Posts by Broadland
November 25, 2007 by Broadland |
First, the article from http://www.watercure.com…
I am a researcher. I have researched dehydration for the past 20 years. When I discovered that the solution to most of the disease conditions of our society is not a money maker, I decided to take my information to the public.
My research revealed that unintentional dehydration produces stress, chronic pains and many degenerative diseases. Dry mouth is not the only sign of dehydration and waiting to get thirsty is wrong. Medicine has based its understanding that it is solid matter in the body that regulates all functions of the body. I have explained scientifically at the molecular level that it is water that regulates all functions of the body including functions of solid matter. 75 % of our bodies are composed of water. The brain is 85% water. It is water that energizes and activates the solid matter. If you don’t take enough water, some functions of the body will suffer. Dehydration produces system disturbances. When I use the word water cure, I am referring to curing dehydration with water.
Fereydoon Batmanghelidj, M.D.
Now a couple of comments from other sources.
He is arguing for a new scientific approach that turns clinical medicine on its head.
Daily Mail, London, UK
Dr.Batmanghelidj is a highly respected ‘founding father’ as far as information on the importance of water is concerned and his books describe in technically detailed, yet simple to understand language how dehydration affects the physiological process leading to the logical manifestation of symptoms, which are, in fact, simply the warning lights of dehydration displayed in various bodily areas.
Positive Health, UK
I came across this interesting article and comments, and thought I will share it with you all. It tends to simplify health by implying that the main deficiency is ill-health is water, and the doctor wants us to get to drink W A T E R.
I am not disputing some of the basic facts. Body does consist of 75% water, so dehydration should have deleterious effect on the body. But is hydration and perhaps over hydration a cure all? I do not think so. I will elaborate with real life examples.
We know that in Europe and to a certain extent all over the northern hemisphere, the last two summers have been excessively hot. Look at heat exposure and resultant deaths from high temperatures. In India, it is a fairly common occurrence. Last year in France, and to a lesser extent this year, many people, particularly the senior citizens died because of overexposure to heat. If you treat the resultant dehydration with water only, you will not cure the problem or prevent death. This is because there is not only loss of water and dehydration to contend with, but also salt depletion. If you blindly rehydrate with water, you will enhance the salt depletion effects at the cell level and increase the disfunctionality of the cells of the body. People who work outdoors in hot countries, should supplement not only with water but also with salt.
Another example is water depletion from diarrhea. It is quite obvious that there is net water loss from the body. It is obvious to the simplest of mothers that her child needs water. But, in medicine, we recommend replacement with water and salts. There are various formulations available which basically simulate the water and electrolyte content of the body. Again, mere water replacement to combat dehydration is not the answer and may be counter productive. Also trying to treat a diarrhea with salt and water replacement may not work, if we do not try and kill the germs that caused it in the first place. so in selected patients we give an appropriate antibiotic or antihelminthic.
Look at an uncontrolled or poorly controlled diabetic. He/she is surely dehydrated, but there is a tremendous salt loss also. Unlike the heat stroke salt depletion, this one is more of potassium salt depletion and has to be dealt with accordingly. And with all that treatment we would be negligent if we did not treat the underlying diabetes with Insulin.
I could recite many examples from medicine where the depletion is mainly of other nutrients, sometimes exclusively or sometimes with dehydration. Aren’t a lot of people taking replacement vitamins for health? Or replacement vitamins and minerals? Isn’t “pernicious anaemia” essentially a Vitamin B12 depletion/absence problem and nothing to do with water dehydration?
My conclusion is this. The body consists of 75% water and needs to be constantly rehydrated for good health. But it also consists of 25% other elements and molecules, and in general, these other molecules and the nutrition that nurtures these is even more necessary. These are available from various foods we imbibe. You need good nutrition to stay healthy. Water is merely a part of that nutrition. Because we happen to have water in plenty around us, we should not ignore the fact that it is necessary for survival and for good health. In other words, we should not take rehydration as granted, but should be consciously aware of the need to rehydrate, as a part of the nutritional process.
