into two principal classes: (1) heat and energy producers and (2) body-builders and tissue formers.

Carbohydrates, oils, and fats are heat producers. They are the sources of energy. Proteins, mineral- salts and water are body-builders.

Proteins are nitrogenous substances or body-building materials. They provide the necessary materials to build new cells for growth or replace those lost in wear and tear. They are contained in milk, meat, fish, wheat, pulse, millet, peas, etc. Starches and sugars contain carbohydrates. Rice contains plenty of carbohydrates. Ghee is an animal fat.

Proteins cannot build the tissues by themselves. Builders are necessary, just as masons are necessary to build the house. The Prana or the vital force builds the tissues.

The six food essentials are proteins, fats, carbohydrates, water, minerals and vitamins.

Minerals like calcium, sodium, potassium, iron, iodine, phosphorus, are quite indispensable in the healthy building of the human body. Their lack or deficiency definitely contributes to diseases. They enter into the chemical composition of the body. These must be supplied to the body through the food. These are phosphorus in brain, iron in haemoglobin of blood and calcium in bones and teeth, etc.

Food is burnt or oxidised in the body as a source of heat and energy. The energy-yielding constituents are proteins, fats and carbohydrates. Protein is a source of energy also.

The body needs vitamins and mineral-salts which do not supply energy but play a fundamental part in basic vital pro-cesses. Water also is a dietary essential. Life cannot exist at all without water.

Leafy vegetables and fruits contain certain vitamins and mineral salts. Root vegetables and tubers contain lot of starch (carbohydrates). Cereal grains contain protein and carbohydrate, but they are deficient in certain vitamins and mineral-salts. Meat and pulses contain a large quantity of protein. Milk is a good source of protein, vitamins and mineral salts.

Proteins

Proteins are nitrogenous substances which repair waste and build new tissues. They are the building materials of tis-sues and organs. They are essential things for the growth and maintenance of the body. They are complex organic com-pounds which contain carbon, hydrogen, oxygen and nitrogen. The protein molecule is composed of a number of simpler-com-pounds called the amino-acids, which are composed of car-bon, hydrogen, oxygen and nitrogen. All the organs of the body such as heart, lungs, stomach, etc., are working all the time till there is life. All this wear and tear is made up by the proteins we take. The proteins provide the necessary materials to build new cells for growth or replace those lost in wear or tear.

Proteins are present in foods obtained from animals and in foods obtained from vegetables. Animal proteins are present in meat, eggs, fish. Vegetable proteins are present in cereal grains such as rice, wheat, oats, barley, maize, ragi, and in nuts, vegetables, fruits and pulses such as gram, dhal, etc.

Carbohydrates or fats cannot build the tissues because they do not contain any nitrogen. Children need proteins to maintain growth. Both children and adults need a daily supply of proteins for the continual renewal of their body tissues.

The proteins are of complex structures. They can be utilised by the body only if they are split into simpler forms. These simpler nitrogenous compounds are known as amino acids. Proteins differ in food-value according to the amounts and types of amino acids which they contain. They are twenty-five types of amino acids. Of these six are important. Milk, cheese, wheat, beans, peas, nuts contain good proteins.

The essential amino acids are Lysine, Tryptophane, Cystine and Histidine. These are present in larger proportion in casein and lactalbumin than in any other proteins. Complete protein is that which contains all the essential amino acids in sufficient amounts for all aspects of life. An incomplete protein does not contain one or more of these essential substances. Amino acids are the bricks with which tissue is built. Casein and lactalbumin are complete proteins. Sein found in maize and gelatine found in meat are incomplete proteins.

The proteins which are present in the animal food are called 'animal proteins' and those in vegetable foods 'vegetable proteins'. Albumins and globulins are simple proteins. Legumin is found in peas, beans, lentils, etc.

The animal and the vegetable proteins are different from those that are found in the human body. The proteins of food must be reformed into those that are required for the different parts of the body by digestion in the stomach and the intestines. Some foodstuffs contain proteins that can be easily re-formed by the human body into the new varieties that are required for the building and repair of its tissues. These proteins are called "suitable" proteins. Some foodstuffs contain proteins that cannot be so easily reformed. These are called “unsuitable proteins”.

Milk, curds, buttermilk, cheese, green leafy vegetables such as spinach, lettuce, water trees and the young shoots of eatable plants, whole wheat flour contain suitable proteins. Polished rice, white flour, tapioca, maize contain unsuitable proteins. Sugar, and vegetable oils do not contain any protein. Protein can also be used by the organism as a source of energy.

Nearly all common foodstuffs contain protein but the amount they contain varies widely. The pulses, nuts and milk are richest in protein. The protein of peas, beans and lentils is incomplete as there is want of certain essential amino acids. It is of inferior value to that of milk or soya bean.

Protein is not stored in the body. Intake of excess of protein produces harm to the system. The kidneys are overworked and damaged. Many diseases like gout, nephritis or inflammation of the kidneys are produced. Too little protein in the diet causes stunted growth, lack of endurance and power of resistance against infectious diseases and anaemia or poverty of blood, etc.

Growing children, pregnant women and nursing mothers require more protein. The protein of foodstuffs must be easily digestible. Only then it adds to the value of its protein content. If the amino acids of a protein of a foodstuff resembles more closely that of the tissues; it has greater food value. The addition of milk to the diet of children suffering from malnutrition helps them to grow rapidly. There will be continuous increase in their growth also.

Carbohydrates

Carbohydrates are foods that give energy. They enable the body to make proper use of the proteins and fats in the foods. They are found in cereals, fruits, vegetables, starches and sugars. They contain carbon, hydrogen and oxygen. They are fuel foods. They include starches and sugars of every kind.

Rice, white flour, tapioca, sago, the flour of wheat, rye, barley, corn flour, oatmeal, arrowroot, potatoes are examples of starches. Jaggery, brown sugar, white sugar, honey, treacle, syrup, jam, are examples of sugar.

Carbohydrates are the body's chief source of energy. Grain foods and root vegetables are largely composed of carbohydrates. Carbohydrates are necessary constituents of the diet, but when they are present in excessive proportion, the diet becomes ill-balanced.

The carbohydrates of fruits are chiefly sugars. If you eat plenty of fruits, you need not take any sugar.

Fifty to sixty per cent of your food should be carbohydrates. In this there should be starches and sugars. Sugars are digested easily.

Carbohydrates are compounds of carbon, hydrogen and oxygen. They are divided into three main classes. (1) Monosaccharides, e.g., glucose, fructose (fruit sugar). (2) Disaccharides, e.g., sucrose, lactose, maltose. The more complex sugars, disaccharides cannot be utilised by the body as such. They must be changed into simpler forms. (3) Poly saccharides, e.g., starches, dextrin, cellulose. As polysaccharides contain starch and cellulose, they have to be cooked. Heat breaks the walls of the cells and water gets into the starch grains.

In working out diet schedules, requirements of protein, fat, vitamins and minerals should be taken into consideration. Subsequently, carbohydrate-rich foods can be included in sufficient amounts to fulfil energy requirements.

Fats and carbohydrates are stored as a reserve in the body but proteins cannot be stored as a reserve. The carbohydrates are the most easily digestible of all foodstuffs. If more carbohydrate is eaten than is needed at the time, a small amount of the surplus is stored in the liver in the form of glycogen. The rest is changed into fat and stored in this form.

Eating too much starch causes flatulence (wind in the bowels) and obesity. Vitamin D is necessary for the proper use of carbohydrates by the body. If you take too much sweets acid fermentation takes place. You will get caries of tooth.

Lactose is milk sugar. Fructose is fruit sugar. Glucose is found in honey and grapes. Dextrose, grape sugar, glucose and levilose are absorbed in the system immediately and sup-ply energy at once. That is the reason why glucose is given in Pneumonia, Typhoid and other fevers and debility.

Sucrose is cane sugar. It is obtained from sugar cane. Maltose is malt sugar. It is formed in the mouth by the action of ptyalin in the saliva on starch in food.

Fats and Oils

Fats are compounds of glycerine with fatty acids. They are the first-class fuel foods. They produce twice as much energy as either proteins or carbohydrates. They are of animal and vegetable origin. They contain carbon, hydrogen and oxygen.

Fats supply energy and heat quickly. They build up fatty tissues. They are contained in butter, ghee, cream, milk, cheese, lard, vegetable oil. Coconut, nuts, soya bean, avocado, peas are rich in fats. Oats, Bajra, juar contain a large amount of fat. Polished rice, sago, tapioca, peas, beans and wheat contain very little fat. Fruits are poor in fat. Dhals and gram contain a fair amount of fats. Fats which melt very easily are digested easily.

Fats must be included in ordinary diets. A diet which is low in fat is often deficient in vitamin A. One to two ounces of fat should be consumed daily. Fat supplies vitamin A to the body.

Fat forms a protective layer over the nerves. It fills up hollow spaces and gives beauty. It protects the delicate internal organs from injury. It aids the body to utilise calcium in the system. Fat serves as a reserve energy supply and so it is considered as a protective food constituent. Fat prevents loss of heat by the body. It prevents infection from microbes on account of its vitamin A.

If more fat is eaten than is required, you will develop obesity. Vitamin A and B, iodine and carbohydrates are essential for the proper absorption of fats in the body.

The fats are digested in the small intestine by the pancreatic juice. The bile juice assists in this action by emulsifying the fats. The fats are split into their two component parts—fatty ac-ids and glycerol. These substances are absorbed in the small intestine and again re-synthesised into fats which pass into the blood. They are finally burnt as fuel or stored in the body as fat.

Fruits hide the "Atman"

Fruits, vegetables, proteins and vitamins

Hide "Atman", the Indweller in all objects;

They all dissolve in Atman or the Soul,

They are all Maya's jugglery products.

Fruits etc., are not apart from Atman:

They have no independent existence,

They are superimposed on Atman.

If you behold the Atman,

The fruits, etc., will vanish;

If you see the fruits alone;

You cannot see the Atman.

Fruits, etc., are projected,

Through the illusory power of Atman;

Fruits, etc., are mere appearances like mirage.

Atman alone is the only Reality.

Realise this Atman through meditation

And eat this most delicious Immortal Fruit.

Fruit and Health

Fruits have an advantage over all other foods is that they furnish to the system, in a completely digested form, ready for immediate assimilation such material as is needed to reinforce muscular energy. To this fact is due the refreshment which is so promptly afforded by fruit juices when one is tired and the craving for juicy fruits under such circumstances. Most juicy fruits furnish not only water but a small amount of digested food sub-stances in the form of sugar, which is taken at once into the blood and being carried to the muscles, replenishes the stores of energy which have been reduced by activity, thus bringing refreshment and reinforcement of vigour and strength. Fruits also aid the digestion of other foods by promoting the formation of the gastric juice and particularly the production of pepsin. Another advantage afforded by the use of fruits is the fact that fruit acids readily destroy nearly all germs. Typhoid fever germs, cholera germs and other germs likely to produce acute disease are quickly killed by coming in contact with dilute solutions of citric and malic acids. Lemon or sour apple juice destroys germs almost instantly. The juice of a lemon added to a glass of water may be relied upon to render the water sterile within half an hour, even though it may contain the germs of typhoid fever or cholera. This precaution may advantageously be taken by travellers, though, of course, it would be better to avoid all risk by using only boiled water when travelling.

The antiseptic properties of fruit render it exceedingly valuable as a means of cleansing the stomach and the alimentary canal. The germs which go into the stomach are all quickly killed when placed in the pure juice of fresh fruit. This explains the beneficial effect of the grape cure, the apple cure, the peach cure and various other fruit cures which have been for many years practiced in Switzerland and other portions of Europe and elsewhere.

Fruit-eating enables us materially to check the encroachment of death upon life. The fruit juices cleanse the earthly matter from the tissues and in this way tend to prolong life. Fruit has for a number of years been made use of as an exclusive diet in the treatment of obesity, biliousness and various forms of indigestion. In obesity or corpulence, an exclusive fruit diet for 3 or 4 days causes a rapid loss of fat without any considerable amount of discomfort. Acid fruits are preferable to sweet fruits for this purpose. It is a good plan for a person who is too fat to make his diet consist largely of fruits. Persons suffering from chronic biliousness may pursue the same plan. In fevers, fruits especially in the form of fruit juices are a most convenient food and certainly the most appropriate of all foods. Persons suffering from acid dyspepsia must avoid sour fruits. Their stomachs are abnormal and sensitive to acids. Such persons may eat sweet prunes, pears, stewed raisins, baked bananas, and sometimes well-ripened peaches. They must avoid the more acid fruits. Persons suffering from diabetes must avoid sweet fruits. The invalid with weak digestion must forego fruit with few exceptions. Stone fruits are the least digestible as a class; but the ripe peach may sometimes be allowed and sometimes, the apricot; the skins will of course, be avoided. The apple however ripe, is not to be thought of, for invalids; but, the pear, may on occasion be considered. The small seeded fruits, the ripe strawberry and raspberry in particular, are among the most wholesome. The orange is permissible in most cases, but we must carefully reject the white inner skin, and better still, we shall only crush the fruit in the mouth and swallow the juice, leaving the pulp. Grapes, are suitable in nearly all cases. With the use of fresh fruits, one can live in the enjoyment of perfect health and strength. Perfect fruit diet can meet the demands of the human system, perfect fruit can stimulate the intellect, perfect fruits can calm the passions, and last, but not least, perfect fruit can control the feverish activity of the arterial pulsations, which, otherwise engendered by the consumption of inflammatory foods and drinks wear out the human machine long before its natural time.

Despite the influence of civilisation, man still remains what he was at the start, a field animal, and if he wishes to enjoy life under the most favourable conditions, he must return to nature and improve his diet. Physically and intellectually the coming race can best be perfected by being moulded under the magical influences which exist in the fruit field and in the fruit field alone.

Apples: Apple contains Vitamin A, B and C, copper, pot-ash, iron phosphorus and malic acid. It is tonic, mild laxative and blood purifier. It helps digestion, clears the voice, and corrects the acidity of the stomach. It is useful in dyspepsia, rheumatism and liver troubles. It is a food. It stimulates the lungs, liver and kidney. It is a nerve and muscle food. Do not throw away the skin. It contains Vitamins. Apple and cream is a good combination for those who suffer from blood pressure.

Bananas: Banana contains much starch and sugar. It contains very little vitamin. It is a useful food. You can live on milk and bananas alone. The fully ripe fruit acts as a laxative. Take one or two fruits at bed time. You will have free movement of the bowels in the morning.

Grapes: Grapes are one of the best blood purifiers. They are a valuable general tonic. Grapes contain citric and tartaric acids. Grapes can be taken as a laxative in constipation. They are useful in swelling of the feet, abdomen, dysentry and diarrhoea. They give nutrition in wasting diseases like consumption. They are useful for the invalids and the convalescents. The grapes contain Vitamins B and C and iron in abundance.

Mango: Mango fruit is invigorating, fattening and laxative. It is a very potent source of vitamin A and C. It contains sugar and highly refined turpentine. Mango and milk is a wonderful combination. Mango is endowed with excellent health-giving properties.

Orange: This is a blood purifier. It invigorates and energises. It is very rich in Vitamin C. It also contains vitamins A and B. It supplies energy to the system quickly. It is a mild laxative. It promotes growth and prevents rickets and helps the development of bone and teeth. It is useful in anemia or poverty of blood.it prevents scurvy.

Pineapple: Pineapple reduces enlarged spleen. It has considerable food. It is both a medicine and food for singers and speakers. The juice has a remarkable effect on the vocal organs. It is an old fashioned domestic remedy for quinsy and ordinary throat affections.

Pears (Naspati, Nak): It contains Vitamin B and C, potash, lime. It is useful in anaemia, constipation, gout, stones in the bladder and kidneys.

Lemon: It is abundant in vitamin C, lime and potash. It is useful in fever, biliousness, liver disorders, and Scurvy. It possesses anti-scorbutic properties. It is useful in bleeding gums. It is very rich in Vitamin C. It contains citric acid in abundance.

Pomegranate: Pomegranate is very invigorating, refresh-ing, cooling and strengthening. It tones the system. It is nutritious. It sustains life. The juice is useful in Pneumonia, typhoid and other diseases.

Other fruits: Papaya contains pepin. It is useful in dyspepsia. It helps digestion. Bael fruit is cooling. It is useful in dysentery. Jambul fruit is useful in Diabetes Mellitus. Apricot is a tonic. It is nutritious. It is a laxative. Straw-berries are rich in iron and vitamin C. They give health and strength. They are useful in stone in the bladder and the kidneys. Prunes and figs are useful in constipation. They are laxative. Guava is a good laxative. Chikku (Sappota) is a blood purifier. Mosambi is sweet orange. It is useful in fever. Cherries (Alubukhara) are very nutritious. They possess laxative properties and are cooling.

Acid fruits: Pineapple, lemon, orange, grape fruit, all berries, such as straw-berries, rasp-berries, tomatoes, etc. are acid fruits.

Sub-acid and Sweet Fruits: Apples, figs, grapes, pears, cherries, plums, peaches, apricots, etc., are sub-acid and sweet fruits.

Vegetables and Health

Vegetarian diet is extremely suitable to man from the point if vines of health, economy and morality. Even in the West ninny lawn taken to vegetarian diet. There are many vegetarian hotels. A new era has practically set in. Vegetarian diet sharpens the intelligence and makes a man more healthy and wise.

Green vegetables contain a large quantity of water, a little starch and a very small amount of protein and fat. They contain a relatively large amount of mineral salts, cellulose, and also vitamins. Their value in the diet is due to mineral salts and vitamins.

Leafy vegetables are a blessing to humanity. They are substitutes for milk. They are the very bases of life. They help growth and development of body. They are protective foods. Alkaline mineral salts are abundant in leafy vegetables. Hence they afford effective resistance against infection. They give protection to the body against invading infection, pathogenic or disease-causing germs. If you add a liberal supply of leafy vegetables to the pulses, then it becomes a perfect diet. The deficiencies of the pulses are made good by the leafy vegetables. The vitamins of the leafy vegetables aid the digestion and perfect assimilation of the proteins of the pulses.

The leafy vegetables like spinach contain all the mineral elements. These serve the purpose of milk for the poor people. Vegetables contain cellulose. Therefore they are useful in constipation. They stimulate the secretion of bile and therefore assist digestion.

Spinach (Palak), purlane (kulfi), fenugreek (methi), dill (soya), cabbage (band gobhi), cauliflower, watercress are all ureen vegetables. Dill, purlane and spinach are the best for sick patients. Kulfi is beneficial in diabetes.

Carrot is a brain-tonic. It is nutritious. It is rich in vitamin C and mineral salts such as calcium. Carrot halwa is very palatable and nutritious. Radish raw or cooked is useful in piles and Inundice. Onion is useful in cholera and sunstroke. It is an aphrodisiac. It is useful in impotence. Garlic is useful in lumbago, tuberculosis. Onions and garlic are fairly rich in vitamin C. They contain a powerful antiseptic substitute.

Lauki is suitable for invalids. It is cooling, diuretic, antibilious. Methi is useful in anaemia, scrofula, rickets, diabetes, gout, debility, rheumatism. Lentils are rich in iron and lime. They prevent constipation. Lettuce is a green leafy vegetable. It lain excellent source of vitamin C. Spinach is poor man's milk; it is a substitute for milk. It contains a large amount of vitamins and calcium. It is rich in iron. It is slightly laxative. Tomato is rich in all the vitamins A, B, and C. It is the king of all vegetables. Cucumber contains vitamins and mineral salts which aid in maintaining the alkalinity of the blood. Celery is rich is vitamins. It is mostly eaten raw. It can be made into a nice salad with spinach. Celery contains a large quantity of sodium. Leguminous vegetables like peas, beans and lentils contain more pro tein than meat. Potatoes contain iron and Vitamin C. It supplies an excellent form of starch. Turnip is rich in lime. Turnip tops are rich in iron and calcium. Cabbage contains the Vitamins A, B, and C, calcium, phosphorus, iron, sodium, potassium. It is rich in vitamin C. It is useful in constipation, diabetes, gout. grawl, anaemia, adiposity. Carrot is very rich in vitamins A and C, lime, phosphorus, iron and potash. It is a brain-tonic. It purifies the blood. Carrot juice is an excellent substitute for iron-tonic.

Vitamins Vitamin means "life-giving." Vitamins have been called the battery of the body. Just as an automobile cannot run without the battery, no matter how much gasoline is supplied, so also life-activities cannot continue without a supply of vitamin in the diet. Vitamins are like a spark which ignites the fire of nutrition. They are of profound importance into the nutrition of man. They are essential to promote development and maintenance of normal standard of health.

The water that is used in boiling vegetables contains a valuable supply of vitamins and on this account should not be thrown away. In order to preserve the vitamins, vegetables as a rule should not be boiled. They should be steamed with a mini-mum quantity of water, as they themselves contain a sufficient quantity of water.

Siam rice which is highly polished by a special process of milling is deprived of this vital element vitamin by the outer cover of the rice being machined away until the hard pearl like inner part alone remains. The outer skin that is removed consists very largely of vitamins. A person who lives upon a various diet obtains all the vitamins he requires from other sources than rice and may therefore consume moderate quantity of polished rice with impunity. On the contrary an individual who lives on polished rice alone in the main, runs the awful risk of developing beriberi.

Their absence or deficiency in food prevents growth of body, gives rise to certain diseases known as deficiency dis-eases and ultimately causes death. Fresh fruits and vegetables and raw foods are rich in vitamins.

There are five kinds of vitamins: They are Vitamin A, Vita-min B, Vitamin C, Vitamin D, Vitamin E.

