No one can live without air as one can without water for a few days and without food much longer. Therefore, nature has surrounded us with air on all sides so that we can get it without any effort. We take in air through our nose into our lungs. The lungs act as a sort of bellows. The atmospheric air which we breath in has a life-giving substance- a gas known as oxygen. The air that we breath out contains poisonous gases. These can kill us if they are not immediately allowed to spread out and get diluted by the atmospheric air. Hence the necessity of proper ventilation.
The air comes into close contacts
with blood in the lungs and purifies it. Many people do not know the act of
breathing. This defect prevents an adequate purification of their blood. Some
people breath through their mouth instead of their nose. This is a bad habit.
Nature has so designed the nose that it acts as a sort of filter for the
ingoing air and also warms it. In mouth breathers the atmospheric air reaches
the lungs without the preliminary filtration or warming. It follows therefore
that those who do not know how to breathe should take breathing exercises. They
are as easy to learn as are useful. I do not wish to go into a discussion of
the various asanas or postures. I do not mean to say that these are not
important or useful. Bu I do wish to emphasize that a well-regulated life
outweighs the advantage of studying elaborate postures that ensure breathing
through the nose and free chest expansion is enough for our purposes.
If we keep the mouth tightly
close, the breathing would have to be carried out by the nose. Just as we wash
our mouth every morning, the nose should be also be cleaned. Clean water, cold
or Lukewarm water is the best agent for this purpose. It should be taken in a
cup in the palm of the hand and draw up through the nostrils. It is possible to
draw the water up through one nostril, the other remains closed, and expel in
through the other by opening it and closing the former. The process should be
carried out gently so as to avoid discomfort. In order to cleanse the back
portion of the nose known as nasopharynx, water should be brought out by the
mouth or even swallowed.
We must see that the air that we
breath in is fresh. It is good to cultivate a habit of sleeping in the open
under the star. The fear of catching a chill could be dismissed from the mind.
Cold can be kept out by plenty of covering. This covering should not extend
beyond the neck. If cold is felt on the head, it can be covered with separate
piece of cloth. The opening of the respiratory passage - the nose - should
never be covered up.
The day clothes should be changed
for loose night clothes before retiring. As a matter of fact no clothes are
necessary at night when one sleeps covered with a sheet. Tight-fitting clothes
should be avoided even during day.
The atmospheric air around us is
not always pure, neither it is the same in every country. The choice of the
country does not always lie in our hands but the choice of a suitable house in
a suitable locality does rest with us till some extent. The general rule should
be to live in a locality which is not too congested and insist upon the house
being well lighted and well-ventilated.
Next to air, water is the
necessity of life. We cannot live without it for more than a few days, just as
without air we cannot live for more than a few minutes. Therefore, as in the
case of the air, nature has provided us with ample amount of water. Man cannot
live on barren land where there is no vast tracts of desert land lie utterly
uninhabited.
In order to keep healthy,
everyone should take 5lbs. of water or other liquid food in 24 hours. Drinking
water must be pure. In many places it is difficult to get pure water. There is
always risk in drinking well water. The water of shallow wells, and even deep
wells with staircase leading down to the water level, should be considered
absolutely unfit for drinking purposes. The difficulty is that the appearance
and even the taste of water are no guide to its purity. Water which appears
perfectly harmless to look at and to taste, can act as poison. The own custom of
not drinking from an unknown well or from a stranger's house is worth copying.
In Bengal almost every house has
a kachcha tank attached to it. As a rule the water of these is unfit for
drinking purpose. River water is also frequently not fit for drinking,
particularly where the river is used for navigation or where it passes by a big
city and receives its drainage and sewage water.
In spite of what I have said, I
know there are millions of people who had to drink what I have described as
impure water. But that does not mean that their example is worth of being
copied. Nature has provided us with sufficient reserves of vitality. But for
that, man would have long ago disappeared from the face of the earth because of
his own mistake and transgressions of the rules of health.
Here we are concerned merely with
the role of water with regards of health. Whenever we are doubtful about the
purity of water, it should be boiled before drinking. In practice it amounts to
this that everyone should carry his drinking water with him. Many orthodox
Hindus in India do not drink water whilst traveling on account of religious
prejudices. Surely, the enlightened can do for the sake of health. What the
unenlightened do in the name of religion!
Whilst it is true that man cannot
live without air and water, the thing that nourishes the body is food. Hence
the saying, food is life.