Posted in Diet & Nutrition, Health
September 10, 2007 by Broadland |
It is the greatest fully explained puzzle of modern society, that the more affluent you are the more likely you will be longing for the basics. Relishing life is not just surrounding yourself with material possessions. Pick up any newspaper, travel brochure, or description of a remote place and you will often find words to entice you to share the luxury of “nature”. The advertisement for a lovely home is not complete without the pictures of the view you get from the property. Yet take this aspect of relishing life a bit further and you will see that you are very willing to fork out substantial amount of money to abandon this million dollar home and trade it for a week or two in a small cottage in wilderness, where you can have long walks (abandoning your luxury car), climb hills and mountains (no vehicles or horses to take you up there). There is danger but also excitement. You are relishing life.
For the poor, there is the beautiful park in the city filled with plants, flowers and fountains, all cared for and paid for from the taxes paid by the affluent in the neighbourhood, who by and large refuse to go to these parks and prefer the nature “getaway”. Yet these poor folks are really rich because they are relishing life.
As I said at the start, it is no puzzle. We all know the calming effect of nature and nature’s beauty on the mind and know that it relieves stress. The question we have to ask ourselves is “How often do we take advantage of this knowledge?” How often are we really relishing life?
Whether you are a Dutchman coming home with a bunch of tulips or an Indian bringing a garland of flowers home with you, the feeling of contentment and peace is the same. In our thinking, diamonds and flowers stand equal contenders in romance. A wet tumultuous ride in a canoe give the same contentment as a peaceful cruise in a 5 star “Love Boat”. You are relishing life!
Look at the sunset or look at a mountain, but what you are admiring is God’s creation. Some people want to drown themselves in a lot of exotic food or think that drinking vintage wine is relishing life. But equal chance at relishing life comes out drinking the pure waters of a mountain stream and eating the fruit from a nearby tree.
The internal feeling peace and tranquility is far superior to joy of material possessions.
You are truly relishing life when you go to a garden that gives you the opportunity to surround yourself in nature. If you live in a large city, you can explore a quiet park or take a trip to a nearby lake or forest to relish life.
To make relishing life from these simple back to nature efforts, you need very little clothing and other paraphernalia. A bit of loose clothing appropriate for weather conditions and a good pair of shoes and you are in the business of relishing life.. The ultimate pleasure, the ultimate way of relishing life is to surround yourself with nature and meditate.
Have questions related to Stress? Post them on the Stress Management Forum.
Posted in General, Happiness, Meditation, Stress Management
September 2, 2007 by Broadland |
If you are obese you are not healthy. There are no ifs and buts about it. Obesity is the single most important cause of ill health in the affluent world today. It has now taken a new turn and affects children. As many as two out of every three adults in the affluent world are overweight or obese.
The number of people who are overweight has increased dramatically over the last quarter of a century. Achieving and maintaining a normal weight with a BMI of 25 or less is important to reduce the risk of these diseases and improve your overall health. Once you are over the BMI (Basal Metabolic Index) of 25 you should become alert. Early alertness of overweight state and dietary control are the most effective tools available.
In the affluent societies, the proportion of obese children has nearly tripled over the last quarter of a century. The increases are seen across all age groups and equally for both boys as well as girls. An important causative factor is lack of activity, particularly in the new group of young obese. They are just not active enough for a reasonable growth and development pattern.
People take all kinds of drugs, change in eating habits, exercise, alternative medicine, etc. Every branch of medicine and pseudo medicine has started catering to obesity control and obese people in general.
When you are obese, you are more prone to get cardiac conditions, hypertension, arthritis, and other chronic illnesses. Even the fact that you cannot be as mobile as somebody half your weight is an indication that there is something wrong here.
Gone are the days of eating large quantities of food. Gone also are the days of heavy community feasts. Forcing children to eat should be (and is not) history. Mothers in affluent societies still feel compelled to force children to eat more and more. Then there is junk food mania, which has to be seen to be believed. The insane part of it is that is is all done in the name of “growing up” and “good health”. Even when she sees that the child is overweight, the mother often fails to stop her force feeding habits or her junk food outlet visits.