Vitamin A: This is fat soluble. This is anti-infective Vitamin. It wards off infection from disease-carrying germs. It promotes growth. It occurs abundantly in green leaves, such as spinach, lettuce, cabbage, green vegetables, cream, butter, milk, cod liver oil, ghee, Carrots, green beans, fresh peas, raw peaches, pineapple, pumpkin, sweet potatoes, tomatoes, wheat bran, wheat bread.

Vitamin B: This is antineumatic vitamin. It is water soluble. Absence of vitamin B causes beriberi. This Vitamin B is present in the husks of cereals and most vegetables. It is abundant in wheat grain, wheat bran, raw tomatoes, fresh spinach, raw cabbage, white beans, wheat bread, rice bran, cereals, lentils, peas, beans, nuts, turnips, potatoes, milk, oats, green vegetables, yeast, coconuts.

Vitamin C: This is water soluble. This is anti-scorbutic vita-min. It prevents Scurvy. Scurvy is due to deficiency of vitamin C. Fresh lemon juice, the juice of cabbage and orange juice are very rich in the vitamin. Tomatoes are very rich in Vitamin C. Vitamin C is abundant in apple, fresh malt, raw peaches, pineapple, potatoes, lettuce, fresh peas, rasp-berries, spinach, cabbage, turnip and fresh green vegetables.

Vitamin D: This is anti-rachitic Vitamin. It prevents rickets. It is fat soluble. It is high in fresh milk. It is abundant in Cod Liver oil. Deficiency of this vitamin leads to rickets in children, osteomalacia in pregnant women, defective dentition and caries of teeth. It helps in the maintenance of normal structure of bones and teeth.

Vitamin E: This is anti-Sterile Vitamin. It prevents sterility. This is fat soluble, and is present in wheat-germs, whole meal bread, olive oil, and greens particularly lettuce. In its absence degeneration of the seminiferous tubules of the male, and cessation of pregnancy with abortion in the female occur.

Vitamin F and G: Vitamin B consists of two distinct components Bland B2. B1 is also known as vitamin F. B2 is known as Vitamin G or PP1 (Pellagra preventive). The absence of B2 leads to Pellagra.

He who dwells in the Vitamins, who is within the Vitamins, whom the Vitamins do not know, whose body the Vitamins are, who rules the Vitamins from within, is Thy Atman (Self), Inner Ruler, Antaryamin, Amritam (Immortal essence).

Glory to the mysterious Vitamins! Glory, Glory to the Indweller in the Vitamins!

Mineral Salts

The main function of the mineral salts is body-building. They enter into the chemical composition of the body. They regulate the various parts so that all function normally. They do not supply energy, but still they play an important part in the nutrition of the body. Deficiency of mineral salts definitely contributes to diseases. The mineral salts build bones and teeth. They form the red oxygen carrying pigment of the blood (haemoglobin). They enter into the structure of every body-cell. They form part of the digestive fluids. They keep the blood alkaline. They help the blood to coagulate when exposed to the air. They cause the contraction and relaxation of muscles. The human body contains 7 lbs of mineral salts. The mineral salts form above one twenty-fifth part of the whole body.

Calcium, phosphorus, iron, iodine, sodium chloride, cop-per, sulphur, potassium and manganese are present in food.

Calcium: Calcium builds bones and teeth. The need of calcium during pregnancy, infancy, and growing period of life is very great. If there is not sufficient amount of calcium in the body, diseases as rickets, teeth caries, osteomalacia, etc., develop. Milk is the richest source of calcium. It is found in abundance in cheese, green leafy vegetables, and nuts. Rice is very deficient in calcium. Ragi is rich in calcium.

Phosphorus: Phosphorus forms part of all living cells. The brain and nerve-cells contain a large proportion of phosphorus. Phosphorus is a very important constituent of the bones and teeth. It is essential to the multiplication of the cells and the growth of the body. More than 1.0 gram of phosphorus daily should he supplied by the diet. The average requirement of phosphorus is nearly twice that of calcium. An extra amount of phosphorus is needed during growth, pregnancy and lactation. Food rich in phosphorus are milk, soya beans, green vegetables, fruits, wheat, carrot, lady's finger, leafy vegetables, buttermilk, nuts, oats, spinach, etc.

Iron: The daily iron requirement is 0.015 gram. Iron is the chief constituent of haemoglobin or blood pigment. There is Daily loss which must be replaced by iron in the diet. Deficiency of iron in the diet causes anaemia or bloodlessness.

Iron gives to the blood its red colour. It enables it to carry oxygen from the lungs to every part of the body. The body has no reserve of iron to draw on in time of need. Therefore, it has to be supplied through food. When destruction and loss of blood corpuscles is taking place as in such conditions as chronic malaria and ankylostomiasis (hookworm infection) iron requirement is increased. Foods that are rich in iron are cereals, bran of wheat, green vegetables, oat meal, dried beans, fruits, dates, green peas, beans, spinach, lettuce, prunes, rad-1.h, raisins, nuts, strawberries, molasses, watermelons, potatoes, cucumber, turnip leaves, tomatoes, dried fruits, oranges, whole wheat bread. Milk is poor in iron.

Vitamins A, B, C, E, and calcium are needed if iron is to be properly used by the body. If these are not present in sufficient quantity, the blood will become poor, although there may be abundant iron in the food.

Iodine is necessary for the proper functioning of the thyroid gland. Deficiency of iodine leads to the development of goitre. Sea salt water contains iodine. Iodine is required in extremely small quantity. Sea weed is the best source of iodine. Traces of iodine are found in cereals, leafy vegetables and Milk. Iodine is present in wheat, millet, carrots, goat's milk.

Chlorine: Chlorine appears in the body as chloride. Chlorine is needed by the body to keep the blood in the right composition and to make the hydrochloric acid which helps the, stomach to digest the food. Foods which are abundant in chlorine are cereals, cheese, banana, dates, lettuce, spinach, tomatoes, pineapple, peanut, green leafy vegetables, common Salt.

Potassium: Potassium is necessary for the construction of the cells chiefly the red blood cells and muscles. Cabbage, cauliflower, drum-stick, ladies finger, potato, fruits, and all vegetables contain abundance of potassium.

Sodium: This is contained in the blood and minerals. It is derived from the common salt for the body requirements. Breads made with whole grains, butter, spinach, raisins, contain sodium. Common salt helps to keep the blood in the right composition, the proper quantity of water in the tissues. It aids the various organs to function properly.

Copper. The iron of foods can only be perfectly utilised by the body when copper is present. Copper is needed only in minute quantity. Nuts, cereals, dried fruits, peas and beans contain copper. A diet which is adequate in iron will also contain sufficient copper.

Magnesium: The outer layer of wheat grain, vegetables contain magnesium.

Sulphur. Sulphur is found in milk, onions, oat meal, cabbage. Sulphur is taken into the body by being a constituent of the proteins of the body. Sulphur is present in skin, hair and nails.

Cellulose

Cellulose is a form of carbohydrate that is found in fruits, vegetables and grains. It helps to form roughage and eliminates waste products. It prevents constipation and helps the free movement of the bowels. It is softened by cooking. Cellulose is useless for energy production and body-building but it helps to keep the digestive system in proper working order.

Cellulose stimulates peristalsis or the muscular movements of the wall of the intestines by friction. It retains water and thus prevents the formation of hard, dry faecal matter.

Cellulose stimulates the peristaltic movement of the bowels, and thus helps the digestion and absorption of the other foodstuffs.

Those who suffer from constipation should eat plenty of vegetables, fruits, etc. These leave an indigestible residue which helps to eliminate waste products of the body.

If you live on milk alone it will produce constipation be-cause there is no residue left after digestion. The whole thing is absorbed in the system.

Water

Water acts as a solvent and an aid to digestion. It enters into the composition of the tissues of the body. It dissolves food and distributes them. It forms the bulk of the blood and all body fluids. It removes from the body impurities. It serves as a vehicle for carrying waste products. It keeps the body temperature equable through perspiration.

About 70 per cent of our body-weight is water. Nine-tenths of the blood and three quarters of our flesh is water. If you do not drink sufficient water, poisons accumulate in the blood. An adult must take two to three pints of water daily.

There is daily loss of 4/ ½ pints of water through the skin, lungs, kidneys and alimentary canal.

Water is essential for all forms of life. Human life can be maintained for a considerable time with no food other than water. Water is only Prana or energy. There are records of people who have survived with water alone for over six weeks.

Water cannot be burnt as fuel. Therefore, it has no fuel value. But water is needed for building up body tissues and flu-ids.

All foods contain a certain amount of water. Most fresh foods contain a very large amount. Bread contains 38 per cent of water; milk 87 per cent, rice 12 per cent, vegetables 80 to 95 per cent, apples 82 per cent, fruits 70 to 94 per cent, boiled vegetables 67 to 98 per cent.

Fats produce water when they are burnt in the body. The camels keep large stores of fat in their humps. When they have neither food nor water, they burn the fat as fuel and obtain a supply of water from the fat. They can travel for 10 days without water.

It is a safe rule to drink water when you are thirsty. Moderate quantity of water can be taken with meals. It is better to drink water when the meal is over.

Milk and Health

Milk, as an article of diet, holds the highest place. Man finds here all the necessities for nutrition, proteins, carbohydrates, fats, salts and water, and for the first year of his life he lives on nothing else. Milk, like egg is a perfect food in itself as it contains the dietetic constituents in perfect hygienic proportions. Milk forms the chief article of diet of infants, for a period of life in which the human organism is very susceptible to both external and internal influences. It also enters consider-ably into the diet of adults. Of all the important articles of diet. Milk is most subject to deceptive manipulations. These mal-practices reduce the quality to such an extent as to make it worse than useless, if not actually noxious. Milk, being an excellent nutrient medium for most bacteria or germs, wanton carelessness might lead to the propagation of horrible epidemics. It has a very remarkable power of absorbing toxins.

Presence of Vitamins in milk is responsible to a very great extent for making it an excellent health tonic. Practically all the vitamins and especially Vitamins A, D and E are abundantly present in the milks of various animals, the latter being prominent in the case of the milks of the cow and the buffalo. Milk is perfect food by itself. One can live on milk alone. Milk contains the different nutritive constituents, fats, proteins, carbohydrates, mineral salts and vitamins in well-balanced proportion. It leaves very little residue in the bowels. This is an ideal food for Yogins during Pranayama practice.

Cow's milk contains 3.3 per cent of first class protein, 4.8 per cent of sugar, 3.6 per cent of fat and 5 per cent of carbohydrates. The proteins of milk are of the highest quality. Milk is rich in fats (butter and cream). It contains abundance of Vitamin A which is very necessary for growing children and for protection against diseases due to germs. The fats of milk are easily digested. It is abundant in calcium and phosphorus which are both essential for the proper growth of bones and teeth. These minerals are found in milk in the proper proportion. They are abundant also. The carbohydrates are present in a soluble form. Fats are melted at a low melting point. They are easily digestible. The proteins of milk are specially suitable to supply the needs of growth in young, as well as maintenance in adult. It is a food for the invalids and the convalescents. Hence milk is a perfect food.

Milk should be scalded but not boiled. The process of scalding is that the milk should be immediately removed from the fire, as soon as the boiling point is reached. Too much boil-ing destroys the vitamin C.

Nuts for Health Nuts have a very high nutritive value, but it is not very easy to digest them. They form a valuable meat substitute in the diet of vegetarians. Nuts of all kinds are rich in proteins. Most of them are also very rich in fats. Their proteins are fairly good and better than those of the cereal grains or dhal. They are like soya beans. As they are very rich food, they cannot be taken in large quantities. Nuts contain only a little carbonate. They are rich in vitamin B but have a poor supply of vitamin A. They have no vitamin C. Nuts can replace butter as they are extremely rich in fat. An ounce of nuts contains more protein than an ounce of egg and six times as much fat.

Most nuts are useful both for fuel and body building. They contain 4.37 per cent of carbo- hydrates, about 50-64 per cent of fat (except the chestnut which only has 2 per cent) and 3.28 per cent of second class protein. They also supply mineral elements including iron. Almond is the king of all nuts. It is the richest known source for calcium. Walnut (Akhrot), pistachio nut (pista), cashew nut (Kaju) are highly nutritious. Neczapine nut (chilgozah) contains starch, oil, protein and minerals. It is a nutritive tonic.

Coconut is a staple food for the Malabaris. Coconut oil has nutritive value like cod-liver oil. Coconut water from tender coconuts is a refreshing drink. It is rich in vitamins. It contains some mineral salts and a little sugar.

Groundnut is also known by the names peanut or mon-key-nut. The protein has twice the value of the proteins of wheat. It contains a large quantity of oil. It is useful for consumptives.

Nuts are rich in phosphorus. Brazil nut tops the list in this respect. Almonds, walnuts and Barcelona nuts come next. They contain iron also. Nuts except chestnut are very useful for diabetic patients.

Honey and Health

Honey is a food and a tonic. It is very easily digestible. It is assimilated very easily. It is the most nutritious natural food. It strengthens a weak heart, a weak brain and a weak stomach. It is ready for absorption into the blood without change. It goes into the blood stream directly. It is not in need of any digestion.

The sugars of honey are levulose and glucose. Proteins, iron and some other important nutritive substances are found in honey. Honey contains all the mineral elements found in the human body. It contains 80 per cent of nutriment in the most assimilated form. It contains enzymes and formic acid. The enzymes act upon the indigestible food in the stomach and the small intestines and reduces it to assimilable state.

Honey is a useful laxative for children. It is an expectorant. Hence it is useful in cough. Honey is full of energy. It gives immense strength. It augments the capacity to work with brain and hand.

Honey is a heart stimulant. It is useful in cases of malnutrition. Honey kills germs and thus enables the body to overcome diseases. Honey is a substitute for orange juice and cod-liver oil. It is useful in bronchial catarrh, sore throat, coughs and colds. Diabetic patients can take honey with much advantage. It is a good remedy for hoarse voice. It makes the voice sweet and melodious. It is given to produce heat and strength in the body of the child.

Honey can be taken with milk. A tablespoonful of honey in a cupful of hot water gives much relief to the asthmatic patients. It is refreshing and strengthening too. Honey is a diffusible stimulant. It is a restorative after serious illness. It invigorates, energises and vitalises the system. It improves health. It is useful in high blood pressure. It brings about a normal blood pressure.

Soya Bean

Soya bean is of high food value as it is quite high in many of its constituents. It is a rich source of proteins which are of fairly good quality. It is a rich source of vitamin A. It is a poor man's meat or milk. It is rich in fats and vitamin B. Virtues of egg and Cod-liver oil are both obtained from soya bean. It is an ideal food for the diabetic. It is a favourite food amongst the Chinese and the Japanese peoples. Recent scientific re searches speak very highly of soya beans.

Starch is practically absent in soya bean. It is also rich III mineral matter especially in soluble phosphates and potash. The ash of soya bean contains 6.12 per cent of calcium and 28.66 per cent of phosphoric acid.

One ounce of soya bean contains 9.6 grains of protein, 4.9 grains of fat and 9.5 grains of carbohydrates. It also contains three vitamins A, B and D. It is a cheap and valuable substitute for meat, milk, egg and cod-liver oil. The protein of the soya bean is very similar to that of cow's milk and animal muscles.

The soya bean contains lecithin more than any other plant. The lecithin of the soya bean is identical with that of egg. It is the best pulse so far known. You can make Dosai or bread out of soya bean flour. Sprouted grains can make very good vegetables.

The Chinese get their milk from the soya bean. They soak the beans overnight in water and press out the juice in the morning. This tastes as cow's milk. It is used for making tea, curds, buttermilk, cheese, etc.

It is very necessary that such a useful article of food should be produced on a very large scale in India and supplied very cheap to the people.

Articles of Food

I

1. Apples contain Vitamin A, B and C, copper, potash, Iron, phosphorus and malic acid. They serve the purpose of food.

2. Banana is rich in protein, carbohydrate and vitamin B. I fence it serves almost as a food.

3. Buttermilk contains some calcium, phosphorus, iron and vitamin B2.

4. Barley is rich in mineral matters.

5. Corn flour contains a high percentage of starch. It is prepared from maize.

6. Cereals constitute the most important of our vegetable foods. They are particularly rich in starch. They have very little fat. They contain protein.

7. Cheese is rich in vitamin A. It contains proteins, fat, curbohydrate, calcium, phosphorus and iron.

8. Cabbage contains vitamins A, B, C, sulphur, calcium, phosphorus, iron, sodium and potassium. It is rich in vitamin C.

9. Carrot is very rich in vitamin A and C, lime, phosphorus, iron and potash.

10. Coconut contains protein, fat, carbohydrate, some vitamin A. No vitamin C. It is moderately rich in vitamin B. It contains calcium, phosphorus and iron.

11. Figs contain vitamin B, potash, sodium, lime, phosphorus and magnesium.

12. Fruits and vegetables are very valuable foodstuffs they are protective foods.

13. Fruits and vegetables are very good sources of vita-mins and minerals.

14. Groundnut contains protein of high quality. It contains good quantity of lecithin. It is equal to egg-yolk in this respect.

15. Grapes contain citric and tartaric acids.

16. Grapes, tomatoes, the leaves of green vegetables such as lettuce, cabbage, spinach are valuable sources of iron.

17. If you eat green leafy vegetables you can maintain perfect health even without milk.

18. Lettuce contains iron, phosphorus, lime, potash and vitamin A, B and C.

19. Lemon contains plenty of vitamin C. It contains lime, phosphorus, potash, magnesium.

20. Molasses (gud) is rich in iron and carbohydrates.

21. Milk is the richest source of calcium. Cheese is next.

22. Milk and butter contain vitamin D.

23. Nuts have very nutritive value, though they are not very easy to digest. They form a valuable meat substitute in the diet of vegetarians.

24. Nuts are rich in protein and fat. They are rich in vita-min B.

25. Oranges contain plenty of vitamin C. They contain protein, fat, calcium, phosphorus and iron.

26. Potato is not rich in protein. It is a good source of vita-min C. It contains vitamin A, B1 and B2.

27. Pistachinonuts (pista) contains protein, fat, carbohydrates, calcium, phosphorus and iron.

28. Peanuts contain protein, fat, carbohydrates, calcium, phosphorus, iron, vitamins A and B.

29. Pulses are the cheapest sources of protein. They can replace meat in the diet. They are the most nutritious of all the vegetables.

30. Polished rice is very rich in starch, but poor in fat and mineral.

31. Roots and tubers contain no protein or fat.

32. Red palm oil alone contains vitamin. Vegetable oils do not contain vitamins.

33. Root vegetables like potato are a good source of carbohydrates.

34. Spinach contains large amount of vitamins, and calcium. It is rich in iron.

35 Skimmed milk contains calcium, phosphorus and iron.

36. Sweet potatoes are rich in vitamin A. They contain vitamin B and C also.

37. Turnip contains iron, soda, potash, magnesium.

38. Tomato contains little protein and fat. It contains calcium, phosphorus, iron, vitamins A, B and C.

39. Walnuts contain calcium, phosphorus, iron, fat, pro-tein, carbohydrates, vitamins A, B.

40. Mango is a very potent source of vitamin A and C.

II

1. Apple is useful in stones in the kidneys or bladder.

2. Dates contain more iron than meat.

3. Flesh foods and cereals tend to form acid in the body. Vegetables and fruits with certain exceptions tend to form al-kali.

4. Eat curry of plantain stem. This will dissolve stones in the kidneys and the bladder.

5. Pear is beneficial in stones in the bladder or kidneys. The stone will be dissolved.

Protective Foods

There are foods which supply both Vitamins and mineral matter and so protect the body from certain diseases. Human beings and particularly children cannot maintain good health if their diet consists largely of cereals such as rice, etc.

They should take fair quantities of foods like milk, green vegetables, fruits. etc., to make good the deficiencies. Milk, butter, cream, cheese, green vegetables, fruits, etc., are known as the protective foods, because they are rich in proteins, vita-mins and mineral salts and protect the body against the dis-eases which result when the diet is largely based on less nutritious foods such as milled rice. Many foods which provide the vitamins also supply the essential mineral matter. Any diet which contains a fair proportion of protective foods will keep the body healthy and prevent ailments.

Infants and growing children, expectant and nursing mothers are likely to suffer if their diet is defective. They are in dire need of protective foods. A diet which contains daily for each man 1 pint of milk, one orange or tomato, 1 ounce of but-ter, some green or leafy vegetable will provide sufficient protective foods.

People throw away the water in which the vegetables are cooked. This is a serious mistake. The minerals are lost. Great care should be taken in cooking vegetables. Only enough water should be used for cooking vegetables. The liquid in which the vegetables are cooked must be drunk. Some vegetables such as radish, etc., should be taken raw.

Cereals

The cereal grains such as wheat, rye, barley, maize, cholam, camby, ragi, jawar, bajra, rice, oats, barley, are the seeds of grains. They constitute the most important of our vegetable foods. It is upon cereal grains the staple articles of our diet that we depend mostly for Vitamin B.

Cereals are all rich in carbohydrates. Hence their calorie. Or energy value is quite high. They contain a very small quantity of fat and protein.

Cereals are the backbone of nutrition. They are energy-producing foodstuffs. They form man's chief means of subsistence. They are the staple food of all races. Cereals are deficient in Vitamins A, C and D. They are not complete foods. They should be supplemented by protein, fat, vitamins and minerals.

The Vitamin B is located in the outer layers of the rice grain. When rice is milled and polished, these outer layers are removed and with them most of its vitamin B. Eating milled polished rice produces beriberi. Therefore home-pounded and un-polished rice should be taken. Rice is a poor source of vitamins and of mineral salts particularly calcium. The nutritive deficiency of rice can be made up by the addition of milk, butter, curd, pulses and green vegetables.