Food can be divided into three
categories : vegetarian, flesh and mixed. Flesh food include fowl and fish.
Milk is an animal product and cannot be any means be included in a strictly vegetarian
diet. It serves the purpose of meat to a very large extent. In medical language
it is classified as animal food. A layman does not consider milk to be a animal
food. On the other hand eggs are regarded by the layman as a flesh food. In
reality, they are not. Nowadays sterile eggs are also produced. The hen is not
allowed to see the cock and yet it lays eggs. A sterile egg never evolves into
a chick. Therefore, he who can take milk should have no objection to take
sterile eggs.
Medical opinion is mostly in
favor of a mixed diet, although there is a growing school, which is strongly of
the opinion that anatomical and physiological evidence is in favor of man being
a vegetarian. His teeth, his stomach, intestines etc., seem to improve that
nature has meant to man to be a vegetarian.
Vegetarian diet besides grains,
pulses, edible roots, tubers and leaves, includes fruits, both fresh and dry.
Dry fruits include nuts like almonds, pistachio, walnut etc.
I have always been favour of pure
vegetarian diet. But experience has taught me that in order to be perfectly
fit, vegetarian diet must include milk and milk-products such as curd, butter,
ghee, etc. This a significant departure from my original idea. I excluded milk
from my diet for six years. At that time, I felt none the worse for the denial.
But in year 1917, as a result of my ignorance, I was laid down with severe
dysentery. I was reduced to a skeleton, but I stubbornly refused to take any
medicine and with equal stubbornness refused to take milk or buttermilk. But I
could not build up my body and pick up sufficient strength to leave the bed. I
had taken a vow of not taking milk. A medical friend suggested that at the time
of taking a vow, I could have in my mind only the milk of cow and buffalo; why
would the vow prevent me from taking goat's milk? My wife supported him and I
yielded. Really speaking, for one who has given up milk, though at the time of
taking the vow only the cow and the buffalo were in mind, milk should be taboo.
All animal milks have practically the same composition, though the proportion
of the components varies in each case. So I may be said to have kept merely the
letter, not the spirit, of the vow. But that as it may, goat's milk was
produced immediately and I drank it. It seemed to bring me new life. I picked
up rapidly and was soon able to leave the bed. On account of this and several
similar experiences, I have been forced to admit the necessity of adding milk
to the strict vegetarian diet. But I am convinced that in the vast vegetable
kingdom there must be some kind, which, while supplying those necessary
substances which we derive from milk and meat, is free from their drawbacks,
ethical and other.
In my opinion there a definite
drawbacks in taking milk or meat. In order to get meat we have to kill. And we
are certainly not entitled to any other milk except the mother's milk in our
infancy. Over and above the moral drawback, there are others, purely from the
point of view of health. Both milk and meat bring with them the defects of the
animal from which they are derived. Domesticated cattle are hardly ever
perfectly healthy. Just like man, cattle suffer from innumerable diseases.
Several of these are over-looked even when the cattle are subjected to
periodical medical examinations. Besides, medical examination of all the cattle
in India seem to be an impossible feat, at any rate for the present. I am
conducting a dairy at the Sevagram Ashram. I can easily get help from medical friends.
Yet I cannot say with certainty that all the cattle in the Sevagram Dairy are
healthy. On a contrary, a cow that had been considered to be healthy by
everybody was found to be suffering from tuberculosis. Before this diagnosis
was made, the milk of that cow had been used regularly in the Ashram. The
Ashram also takes milk from the farmers in the neighborhood. Their cattle had
not been medically examined. It is difficult to determine whether a particular
specimen of milk is safe for consumption or not. We have to rest content with
as much safety as boiling of the milk can assure us of. If the Ashram cannot
boast of fool-proof medical examination of its cattle, and be certain of the
safety of its dairy products, the situation elsewhere is not likely to be much
better. What applies to the milch cattle applies to a much grater extent to the
animals slaughtered for meat. As a general rule, man just depends upon luck to
escape from such risks. He does not seem to worry much about his health. He
considers himself to be quite safe in his medical fortress in the shape of
doctors, voids and hakims. His main worry and concern is how to get wealth and
positive in society. This worry overshadows all the rest. Therefore, so long as
some selfless scientist does not, as a result of patient research work,
discover a vegetable substitute for milk and meat, man will do on taking meat
and milk.
Now let us consider mixed diet.
