The Hindu Business Line : The toxin buster

When somebody dear dies, we comfort ourselves: "At least, he is not in pain anymore." When a loved one lies in hospital, our first concern is, "Is she in pain?" If she isn't, our own pain becomes bearable. When the doctor reassures, "Don't worry, we've given her a painkiller," we are filled with gratitude.

Pain-killing drugs certainly make our present moments relatively comfortable. But, we must also heed our holistic therapists' growing concern that drugs aren't the answer. Pain stemmed by drugs is pain that returns, as the cause remains untreated. The root cause of pain has never been a secret. We set the pain-process rolling when we overeat, under-expel and let our un-metabolised wastes clog our system.

The future pain is already predicted in the present by our body — heaviness, tiredness, weakness, turbid urine, indigestion, constipation, offensive odour of faeces, bad breath, and coated tongue. Scraping the tongue, gargling with a mouthwash, having antacids, swallowing vitamins and minerals do not change our set course to pain. "The real problem is not what's missing, but what is already there that shouldn't be," says Dr Rudolph Ballentine, author, Radical Healing.

Though a genius in digesting foods, absorbing nutrients and eliminating wastes, the body is not geared for storing wastes. It has neither preservatives to keep the undigested food from rotting, nor leak-proof, tightly clamped containers that safely stores toxic substances. That's why, these toxins lodge in our tissues, joints, and neural pathways. Over the years, we see swellings, experience stiffness, dullness, weakness, until it finally becomes a full-blown, gut-wrenching pain. And when we take pain-killing drugs, we actually add to the amassed toxins and force our weakening body to work harder to heal itself.

* Never postpone elimination: Harvey Diamond, author, Fit for Life, says we ingest 70 tonnes of food in our lifetime. Why accumulate? Pain or no pain, eliminate wastes now.

Don't postpone it because you are late for an appointment, want to put that finishing touch to a project report, complete reading a news item, answer the telephone, or attend to boiling milk... Heeding the body's call instantly is the key to success in preventing or overcoming pain. In fact, Dr Oum Prakash, a Gurgaon-based naturopath, emphasises, "Pass stools twice a day." The reason: we eat two major meals in a day, so must we eliminate wastes twice a day.

* Eat clean: Favour easy-to-digest foods like vegetables and fruits. Watch your food-combinations. For one meal, combine vegetable salad with carbohydrates — potatoes, peas, unpolished rice, whole wheat or other grains. For the second, combine a vegetable salad with protein — sprouted pulses, mushrooms, soya or dairy products.

"Avoid protein and carbohydrates together," advises Dr Prakash. "Don't take dal-roti or dal-chawal. Just replace dal with vegetables. Or roti/chawal with vegetables." And drink loads of water.

Tip: A regular exerciser should have carbohydrates for breakfast and lunch, protein for dinner. Bananas and apples make great colon cleansers. They contain pectin that is water-absorbent and gives bulk for easy elimination. In addition, bananas can change the harmful bacteria in the intestines to beneficial acidophilus bacilli.

Dr Prakash strongly discourages "snacking in between meals. Once you eat a meal, complex processes are set in motion. Even eating a pea a bit later forces the digestive process to begin all over again."

* Fire those tyres: "Tyres around the stomach are a sign of digestion/elimination gone awry," says Dr Prakash. Regular aerobic exercises like walking, swimming, cycling, and jogging are the best tyre-melters. Add on 100 abdominal crunches to aid the stomach muscles in squeezing and churning the food to a finer, more absorbable texture.

* Exhale carbon: Exhalation is another major body-cleanser. If we don't exhale properly, toxic carbon collects in our lungs and tissues. "Pranayama is a good breathing exercise, but not enough," says Dr Prakash. "Learn to breathe properly — long and deep. Stomach goes in while exhaling, moves up while inhaling. Do this for five minutes as often as possible, until the breathing pattern spontaneously improves and becomes a habit."

* Sleep aslope: To avoid reflux of foods and acids that interferes with digestion, he advises sleeping with the head on the pillow. "Certain digestive processes are helped by gravity, aided by the gentle slope downwards from the head to the toes," he explains.

In addition, enjoy life, relax, laugh, and cultivate a peaceful tournament. These improve the liver's efficiency where it converts foods into `inactive form' for easy expulsion. To sum up: our bodies should not become dustbins of our thoughtless inputs. We owe it to ourselves to move around freely, direct our lives simply, efficiently towards rewarding experiences, and blossom in mature clarity. This is what we deserve — not pain.

The writer is co-author of the book `Fitness for Life'.

Picture by Bhagya Prakash K.

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