Wheat has the largest protein content of all cereals, while rice has the lowest. It has a little more of calcium and is richer in vitamin B than rice. Wheat-flour contains proteins which when mixed with water form gluten, an elastic protein. Rye also contains gluten. Barley is rich in mineral matter. Barley is a Sattvic food. Barley flour is used as invalid and baby food. Oat meal is highly nutritious.

The term millet includes several species of allied cereal grains. Ragi, jawar and bajra are the various millets. Millet is a rich source of vitamin B. In nutritive value millet ranks next to wheat. Its protein content is low but the essential amino acid is high.

Pulses

Chief among the varieties of pulses commonly used in India are grams, peas, beans and lentils. These are the seeds of n group of plants known as legumin, which are endowed with the attribute of utilising the nitrogen of the atmosphere and thus building their protein content.

Dhals belong to the same order of plants as peas and beans and have in general the same qualities. Dhals are more digestible. There are seven kinds of dhal viz., Arhar, Massur, Mung, Urad, Chana, Mattar and Kalai. They contain a large quantity of protein. Their proteins are better than those of the Sweat grains but they are not so good as those of milk.

Haricot beans, dried peas and lentils are all cheap sources of second class plant protein. Pulses are the poor man's meat. It is necessary that some pulses should be taken by people when diet is largely made up of milled rice, particularly by growing children. Pulses contain more of certain vitamins.

Legumins are rich in carbohydrates but poor in the amount of fat. The proteins lack certain essential amino acid. Hence the protein of peas, beans and lentils is incomplete.

The soya bean is one of the legumins which contains good proteins. One lb of soya beans has the same protein value as 2 ½ lb of meat or 30 eggs.

The pulses are particularly rich in potassium and calcium salts.

The pulses will not soften if cooked in hard water as the legumin, the protein present in pulses forms an insoluble com-pound with calcium salts. They must be soaked in cold water to which a little bicarbonate of soda has been added before they are cooked by boiling.

Germinated legumins are rich sources of vitamin C. If you eat the pulses after they have been allowed to sprout, the value of the pulses is increased. Vitamin C is formed in the grain and the green shoots. Soak the pulses in water for 24 hours and then spread them out on a damp earth and cover them with a moist cloth. Sprinkle water on the pulses from time to time. The grain will sprout out after a day or two.

A Well-Balanced

Diet Diets which are not in agreement with the principles of satisfactory nutrition lead to impaired physical development, ill-health and ultimately death. A high standard of health, vigour and vitality can be achieved through a well-balanced diet. A well-balanced diet will enable you to develop inherited capacities to the fullest extent. A well-balanced and adequate diet must be sufficient in quantity. It must yield enough calories. It must supply the various constituents of food in adequate quantity.

You need not spend more money to get a well-balanced diet. You must know how to prepare a well-balanced diet. A simple, wholesome food which is well-balanced is far better than a diet of rich foods which is not well-balanced. If you have a knowledge of the chemical composition and the food-value of the various articles of diet and their caloric contents, you can very easily make a well-balanced diet for you.

A well-balanced diet for a man is one in which the amount of proteins is 90 to 100 grams, the amount of fats 80 to 90 grams and the amount of carbohydrates 360 to 450 grams. The mineral-salts and vitamins are present in abundance. There should be enough cellulose for the free movement of the bowels.

The amount of foodstuffs which contain protein should not be, more than one-fourth by weight of the amount of vegetables and fruits.

The different components, proteins, fats and carbohydrates should be of the right kinds also. This is very important. If it is of a bad quality, it will not keep you healthy, no matter how much of each is taken.

Calorie Value of Food

The foodstuffs that you eat differ in their power to produce energy. Their energy value varies. It can be measured in calories, or heat units. The term "Calorie" means the amount of heat that is required to raise 1 lb of water to 4° F or 1 kilogram (2.2 Ibs) of water to 1 degree centigrade.

Calorimeter is an apparatus which measures the energy released in the body by the essential food constituents such as carbohydrates, fats and proteins. You can find out the caloric content of a particular foodstuff by burning a certain quantity of it in the calorie-meter. The heat produced is measured by the rise of temperature in water surrounding the chamber in which the food is being burnt. Barley contains 1615 calories per lb, bread 1215, butter 3510, cream 1912, cheese 1950, dried fruits (raisins, currants) 1480, fruit 180, milk 1693, nuts in shells 3040, peas 1464, potatoes 310, sugar 1790.

An expert commission of the League of Nations (Report on the physiological basis of Nutrition. 1936) has drawn up the following statement about energy requirements:

1. An adult, male or female, living an ordinary everyday life in a temperate climate and not engaged in manual work is taken as the basis on which the needs of other age-groups are reckoned. An allowance of 2,400 calories net (the term "net calories" refers to the amount of energy available from the calories actually assimilated) per day is considered adequate to meet the requirements of such an individual.

2. The following supplements for muscular activity should be added to the basic requirements in (a):

Light work: up to 75 calories per hour of work.

Moderate work: up to 75-150 calories per hour of work.

Hard work: up to 150-300 calories per hour of work. Very hard work: up to 300 calories and upwards per hour of work.

Energy requirements of the body depend on activity, age, size, body weight, environment, habits, nature of the work man does, and sex. If you are active, the muscles are in need of much food. More work means more calories.

The calorie requirements of our people of different age and sex groups have been estimated by W.R. Aykroyaed as follows:

The body of an average man requires about 3 ½ , oz. of pro-tein, 13 ½ oz. of carbohydrates, and 3/ 1/3 oz. of fat daily, together with water, mineral salts and vitamins. The food is oxidised in the body to yield energy. One gram of carbohydrate yields 4.1 calories, one gram of protein 4.1 calories, and one gram of fat 9.3 calories. Water and mineral salts have no full value.

Sattvic Food

Cheru, Havis Annam, milk, wheat, barley, bread, ghee, butter, dried-ginger, green dhal, potatoes, dates, plantains, curd, almonds and fruits are all Sattvic articles of food. Cheru is a mixture of boiled white rice, ghee, white sugar and milk. Havis Annam is also a similar preparation. This is very useful for spiritual aspirants. Milk is a perfect food by itself containing, as it does, the different nutritive constituents in a well-balanced pro-portion. This is an ideal food for Yogins and Brahmacharins. Fruits are great energy-producers. Bananas, grapes, sweet or-anges, apples, pomegranates and mangoes, are wholesome and nutritive fruits.

Dry fruits, such as grapes, raisins, dates and figs, sweet fresh fruits such as bananas (Rastali and Kadali plantains), mangoes, sapotas, sweet melons, sweet limes, sweet pineapples, apples, wood-apples and sweet pomegranates, sugar and sugar candy, honey, sago, arrowroot, milk, butter and ghee of cows, tender coconut water, coconut, almonds, pistachio nuts, toor dhal, ragi, barley, maize, wheat, green-gram, rice or red paddy whose bran is only partly removed and rice of good smell or sweet taste, and all preparations from any of these grains and white pumpkin are Sattvic articles suitable for keeping up Brahmacharya.

Foods That Are Not Beneficial

Highly seasoned dishes, hot curries, chutneys, chillies, meat, fish, eggs, tobacco, liquors, sour articles, oils of all kinds, garlic, onions, bitter things, sour curd, stale food, acids, astringents, pungent stuffs, roasted things, over-ripe and unripe fruits, heavy vegetables, salt and other things are not beneficial. Onions and garlic are worse than meat. Salt is the worst enemy. Even if you do not take salt separately, the system will derive the necessary quantity of salt from other foodstuffs. All foodstuffs contain salt. Too much salt excites passion. Giving up salt helps you in controlling the tongue and thereby the mind and all other lndriyas.

All kinds of peas and beans (not fresh and fried), black gram, Bengal gram, horse gram, sprouted grains, mustard, all sorts of chillies, asafoetida, lentils, brinjals, lady's finger, cu-cumbers, Malabar night shades (both white and red varieties), bamboo shoots, papaya fruit, drumsticks, all varieties of gourds such as white gourd, snake gourd, squash gourd, radishes, leeks, mushrooms of all kinds, things fried in oil or ghee, pickles of all sorts, fried rice, sesame seeds, tea, coffee, cacao, all other kinds of vegetables, leaves, roots and fruits, foodstuffs that create wind or indigestion, grief, pain or costiveness or other sickness, pastry preparations, foods that are dry and burning, foods that are bitter, sour, saline, over-hot and pun-gent, tobacco and its preparations, foods and drinks containing liquor or narcotic drugs such as opium and bhang, food preparations which are stale or have become cold subsequent to their removal from the hearth or which have lost their natural taste, smell, colour or form or which are remnants after being eaten away by other persons, animals, birds, or insects, or which contain dust, hair, straw or other rubbish and milk of buffalo, goat or sheep, should be avoided as they are Rajasic or Tamasic by nature. Emblic myrobalan fruit, lemon juice, rocksalt, ginger (wet or dry) and white pepper can be used in moderation.

A Word upon Tea, Coffee and Cacao

Among the substances that, introduced into the animal economy, pose under the name of stimulants, is a group of vegetables derivatives, the members of which are closely allied, and which includes coffee, tea, guarana, mato, kola, and cacao. Useful in moderation, they are capable of injurious effects in the excess which is not infrequently reached: though they fortunately lack the baneful energy of the more powerful stimulants like alcohol and opium. Mate is much the same as our common tea, which happens to grow in Paraguay. Guarana is a Brazilian product, with an excess of the alkaloid that is common to most of the class, and is chiefly used by us for relief of nervous headache with the usual variable success. With none of these has this article any special concern; they are kindred to themselves and is the remainder of the group, though they may have wide differences as cacao, e.g., contains a remarkable alkaloid, foreign to the rest; but their properties are not yet known with precision.

All of this class, contain a similar active principle or alkaloid, which goes under the name of caffeine in coffee, theine in tea, and theobromine in cacao (Cacao theobroma). Of the three, cacao differs from the other two in containing more nitrogenous matter, and much more fat, and is, therefore, Coeteris Paribus much more nutritious. So that as a food, pure and simple, it ranks the highest of the three. The cacao of commerce is the ground and pressed nuts, or seeds, of the cacao-tree mixed with sugar (and often with cheap adulterants), and flavoured with vanilla, it becomes chocolate; broken into pieces, the nuts are called cacao ribs; deprived of its oil (cacao butter), it is known as broma; while the pods that contain the nuts and which have a suggestion of the properties of the latter, are cocoation of the properties of the latter, are cacao-shells. As a mild stimulant and an excellent food, cacao is valuable, though there are people to whom its nutritious fat is repugnant. It is probably the only one of the group that is not indulged in to excess.

Coca is the South American plant from which the recently discovered alkaloid cocaine is obtained; and kola is an African product. They are used by the natives to support themselves under fatigue, and in the temporary absence of food.

Coffee, we all know, is a decoction of the ground and roasted coffee-berry of Java, Brazil and elsewhere. It contains several things of little moment; some tanning (the substance in bark that converts hides into leather), and an alkaloid, caffeine. There is also developed in the roasted beans, if roasted not too much or too little, a volatile oil, caffeone. The main effects of coffee are due to both the caffeine and the caffeone, which are antagonistic, though not contemporaneous, in action. The volatile oil, in technical language reduces arterial tension, allows a brisker flow of blood, and so increases the rapidity of the heart's action. It also acts upon the brain, and intellectual faculties in general; keeps one awake and his mind clear. Caffeine, on the other hand like digitalis produces a high arterial tension, and slows the heart. It exerts its chief effect upon the spinal cord, to which it is an excitant, like strychnis. The shaking hand of the inveterate coffee-drinker is caused by caffeine. So a cup of coffee produces on the drinker a double effect—of the oil and the alkaloid; the former sooner and more transient, and the latter more lasting. It is well understood that the human body is a machine, kept in motion like other machines by processes of combustion. Among the combustion products are substances known as urea and uric acid, which represent the ashes of nitrogenous food; and production of both of these is retarded by coffee. But, under ordinary circumstances, more or less nitrogenous matter is needlessly burned up; and this waste therefore is hindered by coffee. It is not in itself nutritious to any marked degree; but it saves food, and also maintains life by its exhilarating effect upon the nervous system. It is an excellent anti-dote to opium, producing the wakefulness that antagonises the narcotic sleep of the drug; is now and then curative of sick-headache, and is one of the standard remedies for certain forms of nausea. It is however, on account of its mild exhilaration, and its indirect nutritive value, that it is found on so many breakfast-tables.

Tea as we use should be an infusion, but is too often a decoction of the tea-leaf of China and Japan. To the chemist, it is much the same thing as coffee. It contains considerably more tannin, a volatile oil, and an alkaloid (theine) indistinguishable from caffeine. Its difference from coffee, outside of the greater astringency its tannin gives it, is very likely due to subtle qualities that defy the chemist's retort and beaker. Having many of the same characteristics, however, it is used for much the same purposes. It, so to speak, quickens the vital functions and seems to be an especial excitant to respiration. It is believed to be, unlike coffee, a promoter of assimilation of food, and there-fore is ineligible to the place that coffee occupies in so many dietaries. That the injurious effects of overdoses are due as much to the volatile oil as to the alkaloid, is shown by the fact that tea-packers are made ill by long breathing of air filled with it, and that tea-tasters in China, who avoid swallowing the infusion, can endure their trade but a few years and leave the country with shattered nerves.

Tea and coffee, like other stimulants, offer, as is remarked above, the opportunity for abuse, an opportunity quite often availed of. Their devotees drink for the mere love of them more than they ought; the scholar deprives himself of needed sleep by their use; the daily toiler finds a temporary surcease of sorrow in the frequent cup. While there are undoubtedly many who overindulge in coffee, they are probably few in comparison with the victims of the tea-habit.

It is an everyday experience in the outpatient departments of the large hospital for sufferers to apply for the relief of symptoms reasonably attributable to the abuse of tea. It is the same old story with the washerwoman, the kitchen-girl, or the poor mother of a large family—a lack of appetite, a distress after eat-ing, a series of headaches, occasional attacks of dizziness. "I had no mind for the vittles’’’, and I had the pain in my stomach and so I just tasted a cup of tea now and then." There is no day in the year when at every dispensary and outpatient room in the large cities some woman (for this is essentially a feminine dissipation) does not present herself with a statement of this sort. The victims account is an "o'er true tale." Either from excess of tea, or for some other reason, she loses her appetite, and gradually comes to loathe food. In this extremity she seeks solace in the cup, and thus increases the condition she is already bewail-ing. When this sort of thing has reached a certain point she applies for medical aid, and, it is needless to say, usually scorns the suggestion to go without tea. It has been suggested that the dyspepsia in these cases attributed to tea may rather be due to insufficient food. It is very doubtful, however, if in the cases referred to, the food is insufficient. No doubt, there are those who suffer from lack of suitable food, and who, if they use tea, lose more than they gain by it, but such are not found among the tea-drinkers of the hospitals, except as they wilfully forsake good food for tea. It is to be borne in mind that the people of whom these are representative get from tea all the harm there is in it. Not only do they get all the theine and most of the volatile oil, but their method of preparing it extracts all the tannin possible. The Chinese, who are the ideal tea-drinkers, pour boiling water on the leaves at the very moment of use: but it is the practice of the poorer classes to keep a "pot of tea" steeping on the stove all day long, to be drunk from at intervals. It is probable that much of the dyspepsia and constipation to which this class of tea-drunkards is subject is due to this continual use of an astringent decoction.

It is not to be inferred, however, that the abuse of tea is confined to the poorer classes. It is true that its relative cheap-ness invites them more especially to this form of indulgence. But it is within the experience of every physician to be often called upon to treat patients suffering from the evils already de-scribed, who lack the excuse of poor food and a hard life to plead for over-indulgence. Probably every one numbers among his friend’s women who are actual slaves of the tea-habit, and who would find tea as hard to forsake as men find tobacco. It is not unlikely that the functional disorder often spoken of as the "tobacco heart," due to nervous derangement, and accompanied by palpitation and pain in the cardiac region, is more often due to tea than tobacco. In fact, the disorders induced by excessive tea-drinking have been grouped as a special disease, to which has been given the name of theism, from the (tea). This includes a train of symptoms usually progressive, many of which have been already referred to loss of appetite, pain after meals, headache, constipation, palpitation, cardiac distress, hysteria] manifestations, dizziness, paresis. Whether we are justified in thus setting off those symptoms as a disease, is open to doubt; but the fact that it has been done, emphasises the importance of tea, in comparison with the rest of the group, in reference to the mischief that will follow the abuse of it. It is needless to say that the main factor in the treatment of this condition is abstinence from the plant that causes it.

Coffee, useful within moderate limits, is capable of pernicious effects in the excess which is not infrequently reached. In cases of exhaustion, nervous weakness, general debility, convalescence after acute disease and fevers, shock or syncope and sunstroke, it really proves beneficial. Coffee drinking is a vile habit and imitation. Not unlike alcohol, it offers the opportunity for abuse, an opportunity which is quite often availed of. It ultimately renders, as a matter of course, a man a slave to it and its absence produces headache in some; constipation in others and a general depression on spirits towards any kind of work. Its devotees drink for the mere love of them more than they ought. Why do people hunt after coffee drinking? Because it acts as a nervine and cardiac stimulant which augments temporarily the functional activity of the brain and heart. But its deleterious effects are known to many and they cannot be ignored. It must never be forgotten that action is inevitably and invariably followed by reaction. If there is stimulation, there must also be depression. The stimulating effect of coffee lasts for a short time and the depression which naturally supervenes drives him to take another cup. When the man is hale and healthy, when the digestive, circulatory, respiratory and nervous systems work regularly and soundly, where then is the necessity to have recourse to stimulants? Though coffee itself does not produce diabetes, the excess of sugar taken with coffee, upsets the glycogenic function of the liver, passes in the form of dextrose as a waste in the urine and leads on to diabetes. Coffee was originally a luxury of the opulent class but it has now become an indispensable drink even to the poorest classes. Nowadays, coffee runs through streets, and lanes, by lanes.

It is no wonder that the price of the coffee seeds has risen exorbitantly and a review of the statistics in the hospitals dis-closes the fact that coffee is certainly responsible for a higher rate in digestive troubles. The number of coffee houses in all big towns has of late increased by leaps and bounds. Look at the fanciful boards—Rama Vilas, Krishna Vilas, The Model Restaurant, etc. It is, of course, needless to mention that this has effected a drain upon the available milk supply in a town, so much so that pure milk cannot be bought. The mischievous milk-man restores to frauds of various description, adulteration of every kind, just to improve the consistence and whiteness of milk. He adds corn flour, maize flour, wheat flour, or flour obtained by powdering dried plantain.

As every little loophole which is barred against the entrance of any enemy strengthens the citadel, so the stoppage of every single channel by which disease may enter or be propagated strengthens the structure of public health.

Diet Divided into Groups

"Most of the common alimentary substances are arranged below, in three groups. The first contains the articles most suit-able for the dyspeptic; the second, those only admissible in the less severe cases; and the third may be considered a dietetic index of difficult digestion, since few of the articles comprised in it should ever be taken by the invalid or dyspeptic.

First Group: Articles easy of digestion; scalded milk, stale bread, biscuit, rice, tapioca, sago, arrowroot, scotch, oatmeal, asparagus, French beans, cauliflower, baked apples, oranges, grapes, strawberries, toast and water.

Second Group: Articles moderately easy of digestion; lettuce, apples, peaches, apricots, pineapples, gooseberries, currants, raspberries, mulberries, bread, farinaceous puddings, and cacao.

Third Group: Articles difficult of digestion; melted butter, cheese, new bread, buttered toast, pastry in general, custards, nuts of all kinds, pears, plums, cherries, dried fruits, raw cu-cumbers, beetroot, onion, carrot, peas, beans, pickles, and chocolate.

Rest After Meals

All meals should be followed by a short rest, but especially dinner. In the morning, when the physical and nervous forces are in their greatest vigour, the stomach can proceed with its functions if the breakfast is immediately followed by moderate employment, but it is hardly wise. A short rest will keep the tone of the body better during the day and it is always best to be on the safe side. After supper there should be, not work, but recreation. The bodily vigour is as its lowest ebb, and should not be further taxed. Other faculties and muscles should then be called into action and nature assisted to recuperate her exhausted forces by pleasurable occupation and rest.

Good Food Combinations

I

Starches and green vegetables; starch and sugars;

Proteins and green vegetables; proteins and acid fruits;

Proteins and fats; proteins, fats and green vegetables;

Fats and sugar; Protein and sugars;

Starches and fat; Fat and acid fruits,

Are good combinations. They are healthy compatibles.

II

Honey and milk;

Fresh fruits and cream;

Milk and mangoes;

Milk and fresh fruits;

Milk and bananas;

Cheese and fresh fruits;

Bread and butter;

Dates, raisins, figs;

Bread and honey;

Potatoes and green vegetables, are good combinations.

Dried fruits and milk;

Dried fruits and nuts;

Green salad with raisins, bread and butter;

Bread, honey, raisins, dates, figs;

Bread and milk;

Curd and bananas;

Almonds, milk, mangoes;

Rice, ghee and vegetables;

Curd, cucumber, coriander leaves;

Parantha with spinach inside and milk;

Kheer and bananas;

Raisins and milk;

Buttermilk;

Carrot, cucumber, curd;

Green dhals soaked in water, cucumber;

Sattvic lddli and curd;

Dosai and curd;

Uppuma and cacao;

Almond, raisin, coconut, dried oats, sugar candy;

Rice, ghee, dhal, vegetables and curd,

Are good combinations?