Man requires food which supply tissue building substances to provide for the
growth and daily wear and tear of the body. It should also contain something
which can supply energy, fat, certain salts and roughage to help the excretion
of waste matter. Tissue building substances are known as proteins. They are
obtained from milk, meat, eggs, pulses and nuts. The protein contained in milk
and meat, in other words, the animal protein being more digestible and
assimilable, are much valuable than vegetable proteins. Milk is superior to
meat. The medicos tell us that in cases when meat cannot be digested, milk is
digested quite easily. For vegetarians milk being the only source of animal
proteins, is a very important article of diet. The proteins in raw eggs are
considered to be the most easily digestible of all proteins.
But everybody cannot afford to
drink milk. And milk is not available in all places. I would like to mention
here a very important fact with regards to milk. Contrary to the popular
belief, skimmed milk is a very valuable article of diet. There are times when
it proves even more useful than whole milk. The chief function of milk is to
supply animal proteins for tissue building and tissue repair. Skimming while it
partially removes the fats, does not affect the proteins at all. Moreover, the
available skimming instrument cannot remove all the fats from milk. Neither
there is any likelihood of such an instrument being constructed.
The body requires other things
besides milk, whole or skimmed. I give the second place to cereals-wheat, rice,
jowar, bajra etc. These are used as the staple diet. Different cereals are used
to staple in different provinces in India. In many places, more than one kind
of cereals are eaten at the same time, for instance, small quantities of wheat,
bajra and rice are often served together. This mixture is not necessary for the
nourishment of the body. It makes it difficult to regulate the quantity of food
intake, and puts an extra strain upon digestion. As all these varieties supply
starch mainly, it is better to take one only, at a time. Wheat may well be
described a the king among the cereals. If we glance at the world map, we find
that wheat occupies the first place. From the point of view of health, if we
can get wheat, rice and other cereals become unnecessary. If wheat is not
available and jowar, etc. cannot be taken on account of dislike or difficulty
in digesting them, rice has to be resorted to.
The cereals should be properly
cleansed, ground on a grinding stone, and the resulting flour used as it is.
Sieving of the flour should be avoided. It is likely to remove the bhusi or the
per carp which is a rich source of salt and vitamins, both of which are most
valuable form the point of view of nutrition. The pericarp also supplies
roughage, which helps the action of the bowels. Rice grain being very delicate,
nature has provided it with an outer covering or epicure. This is not edible.
In order to remove this inedible portion, rice has to be pounded. Pounding
should be just sufficient to remove the epicarp or the outer skin of the rice
grain. But machine pounding not only removes the outer skin, but also polishes
the rice by removing its pericarp. The explanation of the popularity of
polished rice lies in the fact that polishing helps preservation. The pericarp
is very sweet and unless it is removed, rice is easily attracted by certain
organisms. Polished rice and wheat without its pericarp, supply us with almost
pure starch. Important constituents of the cereals are lost with the removal of
their pericarp. The pericarp of the rice is sold as rice polishings. This and
the pericarp of wheat can be cooked and eaten by themselves. The can be also
made into chapattis or cakes. It is possible that rice chapattis may be more
easily digestible than whole rice and in this form a lesser quantity may result
in full satisfaction.
We are in the habit of dipping
each morsel of chapati in vegetable or dal gravy before eating. The result is
that most people swallow their food without proper mastication. Mastication is
an important step in the process of digestion, especially that of starch. Digestion
of starch begins on its coming into contact with saliva in the mouth.
Mastication ensures a thorough mixing of food with saliva. Therefore, starchy
food should be eaten in a relatively dry form, which results in a greater flow
of saliva and also necessitates their thorough mastication.
After the starch supplying
cereals come the protein supplying pulses-beans, lentils etc. Almost everybody
seems to think that pulses are essential constituent of diet. Even meat eaters
should have pulses. It is easy to understand that those who have to do hard
manual work and who cannot afford to drink milk, cannot do without pulses. But
I can say without any hesitation whatsoever that those who follow sedentary
occupations as for instance, clerks, business men, doctors and those who are
not to poor to buy milk, do not require pulses. Pulses are generally considered
to be difficult to digest and are eaten in a much smaller quantity than
cereals. Out of variety of pulses, peas, gram and haricot beans are considered to
be the most and mung (green grams) and masoor (lentils) the least difficult to
digest.
