USE IT or LOSE IT...!!!

        As you age, you lose bone faster than you produce it. Over the 5 to 7 years after menopause, women can lose up to 20% of their bone mass due to oestrogen deficiency. Paying extra attention to bone health can lessen the damage, however. Men are also affected by age related skeletal loss, but not as dramatically, since their larger frames provide higher peak bone mass and their hormones don’t plunge after age 50.

     Our skeleton needs regular exercise at every age to stay strong, but we’re not exercising enough. We’re getting more and more sedentary. “Physical activity is very critical for retaining bone mass.” Children’s and adults should exercise to keep their bones healthy. 60 mins of physical activity a day for kids and 30 mins for adults. A combination of weight bearing routines (such as walking, jogging, stair-climbing, or dancing, plus resistance exercises like weight lifting) is the ideal recipe for bone health.

     For children jumping is fun a way to bone up, other weight bearing exercises with kid appeal include skipping, tennis, and team sports, such as football. “You have to start building your bone mass itself.” “But even if you haven’t, it is never too late to start exercising. This way at least you do not lose bone mass any further.” Even at 80, when the risks of fractures are very high, regular physical activity and exercise are still worthwhile.

“It’s never too late to adopt bone-friendly habits—exercise, get enough sunlight, have adequate calcium. This way we can keep our bones healthy and prevent osteoporosis.”

Vitamin D is essential for our body so it can absorb the calcium it gets from food or supplements and helps in forming new bones. Are you getting enough vitamin D? Unfortunately, Vitamin D is found in a just a handful of foods like egg yolk and cod liver oil. People can get this vitamin naturally, through exposure to sun.

"LIFE IS LIKE AN ONION. YOU PEEL IT OFF ONE LAYER AT A TIME, AND SOMETIMES YOU WEEP."

          About Onions…Onion is another one of those foods that surprise one, in terms of its qualities. Onions can be used in almost every type of food, including cooked foods and fresh salads and as a spicy garnish. Usually chopped or sliced, they are found in a large number of recipes and preparations spanning almost the totality of the world's cultures. Depending on the variety, an onion can be sharp, spicy, tangy, pungent, mild or sweet.

             The whole plant is edible and is used as food in some form or another. While it is quite pungent in taste, it is not warming to the digestive tract the way most pungent in taste, it is not warming to the digestive tract the way most pungent foods are. It’s unusual or prabhav is its cooling virya. This means it has a cooling effect on the digestive tract, thereby inhibiting digestion. Those who have difficulty consuming raw onions will attest to this. And this why raw onions are not on Vatas most recommended list. Cooking onions sweetens and lightens them, thereby making them balancing for both Pitta and Vata in gentle qualities. The pungency of onion in all forms makes it well suited for Kapha.

              Wide-ranging claims have been made for the effectiveness of onions against conditions ranging from the common cold to heart disease, diabetes, osteoporosis, and other diseases. They contain chemical compounds believed to have anti-inflammatory, anticholesterol, anticancer, and antioxidant properties, such as quercetin. Preliminary studies have shown increased consumption of onions reduces the risk of head and neck cancers. Onions may be beneficial for women, who are at increased risk for osteoporosis as they go through menopause, by destroying osteoclasts so they do not break down bone. As onions are sliced or eaten, cells are broken, allowing enzymes called alliinases to break down amino acid sulphoxides and generate sulphenic acids. Tear glands produce tears to dilute and flush out the irritant

When serving fruit...... !!!!!

“Kind hearts are the gardens, Kind thoughts are the roots, Kind words are the flowers, Kind deeds are the fruits, Take care of your garden And keep out the weeds, Fill it with sunshine Kind words and kind deeds.”

ABOUT FRUITS..When serving fruit, it is best to eat it alone or at the beginning of the meal. Fruits is so readily digestible that it deserves to be first place in the stomach’s list. Otherwise it ferments. Whatever goes in stomach first is digested first, and sets the pace for the rest of the meal to come. Fats and proteins are digested much slower than most fruits and vegetables. If fruits are eaten after bread, butter, and beans for ex. they are forced to wait in the stomach for as long as it takes these heavy foods to digest. This delay in a hot wet acid environment causes fermentation, gas and belching, unnecessarily.

       Fruits are one of the cleansing and most valuable foods. Used in proper position and appropriate time they are key to calming Doshas and clearing ama/toxins out of the system. They must be ripe and unpolluted to have this effect; otherwise they will create toxins itself. Unfortunately most of these sold in market neither ripe nor chemical free. Fruit is picked green often, often with a heavy residue of pesticides and other synthetics. Chemical indigestion cause wide variety of ills, including skin rashes, fever, headaches and diarrhea.

ABOUT TRIDOSHIK FRUIT

      A number of fruits can be used by all constitutions. Preparation and proper combination is the doorway to healing tridoshik use. Well-ripened mangoes are well tolerated by all doshas. Stewed or soaked raisins are appropriate for all constitutions. Sweet purple grapes, sweet cherries and sweet apricots, and fresh sweet berries can be enjoyed moderately by all. Raw sweet pineapple is best for Vata-Pitta, but can be eaten in moderation by Kapha. It calms gastritis and overactive liver and act as antihelmentic. Apples and pears can be stewed or backed with liquid to suit all doshas. Ripe banana is fine served for Vata. It can be prepared with pinch of ginger for Kapha and bit of turmeric for Pitta. Dried figs can be stewed and served as they are for Vata and Pitta; Kapha can eat those with pinch of ginger or nutmeg as a balancing garnish. Cranberries can be sweetened   with sweet orange and cinnamon to make them workable for all Doshas in small amounts.

"Foods high in bad fats, sugar and chemicals are directly linked to many negative emotions, whereas whole, natural foods rich in nutrients - foods such as fruits, vegetables, grains and legumes - contribute to greater energy and positive emotions."