I Am Pain: Thy Teacher

I

O Man! You curse me, blame me,

You hate me and frown at me,—

You think, I am cruel and heartless;

You try to slay me with anaesthetics,

With Chloroform and Bromides;

You attack me with anodynes,

Sedatives and opiates;

You phone to the doctors

And run to the hospitals,

You fly to Vienna and hill-stations,

You wire to your friends and relations;

You approach the saints of Himalayas

For Buties or herbs;

You do Mrityunjaya Japa and Havan,

You burn incense and pray—

To kill the Teacher

Who warns you?

Who comes to help and bless you!

II

I am not your enemy—

I am your sincere friend!

I am a messenger from God,

I am an angel from heaven,—

To teach you wisdom,

To instil in your heart

Mercy and dispassion,

To turn your mind towards God,

To destroy your intense clinging

To things mundane—

That are perishable and illusory.

I am your guide and silent Teacher!

I am pain, the best thing in this world,

I am an eye-opener, soul-awakener,

I am an inspirer and thriller;

I come to remind you of God,

To point to you the Divine Path,

To make you desist from evil ways,

To make you practise virtues, good habits.

You have really misunderstood me.

I am a mental Vritti in the mind-lake,

I am only absence of pleasure,

I co-exist with pleasure—

I am the other side of the coin of pleasure-pain.

I am the cause of the starting of philosophy,

I am the cause for man's Purushartha—

I am the cause for man's aspiration;

I set the mind of philosophers to think,

I make the Yogins start Sadhana,

I make the sages practise meditation,

I make a worldly man a Superman.

III

You failed to observe the laws of health—

The rules of hygiene and right-living,

You took Rajasic and Tamasic foods,

You were not regular in doing exercise,

You did not practise Pranayama and Asanas,

You did not pray and meditate;

You were immoderate in your food—

You did not take a balanced diet,

You did not bask in the sun,

You slept in ill-ventilated rooms,

You took too much of sweetmeats,

You drank impure water,

You hated and injured your neighbours,

You were lustful, malicious and greedy,

You took meat, fish and eggs

And developed gout, rheumatism and albuminuria;

You were a heavy smoker in the club,

You drank liquors in the hotels;

You took bribes and cheated in business;

And so, I come to you

To heal, teach and guide!

IV

Understand now at least

My secret and good nature,

My interest in your well-being.

Lead a virtuous life,

Practise simple-living and high thinking,

Lead a natural life,

Observe the laws of health and hygiene—

Eat simple food, a well-balanced diet,

Take only vegetarian diet;

Practise Ahimsa, Satya, Brahmacharya.

Lead the Life Divine,

Remain as a Brahmachari,

Or better still, take to Sannyasa

After equipping yourself with 'four';

Practise Sadhana

And attend the Training Courses,

Go through the 'Divine Life' magazine,

Study 'Spiritual Lessons', 'Aphorisms',

Remember Lord Visvanath always,

Take bath in the Ganga and purify.

Then I will depart and leave you,

I will not trouble you any longer.

Love me, believe me, heed my message.

I will give you peace, bliss, immortality,

I will surely bless you:

This is my definite promise, friend!

Goodbye, comrade! Be cheerful!

Chapter 3

DIET IN DISEASES

Diet in Asthma

The asthmatic patient should strictly adhere to dietetic rules. All stimulating and irritating articles should be abandoned. The diet should be nourishing, plain, light, bland, whole-some and easily digestible. Overloading should be strictly avoided. Everything that tends to provoke an attack should be shunned.

Avoid solid meals after two o'clock in the day. No pastry or pickles should be taken. Stewed fruits or light pudding may be taken. Late dinners should be avoided. An asthmatic should never eat as much as he can. Finish the night meals before sunset. Take only a little milk and fruits. And asthmatic can lead a life of comparative, comfort and ease through careful dieting and practice of control of tongue or self-denial.

Asthma is generally caused by wrong foods taken at wrong timings. Constipation and indigestion are the immediate causes of Asthma. Complete fast is one of the best remedies for Asthma. Hot coffee, hot water bath and any such thing which causes pumping of the blood in the heart is very helpful in stopping the trouble. Heavy meals should never be taken and the stomach should never be filled more than half or three-fourth in the case of mild attacks. An asthmatic should never eat as much as he wants and whatever that he wants. Wrong foods taken at wrong hours with hurry and excitement cause asthma. Very little or no food followed by silence gives much release from an attack. Milk, ghee, buttermilk, curd, oil or cold and cooling things should not be taken. Heavy and wind-producing foods like dhal, red pumpkin, etc., should be avoided.

In case the asthmatic accidentally or carelessly takes a heavy meal, he should sit up on Vajrasan until the stomach be-comes light and then only can he do any kind of work. The bowels should always be kept clean either by an enema in the morning or a laxative at bed time. Sunbath should never be missed whenever possible and in winter it is better to warm the chest and the face near the fire. The patient should have great control over his tongue and should never be tempted by attractive dishes or cold drinks. It is better to avoid night-meal completely and try to live only on the midday meal. Stomach is the first cause of all troubles and constipation makes the disease worse. Carelessness either in movement, talking or eating has to be carefully avoided; for these three are the gateways to the terrible regions of Asthma.

Coconut is one of the foods which are not easily digested properly and thus cause an asthmatic attack. Bread, butter and honey are the best foods for the asthmatic. Coffee also is a good drink for the asthmatic, and perhaps it is the only suitable drink for him. Rice causes phlegm and should not be taken in excess. Constipating foods like baker's bread should be avoided as far as possible. Only wheat-chapatis should be taken with butter and honey. This is the best food. If only the stomach is not filled, other external causes, even a chill cold water bath, do not do any harm. All troubles are in the belly; ex-ternals only help the growth of the trouble.

What is that by curing which everything else is cured? That is the stomach. That should be kept disciplined and regulated. Cashew-nuts, ground- nuts, jackfruits, plantains, dates, etc., cause horrible asthmatic attacks. Plantain is one of the great enemies of an asthmatic and should never be taken unless boiled, baked or somehow cooked well. All raw foods cause asthma, but if they are cooked they lose their bad effects. An asthmatic should only take cooked food. Raw tomatoes cause immediate attack of Asthma.

Sweet oranges can be very easily digested and are useful for an asthmatic patient. Raw lemon-juice is a dangerous thing. It irritates the throat and causes asthma.

Almond is a good food but should not be taken alone or in excess, as it is very difficult to digest. A weak constitution is more open to an asthmatic attack; it seldom becomes acute in a strong body; so gradually nourishing food has to be taken until the body becomes strong. The diet should not be changed constantly. One should stick to only one kind of diet and only a moderate quantity.

A boiled mixture of the juices of ginger, omum, onion or garlic and the bark of the drumstick-tree stops the trouble except in highly acute cases. The attack fades away as the sun comes higher and higher and becomes violent in night time. The attack is most severe in early morning hours, since the circulation of blood becomes slower at that time.

Whenever the asthmatic becomes conscious that he is breathing, i.e., when there is a slight roughness of breathing (for generally breathing is done unconsciously), it is to be understood that danger is inevitable. This is caused by a loaded stomach with undigested food. Eructations and hiccups with smells of food in the stomach remind that the belly is loaded or that there is undigested matter; they irritate the throat and an attack follows.

Cold water should not be drunk in an empty stomach. It is better to avoid cold drinks altogether. Whenever there is wind in the bowels, running of the nose, headache or noises in the stomach, the asthmatic should observe a fast and take rest.

An asthmatic should not take incompatible foods like buttermilk and coffee, etc. He should not move suddenly from cold to hot atmosphere and vice versa. He should eat with much calmness of mind and take a long time for chewing. Salted dishes and the like should be avoided as far as possible, and only Sattvic diet has to be taken.

Phlegm-producing and wind-producing foods should not be taken. Loose foods like rice, dhal, all seeds and beans, oily substances and uncooked foods should be strictly avoided. Only compact foods like chapati, honey, butter and coffee or even boiled milk and sugar, and smooth soft vegetables can be taken without harm. Boiled buttermilk or boiled curd also are not harmful. All pulses should be avoided.

Soft vegetables and fruits should form the main portion of the diet taken by an asthmatic and if milk is found to be indispensable; it should be taken boiled with powders of turmeric, pepper and ginger. After food it should be made a habit to sit on Vajrasan in order to help digestion.

It is better to avoid company meal. The patient should take his food singly. Hurried and quick diet without proper chewing is one of the most common but least heeded causes of indigestion and its many undesirable consequences. Talking or laugh-ing during meals is strictly prohibited. Sufficient water (Warm) has to be taken after food in order to avoid constipation.

There is no better food for the asthmatic patient than wheat bread, butter, honey and coffee. Coffee should not be taken for a long time since it irritates the nerves. The other three are permanent foods for the patient.

Diet in Anaemia

Anaemia is poverty of blood or bloodlessness. Take light, easily digestible nutritious foods, mung dhal, wheat, bajra, joar, barley, spinach, milk, whey, cream, butter, ghee, grape juice, orange juice, tomato juice. Dates may be given with much advantage.

Diet in High Blood-Pressure

Rest in bed. Fasting is highly beneficial. Tobacco, tea, coffee, alcohol, spices, pickles should be given up. Vegetarian and fruit diet is useful. Take fruit juices, fresh green vegetables, salad. Apple and cream is a good, wholesome combination. Abandon starchy and heavy food. Live on low fat diet. Lime juice is beneficial. Do not take very hot milk and other things when they are very hot.

Diet in Constipation

Avoid too dry or indigestible food. Masticate well. High seasoned food should be given up. Oat meal porridge, brown or whole meal bread, stewed fruits, figs, prunes, may be taken with great advantage. Avoid baker's bread as it usually contains alum, an astringent. Take home-made or whole meal or bran bread. Fully ripe fruits, plenty of well-boiled tender vegetables, salads, a glass of cold or hot water on rising are highly beneficial. You can take as the first thing in the morning an apple, pears, a bunch of grapes, banana, orange, etc.

Take stone-ground flour or whole meal bread with plenty of butter, honey or treacle, or well-cooked oatmeal with cream or treacle. Fluids may be taken freely with meals. Drink more water. Take a tumblerful of cold or hot water just before retiring to bed. Avoid hard water. Coarse food should be taken such as oatmeal, whole meal or brown bread, green and raw vegetables, cabbage, salads, mushrooms. Avoid pastry and fried foods, peas, beans, nuts of all kinds, pickles. Take baked apples or stewed prunes, coconuts, nuts. Take some munakka (big dried raisins), figs, prunes, dates, guava fruit or banana at night. Give up tea.

The food should contain plenty of roughage or waste mat-ter. The roughage is supplied by the fibres or cellulose contained in vegetables and fruits. This roughage helps the peristaltic movement of bowels and elimination of faecal matter.

Diet in Consumption

The food must be nourishing, varied and abundant. Over-feeding is advocated by many doctors. Fatty articles such as cream, butter and milk should be taken. Farinaceous foods such as rice, sago, tapioca, vermicelli and arrowroot may be taken. Cacao is highly beneficial. Coconut water, orange juice, fruits of all sorts, fresh vegetables, whole meal bread, nuts, puddings, cream, cheese can be taken with much advantage. Soup made of mixed vegetables does much good. Bananas, pine apples, oranges, grapes. pomegranate can be taken. If milk agrees, you can take more milk. Milk supplies plenty of calcium to the system.

Diet in Diabetics

1. Bread made of two parts of flour of Bengal gram (Besan—Hindi; Kadalai Mavu—Tamil) and one part of barley flour.—

½ chatak per meal.

2. Green vegetables- 1 pav in the midday meal

3. Ghee- ½ chatak

4. Milk- 1 Seer

5. Curd- ¼ Seer

(midday only)

While preparing bread, add some salt to taste, cumin seeds, Ajwain and a little pepper.

Take half a seer of milk in the morning and half a seer in the evening.

This is the best diet for diabetic patients. If you live on this diet, you need not take any injection. This is a well-tried diet.

You can take bread twice daily, at 12 noon and at night. Do not take pumpkin. Lauki and parval are very good. Give up eating rice, sugar, potatoes and pulses of all kinds.

If it is possible, have complete fast (without food and water even) on Ekadasi day or when the sugar is abundant.

A plentiful supply of nuts, such as almonds, walnuts, pistachio nuts, coconuts should always form a portion of your daily food. Coconut is a very nourishing and refreshing food and contains in itself all the elements of a perfect diet.

Above all, be regular in Japa, Kirtan, meditation. This is the best tonic and food for the soul. Be regular in exercise and Asana. Take a long walk, two or three miles.

The treatment of diabetes is more by appropriate diet than by medicines but any change in diet should be gradual and not abrupt. When sugar is being passed, the food should be nutritious, but it should be free from sugar or starch.

A diabetic patient can take milk, cream, butter, cheese, or-anges, lemons, nuts of all kinds except chestnut, bread, cakes, or biscuits made from bran, gluten and almond flour, cabbages, turnip tops, spinach, the green tops of asparagus, green part of lettuce, cucumber, green vegetables, cabbages, cauliflower, tomatoes, mushrooms, celery, cacao without sugar, flour made from the soya bean, mung and other pulses. A diabetic patient should give up bread made from wheat, oats, maize, rice, sago, vermicelli, corn flour, rye, or other grain which contains starch, pastry, potatoes, peas, turnips, beetroot, carrots, radishes, peas, ripe fruits of all kinds, beans of all kinds, dates, figs, prunes, raisins, currants, grapes, apples, pears, pineapples, plums, macaroni, vermicelli, arrow root, tapioca, sago, all farinaceous foods, and all preparations which contain sugar, lemonade, ginger, beers fruit, syrups, all aerated waters which contain sugar, and puddings of all kinds.

Diet in Diarrhoea

The diet must be carefully regulated. Coffee, tea, fruits whether raw or cooked, green vegetables, pulses, potatoes, should be carefully avoided, as they keep up irritation. Solid food also should be given up.

Rice water, barley water, whey, mung water, farinaceous gruel, arrowroot, sago may be given with advantage. A little only should be given at a time. Well boiled rice may be given in mild cases. Buttermilk and whey are beneficial. Too hot drinks must be interdicted. Vegetables and milk are objectionable. In acute diarrhoea no food is allowed for a day, but as much water as desired is drunk. A gradual return to ordinary diet is necessary. For some time all irritating skins, seeds, vegetables, cellulose and raw fruits may not be taken as they cause irritation of the bowels.

Diet in Dysentery

Fasting is highly beneficial. In acute cases the patient must be confined to bed. The food must be fluid. It should be water, barley water, at first. No solids should be given. The more severe the symptoms, the more strict must be the abstinence. Farinaceous gruels can be given. Tea, coffee must be avoided. Whey is beneficial.

After convalescence fruit and vegetables should be avoided. Return to usual diet should be gradually brought about. Error in diet may render an attack persistent or produce a relapse. Grapes are beneficial in preference to any other fruit. The seeds should be carefully taken out, as they cause irritation in the bowels. During recovery the appetite often increases before the digestive organs recover their tone. Therefore, a very moderate quantity of food should be taken. If this rule is neglected there may be a severe relapse. In chronic dysentery decoction or syrup of bael fruit is useful. The bael possesses astringent properties. The diet should be bland or non-irritating. Curd and rice are highly beneficial. Buttermilk is a blessing Whey is useful.

Diet in Gout

Take all fresh vegetables, rice, sago, fresh ripe fruits, wheat, bajra, joar, potatoes, salads, milk, milk-pudding, lime juice and tomatoes. Take butter, ghee, cheese, pulses, beans, peas in small quantities.

Give up rich foods, meat, pastries, sugar, mushrooms spices and all acid fruits.

Diet in Indigestion

Dyspepsia is indigestion. Food must be taken at regular times and in moderate quantities. It must be thoroughly masticated. Take only such food as is found to agree with you. Abandon resolutely everything that is not suitable to you. Give up strong coffee and strong tea. Take buttermilk and water of ten-der coconuts. Attend to the teeth carefully.

Faults of hasty eating, and over-eating should be corrected. In some cases an exclusive milk diet is beneficial. Highly seasoned or indigestible foods should be forbidden. Alcohol ought not to be taken. Tobacco must be given up. Where there is severe pain complete rest to the stomach by fasting is necessary. If there is flatulence, farinaceous foods should be avoided. The meals should be small and frequent. Fluids also should be limited. The treatment of dyspepsia is more dietetic and hygienic than medicinal. The quantity of food which can be dissolved by the digestive juices of the stomach and intestines is limited. Hence this quantity cannot be exceeded with impunity. Hence moderation is the first principle. Dyspeptic should eat slowly. The meals should not succeed one another too rapidly.

The stomach should have time to do one work before another is imposed on it. Four or five hours should intervene be-tween any two meals. Nothing should be taken between meals. No great or prolonged exertion, either mental or physical should be undertaken immediately before or after food. Give up potatoes, puddings, pastry, sweetmeats, too much sugar. Sugar causes fermentation, acidity and gases. Farinaceous and sloppy foods are useless. Some cases do best by taking their meals dry, so that the gastric juice may be undiluted. The smaller bulk of food does not dilate the stomach so much. Thus the stomach can empty itself better. In acid dyspepsia or hyperchlorhydria an exclusively protein diet relieves the condition.

Macaroni rice, milk and sweet puddings, whole meal wheat-bread, cream, fatty foods may be taken. No fluid should be drunk during the meal but a good quantity should be taken at the end of the meal.

Mung, wheat, bajra, joar, milk, butter and ghee can be taken in moderation. Rice, sago, potatoes, green vegetables can be taken in small quantity only. Whey can be taken with much advantage. Fruits such as oranges, Papayas can be taken.

Pastry and Sweets, thick pulses, ice-cream and unripe fruit, foods which are irritating and leave a large residue should not be taken.

Diet in Influenza

The diet should be light, non-stimulating and nourishing. Arrow root, sago, toast, barley water or thin gruel, fruit juice, glucose, honey and lemon juice, may be taken. Do not take anything that will increase inflammation.

After the first day or two, the diet should be nourishing and liberal.

Diet in Obesity

Some lean people become fatty all on a sudden. They put an excessive fat within a few months. The cause is probably too much fat-forming food and too little exercise. If the man is very fatty, his heart has to propel into a large mass of tissue a larger amount of blood. Therefore, his heart is overworked on account of accumulation of fat. He develops shortness of breath and sometimes palpitation. Fat may collect in the sub-stance of the heart. Fatty degeneration of the heart may result. In indigenous obesity the fat does not depend on diet.

When you are becoming fatty, take less food and more exercise. Give up ghee, butter, cheese and alcohol. Articles which contain much starch as potatoes, tapioca, rice, arrow-root, sago and sugar must be taken in moderation.

Take toast, brown bread, biscuits, rusks, green vegetables, and fruits.

Reduce the amount of drinking water, to a small extent. Fast once in a week.

The popular anti-fat cures are all useless.

Of diets the best known are Banting's, Ebstein's, and Gertel's, in all of which the carbohydrates are severely limited. In Gertel's scheme the dietetic regime is reinforced by carefully supervised hill-climbing.

Diet in Piles

Strong or heating drinks or wine, malt liquors, coffee, tea, hot curries and chutneys, pickles, highly seasoned foods of all kinds, pungent articles and chillies must be strictly given up.

The patient should confine himself to a carefully regulated and temperate diet. He should abandon meat and pastry and take plenty of vegetable food, vegetables and fruits. Rich food is forbidden. Sugar, spices, condiments must be given up.

Take a diet which is laxative. Give up that food which is constipating. Take butter, stewed fruit, figs, prunes, curd, buttermilk, tender coconut water.

The food should be simple and bland. Bananas and spin-ach should be taken at night.

Diet in Pneumonia

Cold water, toast water, barley water, glucose, orange juice, pomegranate juice may be taken. During convalescence one must be very careful about his diet. Overindulgence may lead to troublesome consequences.

The diet must be fluid. Milk, whey or barley-water are sufficient for the first few days. The diet should be light and nutritious. The strength of the patient must be kept up.

Diet in Rheumatism

Pumpkin, black dhal (Urad), rice, meat, etc., should be avoided.

The diet should consist of milk diluted with barley or mineral water. In convalescence the diet may be more ample.

Low diet, abstinence from stimulating liquors are necessary.

The diet is that for fever. It should be fluid. Sugar, sweets, pastry, potatoes and starches must be avoided,

Take vegetable soup, vegetable and bread at noon. At night take milk and fruits.

Nitrogenous foods should be taken in moderation. After the fever is over, Mung water, milk and vegetables may be given. Two weeks after the temperature is normal, bread, rice, green vegetables, milk, fruits, pulses may be given.

Diet in Typhoid Fever

No solid food should be given or nothing which would not easily pass through a fine sieve. Thirst can be relieved by water, rice or coconut water. Nothing should be given that would increase the risk of perforation of the bowels. Glucose may be given with orange, or lemon juice. Arrowroot, cornflour are permissible. Milk may be given with equal parts of barley water, or lime water at regular intervals. The addition of barely water or lime water will present the formation of large curds. Whey, buttermilk, coconut water can be given.

No solid food should be allowed under six weeks or two months, because the coats of the bowels are very thin and liable to burst on account of the ulceration of the bowels. Eating an orange or a little vegetable or drinking an effervescent draught may produce distension of the bowel and rupture it particularly during the third and fourth weeks. Ignorant friends and relatives give the patient biscuit and fruits with stones or pips, etc. These cause a thin gut to give way and the patient dies. Many cases of deaths have occurred on account of such irrational and injudicious feeding.