Vegetables and fruits should come
third on our list. One would expect them to be cheap and easily available in
India. But it is not so. They are generally considered to be delicacies meant
for the city people. In the villages fresh vegetable are a rarity, and in most
places fruits are also not available. This shortage of greens and fruits is a
slur on the administration of India. The villagers can grow plenty of green vegetables
if they wish to. The question of fruits cannot be solved so easily. The land
legislature is bad from the villager's standpoint. But I am transgressing.
Among fresh vegetables, a fare
amount of leafy vegetables must be taken everyday. I do not include potatoes,
sweet potatoes, saran etc, which supply starch mainly, among vegetables. They
should be put down in same category as starch supplying cereals. A fair helping
of ordinary fresh vegetables is advisable. Certain varieties such as cucumber,
tomatoes, mustard and cress and other tender leaves need not be cooked. They
should be washed properly and eaten in raw in small quantities.
As for fruits, our daily diet
should include available fruits of the season, e.g. mangoes, grapes etc. should
all be used in their season. The best time for taking fruits is in early
morning. A breakfast of fruits and milk should give full satisfaction. Those
who take an early lunch may have a breakfast of fruits only. Banana is a good
fruit. But as it is very rich in starch, it takes the place of bread. Milk and
banana make a perfect meal.
A certain amount of fat is also
necessary. This can be had in the form of ghee or oil. If ghee can be had, oil
becomes unnecessary. It is difficult to digest and is not so nourishing as pure
ghee. An ounce and half of ghee per head per day, should be considered ample to
supply the needs of the body. Whole milk is also a source of ghee. Those who
cannot afford it should take enough oil to supply the need for fat. Among oils,
sweet oil, coconut oil, and ground nut oil should be given preference. Oil must
be fresh. If available, it is better to use hand-pressed oil. Oil and ghee sold
in the bazaar are generally quiet useless. It is a matter of great sorrow and
shame. But so long as honesty has not become an integral part of business
morals, whether through legislation or through education, the individual will
have to procure the pure article with patience and diligence. One should never
be satisfied to take what one can get, irrespective of its quality. It is far
better to do with ghee oil altogether than to eat rancid oil and adulterated
ghee. As in the case of fats, a certain amount of sugar is also necessary.
Although sweet fruits supply plenty of sugar, there is no harm in taking one to
one and half ounces of sugar, brown or white in a day. If one cannot get sweet
fruits sugar may become a necessity. But the undue prominence given to sweet
things towards nowadays is wrong. City folk eat too much of sweet things. Milk
puddings, milk sweets and sweets of other kinds are consumed in large
quantities. They are all unnecessary and are harmful except when taken in very
small quantity. It may be said without any fear of exaggeration that the
partake of sweet meals and other delicacies, in a country where the millions do
not get an ordinary full meal, is equivalent to robbery.
What applies to sweets, applies
with equal force to ghee and oil. There is no need to eat food fried in ghee or
oil. To use ghee in making puris and laddus is thoughtless extravagancy. Those
who are not used to such food cannot eat these things at all. Those who do eat
them I have often seen fall ill. Taste is acquired, not born with us. All the
delicacies of the world cannot equal the relish, that hunger gives to food. A hungry
man will eat a dry piece of bread with the greatest relish, whereas one who is
not hungry will refuse the best of sweetmeats.
Now let us consider how often and
how much should one eat. Food should be taken as a matter of duty-even as a
medicine-to sustain the body, never for the satisfaction of the palate. Thus,
pleasurable feeling comes from satisfaction of real hunger. Therefore, we can
say that relish is dependent upon hunger and not outside it. Because of our
wrong habits and artificial way of living, very few people know what their
system requires. Our parents who bring us into this world do not, as a rule,
cultivate self-control. Their habits and their way of living influence the
children to a certain extent. The mother's food during pregnancy is bound to
affect the child. After that during childhood, the mother pampers the child
with all sorts of tasty foods. She gives the child a little bit out of whatever
she herself may be eating and the child's digestive system gets a wrong
training from its infancy. Habits once formed are difficult to shed. There are
very few who succeed in getting rid of them. But when the realization comes to
man that he is his own bodyguard, and his body has been dedicated to service,
he desires to learn law of keeping his body in a fit condition and tries hard
to follow them.
We have now reached a point when
we can lay down the amount of various foods required by a man of sedentary
habits, which most men and women who read this pages, are.
Cow's milk 2
lbs.
Cereals (wheat, rice, bajra in
all) 6 oz.
Vegetable leafy 3
oz.
Vegetable others 5
oz.
Vegetables raw 1
oz.
