Everyone has a strong desire to maintain
sound health. Then why do we fall sick very
often? The cause lies in our disarrayed lifestyle
and our bad eating habits. The effect of food
on the body is comprehensive. Be it physical
health or mental well-being, both are
intrinsically linked with food, and keeps taking
up and down swings depending on changes
in it. It is a matter of common experience.
Bad and irregular dietary habits make the
body sick and the mind restless.
If we were to enumerate the ill-effects of rich,
pungent, spicy and fried food, we will have
to list practically all the diseases, because all
of them have direct or indirect connection
with food. The fashionable fast foods, packed
food or junk food of today also fall in the same
category. This new style of eating, widely
prevalent these days, has given many a body-
blow to the quality of human life.
Food is not the culprit; it is a basic necessity
of life. Everybody knows this, but very few
people have an idea of what to eat, when to
eat, and how to eat. Let us contemplate on
the advice of Param Pujya Gurudev Pandit
Shriram Sharma Acharya in this regard. Let’s
first take the “what to eat?” aspect. The right
answer to this question is that we should eat
only what provides nourishment to the body.
It is important to remember that we eat to live
and do not live to eat. So, if the right kind of
food is to be selected out of a long list of
eatables, we will have to give preference to
only those items that have nutritional value
and are beneficial for health. Such articles can
very easily be identified. Everybody is aware,
for example, of the value of fresh fruits,
vegetables, pulses, cereals etc.
Many cooking ingredients like pungent spices,
appetizers, pickles etc. lack any nutritive value
and are manifestly harmful to health; and so
are the processes of frying, stewing etc. These
render even healthy food useless and
deleterious. Materials inimical to health are
found not only in the kitchen but also outside;
e. g. liquor and intoxicants of various kinds,
betel, tobacco, zarda, gutka and so many other
such things have acquired the status of food
supplements and are used in a routine way.
The situation has become so alarming that
even the food habits of the elite of society make
one wonder why these educated and well-
informed persons have lost their sense of wise
discrimination. There are some exceptions, of
course, in this class but their number is
negligible.
Now, “when to eat”? Again, the answer is
only one viz. twice a day at the most, and that
too, when the appetite has built up sufficiently.
Eating randomly, or taking frequent snacks
and breakfast, in addition to regular meals, is
going to do no good. Dietary habits, these
days, have so much deteriorated that
biologists and psychologists have made this
matter a subject of their research. They classify
hunger in different types, for example, (i)
strong craving to eat at the sight of others’
eating (ii) frequent urge to eat during
moments of tension (iii) fixed-time-appetite in
accordance with the biological clock, etc. The
experts consider the former two types wrong
and only the third type right.
Now having known that one should eat only
when there is real appetite, there follows the
next question “how to eat”? The answer is
that food should be taken in a quiet and restful
manner, with humble remembrance of God as
His prasada (grace). If food is seen as God’s
prasada, even the simple ‘chapati’ (unleavened
bread) proves nourishing. On the contrary,
sweetmeats, multi-course dishes and dry
fruits, if taken hurriedly and in fretful mood,
impair health and produce ailments. The right
food taken in the right manner is the key to
sound health.
Regular physical exercise also plays an
important role in maintenance of good health.
Therefore it should be made an essential part
of our daily routine. It keeps our body flexible
and agile, keeps our heart fit, bones healthy,
and maintains lung capacity; the digestion is
also kept strong. Walking, jogging, Yoga
aasanas, pranaayaam, and other exercises are
most suitable for this purpose. At the same
time we should ensure that all this does not
result in excessive tiredness in our body. On
feeling tiredness yoganidra, shavaasan etc. can
be resorted to. Therefore, let’s resolve to eat
right food at the right time and exercise
regularly to keep the body fit and healthy.
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