Diet in Albuminuria

If one passes albumin in the urine it is termed albuminuria. It is a disease of the kidneys. When kidneys are overworked or taxed by eating too much proteins, such as too much meat and other foodstuffs which contain protein, the extra albumin is passed in the urine.

Take green vegetable, salads, turnip, plenty of barley water, milk whey, curdled milk, water of green gram or Mung-dhal, nice sago, rice water, amla, spiced dishes, pickles, potatoes, peas, sugar, sweetmeat, etc.

Diet in Pregnancy

What a great marvel! Within the period of ten months a beautiful child with all potential faculties is prepared by Mother Prakriti within the womb of a woman, through the will of the Lord. This is a great mystery.

The blood of the mother passes from the placenta through the umbilical cord to the body of the foetus. The foetus living in the womb of its mother draws its nutrition from the blood of its mother. Therefore, a pregnant woman must take abundant good nutritious diet. She must take extra quantities of calcium and Vitamin B, as the substances which go to form the bones of the foetus are supplied by the mother. If she does not take sufficient calcium in her diet, the calcium for the requirements of the foetus is drawn from her own bones. She may suffer from the disease osteomalacia on account of lack of calcium. Lack of calcium may produce caries of tooth, a disease very often seen in pregnant women.

If the mother is well-nourished, the child will be healthy and strong. If you take care of the mother, the child will take care of itself.

Give at least a seer of milk, plenty of vegetables and fruits to a pregnant woman. Milk will supply calcium as it is the best source of calcium. Let her bask in the sunshine. Let her remain in open air as much as possible. She must be given an iron tonic. A properly balanced diet during pregnancy is highly important to both mother and baby. The diet should include fresh fruit, green vegetables and salad foods. Carbohydrates, starches and sugar should be taken in moderation. The nitrogenous foods should be taken sparingly. Milk should form a large part of her diet, as it contains protein of good quality, as it is rich in vitamins and minerals. Cheese may be given as it is rich in calcium. During pregnancy, cheese and milk are the most important constituents of diet.

Oranges, tomatoes and apples are the best fruits for pregnant women.

Give for pregnant women sufficient amount of calcium. Avoid excess of protein as it will tax the kidneys in their work of elimination.

Diet for the Nursing Mother

Like the pregnant mother, the nursing mother also must take greater amount of food in this period. Attention must be paid to the quality of food. A nursing mother requires a large in-take of calcium. A healthy, breast fed baby contains lot of calcium in its bones. The whole calcium of the child has been drawn from its mother's blood and its mother's milk. If the mother's diet is deficient in calcium, then the calcium present in her own bones is drawn upon. Her health and the health of the child will suffer. As there is great drain of calcium during pregnancy and the period of nursing, a large intake of milk during this period is indispensable. A nursing mother should get abundant milk, plenty of leafy vegetables and fruits, as she has to provide nutrition for the growing baby. The best source of calcium is milk. Green vegetables, and certain of the millets, e.g., ragi are particularly rich in calcium, but the calcium contained in such foods may not be as well absorbed and assimilated as the calcium in milk. Regular daily doses of calcium lactate may improve the health of ill-nourished children.

The nursing mother should have in her diet a liberal amount of milk in order to safeguard the health and well-being of her child. She should have plenty of leafy vegetables which serve the purpose of protective food and greatly helps free movement of the bowels. It is not enough that the diet provides enough calories and protein and gives variety and palatability. It must be a well-balanced diet.

Diet of Infants

Food is the controlling influence of life and death. This statement holds good most particularly for children's diet during the growing period of life.

The well-being of the infant depends to a great extent on the diet of its mother during pregnancy and lactation. The diet should be properly balanced for the growing children. All the constituents of food should be in harmonious proportions. Milk is an ideal or model perfect food particularly for the young and growing children as it contains all the elements required for the nourishment of the body in well-balanced proportions. Three cups of milk at least should be given for children over 6 years. Give cow's milk to a baby in a dilute form. Use barley water or lime water as the dilutent. These make it more easily digestible, than plain water.

Fruits should always be included in children's diets. Give them tomatoes and orange juice. Give for a child one or two teaspoonfuls of orange juice.

Feed the infant on mother's milk for 8 or 9 months. When the child is weaned give him half a seer of cow's milk. Gradually you can give him a little rice, some leafy vegetables, a little mashed potato. A baby of six months needs 600 calories, a child of twelve months 800 calories. A small, emaciated child needs more than a better nourished child.

All parents and teachers should have a good knowledge of the effects of diet upon the human organism. Children's welfare centres should be started in every town.

The Feeding of Infants The best food for a baby is, of course, the milk of a healthy mother. Breast feeding is simpler, safer, cheaper and cleaner than artificial feeding. Breast fed children are much healthier than those brought up on substitutes.

The well-being of the infant depends to a considerable ex-tent on the diet of its mother during pregnancy and lactation. At the time of birth the digestive organs of the child are in an im-mature condition. Gradually their power becomes developed. For the first few weeks no saliva is secreted. The digestive capacity is very feeble.

Nursing the child prevents conception up to the tenth month. It prevents the ruin of the mother's constitution by too rapid child-bearing. Therefore, healthy women should suckle their children.

The daily calorie requirements of average normal infants of various ages:

Human milk gives 20 calories per oz. An infant in the second month may require 20 ozs. Of milk a day. The quantity of the breast milk that is secreted is 30 ozs. Per day. The child may be given solid food after six months. Mothers should feed their babies with their milk at least for the first six months.

There must be regularity in the feeding of infants. The child should be weighed once a week.

The most obvious substitute for mother's milk is cow's milk. Cow's milk has about the same amount of fat but less sugar and more protein than mother's milk. Cow's milk is difficult to digest. Cow's milk can be made more digestible by add-ing citrate of soda or barley water or lime water.

If you wish to feed the new born baby with cow's milk, add 2 parts of water for one part of milk for the first few days. After ten days add equal parts of milk and water. Whole milk can be given when the child is six months old. Feed the child 3 or 4 times per day during the first few days of life. Afterwards you can feed him six times daily. Subsequently the number of feeding may be reduced to five. This can be kept throughout the first year of life.

Give one or two teaspoonfuls of orange juice or tomato juice from the second month onward. This will supply vitamin C. The existence of vitamin D teaches us that the sun’s rays may be ranked as an important vital factor in the nutrition of mankind and particularly of the child. The body of the child should be exposed to the sunlight. If infants are only fed on milk and cereals they are likely in later infancy (i.e., seven to ten months) to develop a nutritional anaemia. This should be prevented by giving a more varied diet after six months. Iron in some form should be given. Grapes, tomatoes, spinach will supply iron to them.

Condensed sweetened milk is not good for infant feeding; because they contain too much sugar and also a little fat, pro-tein and minerals. The sugar causes irritation in the intestines. Babies fed on sweetened condensed milk put on weight quickly. They grow plump. They are too fat and flabby to be really healthy.

Unsweetened condensed full-cream milk is a wholesome product. It is quite a good basis for an infant food. It is twice as concentrated as fresh milk. If it is diluted with twice its own bulk of water, it has the same composition as fresh cow's milk. It can be diluted further also. It is digested with ease. Sugar must be added. The disadvantage is that it soon goes bad after the tin has been opened. If on opening a tin of condensed milk gas escapes it is bad.

Dried or powdered milk, can be rendered into liquid milk by the addition of 8 times its weight of water. This is good food for infants. Vitamin C in the form of orange juice should always be given to infants fed on dried milk.

Starches should not be given to babies until they are six or eight months old. Mashed spinach should be given to babies of six months. It will supply them iron. Babies of six or eight months can be given porridge, mashed potatoes, carrots, milk puddings, stewed fruit, bread and milk. Rusks or raw carrots can be given to encourage mastication. It is not good to give children much rich fatty food or fried foods. They will suffer from digestive troubles. Dry toast and plain biscuits can be given to them. Children need more mineral elements and vitamins. Every child should have at least 1 pint of milk every day. School children should have more than a pint. As a rule, until the first teeth appear, no other food than milk should be given. After this period some kind of malted food may be given. The malted foods contain starch. They are easily digestible.

In bottle feeding the feeding bottle, nipple, brush, etc., Should be kept perfectly clean.

It is beneficial to continue partial breast feeding up to 10 months. If poverty prevents the use of cow's milk, the mother can continue breast feeding even up to two years of age.

Any white cereal grain, plenty of milk and milk product such as curds, buttermilk, butter, ghee, fresh green leafy vegetables, fruits, will constitute the right kind of food for grown-up children. The proper balance of the food in proteins, fats, car-bohydrates, mineral salts and vitamins must be maintained.

GROWTH AND DEVELOPMENT OF CHILDREN

Practical Hints on Food and Diet

By Dr. C. Gopalan

Growth and development constitute the most important vital activity in infancy and childhood. The food that is supplied to children must provide all the nutritional ingredients which are necessary to maintain and sustain growth and development. The rate of growth of children at different age-periods varies greatly. A new born grows so fast as to double its birth weight in five months and treble it by the end of the first year. After the age of two years, the growth is slower but fairly uniform till the approach of puberty, when it again is markedly accelerated.

It will, therefore, be realised that the nutritional requirements of adults and growing children are different. The requirements of the adults are mainly limited to the provision of energy for their bodily activities and of building materials to repair the wear and tear of their tissues. Children, on the other hand, re-quire in addition to the above, relatively larger quantities of building materials to provide for the needs of their growth and development.

Need for Proteins

When there is shortage of proximate principles (proteins, carbohydrates and fats) in the children’s dietaries, the growth is retarded and some of the bodily functions are impaired. Most of our poor mothers, fortunately, are able to breast-feed their infants successfully for prolonged periods. After about six months of age, however, mother's milk alone fails to meet the increasing demands of a rapidly growing infant. Need for additional amounts of good quality proteins arises after about the sixth month, and this continues throughout the period of rapid growth.

Low protein starch foods cannot obviously maintain growth and development of the children or prevent diseases in them. As a preventive measure against liver and skin diseases, it is necessary to see that liberal quantities of protein rich foods like milk, egg yolk, minced meat, soft-cooked pulses, peas, beans, skimmed milk, etc., enter into the diets of children regularly throughout the growing periods.

Children who get too little vitamin A cannot adjust their vision quickly from bright to dim light. In consequence they suffer from what is known as night-blindness. In advanced deficiency of vitamin A, the lining membranes of the eyes, respiratory and digestive tracts and the skin become dry. The transparent parts of the eyes (cornea) becomes soft, opaque and even infected. If treatment is not instituted promptly the eyes may be lost. Deficiency of vitamin A is the most common deficiency observed among Indian children and is believed to be the commonest cause of preventable blindness among poor communities in our country. The disease particularly picks out young children. Green leafy vegetables, carrots, eggs, butter, fish and liver are all rich in this vitamin. Appropriate quantities of any one of these foods, should be included in a child's daily menu.

Vitamins B, C and D

Some members of the B group of vitamins help our body-cells, burn the food supplied. Children who do not get enough of them cannot grow normally. In mild deficiencies of these vitamins the children exhibit such symptoms as lack of interest in the surroundings, weakness, dry scaly skin, sore and cracked lips and tongue, etc. These symptoms are frequently observed among our poor children. Whole grain products, peas, beans and other legumes, groundnuts, milk and fresh foods contain the concerned vitamins in quantities sufficient to prevent these abnormalities. These vitamins being water soluble are lost in washing and cooking. Therefore, appropriate precautions should be taken to preserve them during the processing and cooking of food.

Vitamin C is an important vitamin which helps to hold the body cells firmly together. When this cementing substance gets weak in the absence of vitamin C in the diet, the cells break apart and blood leaks out resulting in a disease called scurvy. The latter is characterised by spongy bleeding gums, and bleeding into different parts of the body. In the absence of vita-min C, body wounds do not heal quickly and the resistance of the body to various infections is lowered. Scurvy is not uncommon even among the children of middle and upper class families. It is of course much more frequent among poor children. All citrus fruits, goose-berries, tomatoes and certain green leafy vegetables contain this vitamin and their ingestion helps to prevent this disease. As most of the milk-foods on which young infants live are inadequate in this vitamin, foods contain-ing it should be presented to them as early as possible. It should be remembered that vitamin C is so easily lost by keep-ing and cooking. So, as far as possible, foods rich in this vita-min (like fruits, berries, tomatoes, etc.,) should be eaten fresh and raw.

Vitamin D helps the body to use calcium and phosphorus from food, in order to build strong bones and teeth. Children whose bones are growing require an abundance of this vitamin along with the above minerals. In the absence of this vitamin, the bones do not harden but remain soft, and go out of shape when they bear the weight of the body. The disease characterised by such bone deformities is called rickets. This disease is observed frequently in certain parts of the country, especially the sub- Himalayan regions. Foods like eggs, fish and milk contain vitamin D which could prevent the disease. Regular supplements of these foods during the periods of rapid growth are, therefore, desirable. Vitamin D can also be manufactured by our own skins from sunlight. Poor children living in dark and dingy houses are, however, denied this source of vitamin D.

Mineral Elements

The place of certain mineral elements in nutrition has also to be remembered. Calcium is necessary for the blood to clot; it regulates the heartbeat and keeps the nerves in normal condition. Growing children, whose requirements for calcium are relatively greater than that of adults, have to obtain most of calcium requirements from milk. They need about 4 to 6 cups of milk in some form or other each day till they become adults.

Iron is necessary for the formation of blood-cells. For new tissues including blood that are constantly being formed, children need more iron than adults. Anaemia results in the absence of adequate amounts of iron in the diet. All greens, peas, beans, whole grains and flesh foods supply the necessary requirements. Milk, which is otherwise an excellent food, is very poor in iron.

Iodine is an element which is essential for the function of thyroid gland, which governs several chemical processes in the body. The body gets its iodine through water and food which in turn derive the same from soil. In the absence of iodine, the thyroid gland in the neck gets swollen (goitre) and the child's physical and mental development may be considerably retarded.

Thus, a growing child requires the following food-principles: carbohydrates, fats, protein, vitamins and minerals, in greater proportion to the body weight than what an adult requires.

Regular Food Habits Needed

Irregular snacks and sweets may spoil the child's appetite for the main meals. It is always advantageous to regularise the meal habits of children. Start the day with a nutritious breakfast rich in energy, foods and proteins. The lunch and dinner should consist of cereal foods, liberal quantities of cooked pulses, peas (or beans or flesh foods) and vegetables and fruits. It may be advantageous to restrict fluids at meal times. A child return-ing from school is often hungry. One should take advantage of this and present a glass of milk with some snacks. It is desirable to educate the child to have a helping of clean raw foods like carrots, tomatoes, beets or fruits. A glass of milk again at bedtime is a useful routine.

Some of the foods that we like most today may be the ones that we spat out when our mothers first presented them to us. Few of us like a food till we get used to it. Babies do dislike some new foods, but the parents must keep on offering them, one at a time till the children learn to like them. But, forcing a child to eat a particular food is not desirable. The parents may set a good example by eating a large variety of foods themselves.

Chapter 4

HEALTH MENU

Have a restricted diet on Sunday.

Take an all-fruit diet on Monday.

Live on full-milk diet on Tuesday.

Have the fruit and milk diet on Wednesday.

Have full fast on Thursday, the Guru's day.

Take all-vegetable diet on Friday.

Have partial fast on Saturday,

Take milk and fruits only at night.

If you stick to the above dietetic regimen,

Diseases will take to their heels;

You will possess good health and strength,

You will attain longevity;

This will aid you in attaining concentration,

You will have very good meditation.

Try this, follow this and realise the results.

Health Menus (Natural Diet)

SUNDAY: Raw fresh milk with dried grapes.

MONDAY: Whole meal bread and butter, apples, bananas, cucumbers, raw tomatoes, almonds.

TUESDAY: Potatoes boiled with skin, green salad pre-pared with tomatoes, lemon or raw carrots with curd.

WEDNESDAY: Bananas with honey and fresh raw milk, apples with cream, walnuts, honey and brown bread.

THURSDAY: Brown bread, butter, milk, fruit (oranges, bananas, pomegranate, pineapple, mangoes.)

FRIDAY: Fruit with fresh raw milk, brown bread, butter.

SATURDAY: Raw salad, brown bread, curd, tender coco-nut, coconut water, carrots, water melon, groundnut, chestnut, dried currant, dry grapes, apricot, figs, dates.

Health Menus for a Month

Sunday 1st: Take saltless diet: milk in the morning and at night; curd, fruits and nuts at 12 noon.

Monday 2nd: Milk and banana in the morning; moong-ki-dhal, bread, spinach at noon; milk and fruits at night.

Tuesday 3rd: No breakfast. Rice, dhal, parval, chapati at noon; moong-ki-dhal, kitchadie at night.

Wednesday 4th: Breakfast: lemon juice and honey; lunch: three kinds of vegetables; dinner: rice and dhal.

Thursday 5th: A cup of cacao (B); misre bread (barley flour 2 parts and gram flour 1 part), lauki, curd, fruits (L); milk and bread (D). Friday 6th: Milk half a seer (B); bread, dhal, vegetables (L); milk and bananas (D).

Saturday 7th: Uppuma and coriander coffee (B); rice, pep-per water, vegetables and curd (L); milk and fruits (D).

Sunday 8th: Saltless diet: milk (B); dhal and vegetables without salt, bread and curd (L); milk and fruits (D).

Monday 9th: Oatmeal, porridge (B); curd and bananas (L); moong-ki-kitchadie and vegetables (D).

Tuesday 10th: No breakfast: Rice, dhal, vegetables, curd and fruits (L); milk half a seer (D).

Wednesday 11th: Milk half a seer (B); potato, butter; brown bread, orange juice (L); rice and milk (D).

Thursday 12th: Iddali and coriander tea (B); moong-ki-kitchadie, vegetables, curd, fruits (L); moong-ki-dhal-kheer (D).

Friday 13th: Complete fast: not even a drop of water.

Saturday 14th: Honey and lemon juice 1B); rice and milk (L); moong-ki-kitchadie and milk (D).

Sunday 15th: Milk (B); milk and fruits (L); milk and fruits (D).

Monday 16th: Toast and cacao (B); rice, dhal, vegetables (L); milk, apples, and dates (D).

Tuesday 17th: No breakfast. Parotta, cucumber, carrot and paalak, curd (L); moong-ki-dhal, kheer and bananas (D).

Wednesday 18th: Orange juice (B); rice, dhal, asparagus, Lentils and tomato salad (L); bread, butter and jam (D).

Thursday 19th: Sago-conjee (B); Chapati, cabbage, potatoes and lettuce salad with curd (L); milk, bael fruit and figs.

Friday 20th: No breakfast and lunch. Milk, grapes, dates, leechees at night.

Saturday 21st: Breakfast, lunch and dinner: all milk diet: half a seer at a time.

Sunday 22nd: Carrot halva and milk (B); rice, dhal, parotta, spinach and tomato soup (without salt); milk, butter, mango or orange, cherries and cranberries mixed with honey.

Monday 23rd: Only fried grams at breakfast (poor-man's almonds); brown bread without butter or ghee, dhal, spinach (D); soya bean soup (poor-man's milk) at night.

Tuesday 24th: Morning glory Pallayathu (rice soaked in water over-night, mixed with curd or whey with a little pepper and salt to taste) at breakfast; rice, sambar and butter-milk (L); dry bread and moong-ki-dhal (D),

Wednesday 25th: Honey, apricot and cherries or figs (B), cabbage salad, date nut sandwich, baked potato, pears, grape fruit or orange (L); milk, butter, straw berries, prunes (D).

Thursday 26th: Oatmeal and cream (B), whole-wheat toast, tomato soup, honey-almond sandwich, bitter gourd (karela) and fenugreek with curd (L); milk, apple beverage (apple cut into small slices, boiled in measured water, mixed with honey).

Friday 27th: Bael soup (mixed with cold water and sugar or honey to taste) (B); parval soup, cream-cheese sandwich, rice pudding, toast (L); milk, butter, almonds, cherries (D).

Saturday 28th: All fruit meal, consisting of apples, or-anges, pomegranates, bananas, etc. (whatever available).

Sunday 29th: Saltless diet: stewed prunes, toast and cream (B); baked soya beans, butter, oranges (L); milk, honey and butter (D). Monday 30: Complete fast: not even a drop of water.

Tuesday 31st: Lemon juice with honey (B); rice, dhal, parval, tomatoes and curd (L); one cup kheer (D),

N.B. The fruit-menus may be altered as per availability.

Fruit Juice Mixtures

Mixture I

Cherry juice, strawberry juice, peach juice can be used. The juices of different varieties of fruits can be taken alone. These fruit juice mixtures are useful in fevers, debility, indigestion, anaemia or poverty of blood. They supply energy quickly and invigorate the system. They are tonics and recuperatives.

Mixture IV

Lemon Juice Honey

This is a pleasant drink as the first thing in the morning. It removes biliousness, purifies the blood and removes all sorts of skin diseases.

Mixture V

Orange Juice and Glucose

This supplies abundant energy. This is useful in debility, anaemia, etc. Take this as the first thing in the morning.

Morning Glory

Sri Venkatesa Dasa gets up at 4 a. m. takes his bath in the Ganga and starts his Pooja in the Visvanath Mandir with in-tense faith and devotion. This is his morning glory.

Sri Sivaram gets up at 4 a.m. in Brahmamuhurta, takes his bath in the Bhageerathi and starts his meditation. This is hip morning glory.