Many factors have contributed to the increasing amount of obesity. Some obvious causes are changes in the social pattern, and work and leisure habits. These in turn affect the eating and activity patterns, leading to a rise in obesity or just an overweight state. There is a shift towards less physically demanding work, and the increased use of automated transportation and passive leisure activities, such as viewing television or playing video games is contributory to the overall trend toward obesity. In cities in the affluent societies, it is the norm to transport the children to school by car or by bus and school bus paid for by the taxes. So very rarely do the children walk to school in these societies.
Changes in the type of food available, consuming larger portion sizes and the ubiquitous availability of a wide range of inexpensive foods, have all made it difficult to maintain a normal weight and BMI of less than 25.
Posted in Children, Diet & Nutrition, Health
August 15, 2007 by Broadland |
There is considerable amount literature available on the use of Vitamin supplements and minerals, and there is equal amount of confusion as to what one should do. In the end one ends up with more questions and few answers.
- Should one rely on healthy diet to get all the need?
- What supplements are good?
- Who needs them?
In my work as a doctor I was asked this question almost daily and I am sharing here some of the advice and discussion on this subject. We will confine our discussion to a reasonably well-to-do person or family.
Based on work and life style, I would be inclined to say that a majority of city dwellers have inadequate diet from the point of view of Vitamin and mineral intake. The fast food scenario tends to focus more on immediate calorie needs and/or need for having a full stomach and of quenching the thirst. There is usually no time to look for a balanced diet. If both partners are working the situation is even more chaotic. Add to this different knowledge levels, different attitudes, etc., and a substantial number of city families have inadequate and unbalance vitamin and mineral intake.
One of the significant ways of getting extra vitamins and minerals is to use fortified foods. There are many varieties of foods in the Supermarket, which have added vitamins and minerals. In general, these are a safe way of supplementing your needs.
There are many varieties and combinations of vitamin/mineral pills. In general, all water soluble vitamins and minerals are a pretty safe bet. You are not like to overdose and any extra will be thrown out of the system. Cooking often reduces these essential items – Vitamin B and C and some minerals.
The oil soluble vitamins are a slightly different story. Theoretically you can overdose yourself with these. In practice, I have rarely come across such a situation.
Infants require careful use of supplements, but in most cases, the formulas used for infant feeding and infant foods take care of the supplements. Every pregnant woman knows or should know of increased need of iron and folate. Whenever an allopathic doctor is handling pregnancy he/she usually prescribes a supplement. Iron deficiency anaemia as a result of pregnancy is very rare in the affluent societies. Senior citizens often have difficulty in absorbing Vitamin B12 and end up getting pernicious anaemia. They need a supplement of B12 in the form of injections. Omega 3 is an important supplement in the prevention of cardiac disease.
On the whole I am in favour of using some form of Vitamin/mineral supplement. As I stated earlier, it is very unlikely you would have any problems form using such a supplement. Detailed examination of each available pill as a supplement is beyond the scope of this small article. I just want people to feel reassured that while there is a dietary deficiency, a correction is readily available at the local pharmacy. If you try to go into great details of balanced diet, you will achieve sufficiency, but a vast majority of people will choose to supplement.
Posted in Diet & Nutrition
August 13, 2007 by Broadland |
Modern medicine started essentially as a therapeutic approach to illness. You were feeling ill so you approached a doctor who examined you did some tests, found a disease and treated it. If he did not find a disease, you usually ended up with no treatment and no further advice except the doctor telling you: “There is nothing wrong with you”
Later there was introduction of psychiatry in the West by Freud. However this was strictly a therapeutic approach to mental illness.
It was recognised a long time ago in Egypt, China and India that preventative medicine is the true path of health. It is comforting to note that preventive medicine has had a big surge lately – both in the minds of the public and in the hands of the practicing physician. This is the approach to staying healthy and preventing illness. We have also moved away from the obvious causes of illnesses of the past (infectious diseases etc) to disease related to poor diet and life style related diseases, which can be prevented by long term changes in life style.
There is considerable amount of literature and evidence of the effectiveness of Acupuncture, a therapeutic tool with its origin in China for CURING illnesses. However there is very little information available to suggest that use of acupuncture can have a beneficial general effect of health in an otherwise healthy individual. In starting this discussion, it is my intention to bring out such information as is available on the preventive aspects of the use of acupuncture.
