Nutrition and Wellness - part 2

Dear Reader,

Few days back I had written a blog on Nutrition and Wellness - sharing a new awareness journey, guided by THAC team (The Health Awareness Center). The journey of assisting body to heal itself by naturally aligned food habits & lifestyle has been quite worthwhile.

In my last blog I had promised answers to some questions but now I feel that understanding the basic functioning of the body is more relevant.

So, here are some fundamental concepts as understood by us…

A: HOW TO CHOOSE WHEN?: BODY RHYTHM – CIRCADIAN CYCLE:

Our body follows 3 steps in the 24 hours cycle:

Duration	Main function of the body	Recommendation
4 am – 12 noon	Elimination of body waste & food debris	When we eat, body will immediately have to divert energy for digestion, instead of elimination. Better to eat fruits, dry fruits during this period as they take least time to digest
12 noon – 8 pm	Appropriation & digestion of food	Eat cooked food, nuts, sprouts, fruits etc. Include lots of raw salad to aide digestion
8 pm – 4 am	Absorption & use of energy to rebuild, repair & regenerate	Preferably let the body rest. We don’t repair a running car, so let the body focus its energy on repairing. Better to eat fruits, dry fruits if hungry

B: HOW TO CHOOSE WHAT?  It is suggested to use the following 4 filters while making food choices:

• Eat food that is wholesome.
• Food must be easy to digest. Our body has no refrigerator. The moment we feed it, it gives top priority to assimilation, digestion & takes away energy from all other functions making them suboptimal.
• Eat foods that leave behind least toxic residue. Natural foods, eaten in their unprocessed state leave minimum toxic residue.
• Eat food that helps maintain alkaline pH as most of our organs need alkaline medium to work. E.g. salad, lemon juice, fruits & dried fruits, raw vegetables, nuts, sprouts.

C: ILLNESS = BODY’S ALARM TO EXCESSIVE TOXICITY: When our body is under digestive overload, gets insufficient rest & is stressed, it is unable to eliminate toxicity through normal routes. It then attempts other routes of elimination which show up as illness symptoms. e.g. cough, cold, indigestion, skin allergies etc. Suppressing symptoms is temporary relief. Understanding the source of toxicity in our food or lifestyle and eliminating that, gives a long term solution.

D: WHY WE AGE? : Our metabolism primarily involves Digestion, Cleaning & Regeneration. These functions are executed by an army of enzymes regulated by hormones. When we eat food heavy to digest, the body has to stop cleaning & regeneration work. Thus toxicity level increases & body start degenerating. That is the key cause of early aging.

E: FOREVER “GET-SET” MODE PAUSES ESSENTIAL PROCESSES: Most of us are highly alert the entire day. This sparks the fight/flight mode. The senses signal to the brain that there is danger. This causes the body to release specific hormones to run or fight. With no real danger most of the time, all 3 key functions – digestion, cleaning, regeneration are still put on hold. This takes a big toll and results in

o    poor absorption leading to low energy / tiredness

o    poor elimination leading to increased toxicity and eventually illness

o    poor regeneration leading to early ageing & slow recovery from injury / illness

It is useful to create a spa kind of feel around you wherever possible, especially at home: soft instrumental music, aroma, candles etc. to remind the brain that “All is well in my world.”

We are now experimenting with a nutrition style of fruits, vegetables, sprouts, nuts, etc. in alignment with Circadian cycle. Adding a conscious choice of sleeping in darkness for 8 hours is showing encouraging results.

This is not even the tip of the iceberg. For in-depth clarity & specific suggestions you can:

1.     Call THAC  on +91 22 24980005/6 or email thacwellness@gmail.com & consult them

2.     Participate in 3 day workshops being conducted by THAC in Mumbai, Delhi & Jaipur: The workshop is designed to break myths about food, body & disease. It also includes practical tips on how to make food and manage a seasonal and regional kitchen. Current dates are:

•  Mumbai: 11-12-13 August 2015 (Tue-Wed-Thu)
•  Delhi: 8-9-10 September 2015 (Tue-Wed-Thu)

Please contact THAC for further details.

These workshops can help you create a path to choose & implement a new rhythm in your lifestyle. It has been very worthwhile for us for sure.

Wishing you wellness with lots of smiles.

Rohan