In the early morning a gentle breeze blows in Sivanandanagar. The Venus shines brilliantly in the sky. There is perfect calmness in the atmosphere. The silvery moon sheds its lustre on the Ganga and the gigantic Himalayas. The Pranava sound of the flow of the Ganga is ringing harmoniously. The mind is elevated. It helps meditation, and one-pointedness. This is Nature's morning glory.

A smoker gets up in the early morning and starts his hukka. The room is filled with his smoke and suffocates others who are sleepy in the neighbouring room. The "Gudu-Gudu" sound disturbs the sleep of others and is a great nuisance to some. This is his morning glory.

Those Americans who are votaries of Naturopathy take for their breakfast oatmeal and cream, orange juice, Bran-Muffins or soya toast or Jackson meal, Minit Brew, Ficgo Holly-wood cup, Broccoli, Naveco, Yoghurt. They take another preparation named 'Morning glory'.

In olden days before the advent of coffee or tea the 'Morn-ing glory' of South Indian Tamilians was 'Palayathu'. Do you know what is 'Palayathu'? Boiled rice is put in water over night. It is taken in the early morning with curd or butter milk. Rasam or pepper water and Sambar (dhal soup) with some vegetables or 'Keeriai' is kept in very mild fire at night. This is taken as a whip or appetiser along with 'Palayathu or cold rice'. Some-times the rice water is taken with a little gingily oil. This is very cooling. Palayathu also is very cooling. Those who were taking Palayathu in olden days were very strong and healthy. Even now some doctors in South India do not take coffee but take this morning glory only.

May the South Indian Tamilians go back to their Morning glory and save doctors’ bills and too much Coffee-Uppuma expense? May the Hindusthanis and others also try this Morning glory, which will add really glory to their health, and strength?

Chapter 5

MILK-KALPA

From time immemorial the Hindu Rishis have succeeded in devising means to discover remedies which can help one to attain astounding longevity retaining all the physical and mental powers intact till the last breath. Kaya Kalpa Chikitsa aims in rejuvenation of physical and mental powers and in the attain-ment of longevity. The body is a boat to cross the ocean of this Samsara. It behoves, therefore, that it should be kept strong and healthy. That is the reason why Manu has said, "Sareeramadyam khalu dharmasadhanam. This body is the foremost means for practising Dharma."

The process of rejuvenation through `Kaya-Kalpa' is in the keeping of great Tapasvins. Kaya-Kalpa is the real elixir of the life by which the Rasayanas make the body immortal. They can keep the body strong and healthy as long as they like. The body is an instrument to attain the goal of life. Suppose a man de-sires to practise Yoga. He dies before he attains the highest Nirvikalpa Samadhi. Then he takes up another body and starts again the Yogic practices. He dies again before he makes any substantial progress. In this manner much time is lost in dying and being born again.

Therefore, the body is rendered strong and healthy. If birth and death can be got rid of, you will have ample time to do Yoga Sadhana and you will attain the goal of life in one birth. This is the theory of Rasayanas. They teach to immortalise the body first by means of Kaya-Kalpa made out of herbs, of mercury or sulphur, Neem or Amlaka fruits in order to achieve the goal of Yoga in this very life.

Live on milk alone for a period of 40 days, if you can take milk 3 or 4 times daily. Start with a small quantity and gradually increase the quantity. You can take one or two seers daily, or even more. This depends upon the power of your digestion. If you are not able to live on milk for 40 days you can live on milk for three days or a week or two weeks. You will put on more weight if you undergo the full course for 40 days.

Ayurvedic Science recommends milk-Kalpa for consumption and leprosy. Milk-Kalpa purifies the body and the mind and makes the mind one- pointed.

If milk disagrees with you add some quantity of water. Now it will be agreeable to you.

MODERATE DIET (MITAHARA)

Take wholesome, Sattvic food half-stomachful; fill the quarter-stomachful with pure water; and allow the remaining quarter free for the expansion of gas. This is Mitahara, the ideal food for Yogins. This is the ideal for all who want to preserve health. This is quite hygienic and is in harmony with the dietetic principles of modern medical science. This is Mitahara pre-scribed for Yogins.

Natyasnatastu yogo-asti Na chaikanta-manasnatah;

Na chatisvapnaseelasya jagrato naivachaduna.

"Verily Yoga is not possible for him who eats too much, nor for him who does not eat at all, nor for him who sleeps too much, nor for him who is (always) awake, 0 Arjuna." (Gita VI-16).

"Aharasuddhau sattvasuddhih;

Sattvasuddhau dhruva smritih;

Smritilambhe sarvagranthinam

vipramokshah.

For spiritual practices Sattvic food is absolutely necessary. Wheat, paddy, barley, sugar, butter, sugar-candy, milk, ghee, green dhal, Panchasakha vegetables, cabbages, potatoes, etc., are Sattvic articles of diet.

Restricted Diet

Fasting gives complete rest to the stomach, intestines, kidneys and to circulatory system. A restrictive diet also gives rest to these organs. A restrictive diet prevents the increase in the swelling of the feet, abdomen, etc., hypertension and com-plications such as heart failure, suppression of urine, etc. A restricted diet and fasting are highly beneficial in high blood-pressure, inflammation of the kidneys or Nephritis, dyspepsia, dysentery, etc.

Do not take solid food. Take plenty of orange- juice. You can take even a pint (20 ozs.). Take 3 or 4 ounces at a time. Take six times daily or more. Continue the restriction of food till the blood-pressure becomes normal and until there is no swell-ing. When the blood pressure becomes normal you can take bread, butter, vegetables. If the diet is free from salt for two weeks it will be highly beneficial.

YOGIC DIET

A diet that is wholly conducive to the practice of Yoga and spiritual progress is called Yogic diet.

You will find in the Yoga-Tattva Upanishad: "The proficient in Yoga should abandon the food detrimental to the practice of Yoga. He should give up salt, mustard, sour things, hot, pungent or bitter articles, asafoetida, woman, emaciation of the body by fasts, etc. During the early stages of practice, food of milk and ghee is ordained; also food consisting of wheat, green pulse and red rice are said to favour the progress. Then he will be able to retain his breath as long as he likes. By thus retaining the breath as long as he likes, Kevala Kumbhaka (cessation of breath without inhalation and exhalation) is attained. When Kevala Kumbhaka is attained by one and thus inhalation and exhalation are dispensed with, there is nothing unattainable in the three worlds to him."

In the Bikshuka Upanishad you will find: "Paramahamsas like Samvartaka, Aruni, Svetaketu, Jada Bharata, Dattatreya, Suka, Vamadeva, Hareetaka and others take eight mouthfuls and strive after Moksha alone through the path of Yoga."

DIET FOR IMMORTALITY

(Celestial Menu)

Breakfast

Lunch

Dinner

The All-Fruit Diet

Fruits purify the blood and cleanse the tissues. They sup-ply the system with life-giving mineral salts. Take fresh ripe juicy fruit three times a day. Take apples, mangoes, pears, grapes, oranges, pineapples, peaches, melons, etc.

Do not take bananas or tinned fruits, or unripe or sour fruits.

Do not take any bread or anything else. If you take any-thing else the whole benefits of the treatment will be lost. Do not take coffee, tea or cacao. Take hot or cold water, or lemon juice in water if there is thirst.

All the poisons and impurities in the system due to wrong ways of living and unwise feeding-habit will be eliminated. Many diseases such as Rheumatism, constipation, dyspepsia or indigestion, chronic calaric, bronchitis, piles, anaemia, etc., will be cured. Take the all-fruit diet for 2 or 5 days or one or two weeks if it is possible for you and come to your normal diet. This can be repeated as often as possible. This will overhaul your system and keep you quite fit. You can try this even for a day or two. You will derive incalculable benefits.

The Full Milk Diet

Live on milk alone for 3 days or a week or two weeks or 40 days. Take half a seer in the morning, half a seer at 12 noon and half a seer at night. Gradually increase the quantity. You can even take four, five or even six pints, if it agrees to you in a day. If there is constipation you can take a few bananas, dates, figs or prunes.

You can try this even for a day or two. You will derive immense benefit.

The Fruit and Milk Diet

Take milk along with fruits. You can take milk and fruits three times a day. You can take half a seer of milk along with the fruits or more according to your digestive capacity. This will purify the system. This diet is very favourable for meditation. You can try this for a week or a month or even for 2 or 3 days. You will derive wonderful benefits. Those who are used to take plenty of tamarind, chillies, salt, chutneys, pickles, and sour things, will be unnecessarily alarmed in the beginning to take recourse to the ALL FRUIT DIET or The FULL MILK DIET or the FRUIT AND MILK DIET. This is only an imaginary fear. If they once try these diets they cannot leave them. They will enjoy great peace by taking these Sattvic diets. They will leave off their old habits, of eating more pungent articles. There will be no craving for chillies, chutneys, salt and pungent things.

Chapter 6

INVALID FOOD RECIPES

Apple Water: Slice without paring or peeling 2 or 3 ripe apples and boil in a quart or 24 ounces of water till the fruit is soft. Let it stand till it becomes cool. Strain through muslin and serve after sweetening to taste. This is pleasant and refreshing drink in feverish conditions to quench thirst.

Arrow-root: Put two teaspoonfuls of good arrowroot into a basin or saucepan and mix to a smooth paste with cold water. Then pour thereon half a pint of boiling water or boiling milk and stir it well to keep it smooth. Place the basin or saucepan on the fire till it is ready to boil, take it off and allow it to cool. Add one or two teaspoonfuls of sugar.

Barley Water: Barley water is a refreshing and cooling beverage in fevers, diarrhoea, dysentery, diseases of the kidneys and in burning sensation of the urine. It flushes out the kidneys and the urinary tract. This is a valuable diluent for cow's milk in the feeding of infants. Equal parts of milk and bar-ley water may be mixed. The addition of the barley water renders the cow's milk easily digestible and stops the vomiting of curdy masses in children. Put 2 heaped teaspoonfuls of washed pearl barley into a pint of cold water, boil slowly down to two thirds of a pint and strain. Or, with a little cold water make a thin paste with a heaped teaspoonful of Robinson's Patent Prepared barley. Stir into it half a pint of boiling water, pour into a saucepan, and boil for 15 minutes, stirring all the time. Put the bottle containing the barley water in the refrigerator for use in feverish states.

Imperial Drink: This refreshing drink possesses refrigerant properties to quench thirst. Take two teaspoonfuls of cream of tartar, two tablespoonfuls of white sugar, the thin rind of a lemon, cut in pieces and put them in a jug. Pour into the jug two pints of boiling water. Let this stand for some time. When the water cools down, strain. This is useful in fevers and Bright's disease of the kidneys.

Junket: This is an excellent milk-food for invalids and convalescents. It is an artificial preparation of milk prepared generally by adding rennet (a kind of ferment) to it and allowing it to stand until it curdles firmly. This can be taken alone or sweetened with sugar. This can be flavoured, if desired, with lemon or vanilla.

Lime Whey: Put half a pint (10 oz) of milk in a clean vessel. Add 3 ounces of water and boil and when it is boiling, add the juices of lime fruit drop by drop till the milk cracks. Strain through a piece of clean cloth. The light green clear fluid is the whey. This is a cooling drink. You can sweeten this to taste. Do not add too much lime juice. The whey should not have a milky appearance. If it has a milky appearance, it means that the milk is partially cracked.

If you add a little tamarind, you will get tamarind whey. If you add rennet, you will get rennet whey. If you add freshly drawn milky juice of green papaya, little by little, you will get papaya whey. Papaya whey contains peptonised milk. This is more heavy than lime whey but this has greater food value.

Oatmeal Porridge: Oatmeal porridge is an exceedingly wholesome and nourishing food. It is easy of digestion also. Oatmeal contains lime, which is necessary for hardening children's bones. There are three kinds of oatmeal, coarse, medium and fine and the selection should be made according to the taste of the individual. Put a handful of coarse oatmeal in a saucepan which contains half a pint of boiling water. Add a pinch of salt. Boil for an hour, stirring frequently to prevent the formation of lumps.

Oatmeal Gruel: This can be prepared either with water or with milk. Mix into a smooth paste with 2 tablespoonfuls of fine oatmeal or groates in a saucepan. Add a pint of milk or water and simmer gently for half an hour, stirring frequently well the mixture to prevent the formation of lumps. Strain and season with salt or sugar.

Rice Water: Wash well 6 tablespoonfuls of rice and put it into a saucepan containing a pint of boiling water. Boil for an hour. Strain and flavour with either a small quantity of salt or sugar according to taste.

Toast Water: Toast a slice of new bread quite brown, but not burnt and then put it in a jug of boiling water. When quite cold, remove the toast and strain through fine muslin. Now, it is ready for drinking. Toast water can be mixed with apple water with much advantage. It must be remembered that burnt bread destroys toast and water.

Invalid Recipes

Channa: Channa is the solid left on separation of milk by alum or lemon. It is milk protein. It is a concentrated sustaining food, containing butter and milk proteins. It is beneficial in consumptive patients or invalids who are in need of concentrated sustaining food. The water left over after extraction of fat and proteins is called whey. It contains milk sugar and vitamins B.

Goat's Milk: Goat's milk is better than cow's milk, for patients. Charaka recommends goat's milk to children and patients who are suffering from pulmonary Tuberculosis. It is diluted with equal parts of water. If digestion is good it may be given without the addition of water. Children who suffer from digestive disorders and liver-diseases derive immense benefit by taking goat's milk. Strain the milk through two layers of cloth in order to remove any hair. Heat the milk.

Nutritive Tonic: Take half a tola each of Kismiss (raisin) Munakka, Khajur (dates). Put them in a glass or earthen vessel. Cut half a lemon into small pieces and put them with the skin in the vessel. Keep it overnight or for two hours. Squeeze, filter, and take the Juice with half an ounce of honey or a tea-spoonful of sugar. Take this in the early morning. This is a nutritive tonic. This is a laxative too.

Chapter 7

ACID AND ALKALI FORMING FOODS

(R.M. Simmond’s “Handbood of Diets”

Acid-Producing Foods

Alkali-Producing Foods

Neutral foods

FOODS DEFICIENT IN SODIUM CHLORIDE

(Sherman: “Chemistry of Food and Nutrition”)

FOODS RICH IN IRON

(Sherman: “Chemistry of Food and Nutrition”)

DIET AND HEALTH ALPHABETS

Almond is the king of all nuts. Take almond drink in the morning with sugar candy, Brahmi leaves and four black pep-pers.

Banana serves almost as a food. It is rich in protein, carbohydrate, sugar and vitamin B.

Carrot is a brain tonic. Take carrot Halva.

Dates contain more iron than meat.

Egg is surely not a vegetable food. Give up eggs.

Fruit diet is highly conducive to health.

Glucose gives abundant energy. Take a teaspoonful with orange juice or a cup of milk.

Honey gives strength, nutrition and energy. Take a table-spoonful of honey with lemon juice in the early morning.

Iodine is present in abundance in sea-weeds. Io-dine is necessary for health.

Jambul fruit is useful in diabetes.

Lettuce is a green leafy vegetable. It is an excellent source of vitamin C.

Milk is a perfect food. It is rich in calcium.

Nut is a substitute for butter. It contains lots of fat.

Nolkhol is a vegetable which contains small quantity of vitamins B and C. It yields 16 calories per ounce.

Orange is rich in vitamin B and very rich in vitamin C. It prevents rickets.

Prunes are useful in constipation.

Quality of food is more important than quantity.

Rice is very poor in protein and fat.

Soya bean is a good substitute for milk.

Tomato is the king of all vegetables. It contains lots of iron. Take it in a raw form.

Uric acid is removed by fasting.

Vitamins are like sparks which ignite the fire of nutrition.

Wood Apple is useful in sore-throat, diseases of the gums, dyspepsia and blindness.

Xeropthalmis is a disease of the eyes, due to deficiency of vitamin A in the food.

Yellow Fever can be easily treated by nature cure.

Zerosis is a disease of the eye due to deficiency of Vitamin A.

Hindi Names for Foodstuffs

Fruits

Leafy Vegetables

Other Vegetables

Roots and Tubers

Cereals

Pulses

Nuts

Milk and milk Products

YOGIC DIET

A diet that is wholly conducive to the practice of Yoga and spiritual progress is called Yogic diet. Diet has intimate connection with the mind. Mind is formed from the subtlest portion of essence of food.

One becomes purified of his inner nature by the purity of food. Purification of a Sadhaka's inner nature leads to memory of the Self and Self- realisation. Food plays an important part in meditation. Different foods produce different effects on different compartments of the brain. The food should be light, nutritious and Sattvic, for the purpose of meditation. Diet is of three kinds, viz., Sattvic diet, Rajasic diet and Tamasic diet.

Milk, barley, dates, fruits, vegetables, wheat, butter, honey, almonds are all Sattvic foodstuffs. They render the mind pure and calm. Fish, eggs, meat, chillies, asafoetida are Rajasic foodstuffs. They excite passion. Beef, wine, garlic, on-ions, etc., are Tamasic foodstuffs. They fill the mind with anger, darkness and inertia. A Yogic student should abandon articles of food detrimental to the practice of Yoga. He should give up mustard, sour, hot, pungent things, asafoetida, emaciation of body by fasts, etc. Havis Annam, a mixture of boiled rice and ghee is very conducive to Yogic practice. Cheru is highly beneficial for the practice of Yoga. White rice is boiled with ghee, white sugar and milk. This is Cheru. Instinct or voice within will guide you in the selection of articles of diet. You are yourself the best judge to form Sattvic Yogic menu to suit your temperament and constitution. The diet should be such as can maintain physical efficiency, good health and mental vigour. The well-being of a man depends on perfect nutrition.

Various sorts of intestinal diseases, increased susceptibility to infectious diseases, lack of vitality and power of resistance, rickets, scurvy, anemia or poverty of blood, beriberi, etc. are due to faulty nutrition. A knowledge of the science of dietetics is essential for every man, if he wants to keep up physical and mental efficiency, good health and a high standard of vigour and vitality.

Milk is a perfect food by itself. It is a well-balanced food. It is an ideal food for Yogins during the practice of Pranayama. Butter and sugar-candy are very beneficial for the practitioners of Pranayama. They cool the system. Milk should be scalded, but not boiled. It should be immediately removed from the fire, as soon as the boiling point is reached. Too much boiling destroys the vitamins and renders milk quite useless as an article of diet. Chew Myrobalan of the yellow variety. It is a health-giving stuff.

Do not make sudden changes in your diet. Let the change be slow and gradual. Masticate the food thoroughly. Then alone it will be readily digested, easily absorbed and assimilated in the system. What is needed is a well-balanced diet, not a rich diet. Give up rich diet, as it produces diseases of the liver, kidneys, pancreas. You are what you eat.

Gluttons and epicureans cannot dream of getting success in Yoga. He who takes a moderate diet, who has regulated his diet, can become a Yogi, not others. Take food half stomachful, fill a quarter stomach with water and allow the remaining quarter free for expansion of gas. It is moderate diet. Offer the food to the Lord before you eat. Do not practise Yoga immediately after a meal, nor when you are hungry. Take a little milk and butter before you begin the practice.

Foods which increase vitality, energy, vigour, health and joy, which are delicious, bland, wholesome, substantial and agreeable are Sattvic. Foods which are bitter, sour, saline, excessively hot, pungent, dry and burning, which produce pain, grief and diseases, are Rajasic. Foods which are stale, taste-less, putrid, rotten and impure are Tamasic.

All articles that are putrid, stale, decomposed, unclean, twice cooked, kept overnight, overripe and unripe fruits should be abandoned. A well-balanced diet is one in which the different principles of diet, viz., protein, carbohydrates, fats, minerals, etc., exist in proper proportions.

He who lives to eat is a sinner, but he who eats to live is verily a saint or a Yogi. Food is required to maintain body heat and to produce new cells and to make up for the wear and tear of the body. Be natural and simple in eating. He who meditates wants very little food. Take lemon juice and honey in the morn-ing. This gives health, energy and purifies the blood. Take light meals at night. A cup of milk and some fruits will suffice. Then alone you will be able to get up early in the morning for meditation. Do not take rice at night. Simple, non-stimulating, natural, tissue-building, energy-producing, non-alcoholic foods and drinks keep the mind calm and pure and help the Yogic practitioners to attain the Goal of life. A fruit diet is a very desirable diet for Yogins. It exercises a benign, soothing influence on the constitution. It cleanses the system. It is a positive diet. Spin-ach, Parwal, bitter gourd, lauki (bottle-gourd), Seendil, Penangani and Chiru Keerai are all wholesome.

Meat is not at all necessary for keeping up of good health. Meat is highly deleterious to health. It gives rise to tapeworm and diseases of the kidneys. Killing of animals for food is a great sin. Control of mind is very difficult for those who take meat, etc. Mark how the meat-eating tiger is ferocious and the cow, elephant that live on vegetable matter are mild and graceful.

Take your food when the Pingala or Surya Nadi flows in the right nostril. Surya Nadi is heating. It digests the food well. Sleep on your left side at night. The food will be digested well. Sit on Vajrasana for ten minutes after taking food. This will di-gest your food well.

Give up oil, black-gram, sour curd, roasted things, pumpkins, chillies, tamarind. Do not overload the stomach at night. If the stomach is overloaded you will sleep too much and miss your morning meditation. Give up tea and coffee. Eat and drink as a master. Have no craving for any particular diet. Do not be-come a slave of food and drink. Do not make much fuss about diet. Take simple, natural food.

Vegetable Diet Is the Best

Science, Biology, Physiology, Chemistry, Anatomy emphatically declare that the vegetable diet is the best.

Perfect health can be maintained on a diet derived wholly from the vegetable kingdom. Animal diet is not essential to man.

All that is necessary to the human body can be supplied by the vegetable kingdom.

