I love this country. Never been there but I have great friends from there living here. This country shows so many different facets of tradition, culture and believes.
Let's start with India's legend and hero. Mahatma Gandhi. Each day I will write a Quote, which we can get inspired and reflect in our daily attitude to ourselves and towards others.
Quote
"God comes to the hungry in the form of food.”
Mahatma Gandhi
Gandhi's recipe to good health and happiness
Gandhi said: "When food submerses the body, and through the body the soul, its relish disappears, and then alone does it begin to function in the way nature intended it to."
It took Gandhi 35 long years to evolve a healthy diet that helped him to keep fit and wage a war that required all his energy and determination.
For Gandhi, food was not something that just satiated hunger. It was an integral part of shaping the human consciousness.
Combining this way of thinking with french attitude of petite eating is a great way of keeping body and mind focus.
Though Gandhi is associated with vegetarianism and milk, he actually abstained from milk for a period of six years, considering it an animal product.
In 1917, when he was bed-ridden, doctors compelled him to take milk. He, however, did not want to break his vow of not consuming cow's milk. Thus began his now-famous goat-milk diet. And the idea seems to be catching on.
In 1917, when he was bed-ridden, doctors compelled him to take milk. He, however, did not want to break his vow of not consuming cow's milk. Thus began his now-famous goat-milk diet. And the idea seems to be catching on.
Gandhi emphasised wheat and rice in a diet, with cereals holding the second place. He felt that cereals should be taken relatively dry for mastication and proper digestion. This was followed by fruits and vegetables. He stressed that fresh seasonal fruits and vegetables should be eaten raw.
"Gandhi,was far ahead of his time. What he proclaimed 50 years ago is now being promoted as the ideal diet pattern."
Gandhi expressed his preference for jaggery (
traditional unrefined non-centrifugal whole cane sugar)
over sugar. Because, as Dr Bose explains, "sugar goes directly into blood, raising the sugar level, and the excess sugar gets converted into calorie or fat. Jaggery, however, takes more time to masticate, thus resulting in a slower rise in sugar level".
Jagger
Gandhi did not think it necessary to eat pulses if milk was included in the diet. "He consumed small quantities of pure ghee."
For Gandhi, the welfare of people living in the villages was the first priority. So, he worked with many nutritionists to derive a diet-chart that gave maximum nutrition at minimum cost. Even Gandhi's concept of fasting, which revolutionalized non-violent resistance, had its health benefits.
What convinced him to adopt vegetarianism was Henry Salt's Plea for Vegetarianism.
While talking about the moral basis of vegetarianism, Gandhi wrote: "Man was not born a carnivorous animal, but born to live on fruits and herbs that the Earth grows."
Gandhi believed that a man becomes what he eats. The grosser the food, the grosser the body.
According to researches, inmates put on a vegetarian diet over a period of six months began to refrain from aggressive behaviour. On reverting to a non-vegetarian diet they showed a behaviour change for the worse.
In his book Zen Macrobiotics, Georges Ohsawa, a Japanese physician who combined the ancient eastern nourishing way with western science to evolve the basic rules of nutrition, goes to the extent of saying that if Gandhi had been a meat eater, he would have become a cruel revolutionary instead of an apostle of non-violence. Far-fetched?
In one of Gandhi's dietetic experiments, he, along with a group of volunteers, were put on a raw food diet. He believed that proper mastication of food could reduce food intake.
Thus, help the economy, and reduce the violence one committed to sustain life. Though the experiment failed and many volunteers showed a marked deterioration of health, and Gandhi himself fell sick, he continued to express faith in the value of uncooked food.
This indicates that raw food alone may not be the fastest ticket to health. Especially when combined with fasting and marginal health care. But it could add a great deal to our diet.
Those who could afford animal proteins such as milk, cheese, eggs or meat, should avoid pulses and leave them for those who could not afford anything else.
Mahatma Gandhi taking his last meal before the start of his fast,1939
"Be the change you want to see in the world."
Have an insightful happy day.
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