In modern societies, fat is consumed in much larger amounts
than in countries where people are eating whole grains as their principal food.
For example, in the United States, about 42 percent of the ordinary diet is
composed of fat, while in rural Mexico among the Tarahumara, a native people
renowned for their health and longevity, the amount is only 12 percent. Lipids
are the family name for fats, oils and fetlock substances including fatty acids,
cholesterol and lipoproteins. Fatty acids are the building blocks of fats, just
as simple sugars are the fundamental units of carbohydrates. In order to help
digest fats, which are insoluble in water and form large globules, the liver
secretes bile, a yellowish liquid stored in the gallbladder.
In the intestine, bile serves to emulsify fats and enables them to be broken
down into fatty acids and glycerol by digestive enzymes. Lipids are essential
to digestion but can be harmful to the body, especially saturated fats, found
in animal tissues, which coats the red-blood cells, blocks the capillaries and
deprives the heart of oxygen.
One of the main constituents of lipids is cholesterol, a naturally
occurring substance in the body which contributes to the maintenance of cell
walls, serves as a precursor of bile acids and vitamin D, and also a precursor
of some hormones. Cholesterol is not found in plants foods but is contained
in all animal products, especially meat, eggs yolks, and dairy products. Since
cholesterol is insoluble in the blood, it attaches itself to a protein that
is soluble in order to be transported through the body. This combination is
called a lipoprotein.
However, excess cholesterol in the bloodstream tends to be deposited in artery
walls, and as plaque eventually causes constriction of the arteries, reduces
the flow of blood, and can lead to a heart attack, stroke or peripheral artery
disease. Normally fat is absorbed by the lymph and enters the bloodstream near
the heart. However, if excess lipids accumulate in the body, eventually some
will become deposited in the liver.
Such stored fat, primarily from meat, poultry, eggs, and dairy
products, is usually the chief source of liver malfunctions. Excess fat, especially
saturated fat, is also stored in and around vital organs, such as the kidneys,
the spleen, the pancreas, and the reproductive organs and is the leading cause
of cancer in these sites.
Because of the increased public awareness of the connection among cholesterol,
saturated fat, and heart disease and cancer, many people have switched to unsaturated
fat, and oils, including vegetable cooking oils, mayonnaise, margarine, salad
dressings, and artificial creamers and spreads. However, unsaturated fats, especially
those of a refined quality, serve to redistribute cholesterol from the blood
to the tissues and combine with oxygen to form free radicals.
These are unstable and highly reactive substances that can
interact with proteins and cause the lost of elasticity in tissue and general
weakening of cells. Hydrogenated fats, moreover, such as margarine, are specially
treated to remain solid at room temperature, a process that converts their unsaturated
fatty acids into saturated fatty acids to a significant degree.
Whole grains, beans, seeds and nuts contain polyunsaturated fats, and oils,
but these are naturally balanced by the right proportion of vitamin E and selenium,
which are usually lost in the refining process. Similarly, unrefined polyunsaturated
cooking oils (in which the vitamin E remains) such as dark sesame oil are a
balanced product and, if used moderately, will contribute to proper metabolism,
including more flexible motion and thinking.
for more about diet see our
Paramahamsa
Page
Modern nutritional studies
In 1986, medical researchers reported that the war on cancer
was being lost and that despite advances in diagnosis and treatment from 1950-1982
cancer incidence and mortality had steadily risen.
"A shift in research emphasis, from research in treatment to research on
prevention, seems necessary if substantial progress against cancer is to be
forthcoming" the investigators concluded.
Source: John C. Bailarr 111 and Elaine M. Smith, "Progress Against cancer" New England Journal of medicine 314: 1226-32
HIP BATH
A hot Hip bath stimulates the metabolism, and in particular
the sexual metabolism.
It also absorbs body odors and cleanses the body by dissolving animal fats and
mucus deposits.
Preparation:
Dry the greens of daikon, or the greens of radish or turnip
or of any other root by hanging them from a clothesline. Do this in the house
and in the shade. Let them dry until they are brown and brittle.
Hip water is prepared by boiling 4-5 bunches in 2-3 litres of water, until the
water has a brownish color. It takes from 30 minutes up to one hour. Add one
handful of salt to this, and stir very well.
Application of Hip
Water:
* A hip bath: Pour the water in a small tub and add enough hot water so that
the water level reaches just under the navel when you sit in the tub. Keep the
rest of the body covered. Take this bath as hot as possible. Add hot hip water
as the bath cools. Stay 15 minutes in the tub. It is preferable to take this
bath 10-20 minutes before bedtime. Do not take it for at least 1 hour after
finishing dinner.
Keep the hips warm after getting out of the tub and go to bed.
* As a whole bath: Add hip water to a warm whole bath.
* Hip water can also be applied in the form of vaginal douches, as compresses
or for rinsing and washing.
* Indications: A dried leaves bath is recommendable for all female diseases
such as ovarian and uterine diseases, vaginal discharge, painful menstruation
and frigidity.
The bath should be repeated every day for 1 week up to 10 days.
See also how to prepare and apply a
ginger compress in order
to improve the flow of energy.
Further studies:
How our food choices affects the health of our Mother Earth
The health
effects of meat and dairy products
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