Fruits, nuts, green leaves and roots are the food to which man is mainly adapted. Fruits and vegetables are the main food of man.

Flesh foods contain substances which the body cannot use and which have to be got rid of as waste material by the liver and kidneys.

Flesh food is certainly not necessary to supply the nitrogenous products required for the repair of tissues. A well-selected diet from the vegetable kingdom is perfectly fitting for the nutrition of man.

There is nothing necessary or desirable for human nutrition to be found in meat or flesh foods which are not found in the vegetable kingdom.

Chapter 8

THANKSGIVING TO THE LORD

O adorable Lord of the Universe!

The source for vitamins, minerals,

Proteids, carbohydrates and proteins,

Salutations unto Thee!

Thy grace has taken the form of

Oranges, wheat and sugarcane,

Milk, butter and leafy vegetables,

Grams, cereals and pulses,

It is all Thy Infinite mercy.

I have now found out Thee my Lord!

Thou art the glycogen in the liver and muscle

To supply energy to the body;

Thou art the gastric juice, bile,

Pancreatic juice and succus entericus;

Thou art Ptyalin, Amylopsin, Pepein—

The ferments that digest food.

How kind and merciful Thou art!

Thou art present in every cell of my body:

I have taken enough of food and drinks,

Take me to that region of nectar,

Where there is neither hunger nor thirst,

Neither body, mind, food or drink,

Neither bread, dhal, tea or potato.

Prostrations unto thee, 0 compassionate Lord.

I really thank Thee very much:

Om Namo Bhagavate Vaasudevaya,

Hari Om Tat Sat, Om Santih.

SALUTATIONS TO THE LORD

To that great Lord who has given us

Sago, barely, glucose, pomegranate,

Grapes, oranges, Mosambi, Sattugudi,

Kitchadie, buttermilk, and Horlicks

Which save our lives during great ailment

We offer our cordial salutations!

To that Great Lord who has given us

Guru, scriptures, solitary places,

Holy Ganga, clothing, blanket,

Milk, fruits, herbs and Kutirs,

Which help us in our Tapas and Sadhana

We offer our cordial salutations!

To that Great Lord who has given us

A human body, intelligence, memory,

Understanding, will, discrimination,

Vichara Sakti,

Fresh air, sunlight, pure water and fire,

Which help us in attaining the Goal,

We offer our cordial salutations!

INNER RULER

He who dwells in the vitamin,

He who is within the vitamin;

Whom the vitamin does not know,

Whose body the vitamin is,

Who rules the vitamin from within,—

Is thy own Self, Inner Ruler Immortal.

He who dwells in the protein,

He who is within the protein;

Whom the protein does not know,

Whose body the protein is,

Who rules the protein from within,

Is thy own Self, Inner Ruler, Immortal.

He who dwells in the carbohydrate,

He who is within the carbohydrate,

Whom the carbohydrate does not know,

Whose body the carbohydrate is,

Who rules the carbohydrate from within,

Is thy own Self, Inner Ruler, Immortal.

BODY-TEMPLE

This body is a temple of God:

The Lord is the Proprietor of this temple,

He is the Indweller.

It is an instrument for God-realisation,

Therefore it should be kept healthy and strong.

It is a wonderful engine—

The digestion of food, the pumping of blood,

The secretion and excretion,

The functions of brain, liver, heart,

Kidneys, and lungs are marvellous.

Food supplies materials

For growth, maintenance and repair,

Food supplies energy and heat;

The proteins are the tissue-builders,

The Prana builds the tissues,

Vitamins are the life-giving substances,

Carbohydrates and fats generate energy,

Minerals are body-building materials.

MOST PERFECT FOOD

You cannot live on bread alone,

You cannot live on dhal and milk alone,

You cannot live on fruits and vegetables alone,

You cannot live on vitamin extracts alone,

But you can live on the Name of God alone;

You can attain Immortality through the Lord's Name.

The Name is the most powerful food,

The Name is the food of all foods,

The Name is the most well-balanced diet.

The food Name is available at all times:

This is the most potent, cheapest and best;

This Name has immortalised Prahalad and Dhruva,

It was food and drink to Mira and Tulasidas.

Sivananda says:

There is neither control nor famine for this,

Say "Good bye" to all food controllers—

Turn your mind towards the Supreme Controller;

Eat this celestial food freely

And be blissful for ever.

CURRENTS OF VEGETARIANISM

The Importance of Vegetarian Diet*

The noble understanding that underlies the practice of vegetarianism is the fine fruit of enlightened thinking: it is an active evidence of the growing purity of the nature of the individuals practising it, and a sign of the operation in their lives, of the endearing, extra-social, and unifying characteristics that are conducive to spiritual realisation. The practice of the broad-based vegetarianism, leads the consciousness of man into an intimate experience of the divine foundations of all forms of life: it is this experience alone that can become the bedrock of world unity, world-harmony, world-happiness and world-progress.

Without this form of cultural understanding and this deep experience of the very fundamental movements of existence by individuals, all efforts, endeavours and pompous intentions and plans for a realisation of the universal brotherhood and all those ideals that one generally hears of these days, would be abortive. Therefore, it is the privilege of everyone connected with the World Vegetarian Congress, to put in strenuous efforts to make the Vegetarian Movement a mighty cultural force in the contemporary world. The World Vegetarian Congress commands the cultural consent of the awakened opinion of all man-kind, exerts a moral force on all the represented countries, and compels the attention of all those who have not yet associated themselves with the Vegetarian Movement.

The knowledge that the International Vegetarian Move-ment is one of the most chastening and elevating cultural cur-rents released into the contemporary world of many-sided life-activity, is a stimulating experience of a noble nature. The ideas, ideals and principles of action that form the foundation of this movement are in perfect consonance with those prevail-ing in the spiritual circles of the land of India. This fact lends the vegetarian movement an added strength and also gladdens everyone in India that this humanitarian trend would continue to move from strength to strength and one day envelop all humanity in the most joyous sentiments of profound reverence for all life, of a recognition of the oneness and sacredness of all existence, and thus make for deeper bases of universal brotherhood, love and progress.

If the machineries and measures of other world organisations and forms of effort, have shown themselves to be feeble to achieve the objective of world-unity, world-peace, and world-progress, in the absence of the contemporary and indispensable action of the spiritual forces, this vegetarian move-ment, with its members of larger affections, broad-views, liberal ideas, noble sentiments, elevated character, and genuine love for all that breathe, would prove with their growing activities, a mighty force contributing to such an achievement. Herein we find that vegetarianism is not an end in itself, but a powerful enlightened instrument for rendering the lives of individuals into cementing forces of goodness, into centres of exalted natures that radiate and diffuse help, love, service, peace and happiness into all forms of life.

Self-evident truths do not need to be emphatically shouted or substantiated by long argumentation. It is futile to get into hot disputes over this question of vegetarianism or to bring statistics in support of non-vegetarian diet. It is not within the reach of all to understand the finer points in connection with vegetarianism.

The most important reason for which the vegetarian diet is advocated and non-vegetarian diet condemned is because of their respective effects upon the ethical and the spiritual development of the human being. The consideration is not so much of merely physical and mental or intellectual development of the man. Man is more than just body and mind: he is essentially an ever-perfect, ever-pure and ever-free Spirit in his true inner nature. Human birth is given as an opportunity and a means to attain this sublime knowledge of his inner spiritual nature and to regain his Divinity. In this process, all grossness and animalistic tendencies have to be totally eliminated from the human personality. Non-vegetarian diet, which is gross and animal by its very nature, is a great hindrance to this process. Pure Sattvic diet is a great help to the refinement of the human nature. Vegetarian diet is a great factor in this. Ethical idealism and spiritual aspiration find place and flourish more easily in a pure Sattvic and refined nature. Hence the vital importance of eschewing gross animal diet and adopting a pure vegetarian diet. This is indispensable in the true interests of the noble inner culture of the man's being.

Ignorant people thoughtlessly wax eloquent in their advocacy of animal diet. They do not know about the important fact that man's nature is influenced by the diet that he takes. All foods are divided by our ancient men of wisdom into Sattvic, Rajasic or Tamasic. Animal diet belongs to the Rajasic and mostly to the Tamasic category. , Animal diet is not Sattvic. Sattvic diet is essential in the process of the ethical and spiritual culture of man. Vegetarian diet is mostly Sattvic. The subtle parts of the food material go to make up the mind of man. Tamasic diet produces Tamasic tendencies in man. Onion and garlic are extremely Tamasic. They are as bad as meat. There-fore, they are totally forbidden to those who wish for moral and spiritual growth. No doubt, animal diet may produce a strong Sandow or a dauntless soldier or a keen brainy scientist. But. In the Hindu view of life, the real value is placed upon the moral and spiritual worth of the man. Moreover, flesh-eating involves the exercise of cruelty, which is not an elevating virtue. It is a bestial quality which degrades man. Cruelty is condemned by all great men. Thus the cruel slaughter of animals and the taking of innocent lives which flesh-eating entails makes it abhor-rent to all right thinking men and women all over the world. People who are slaves to flesh-eating habit cannot give up animal diet, because they have become confirmed and inveterate meat-eaters and hence they try to justify their habit by various arguments and statistics. One cannot change their ways merely by argumentation and disputation. Ultimately, it is only the force of personal example that has a strong effect upon the people around you.

Vegetarian diet has been acclaimed to be most conducive to spiritual and psychic advancement. It has been found that meat augments animal passion and decreases intellectual capacity. While it is true that meat-eating countries are physically active and strong, the same cannot be said of their spiritual attainments. Meat is not at all necessary for the keeping up of perfect health, vigour and vitality. On the contrary, it is highly deleterious to health; it brings in its train a host of ailments such as tapeworm, albuminuria and other diseases of the kidneys. Vegetarians keep up sound health till old age. It is a fact known to doctors that patients who are put on a regimen of vegetable diet, convalesce quickly. Killing of animals for food is a great blunder and the mentality it engenders is fraught with potential dangers for the life of humanity; a recognition of which made George Bernard Shaw say that as long as men torture and slay animals and eat their flesh we shall have war. Pythagoras says: "Beware, 0 mortals, of defiling your bodies with sinful food! There are cereals, there are fruit-trees bending their branches down by their weight, and luxurious grapes on the vines. There are sweet vegetables and herbs which the flame can render palatable and mellow. Nor are you denied milk, nor honey, fragrant of the aroma of the thyme flower. The bountiful earth offers you an abundance of pure food and provides for meals obtainable without slaughter and bloodshed."

Diet has intimate connection with the mind. Mind is formed out of the subtlest portion of food. Sage Uddalaka instructs his son Svetaketu: "Food, when consumed, becomes threefold: the gross particles become excrement, the middling ones flesh and the fine one the mind. My child, when curd is churned, its fine particles which rise upwards, form butter. Thus, my child, when food is consumed, the fine particles which rise upwards form the mind. Hence ‘verily the mind is food." Again we find in the Chhandogya Upanishad: "By the purity of food one be-comes purified in his inner nature; by the purification of his inner nature he verily gets memory of the Self; and by the attainment of the memory of the self all the ties and attachments are severed."

VEGETARIANISM AND THE HINDU VIEW OF LIFE

Self-evident truths do not need to be emphatically shouted or substantiated by long argumentation. It is futile to get into hot disputes over this question of vegetarianism or to bring out statistics in support of non-vegetarian diet. It is not within the reach of all to understand the finer points in connection with vegetarianism. The most important reason for which the vegetarian diet is advocated and non-vegetarian diet condemned is because of their respective effects upon the ethical and spiritual development of the human individual. The consideration is not so much of merely physical and mental or intellectual development of man.

Man is more than just body and mind; he is essentially an ever-perfect, ever-pure and ever-free Spirit in his true inner nature. Human birth is given as an opportunity and a means to attain this sublime knowledge of his inner spiritual nature, and to regain his Divinity. In this process, all grossness and animalistic tendencies have to be totally eliminated from the human personality. Non- vegetarian diet, diet which is gross and animal by its very nature, is a hindrance to this process. Pure Sattvic diet is a great help to the refinement of the human nature. Vegetarian diet is a great factor in this. Ethical idealism and spiritual aspiration find place and flourish more easily in a pure Sattvic and refined nature. Hence the vital importance of eschewing gross animal diet and adopting a pure vegetarian diet. This is indispensable in the true interests of the noble inner culture of the man's being.

Ignorant people thoughtlessly wax eloquent in their advocacy of animal diet. They do not know about the important fact that man's nature is influenced by the food that he takes. All foods are divided by our ancient men of wisdom into Sattvic, Rajasic or Tamasic. Animal diet belongs to the Rajasic and mostly to the Tamasic category. Animal diet is not Sattvic; diet is essential in the process of the ethical and spiritual culture of man. Vegetarian diet is mostly Sattvic. The subtle part of the food material goes to make up the mind of man. Tamasic diet produces Tamasic tendencies in man; therefore, they are for-bidden to those who wish for moral and spiritual growth. In the Hindu view of life, the real value is placed upon the moral and spiritual worth of man; and vegetarianism is the foundation of all noblest thinking, psychic advancement and spiritual development.

ANCIENT INDIAN ANALYSIS

The chemical components of different Foods, vibrate at varying rates; each particle of food is a mass of energy; the in-take of certain foodstuffs sets up discordant vibrations in the physical body which throw the mind into a state of oscillation disequilibrium. Concentration of mind is rendered difficult and high thinking is disturbed because elevating thoughts imply fine vibrations. The intimate relation between food and mind, the decisive influence that diet exercises upon the mind, renders the purity of food an invariable adjunct to all psychological maturity and spiritual development.

A diet that is wholly conducive to the practice of noblest thinking and moral and spiritual progress is called Sattvic or Yogic diet. Diet is of three kinds, viz., Sattvic diet, Rajasic diet and Tamasic diet. Milk, barley, wheat, cereals, butter, cheese, tomatoes, honey, dates, fruits, almonds and sugar-candy are all Sattvic foodstuffs. They render the mind pure and calm and play a very important part in the practices of spiritual aspirant, in the mental development of the student and in the personality-power of the leaders of mankind. Fish, eggs, meat, salt, chillies and asafoetida are Rajasic foodstuffs; they excite passion and make the mind restless, unsteady and uncontrollable. Beef, wine, garlic, onions and tobacco are Tamasic foodstuffs. They exercise a very unwholesome influence on the human mind and fill it with emotions of anger, darkness and inertia.

In the Bhagavad Gita, Lord Krishna says to Arjuna, "The food which is dear to each is threefold. The foods which in-crease vitality, energy, vigour, health and joy and which are delicious, bland, substantial and agreeable are dear to the pure. The passionate persons desire foods that are bitter, sour, sa-line, excessively hot, pungent, dry and burning, and which produce pain, grief and disease. The food which is stale, tasteless; putrid, rotten, and impure, is dear to the Tamasic."

Mind is formed of the subtler portion of food; if the food is impure, the mind also becomes impure in its workings. This is the dictum both of the ancient sages of India and of the modern psychologists. Sage Uddalaka instructed his son Svetaketu, thus: "Food, when consumed becomes threefold: the gross particles become excrement, the middling ones flesh and the fine ones the mind. My child, when curd is churned, its fine particles which rise upwards form butter. Thus, my child, when food is consumed, the fine particles which rise upwards form the mind. Hence verily the mind is food." Again you will find in the Chhandogya Upanishad: "By the purity of food, one be-comes purified in his inner nature; by the purification of his inner nature; he verily gets memory of the Self, the spiritual Reality within him; and by the attainment of the memory of the Self, all ties and attachments and the consequent psychological limitations and emotional sufferings are severed."

Different foods produce different effects upon different compartments of the brain. For purposes of meditation and for high nobility of character, the food should be light, nutritious and Sattvic. Milk, fruits, almonds, butter, sugar-candy, green-gram, Bengal-gram soaked in water overnight, bread, etc., are all very helpful in the practice of meditation. Then, a kind of root available in abundance in the Himalayan regions, is very Sattvic. Tea and sugar should be used in moderation; it is better if one gives them up. Dried ginger-powder can be mixed with milk and taken frequently. Indian Yogins like this very much. Another health-giving stuff is myrobalan of the yellow variety which can be chewed now and then. In the Vagbhata's work it is represented as even superior to a nourishing mother. It takes care of the body better than a mother does. A mother gets annoyed with her child sometimes but myrobalan always keeps an even temperament which is characteristic of inanimate nature and preserves a cheerful composure and is enthusiastic in attending to the well-being of human individuals. It preserves semen and stops all nocturnal emissions. Potatoes boiled without salt or baked on fire are, also excellent food for those who are devoted to the practice of moral idealism and spiritual Sadhana.

That food does wield a tremendous influence on the mind, can be seen in everyday life around us. After a heavy, sumptuous, indigestible meal, it is very difficult to control the mind; it runs, wanders and jumps like an ape, all the time. Alcohol causes great excitement of the mind. What is needed is a well-balanced diet, not a rich diet. A rich diet produces dis-eases of the liver, kidneys and pancreas. A well-balanced diet helps a man to grow, to turn out more work, increases his body-weight, and keeps up the efficiency, stamina and a high standard of vim and vigour. It is no unsound statement which asserts, "You are what you eat."

Vegetarian diet has been acclaimed to be the most conducive to idealistic thought-processes, moral development, psychic advancement and spiritual growth. It has been found that meat augments animal passions and decreases intellectual capacity. While it is true that meat-eating countries are physically more active and strong, the same cannot be said of their high moral, or even average spiritual attainments, much less of the refined quality of their mind, and temper. Meat is not at all necessary for the keeping up of perfect health, vigour and vitality; on the contrary, it is highly deleterious to health. It brings in its train a host of ailments such as tapeworm, albuminuria and other diseases of the kidneys. In large meat-eating countries cancer mortality is admittedly very high. Vegetarians keep up, as a rule, very sound health till old age.

Those who are intent on moral progress of the world and on personal spiritual development, should avoid all narcotics, coffee, tea, alcohol and smoke that stimulate the senses, make the mind giddy, and render the character turbid or less brilliant and sparkling. Our senses are compared to restive horses, and they become uncontrollable by taking narcotics and foodstuffs that stimulate the nervous mechanism of man and disturb the psychological equilibrium in human nature. And for those who really aspire after self-perfection, control of mind and success in Yoga, the avoidance of narcotics is indispensable.

Fruit diet exercises a marvellous influence upon the constitution of man. This is a natural diet. Fruits are tremendous energy-producers and help concentration and meditation. Bar-ley, wheat, milk, ghee and honey promote longevity of life and increase power and stamina. Simple natural, non-stimulating, tissue-building, energy-producing, non-alcoholic food and drink will keep the mind calm, pure and help the student of Yoga in his practices and in the furtherance of his inner movement to-wards the final Aim and Goal of Life—Cosmic and Brahmic Consciousnesses. Gluttons and epicureans cannot dream of the achievement of purified nerves, a sane mentality, undisturbed sleep, high moral inclinations and leanings, and success in Yoga. Not others but one who takes moderate diet and regulates his diet, can become a Yogi. That is precisely why Lord Krishna says in the Sixth Chapter of the Bhagavad Gita: "Verily, Yoga is not for him who eateth too much, nor who abstaineth to excess, or who is too much addicted to sleep, nor even to wakefulness, 0 Arjuna! Yoga killeth out all pains for him who is regulated in eating and amusement, regulated in performing actions, regulated in sleeping and waking."

Chapter 9

HINTS ON HEALTH

1. Be regular in your Japa, meditation, Kirtan, prayer, study of spiritual books, Vichara, etc. Rely on God. Surrender yourself to Him. See him in all. Always remember Him and feel His Presence within you. Pray to Him. Be cheerful always. Avoid all negative emotions like fear, anxiety, care, worry, anger, hatred, pride, jealousy, etc. Always entertain pure, divine thoughts. Cultivate the divine virtues mentioned in the Gita Chapter XVI—verses 1 to 3. Forget the body and identify your-self with the Atman. Practise Brahmacharya. Keep the body and mind ever engaged in useful occupation. Utilise the morn-ing and evening hours in divine contemplation.

2. Go to bed at 10 p.m. and get up at 4 a.m. Do not sleep in the day time, especially after the midday meal. When constipated, use enema or a mild laxative. In the morning take some exercises, Suryanamaskara, Asanas or walking, or swimming. Practise deep breathing for a few minutes in the early morning and evening hours in open air (long deep slow exhalation followed by rhythmical natural inhalation). Breathe through the nose only and never through the mouth. Live in well-ventilated rooms. Use light clothes. Take a sunbath for a few minutes in the cool hours of the morning or evening,

3. Bathe in cold water early in the morning. Then vigorously rub the body with a dry rough towel. Drink a glass of water on rising from bed, and half an hour before going to bed, and freely at other times. Do not drink any water with food, but take a glassful an hour before and after food.

4. Do not sleep in the day time. While sleeping at night, do not cover your face. Sleep on your left side.

5. Avoid tea, coffee, liquors, smoking, condiments, spices, rich food, excess of sweets, fried articles. Eat only when you are really hungry. Do not eat between meals. Be a little hungry always. Do not eat for three hours after getting up from bed. Finish your evening meal three hours before sleeping. Take care of your teeth.

6. Remember God before and after a meal. Eat in a calm mood. Eat light Sattvic food moderately. Avoid too many combi-nations in a meal. Starches should not be combined with pro-tein or acid fruits. Masticate the food properly; eat slowly. After meal, sit in Vajrasana for at least 15 minutes and do pleasant contemplation on God, or do Japa mentally in a calm mood. Avoid all exertion (physical or mental) for at least half an hour before and after a meal.