One of the objectives of acupuncture is Corrective Care is to strengthen the organ systems of the body in a way that they are working harmoniously. The aim is to restore the smooth flow of blood and in Chinese way of stating it, of Qi through the body. Another aim is Maintenance Care i.e. the foal is of maintaining health and wellness by “sustaining a unified, healthy state”.
One article I was reading stated, “Imbalance in the distribution of Qi can bring on ill health.” This leads to poor blood circulation, with a resultant, loss of food to the cells and loss of water, oxygen, etc., and inadequate cellular detoxification of wastes and carbon dioxide. This eventually leads to cellular illness, mutation, and death. Acupuncture is stated to restore the flow of Qi and blood to these areas of degeneration and cellular death, thus bringing them back to life. Selected acupuncture sites are stimulated to balance the Qi with resulting return of function and restoration of health.
Another aspect of lack of health under the Chinese system is Organ imbalance. It refers to the condition where the organs of your body are either working too hard, or not working hard enough. In either case there is imbalance and ill health. It is like saying that if one worker in an office or factory does not work well the others all so suffer by either having to take up the slack or by working less because everything is slowed down. Apparently the body slows down in the same way as the assembly line would slow down from one inefficient worker. Apparently Acupuncture restores balance to the organ systems of the body and allows the body to function optimally.
I am hoping for further discussion and input in the preventive aspect of the use of Acupuncture.
Posted in Health
August 8, 2007 by Broadland |
It is not my intention in my presentation to inform the reader of the merits or meditation, but rather, make the reader familiar with a simpler and easier to practice form of meditation as practiced by the followers of the Jain religion.
For people in the west Yoga is synonymous with a type of postural exercise practiced in the East and now abundantly followed in the West. It has great merits. There a re a lot of guides, DVDs and informative Internet forums. Now in the West every corner of the big cities has advertisement of Yoga classes. The typical brochures of the day would emphasise “The following exercises will provide a well-balanced program, which should be supplemented, of course, by any other postures that are particularly good for your needs…..”
Meditation is a form of Yoga. Again, there is a lot of information available for people to learn meditation. A majority of this literature emphasises certain postures. When I first encountered meditative Yoga as is taught by the meditation teachers in the West, I was somewhat enlightened and confused. Having learnt the Jain form of meditation as a child, I was actually surprised that the biggest emphasis was on the posture adopted.
It isn’t that I came across literature that showed pure meditation. However, there was a greater emphasis on Mantras (chants said internally). You were admonished with advice like “it should be noted that, in addition to one’s main meditation Mantra - which should be used everyday, additional Mantras can also be practiced for a specific purpose”. Note here that emphasis is on Mantras and of different Mantras for “a specific purpose”.
Then there was another type of meditation called Vipassana meditation, which comes straight from the Buddha. You sit and scan the body, making it similar to yoga in a sense. You use your mind to observe the body, so that the body becomes the object of concentration. You move into the subtleties of observing the breath and then the subtleties of observing the mind.
Jain meditation also known as Karyostag or Kausag, is a much simpler form. You have various permissions. First of all the posture is stated to be a “comfortable posture”. whilst Jain centres and teachers of Jain meditation do emphasis sitting cross legged, it is NOT a requirement as stated in the texts. Having made yourself comfortable, you have also been given some advice in the scriptures, which to many a practitioner would appear to be at odds with meditation. You are allowed to cough, take deep or shallow breaths. If you body wants to get rid of some gas, that also is allowed. If you inner signals require that you get up to go to the bathroom, the books say – sure go and attend to your bodily needs. The emphasis is on being comfortable so you can concentrate. You may or may not chant a Mantra – it is your call, as long as you can concentrate on meditation. There is a general but not absolute requirement of shutting your eyes. You may also move parts of your body to stay comfortable.
Once you are concentrating and getting away mentally from your surroundings, you may contemplate with you mind’s eye on your toes and other parts of your body – but this is always done with the mind’s eye – there is no physical scrutiny.
Posted in Meditation
