If  the  family  is  sick, weak, prone  to coughs and  colds, sinusitis, digestive upset and other more serious conditions, we must consider that the diet is faulty. It requires only  a  few  simple  commonsense  rules  to put our diet  in order but  first  we  must  recognize  the  need  for it. Then  the will  power  to carry  out  these  changes  has  to  be  developed. That  such  changes are  necessary  for  most  of  us  is  shown  by  the  increase  of  disease  in  the  world  today,  much of which  is  needless  and  avoidable.

Over  the  last  few  decades, with the  destruction of  the  family  unit and  growing  disrespect for the traditional forms of wisdom handed  down from the father to son and guru to disciple, we  find ourselves increasingly alienated from our heritage  and roots, from those things which served to ensure the health and total fulfillment  of the individual. In olden time the village wiseman or story-teller was the repository for the collected wisdom and experience of the tribe. He knew which foods to grow at which season; when variations in seasons  were likely, and how to prepare food to suit seasons and needs.

As  towns  and  cities  developed and the inhabitants grew more secure from the elements and marauding tribes, the accent on food moved away from survival(mooldhara chakra dominance) and strength (manipura dominance) to more pleasure (swadisthana dominance) . Present day culture is an example of the shift from natural, rustic wisdom to urban, debauched living with all its inherent evils and ills. Our present social situation mirrors the debauchery preceding the downfall of ancient civilization . Much of our present situation is cultivated by the billions of  Rupees of advertising which is spent annually on convincing people they will be happy if they eat such and such a product. We think we will become happy and satisfied, strong and healthy by satisfying the dictates of taste and tongue. However, this is a limited ephemeral pleasure and we miss out on a better source of happiness, good health and vitality. Emphasis on taste alone, through important also, denies the needs of mooldhara and manipurak. Our sphere of awareness shrinks and we sacrifice long term energy and vitality for short term pleasure. We must re-educate ourselves to balance taste with needs and  to understand that by sacrificing some of our  tastes reducing quantity we gain something better overall.

We must also relearn to listen to our bodies, for many of us have forgotton how  to  follow  the  instinctive intelligence of the body, the inherent inner neural mechanisms which tell us when we are hungry and when we are satiated. Instead, many of us have turned our attention to the dictates of modern society, depending  on the proclamations of scientists, doctors and nutritionists who bombard us with a huge number of often contradictory facts and figures which tell what we should and should figures which tell what we should and should not eat. However, researchers will be the first to admit that we but poorly understand  diet and its effects on the body.

Yoga teaches us that, once we have recognized our present dilemma and sought a remedy by simpliyfying our diet and practicing  some asanas, pranayama and hatha yoga, hat karma, we cannot rectify many of our present health problems, but also raise the level of our awareness and energy to manipura chakra, where we can experience vitality and joy. Our energy level increases and health naturally ensues. We also raise the level of our consciousness because we expand our awareness to involve our total body and lifestyle.

The importance of diet

Most of us think that we can shovel any quantity and quality of food into our body without suffering repercussions. As children we can digest many things that we would be unthinkable for adults, though even children suffer from their excesses of sugars and synthetic foods, and we tend to perpetuate the habits learned in childhood. We would be far wiser to follow the example of some countries which has had a fully integrated nutrition programme in schools for more than 80 years, using school canteens to teach proper nutrition habits while children are in a formative stage and before bad habits can develop. In western countries and in India, however, the state of nutrition and digestive problems has multiplied into an acute crisis. We begin to abuse our bodies from early age, forming habits and likes and dislikes that are often difficult to bend let alone break.

Western nutritionists and clinical ecologists have finally begun to recognize the extent of the present day food situation. They are stating that  it is often not necessary to take drugs for our symptoms because drugs can often compound the problem. For example, an asthmatic whose symptoms worsen after meals, and especially at night, is either eating too much or the wrong type of food. Instead of taking powerful  anti-asthmatic drugs which have side effects and which can create addictions, we should simply reduce the quantity of our food or stop milk and milk products , fats, rice and  sugars. We will not only feel better but will have better sleep and rest and more energy.

Present day nutritionists see food playing  an important  role  in large number of physical and mental conditions. A  famous psychiatrist states that twenty percent of all pshychiatric  problems would probably benefit from a nutritional  evaluation. The new science, dealing with all this called clinical ecology, is the study of foods, molds or petro-chemicals and their effect on human behaviour.

Clinical ecologists state that when molecules travel via the tongue directly to the brain, they may trigger biochemical reactions that jam the C.N.S., causing anxiety, depression, suicidal tendencies and phobias, all of which have been linked to food sensitivity. A hysterical woman entering a pshychaiatric ward of the future will not only be assessed for psychosis but also to see whether she is reacting to some food. she has recently eaten. For example, in some cases where one child became hyperactive after eating a banana and a teenage girl developed convulsions in reaction to animal protein.

