Rehabilitative Bodywork

 

Where there is chronic and prolonged muscle tension or injury,
        there are usually adhesions (bands of painful, rigid tissue) in muscles, tendons, and ligaments.
   Adhesions can block circulation and cause pain, causing limited movement, and persistent inflammation.
Therapeutic and rehabilitative massage works by physically breaking down these scar tissues to relieve
pain, restore normal movement and realign the body's overall posture.
This can include the use of specific therapies like gua sha therapy, cupping, oleation therapies, heat application with ointments and different styles of massage.

 In the August 2005 issue of Consumer Reports magazine, 34,000 people ranked massage as being more effective in relieving osteoarthritis pain than physical therapy, exercise, prescription medications, chiropractic, acupuncture, diet, glucosamine and over-the-counter drugs.

Therapeutic deep tissue massage has been used to assist in treating the following conditions with excellent results:

Chronic pain
Limited mobility
Removing lactic acid from muscles
Recovery from injuries (e.g. whiplash, falls, sports injury)
Repetitive strain injury, such as carpal tunnel syndrome
Postural problems
Ostearthritis pain
Fibromyalgia
Muscle tension or spasms
Post-care for breast augmentation
Post-care for spinal (e.g. spinal fusions)
Joint surgeries (e.g. rotator cuff, knees)
 

Soaking and Sprouting

             Sprouting and eating grains or beans is good for health. Traditional cultures all over the world have the practice of soaking and sprouting grains and beans. Soaking makes the grain soft and also causes less gas in the intestines. Brown rice should be soaked and cooked with excess water than the white rice for a softer texture. All types of beans and dals (legumes), soaked and cooked with spices especially ginger and garlic will not cause gas problems in the intestines.

       Scientists say that eating fiber rich and unrefined products, as is the modern, urban practice,  causes anemia and other mineral deficiencies. Traditional cultures had the practical wisdom of soaking and sprouting foods. Soaking, sprouting or fermenting causes nutritional improvements and increased availability of nutrient for absorption. Sprouting and fermentation cause a breakdown of phytates in foods which otherwise would not release bound iron to be  absorbed by the intestines. Iron has to be in soluble form in our foods to prevent anemia.

         In a study with grains, it was found that cooking had no effect on the amount of soluble iron. Iron solubility increased, however, two to four times after soaking and germination, three to five times after fermentation and five to eight times after fermentation of the germinated flour samples and was highly correlated to the reduction of hydrolyzed phytates (International Journal of Food Sciences and Nutrition, Volume 50, Number 3 / June 1, 1999 Pages: 203 - 211 ).

        Therefore, the traditional practices of soaking, sprouting and fermenting are the best ways to consume grains and beans. Now modern research is discovering the importance of sprouting.

BY Shakti Foundation

Refined Foods and Toxins

         When we eat food that is refined, i.e. white rice, white flour, white semolina, white sugar or refined breakfast cereals and other processed foods, the toxins do not leave the body but get re-absorbed and this results in various diseases.

 Fiber rich foods Vs refined foods cause slow release of sugar or glucose into the blood stream helping diabetes. Fiber rich whole foods used on a regular basis will help to prevent many diseases like diabetes, cholesterol and hyper-tension.

BY Shakti Foundation

Two Important Health Principles

      
Two important health rules concerning diet are

1. Eat only whole foods and not refined foods. We have already discussed  earlier how refined foods cause diseases by stressing our body.  Click here  to read the earlier information.

2. Eating different grains prevents diseases instead of eating only one type of grain. This routine, stereo-typed way of eating is a major problem. We prefer to stick to one type of grain instead of eating different varieties. Nature is abundant with  varieties of grains and we should take advantage of that fact. Instead, we abuse our body with one type of food causing imbalance in our body.

 Eating only one type of grain or beans only leads to variety of diseases.

           Change your eating lifestyle by including all varieties of  foods available. From other sites you can get information regarding how different foods gives different nutrients. Click here  to read about the  Nutrition content of Amaranth, Buckwheat, Millet, Oats and Quinoa.

