Friday, December 28, 2007
The word, Ayurveda, is from the ancient Indian language, Sanskrit, and literally means "Knowledge of Life".
The Ayurvedic approach to life involves listening to and addressing the unique needs of your body, recognizing and balancing your mental and emotional states and deepening your connection with your spirit, your essential self.
The raw food diet is based around the principle that eating a diet high in raw food will normalise and alkalise your body. This, in turn, connects the mind with the body; thus, Ayurveda and the Raw Food diet are very similar.
This article will hopefully provide a brief guidance on how you could connect the two in a way that is optimal to your health.
In Ayurveda, the idea is that you eat according to your 'dosha'; vata, pitta and kapha.
Vata is composed of the elements of air and ether
Pitta is composed of the elements of fire and water
Kapha is composed of the elements of water and earth
Vata types are generally thin and find it hard to gain weight. Vatas need to get sufficient rest and not overdo things, as they can tire easily.
Pitta types are generally medium sized and well proportioned. They also tend to be intelligent, with a sharp wit.
Kapha types tend to have sturdy, heavy frames. They are prone to gain weight easily. They often tend to have a positive outlook on life.
So, what does this mean, and how does it apply to you?
In Ayurveda, it is believed that each person is governed by one dominant dosha and you should eat according to that dosha. However, this article is concerned with Ayurveda and Raw Food, so I will only mention the foods that coincide with both these diets.
Vata
Balances: Sweet fruits, apricots, avocado, bananas, berries, grapes, melons, asparagus, beets, cucumber, garlic, radishes, zucchini.
Aggravates: Dried fruits, apples, cranberries, pears, watermelons, broccoli, cabbage, cauliflower, raw onions.
Pitta
Balances: Sweet fruits, avocado, coconut, figs, mango, prunes, sweet and bitter vegetables, cabbage, cucumber, okra, potatoes.
Aggravates: Sour fruits, berries, bananas, plums, oranges, lemon, pungent vegetables, garlic, onions.
Kapha
Balances: Apples, apricots, berries, cherries, cranberries, mangos, peaches, pungent and bitter vegetables, broccoli, celery, garlic, onion.
Aggravates: Sweet and sour fruits, bananas, coconut, melons, papaya, sweet and juicy vegetables, potatoes, tomatoes.
There are many suggestions in Ayurveda, which are very easily translated to a Raw Food Diet.
Such suggestions are:
Eat mainly seasonal fruit, vegetables, nuts, seeds and grains
Eat according to your constitution, or dosha
Fast for one day every two weeks
Establish a regular eating routine
Eliminate or limit caffeinated, carbonated and alcoholic beverages from your life
Drink herbal tea, fruit and vegetable juices
About the author:
Ciara Carruthers is an entrepreneur and infopreneur. A professional website copywriter, she has great talents in permanently increasing the amount of traffic to any site, including yours! Click here to be whisked away to her website www.website-copy-writer.com.
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LASIK Surgery - How The Excimer Laser Works
The Excimer laser is a form of ultraviolet chemical laser, and is the key element that has made laser eye surgery possible. Though Excimer laser was originally used in semiconductor manufacturing in the 1970s, its use in eye surgery is now fairly widespread. While working at the IBM research laboratories in 1982, Dr. Rangaswamy Srinivasin and his research team discovered the potential of the Excimer laser in interacting with biological tissue. An ophthalmologist, Dr. Steven Trokel, explained its connection with the corneal tissue. And this was how LASIK eye surgery came into existence.
There are several types of lasers, but excimer is the preferred choice when it comes to corrective eye surgery. This is due to the fact that excimer is the most technologically advanced laser type. The excimer laser is, literally, a cool laser. That is, it precisely removes the desired part of the corneal tissue, without heating up or damaging the adjacent tissue. Quite amazingly, the excimer laser is so precise that it is capable of removing 0.5% of a human hair's width at a time. That fact itself is enough for patients to believe that excimer-assisted eye surgery is not a gimmick, but a true technology leveraged procedure.