7. Take as much as you can afford of Vegetables and fruits, especially spinach (palak), tomato, grapes, orange, lemon, plantain. Daily chew a few leaves of bael, bitter neem and Tulasi. A spoon of honey daily is good. Take sweet butter-milk; it is very cooling.

8. Have occasional fasts, partial and full. Have full fast on Ekadasi and partial fast on Amavasya and Purnima. Occasion-ally miss a meal, especially when you are not well or very much worried or tired. If possible, take only milk and fruits at night daily.

Health and Brahmacharya

1. Many young men are troubled by wet-dreams (nocturnal emissions) and spermatorrhoea. This may be due to various causes like constipation, loaded stomach, irritating or wind-producing food, impure thoughts, and long self-abuse done in ignorance. This creates great fear in their minds. But, there is no cause for despair. Through dietetic discipline (mini-mum Sattvic diet), cultured habits, observing the principles of hygiene, perfect moral living, and pure thinking, this trouble can be eradicated.

2. First, purify the mind by cultivating devotion to God. Do Japa and meditation. Study spiritual books. Pray to God. Ob-serve Brahmacharya. Do not mix unnecessarily with women. See only the Divine Mother in them. Develop Atmabhava in all. Avoid cinemas, novels, newspapers, bad company, evil talks, etc. Always keep the body and mind engaged in some useful work. Do not brood over the disease too much. It will pass off. When bad thoughts appear in the mind, repeat the Name of God and pray to him. Feel: 'I am getting better now by God's Grace.'

3. Get up at 4 a.m. and do Japa and meditation. Also do this before sleeping at 10 p.m. Before going to bed answer the calls of nature. Sleep on the left side. In acute cases sleep on the back until recovery. The evening meal should be light and eaten very early. If possible take milk and fruits only before 7 p.m. No solid or liquid should be taken after sunset. When you take milk, mix ginger essence in it or boil crushed ginger with milk before taking.

4. Always wear a langoti or kowpeen.

5. Give up tea, coffee, all nerve-irritants like too much chil-lies, too much salt, and spices, onions and garlic, excess of sweets and hot stuff, and condiments. Take a light Sattvic diet. Fast on Ekadasi.

6. Have a plunge bath in cold water in the morning. If pos-sible take a cold bath before evening food also.

7. Never stop the urge to answer calls of nature.

8. Observe the rules of right living. Perform the following Asanas: Sirshasana, Sarvangasana, Siddhasana, Paschimottanasana, Yoga Mudra and Bhujangasana. Also do Uddiyana and Nauli. Practise deep-breathing for a few min-utes. Take sun baths in the cool hours. Walk in the sun. Do Suryanamaskara. Run. Swim. Take part in games. For ten min-utes daily take hip bath (by sitting in a tub of water and keeping legs outside the tub or standing in a tank, lake or river up to the navel).

9. You may begin the treatment in the following manner: Fast for a day taking only diluted juice of lemon or orange. For one week, live on fruits only. For the next week take only milk and fruits. Then have your usual midday meal and in the night take milk and fruits before sunset. Daily enema must be taken during the above treatment, i.e., when living on milk and fruits diet.

10. Take 2 grains of camphor in 2 ounces of milk in the evening or before going to bed.

May the Divine splendour shine in your face! May the Lord bless you with health and long life, peace, prosperity and Kaivalya!

Cold

1. Avoid indigestion and overeating.

2. Take long brisk walks.

3. Use enema.

4. In empty stomach, twice daily, take the juice of a lemon in warm water with honey.

5. In lieu of the evening meal, take milk and fruits. To the milk add ginger powder.

6. Drink Tulasi decoction prepared as follows: Boil little ginger, pepper, Tulasi leaves in a glassful of water. Strain, add little milk and a little sugar.

Dyspepsia or Indigestion

A large number of men and women suffer from this dis-ease. They should observe the following instructions to great advantage.

Repeat the Name of God and sing Kirtan several times a day. Pray to Him. Remember Him constantly. Be cheerful al-ways. Avoid depression of mind, cares, anxieties and worries. Do not sleep in day time, especially after a meal. Take care of your teeth. Remove constipation by the occasional use of enema or mild laxative. Just before or after a meal, avoid all exertion physical or mental. Relax at least for half an hour. After a meal sit in Vajrasana (Muslim Prayer pose) for at least 15 minutes and do some pleasant reading or contemplation or have Mantra-writing. Long, brisk walks in the evening, exercises and Suryanamaskaras in the morning are good. Take sun-bath for a few minutes in the cool hours (6 to 9 a.m. or 4 to 6 p.m.). Do deep-breathing for three minutes at least often in the day.

Give up smoking. Eat when you are hungry. Do not eat anything between meal. Do not drink water or any other liquid with a meal. Before and ‘after a meal remember God. Eat slowly in a calm mood, chew properly, and observe Mauna, while eat-ing. Eat moderately. There should be no feeling of heaviness after a meal. Avoid many combinations of food. Drink a glass of water one hour before and one hour after a meal, on waking up and ongoing to bed. Drink water freely at other times. Chew a few leaves (5-10) of bael, Tulasi and neem daily. Fast once a week or fortnight according to capacity. On the fasting day, drink plenty of water mixed with the juice of at least one lemon. Eat nothing before 9 a.m. and nothing after 7 p.m.

Avoid the following: Nuts, pastry, sweets, sugar puddings, onions, raw vegetables, puries and other fried articles, tea and coffee, pickles, spices and condiments, tinned foods, unripe fruits, cakes, chocolates, ice and iced drinks, and all foodstuffs producing biliousness.

Take the following: In the morning take lemon juice in warm water. Or, take a spoonful of the juice of ginger, added to a spoonful of honey and a spoonful of lemon-juice in a cup of water.

At noon take a light, simple, Sattvic diet. In the evening two or three hours before sleep, take milk and fruits. You can take plenty of buttermilk and lemon juice. Grapes and papaya fruits are very good.

Half an hour before meal, drink a cup lukewarm water. Just before the meal, take a little ginger with salt.

How to Get Rid of Sleeplessness

Do Japa and Kirtan for at least half an hour before you go to bed? Rely on God. Do total self-surrender unto Him. Be regular in your daily Sadhana. Be cheerful. Smile always. Give up worrying habit, agitation of all sorts and anger. Give up heated debates. Do not read exciting stories, novels or other vulgar literature. Talk a little; mix a little. Reduce your wants. Annihilate desires. Avoid overwork; avoid intense brain-work, especially before you go to bed.

Avoid overeating and indigestion. Give up tea and coffee, liquor, all intoxicants, smoking; give up also foods that irritate your stomach and intestines.

Do not eat anything after 7 p.m. except for a cup of hot milk or hot Horlicks or Sanatogen at bed-time. Take your principal meal at noon. At 5 p.m. take a cup of hot milk and fruits.

Before going to bed, give a hot-water-bath to the feet for ten minutes or give hot mustard foot-bath, or walk at least a mile. Use light bed clothes. Keep no light in the bedroom; or use a green chimney.

Before you go to bed, read spiritual books, write Mantra, do Japa and Kirtan. Perform deep-breathing for ten minutes before sleep. Lie down quietly, relax body and mind and do si-lent Japa. Sleep will come. Sleep must come. Have this firm conviction in your mind.

Perform the following Asanas daily in the morning and in the evening. Sarvangasana, Bhujangasana, Salabhasana,

Dhanurasana, mild Sukha-Purvaka Pranayama with Pranava Japa.

You may take the following Bio-chemical medicines, if your insomnia is acute: (1) Ferrum Phos 6x in the morning, (2) Natrum Phos 6x at noon; (3) Kali Phos 6x at night.

Regular meditation on God, in the morning and in the evening, is the panacea for sleeplessness.

Eye Treatment

1. General: Improve general health. Avoid emotion and mental strain. Relax thoroughly before sleep. Practise deep breathing. Take hip-bath or use abdominal wet-packs for 15 minutes daily. Take oil bath. Apply 'Brahmi-Amla Oil' on the head. Do not read immediately after food. Avoid constipation. Use enema. Observe the rules of health. (See my book 'Health and Happiness').

2. Diet: Avoid tea, coffee, condiments. Have occasional fasts. Take more vegetables, thin butter milk, fruits and milk.

3. Eye Exercises: (i) Cultivate the habit of blinking frequently. (ii) Do Trataka (gazing) gently in the early morning sun before the rays emanate, for a few seconds. Then close the eyes. This will steady the mind and remove all ocular ailments. Gaze with open eyes through a green leaf daily for 5 or 10 minutes. After gazing is over have the eye bath. Dash cold water into the eyes with the hand. (iii) Solar eye-bath. Stand before the sun in the early morning. Look at the sun with open eyes for a few seconds. Then close the eyes, come to the shade and palm the eyes. This will remove all sorts of eye diseases.

How to Reduce Obesity (Excess Fat)

1. Asanas: Perform the following Asanas: Padahasthasana, Paschimottanasana, Salabhasana. If possible, do the following also: Sarvangasana, Matsyasana, Halasana, Bhujangasana, Dhanurasana, Trikonasana, etc. Refer to my book 'Yoga Asanas'.

Take light exercises, long brisk walk (run a few yards). Practise deep breathing.

(Note: In advanced case, the Asanas should be practised gradually. Do not strain yourself. Sirshasana should not be done in the beginning.)

2. Diet: (a) Avoid excess of fat in the form of cream, butter, ghee, thick curds, thick milk, excess of starch, sweets, buttered toast, savoury sandwiches, extra salt at meals, dhal, grams (except moong), pumpkin, plantain. (b) Do not drink water with food. But drink one hour before or after food. Drink less water. (C) Fast on Ekadasi. Take saltless diet once a week. (d) Take plenty of green, leafy vegetables, fruit juices and thin butter-milk. Lettuce reduces obesity.

3. Home Medicine: In the morning, take a spoonful of honey and the juice of a lemon together in a cup of hot water. At night, take `Triphala' water (hot).

Treatment for Blood Pressure

1. The cause is, besides other, excessive indulgence in: Tea, coffee, drinks, smoking. Avoid the cause.

2. Avoid the following also: Rich food, overeating, constipation, anxiety.

3. Take rest, relax. Have sufficient sleep—go to bed at 9 p.m. and get up at 4 a.m.

4. Take light exercise; walk a mile; practise deep breathing in the open air for 5 or 10 minutes.

5. Take hip-baths daily for five minutes.

6. Take warm bath daily.

7. In the morning, take juice of one lemon with a cup of water. Before going to bed take warm milk or warm water.

8. Fasting Cure: For a day fast on diluted lemon juice. For the next week live on fruits and milk. For the subsequent week, take the usual day meal, but at night take only milk and fruits. Then return to your normal diet. Take enema daily during the period of fasting.

Pyorrhoea

1. General: Avoid indigestion, tobacco, too hot or too cold drinks, sweets. After each meal, and at bed time, clean teeth and gargle with dilute solution of common salt or lemon juice. Expose mouth to sun. Chew neem leaves and keep the juice in mouth for some time. Massage the gums with a good tooth powder or paste.

2. Diet: Take a nutritious diet—fruits, milk and vegetable.

3. Use cold pack on the abdomen.

4. If possible live on fruits and milk for a fortnight and use enema daily.

5. Apply clove oil in case of severe pain.

Rheumatism

1. General: Improve general health. Daily enema and hip-bath are good. Fast on Ekadasis. Long walks, light exercises, easy Asanas and deep-breathing will benefit you. Avoid cold and damp. Wear flannel clothes. Drink hot water. Give hot fomentation.

2. Diet: Avoid the following: Rice, sugar, all starch, excess of salt, dhal and pumpkin, spiced food, tea and coffee. Take: Fruit juice, vegetable soup, milk and fruits.

3. Medicine: (a) Take juice of one lemon in a cup of hot water daily. (b) Boil cut potatoes in water and consume the result. The skin should not be removed. This is very good. (c) Mas-sage with lemon juice and sweet oil (mixed equally) or mas-sage with mustard oil boiled with camphor.

Diabetes

1. General: Avoid excessive brain work. Avoid indigestion. Fast on Ekadasis. Use enema. Walks in the morning and evening, abdominal exercises, sun-baths and deep-breathing, Sarvangasana, Paschimottanasana, Agnisara and Uddiyana are very good.

2. Diet: Avoid: rice, sugar, sweet fruits, all starch. Take: to-mato, lettuce, turnip, spinach, carrot, cabbage, other green vegetables; and fruits like the lemon, orange, grapes; milk with-out sugar but with a little honey. Best Diet is: Vegetables with 'rotti' made of 'Ghana' flour mixed with barley (jhow) flour; milk with a little honey.

3. Medicine: (a) Chew 20 bael leaves morning and evening. (b) Extract Jambul. (c) Juice of a lemon with honey thrice daily. (d) Vasanta Kusumakar. (e) Chandraprabha (in summer), Shilajit (in winter).

4. For full details see the book: 'A Boon to Diabetics'.

Pimples

1. Take enema daily.

2. Juice of a lemon mixed with a spoonful of honey in a cup of hot water, early morning.

3. Apply lemon juice mixed with equal quantity of coconut oil.

4. At night before sleep, keep a cold pack.

5. Give up salt or reduce it.

6. For a month, if possible, live on fruits and milk and use enema daily.

7. Daily chew a few neem leaves on empty stomach.

Asthma

1. General: Be cheerful. Avoid worry. Avoid exposure to cold. Use warm clothes. Do not smoke. Avoid constipation and indigestion. Use enema or mild laxatives or Triphala. Fast on Ekadasis. Light exercises, walks, sun-bath, deep breathing, mild Bhastrika are good.

2. Diet: Avoid the following: starch and sugar, cold drinks, raw foods, dhal and pumpkin, plantain, groundnuts, fried articles etc. Take the following: Milk and honey; figs and apples; sweet oranges, hot water. Ideal diet is: Wheat rottis, butter and honey in the day, milk, fruits and honey in the evening (before 7 p.m.)

Finish the principal meal of the day before 2 p. m., and have a light meal early in the evening (before sunset). Eat the meal slowly and calmly. After a meal sit on Vajrasana (for at least 15 minutes).

3. During an attack: Fast and rest. Sit on armchair and do deep breathing. Take one teaspoonful of the juice of Adusa (Vasaka or Adhatoda) with honey. Sip hot water when the at-tacks are showing signs of appearing.

Treatment for Constipation

1. Exercise: Take regular walks in the morning and evening. Do Suryanamaskaras and other exercises. Practise deep breathing. Practise Sarvangasana, Paschimottanasana, Mayurasana, Bhujangasana, Salabhasana, Dhanurasana and also Uddiyana and Nauli.

2. Diet: Eat plenty of fruits like dates, apple, papaya, tomatoes, grapes, guava, figs, naspati. All leafy vegetables are good. Vegetables like the spinach, carrot and radish are very good. Let the meal consist of vegetables in a greater proportion. Give up tea, maida and other articles of diet which produce constipation. Drink plenty of buttermilk. When rottis are prepared, to the atta add 1/6th quantity of chokar (bran of wheat).

3. Drink water freely at all times, except within one hour of meals.

4. Take hip-bath for 15 mts.; or use abdominal wet packs; or have mud-pack on stomach.

5. Cultivate the habit of sitting for stools at regular hours.

6. You can try one or more of these: (a) in the morning and evening take lemon juice and honey with hot water. (b) Before sleeping drink a glassful of lukewarm water or milk mixed with 3 spoons of ghee. (c) In the morning take bael fruit or bael murabba with water. (d) Drink a glassful of water on getting up from bed and before going to bed. (e) Soak chokar (wheat-bran) in water with grapes and after 6 hours eat the same.

7. Take enema when the bowel (colon) is loaded. Mild laxative may be taken occasionally, when necessary, such as castor oil or Castophene tablets.

Acidity

1. Take carrots, coconuts, all acid fruits such as oranges, lemons, mosambi, all leafy vegetables, parched rice (Mura) and Moong dhal, i.e., green-gram soup.

2. Take juice of a lemon in a cup of warm or cold water. For taste you may add a little of salt, jaggery, honey or sugar, if you like.

3. Take two grains of parched Alum or Ammonium Chloride (nausadar) mixed with a pinch of sugar.

4. Eat a teaspoonful of Ajwain immediately after meals or take a cup of milk.

5. Mix ginger, ghee, jaggery together; make pills of the size of a pea. Take one pill quarter to half-an-hour before meals.

6. Take one teaspoonful of sandalwood paste with sugar-candy, twice a day.

7. Take one teaspoonful of Gerua or red-earth powder, mixed with a cup of milk, two times a day.

8. Take an ounce of blue sun-charged water thrice a day.

9. Take Avipathikar Choorna powder twice a day.

10. Take one teaspoonful of Amla powder with sugar-candy twice a day.

Diarrhoea or Dysentery

1. Mix juice of half a lemon in half a cup of water and take this thrice daily, or instead of water you can make use of butter-milk also. Take this buttermilk thrice a day. Or put it in half a cup of curds and take this twice, morning and evening.

2. Live on buttermilk alone.

3. Mix a pinch of ginger with a tea-spoonful of Jira, (carraway) and one teaspoonful of sugar. Take this twice a day.

4. Take one or two grains of Nutmeg (jayphal) with honey or a tablespoonful of curds.

Appendicitis

1. Give hot fomentation at the time of pain.

2. Afterwards, take Kumariasava 15 to 30 minutes after meals, twice daily.

3. Live on rotti and subjee, i.e., vegetables.

Hydrocel or Hernia

1. Practise Sarvangasana for a minute.

2. Take castor oil one ounce mixed with a cup of warm milk, at bed time for one or two months or Triphala powder 2 spoonfuls at bed time mixed with X a cup of warm water daily for some months.

Tonsils

1. Apply a plaster of jaggery and lime (which is taken with betel leaves, i.e., Pan Chuna) once a day.

2. Take Borax one grain through honey twice a day.

3. Take Khadirarishta or Kharjurasava.

Miscellaneous Minor Ailments

1. Throat trouble: (a) Enema. (b) At night cold pack round the throat. (c) Gargle with warm water mixed with lemon juice or common salt. (d) Morning and evening take the juice of a lemon in a cup of warm water.

2. Heat in the Body: (a) Hip-bath daily for 15 mts. or cold pack. (b) For heat in the head, rub castor oil in the soles of the feet at night, or Brahmi Amla oil.

3. Gray Hair. (a) Do Japa. Be cheerful. Avoid worry. (b) Apply Brahmi Amla oil. (c) Do Sirshasana and Sarvangasana. (d) Combing with wooden comb.

4. Rickets: (a) Apply lemon juice to the head. (b) Eat leafy vegetables. (c) Massage with oil. (d) Have sun-bath for 15 mts.

5. Scurvy: Tomato or lemon juice is good

Treatment for Heart Trouble

1. Avoid all exertion-physical or mental. Be cheerful and optimistic. Have a calm mind. Avoid all emotions, depression etc. Give up smoking, if you are addicted to it. Do Japa and pray to God. Have devotion to Him.

2. Graduated exercises are good. Perform deep-breath-ing (without Kumbhaka).

3. Before going to bed apply a cold pack on the chest for 15 mts. You can do it in the day also, if convenient.

4. Do not overload the stomach.

5. Use Chyavanprash or Arjunarishta.

6. Live on milk and fruits diet as long as you can. Take enema.

Treatment for Fits

1. Do Japa. Pray to God.

2. Avoid articles of food causing biliousness, acidity and flatulence. Have milk and fruits diet as long as you can. Use enema.

3. Dash cold water on head.

4. Apply cold pack on chest.

5. Drink a few spoonfuls of irradiated water (prepared by exposing to the sun for 6 to 8 hrs. Water in a blue glass can be used for 1 or 2 days).

6. For a few minutes daily, expose head to the blue rays of the sun passing through blue glass fixed in a wooden frame and kept in a verandah or room).

7. Apply Brahmi oil.

8. Use Brahmi Ghrita (ghee).

Skin Diseases, Eczema and Ringworm

1. General: Take enema; have short fasts. Take sun baths. Practise Sitali, Sitkari Pranayamas. Take 20 neem leaves daily.

2. Diet: Avoid the following: sugar, jaggery, spices, pulses; grams, fried stuff, maida and milled rice. Take the following: Whole wheat flour rottis, or whole rice, vegetables; a raw vegetable salad; in the morning one lemon in a cup of hot water; at 9 a.m. orange or grapes.

3. Medicine: (a) Cold packs, to be changed every half an hour in the day and to be kept the whole night. (b) mud pack cures quickly. (c) Vigorous rubbing with a vegetable oil i.e. amla or coconut oil or til oil. (d) Burn the kernel of a coconut, oil falls on the plate in drops-use that oil mixed with Til oil for eczema or ringworm.

Treatment for Elephantiasis

1. Allopathic: Filarial injections.

2. Ayurvedic: Punarnavasava.

3. Nature Cure: (a) Give up tomatoes and all grain food for a month. (b) Try the following diet: Milk and fruits; Daily once take garden spinach (i.e. Arai keerai) and curd. (c) Daily enema in this period.

Treatment for Leucoderma

1. Apply Chaulmoogra oil over the parts. 2. Take 5-10 drops of the same internally with milk and honey twice daily. 3. Apply Bawachi oil (Sanskrit name) over the parts or Bawachi powder with curds on the parts. 4. Or use Leucodil (available from chemist and druggist).

Diet: 1. Avoid the following: Sugar-cane, black- gram, radish, curds, jaggery. 2. Fast for a day. Then for one week live on milk and fruits. Then for a week take the usual day-meal and in the night take milk and fruits. Then resume your normal diet. Use daily enema in this period.

Infantile Paralysis