A  scientist once found that his hearing was diminishing at the age of nineteen until he was almost totally deaf at the age of twenty six and the victim of tinnitus a loud and constant ringing in the ears. After reading research that hearing disorders were linked to metabolic problems such as hypolycemia and hypothyroidism. He corrected his hypoglycemia by changing his diet and starting to exercise. In this way he  stopped by tinnitus and improved his hearing  by forty percent in two months. At his hearing centre he had found that by using exercise and individual dietary tailoring for a group of seventy people, they could better understand speech by accurately perceive the difference between tones by thirty percent, and of the forty patients with tinnitus, thirty four reported relief from buzzing and some claimed it completely disappeared.

Although refined, processed and chemically treated foods are most implicated in the disordering of the natural channels of absorption and utilization of vitamins, minerals and so on, other factors are obviously involved. Scientists have recently found that the time of day we eat our food is extremely important. For example, coffee taken in the morning is deleterious to our health because it works out of phase with our natural biorhythms. It gives our body a high when it should be low gear, a more relaxed state, and interferes with the activity of certain enzymes, hormones and chemicals. Coffee taken at 3 p.m. is  thought to be in harmony with and an aid to body rhythms and natural cycles.

The ability to use chemicals and food to read just body rhythms is presently being utilized in designing diet for pilots and for people suffering  from jet lag. Its theory is presently being  extended  into designing  drug  schedules for patients because drugs exert maximal beneficial effects at certain times of day. yogic sciences have long been aware of the cycles, for example, eating at certain times of the day no conserve and maximize energy, however, this area of application is still in its infancy, though scientists are becoming aware of the need to increase  the quality and  nutritional  value of  foods  sold on the market. They claim that Rich foods with little nutrients will be phased out as the world population expands and safe, quality and nutritional foods will be introduced.

Altering the diet

There  are  five  main  areas  of  dietary  indiscretion,  area  which  are  potentially  disease  inducing :

1. Overeating
2. Eating without feeling hungry
3. Wrong foods
4. Wrong times
5. Eating while tense or emotionally upset.

Probably the commonest cause of lethargy, digestive upset and  other disease problems is overeating. Very few people understand the art of eating  and can stop when the stomach is sufficiently full. Most of us go beyond our needs. We are influenced by desires and cravings for pleasant experiences and cannot see the future unpleasant  consequences  of  our action  nor  can we  connect our diseases with our past indiscretions and bad habits.

The purpose of eating  is to take in nutrition and sustain physical energy. At the same time the food should be palatable and enjoyable if it is to be conducive to relaxation and good digestion. The process of digestion requires the breakdown of food, absorption  through  the  stomach  and intestines, assimilation by  the tissues and elimination via the faces, urine, breath, skin and other  excretions. Overeating interferes with the total process. The breakdown of food is impeded because the stomach and intestinal walls are overstretched, preventing  the  churning  action which  brings  food  into  contact  with the  digestive  juices. A  lot  of  food  remain  undigested  and  merely rots or putrefies.

Absorption is  impeded  because  the  channels  for  absorption  become  clogged, tiring  after  continuously  working  to  take  in overload  we  have  imposed  upon  ourselves  foodwise. The  tissues  become  saturated  and  the  energy  for  elimination  is  reduced  as  it is  put into absorption, assimilation and  utilization of the  extra, excessive food. We  think  that by  putting  many  nutritious food  into  our  body  we  gain more  energy, strength and health. However, this is a fallacy and in fact we lose because not  only do  we  waste  a  lot  of energy  in breaking down an unnecessarily large amount of  food, much of which is simply excreted, but we cannot absorb  even  a small portion due  to poor digestion and blocked assimilation. The net result is energy loss,lethargy, overweight and digestive problems.

Eating  when we  are  not  hungry is  also  common. Many of us  simply eat because  food  is there and this also is a mistake  because hunger is a sign that the body requires food and is ready to digest it.

Wrong  food  means  either  bad  combinations, dead, synthetic foods, or excesses of anything. For example, eating meat, ice cream and a soft drink is one meal is a harmful combination, while too much ghee or oil will spoil a reasonably balanced meal.

Timing of meals should  be according  to the  body  energy  cycles and rhythms, the best time being between 11-12 a.m. to noon and before sunset, with no snacks in between. However, these timings can be adjusted.

Many people  eat  in  a state of tension and anxiety, in a hurry, their  minds ticking  over  the  day’s  events, or emotionally upset over  some  trivial  incident. This upsets the blood and nervous flow to the stomach, setting the sympathetic nervous system in motion rather than the required parasympathetic activity.

By adapting a few natural  dietary  rules  and  yogic  practices  into  daily  life  we  can  maintain  good  health  and  rectify  many  problems  which  have  developed  due  to  unhealthy  habits. Thereby  we  prevent  future  disease  problems  and  the  inability  to enjoy our food and  gain  the  glow  of  vital  good  health.