With the computer technology at its disposal and the precision offered by the laser, LASIK surgery has emerged as the number one choice for patients with refractive error. Since the excimer laser emits cool, minute beams that make precise incisions on the surface of the cornea, a dedicated technician operates the machine while the ophthalmologist performs the surgery.
Your eyes are your window to the world and your sight is the most important of the five senses. Hence, it is all the more imperative that, if need be, you go for an eye surgery that is reliable and has minimal side effects. With the high-precision technology of the excimer laser and the overall reliability of the procedure, LASIK is the most prevalent of corrective eye surgeries.
Nicola Kennedy publishes articles and reports and provides news, information and views about Lasik Eye Surgery and the background and history of laser eye surgery at Your Lasik Information. http://www.Your-LASIK.info
Copyright Your-LASIK.info All rights reserved. This article may be reprinted in full so long as the resource box and the live links are included intact.
Eating Out Can Be Hazardous To Your Waistline
Going out to eat can really put the brakes on your weight loss program unless you have exceptional control over what you eat. Although many restaurants now offer choices for many types of diets, it's whats on the rest of the menu that might tempt you to stray. Often high in salt, sugar and oil most restaurant food tends to be higher in calories that what you might prepare for yourself.
And Americans are eating out more and more. According to Dr. Caroline Cederquist, a physician who specializes in weight management, less than 20 percent of the calories Americans consumed were eaten outside the home in 1978 but in 2003, that number had climbed to 50 percent. Combine that with the fact that obesity in Americans is growing each year with as many as two thirds of Americans being overweight and you might come to the conclusion that eating out can be hazardous to your waistline.
One problem is that restaurants often serve huge portions. That combined with the fact that we have been conditioned to clean our plates can result in a huge weight problem. You may feel morally obligated to eat everything on your plate —even if your health and your weight might suffer as a result. If you eat out a lot, you may become accustomed to these large portions and start to eat like that at home as well.
Another problem with restaurant eating is that they often serve bread or rolls – and usually not the healthy whole wheat kind either. Now, when you know you are going out to eat, you probably eat less throughout the day or delay or skip eating and by the time you get to the restaurant you are starving. So what do you do when they bring the rolls? Of course, you dig in eating way to many rolls.
You might be dining with a group that likes to savor the experience and order appetizers before the meal but did you know that restaurant appetizers tend to be extremely high in calories? For example, a basket of fried onions can have a whopping 2,000 calories. Eat a few appetizers to be polite and you'll have to run the treadmill for hours to work it off!
Many restaurants now offer free soda refills. Plus the soda glasses tend to be large to begin with so you are receiving greater servings of this sugary beverage. The tendency may be to order seconds because it's free and you want to take advantage of that but remember, just the soda alone can put you far over your daily recommended allowance of calories for weight loss.
Perhaps the greatest restaurant challenge to any dieter is the buffet. With so many choices you may be tempted to get one of everything! Since you can go back as many times as you want you might overindulge. You want to make sure you get your moneys worth, right?
So what can you do if you must eat out several times a week? First of all, make sure you stick to your diet plan. Don't give in to eating wrong foods "just this once." Choose entrees that have lots of vegetables and avoid dessert entirely. When your meal comes, set half aside immediately and even ask for a doggy bag right away so you won't be tempted to eat the second half when the first is done. Don't starve yourself before going out to eat and you will be better able to avoid eating those rolls as well as overeating when the meal comes. If you are not starving when you order, it will be easier to order a healthy meal an stay away from fatty, high calorie entrees.
Generally, if you stick to sensible and healthy eating patterns both at home and when eating out you will be developing good eating habits that will help you lose weight and keep it off for life.
Lee Dobbins writes about Low Carb and Low GI eating as well as other weight loss issues. Visit www.lowcarb-resource.com for more articles on healthy dieting.