           Eating different beans are good for health too.  Click here  to read about the Nutrition content of Beans: Adzuki, Black Eye Peas, Black Turtle, Garbanzo, and Great Northern beans.

          We discussed with a lot of healthy villagers in India and got extremely valuable information regarding eating habits. Traditionally, they ate different grains, fruits, beans (legumes) and vegetables based on availability in different seasons. They did not just eat rice or wheat. They said the urban people or the rich were the ones who ate only one type of grain. They remarked that in the past 40 years, even villagers have adapted the urban lifestyle and they see an increase in health problems among the villagers. We understand this information is true in other parts of the world too.

BY Shakti Foundation

Whole Vs Refined Grains

               Refined foods not only are devoid of nutrients, but when eaten will use our body nutrients and weaken our system. First look at this graph which shows how different nutrients are lost while refining foods.

 Due to refining nutrients are lost. 

Enriched foods.

    It is common to find in the market, enriched foods like bread , pasta, etc with added nutrients and so called as enriched foods. For enrichment, nutrients like iron, thiamin and riboflavin are added to foods. We consider enrichment is also not healthy because enrichment amounts of nutrients are not only excessive in quantity and out of balance (proportion) from the rest of the nutrients but also they enriched nutrients  and are in un-natural form.

BY Shakti Foundation

Why whole grains?

          Whole grains are power-packed with fiber, vitamins, minerals, antioxidants and phyto-chemicals - plant compounds that help reduce the risk of many chronic diseases and ailments.
        Secondly, consuming a diet rich in whole grains has been associated with reducing one's risk of metabolic syndrome, type 2 diabetes and heart disease.
         Metabolic syndrome is a condition marked by a combination of abdominal obesity, high blood pressure, poor blood circulation, low HDL "good" cholesterol and high blood fats, all of which lead to a higher risk for type 2 diabetes and heart disease.

Refined Foods & Disease

      There are two reasons.  First is that the fiber is lost and so un-available for toxins to be excreted from the body.  Secondly, through refining, nutrients are lost , which we will discuss in the next few pages.

Whole Foods Detoxify

   As we have already discussed the importance of the liver as a detoxifying organ, we will now briefly mention that the  liver manages to throw the fat soluble toxins out of the body through the secretion of bile. The bile with the combined action of the fiber present in your diet throws the fat-soluble toxins out of the body through the feces (stools). This is where  fiber plays an important role.

      The detoxified non-water soluble (fat soluble) toxins through bile reach the intestines. Here bile is re-absorbed but the toxins are not reabsorbed if fiber is present in the food. If fiber is not present then the toxins are reabsorbed and go back into the body. Hence, eating fiber helps in detoxification.

BY Shakti Foundation

Rice Mistake

     In South India, diabetes  was called as the rich man's disease by the ancients. Because it was found only with the rich people, because they only could afford to eat white rice , since it required extra labor to polish rice.

     In England and other Asian countries, prisoners in 18th century, were kept in prison which were located mostly in islands. Since brown rice became rancid and stale in prison due to long storage. Hence white rice was given in these prisons. a mysterious nervous breakdown disorders were noticed in these prisoners and at that time, everyone took for a bacterial infection that spread through white rice.

      It was accidentally discovered that giving rice bran prevented drooping neck syndrome in pigeons. Pigeons that were fed with white rice had all speedily developed marked symptoms of malnutrition and serious nerve derangements. Besides losing weight they sit listless and shivering, lose power in their legs, suggesting nerve paralysis, while many develop convulsions.

      We repeat now the same mistake of using refined rice and other grains putting us into the risk of not only diabetes, cholesterol, but many other nervous break down disorders. Click here  to read from this site about more information about the harmful effects of refined foods.

Reference
McCann, Alfred Watterson, 1879-1931. This famishing world; food follies that maim and kill the rich and the poor, that cheat the growing child and rob the prospective mother of health, that burn up millions in treasure. Published New York, George H. Doran company [c1918]

BY Shakti Foundation