Ghee 1
1/2 oz.
Butter 2
oz.
White Sugar 1
1/2 oz.
Fresh fruits according to one's
taste and purse. In any case it is good to take two sour limes a day. The juice
should be squeezed and taken with vegetables or in water, cold or hot. All
these weights are of raw stuff. I have not put down the amount of salt. It
should be added afterwards according to taste.
Now, how often should one eat?
Many people take two meals a day. The general rule is to take three meals:
breakfast early in the morning and before going out to work, dinner at midday
and supper in the evening or late. There is no necessity to have more than
three meals. In cities some people keep on nibbling from time to time. This
habit is harmful. The digestive apparatus requires rest.
I have not said anything about
condiments in the last chapter. Common salt may be rightly counted as the king
among condiments. Many people cannot eat their food without it. The body
requires certain salts and common sat is one of them. These salts occur
naturally in the various foodstuffs but when food is cooked in an unscientific
way, e.g., throwing away water in which rice, potatoes, other vegetables have
been boiled , the supply becomes inadequate. The deficiency then has to be made
up by a separate addition of salt. As common salt is one of the most essential
salts for the body, I have said in the last chapter that it might be
supplemented in small quantities.
But several condiments are not
required by the body as a general rule, e.g., chilies fresh or dry, pepper,
turmeric, coriander, caraway, mustard, methi, asafetida, etc. These are taken
just for the satisfaction of the palate. My opinion, based on my personal
experience of fifty years, is that not one of them is needed to keep perfectly
healthy. Those whose digestion has become very feeble might take these things
as medicine for a certain length of time, if considered necessary. But one
should make it a point to avoid their use for the satisfaction of the palate.
All condiments, even salt, destroy the natural flavor of the foodstuff much
more than after the addition of salt or other condiments. That is why I have
said that salt should be taken when necessary as an adjunct. As for chilies,
they burn the mouth and irritate the stomach. Those who are not in a habit of
taking chilies cannot bear them in the beginning. I have seen several cases of
sore mouth caused by the taking of chilies. I know of one case who was very
fond of chilies, and an excessive use resulted in his premature death. The
Negro in south Africa will not touch condiments. He cannot bear the color of
turmeric in his food. In the same way, Englishmen also do not readily take to
our condiments.
Soft and Hot Drinks
None of these is required by the
body. The use of tea is said to have originated in China. It has a special use
in that country. As a rule one cannot rely on the purity of drinking water in
China and therefore it must be boiled before use to ensure safety. Some clever
Chinaman discovered a grass called tea which when added to boiled water in a
very small quantity gave it a golden color. The color did not appear unless the
water was really boiled. Thus the grass became an infallible test for seeing
when a given quantity of water was boiled. The way, the test is used, is to put
the tea leaves in a strainer. If the water was boiled it will assume a golden
color. Another quality of tea leaves is said to be that they impart a delicate
flavor to the water.
Tea prepared as above is
harmless. But the tea that is generally prepared and taken has not only nothing
to recommend it, it is actually harmful. The leaves contain tannin which is
harmful to the body. Tannin is generally used in the tanneries to harden leather.
When taken internally it produces a similar effect upon the mucous lining of
the stomach and intestine. This impairs digestion and cause dyspepsia. It is
said that in England innumerable women suffer from various aliments on account
of their habit of drinking tea which contains tannin. Habitual tea drinkers
begin to feel restless if they do not get their cup at the usual time. In my
opinion, the usefulness of tea, if any, consists in the fact that it supplies a
warm sweet drink which contains some milk. The same purpose may well be served
by taking boiled hot water mixed with a little milk and sugar.
What I have said about tea
applies more or less to coffee also. There is a popular saying about coffee in
Hindustani which say, "Coffee allays cough and relieves flatulence, but it
impairs physical and sexual vigor and making of blood watery, so that there are
three disadvantages against its two advantages." I do not know how far the
saying is justified.
I hold similar opinion with
regard to cocoa. Those whose digestion works normally, do not require the help
of tea, coffee or cocoa. A healthy man can get all the satisfaction that he
needs out of ordinary food. I have freely partaken of all the three. I used to
suffer from one aliment or another while I was using them. By giving them up I
have lost nothing, and have benefited a good deal. I can get the same
satisfaction from a clear vegetable soup that I used to derive from tea etc.
Hot water, honey and lemon make a healthy nourishing drink, which can well substitute
tea or coffee.
