Positive, Neutral and Negative Millets

There are three types of millet Grains:-

Positive Millet Grains

Positive millet grains have dietary fiber ranging from 8% to 12.5%. Positive millets have numerous health benefits as they have the highest dietary fiber. Examples are Foxtail millet (Kangni), Barnyard millet (Sanwa), Browntop millet (Korale/ chhoti Kangni), Kodo millet (Kodra), and Little millet (Kutki)

Neutral Millet Grains

Neutral millet grains have dietary fiber between 3% and 6%. They have fewer health benefits than positive ones but do not harm the body anyway. Examples are Pearl Millet (Bajra), Finger Millet (Ragi), Proso Millet, and Sorghum Millet.

Negative Millet Grains

Negative millet grains have a dietary fiber of less than 2%. They are less beneficial for the body and difficult to digest by the body. Examples are rice and wheat. Avoid them.

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Breakfast Fruits Bowl

My breakfast fruit bowl of the day. I take four to five types of fruits. Fruits are Best for breakfast. Preparing a fruit bowl for breakfast is an art. Today I picked up an apple, an orange, one banana, four medium size Ber (Ber is Zizyphus), three dates, two walnuts, five almonds and a piece of coconut giri (meat).

The sequence of cutting depends on the type of fruit - the hardest variety goes first and the softest are the last. The nuts and dry fruits go in for the dressings. The fruits must be cut in a size that can be eaten one at a time.

Golden Rule - Drink your fruits and eat your juices.

I took 20 minutes to eat this bowl. Picking up each piece at a time and chewing till it turned liquid in my mouth. This helps in digestion and the fruits are digested in an hour in our stomach.

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Chemicals: Face Creams

We use hundreds of creams daily for our face. Shaving cream, shaving foams, shaving gels, face wash, face scrub, sun screen, fairness cream, anti-pimples, anti-wrinkle, cream for oily skin, cream for dry skin, antiseptic cream, multipurpose cream, magic cream......I can actually compile a separate dictionary for face creams. They all are anti-face creams due to chemicals used in their manufacturing.

The lust for such creams is so high that companies flood the market to fullfil our desires. Words like -  Ayurvedic, patanjali, natural, organic and homemade are added to these products to fool us. There are a few genuine manufacturers too but the question is - Why do we require them?

Whenever a dangerous side effect of a product is occurs, we find that it is seldom reported and even if it is reported in India the money power suppresses such incidents. So the general public is always unaware of harmful side effects of such products.

Add to this the magical gimmick of chain marketing presented by these companies in the garb of women empowerment. I will not name the companies, we all are aware how housewives are targeted with buisness opportunities by these companies and offered discounts in the name of direct marketing. We end up buying such products from relatives or friends. Even if the product is bad we are unable to report it because we care and love our relatives/friends who sold us the product.

We all want to be beautiful and handsome. So what do we do.

Be smart and intelligent, stay away from chemicals laden creams.

Shaving Creams

We have been fooled since the advent of TV that a foamy and sweet fragrant shaving cream is liked by Kapil Dev to Virat Kohli. Hence the first choice of our shaving cream is those big brands in pressurised cans. These gels and foams are full of artificial scents of chemicals.

"दूधो नहाओ पूतों फलों।" This is the blessings of our elders since times immemorial and we in India have grown up hearing this. What it means - may you bathe in milk and be blessed with grand children.

Milk is the best shaving cream. Take two spoons of milk, add a pinch of turmeric powder and a teaspoon of cream or malai. Take this in a palm and using hands rub this milk on the face for one minute. You will experience the smoothest shave of your life.

You are Vegan and off dairy, take one spoon of edible coconut oil, add a pinch of turmeric powder and use this as shaving cream.

Don't use scented hair oils as they contain chemicals. Any edible organic oil can be used. Turmeric powder makes it antiseptic.

After shave take a piece of alum or phitkari and just rub it on your wet face. You will forget using those fancy after shave.

Start gradually and make your life chemicals free.

Chemicals: Face Creams

We all want baby skin. Baby's skin is soft, clean, glowing, beautiful, charming......I can use the complete oxford dictionary and still not be able to pen everyone's thought on good skin. We all love to be beautiful and handsome (mild sentence).

The face cream buisness thrives on this obsession. There is no harm in this obsession, but what is wrong is the quick fixes,  indoctrination of our minds by TV, radio, banners, magazines, newspapers, etc assuring us magic in one to 15 days. One has to win over this first.

Babies possess the best skin because firstly they don't worry and secondly they are unaware of McDonald, KFC, Domino, etc. They don't worry about diets because mother's milk is a BALANCED FOOD naturally.

So the prime pre-requisites of good skin are happiness and healthy balanced lifestyle.

Our skin is the largest organ of our body. Healthy skin is sign of a healthy body. Our body eliminates toxins which are byproducts of food that we eat. Skin is one such organ which our body uses for toxin elimination. That is why our elders have always made us wash our face after an outing, before eating, before sleeping, after getting up and as often as necessary. Every celebrity has only one free advice for glowing skin - DRINK ADEQUATE WATER.

Due to the pollution our air, water and food has changed. We need to help our skin to enable it to perform it's prime function of toxin elimination. Now if we use a cream which has been purchased primarily due to the quality of fragrance, we would do more harm to our skin.

So what do we use.

1. Water. Drink 2.5 litres of water daily. Wash your face by chill water. Add 2-3 cubes of ice to a mug of water and wash your face. In winters too wash with cold water and warm water alternatively 2-3 times.

2. Breathing. Deep breathing for only 5 minutes will add a glow to your face instantly. Exhale completely and hold your breath for as long as you can, inhale for 3 seconds, completely exhale and again hold your breath for as long as you can. Do this for five minutes.

3. Milk. Pick up any cosmetic cream and check the ingredients. You will always find milk as one of the ingredient and the rest are some salts or fragrance or base to make it a paste. Why pay 100 times more for adulterated milk when one can use it directly. Take a cup of milk, add one spoon of coconut oil, one teaspoon of turmeric powder, mix it and you have your natural face wash and soap. Add the natural rose water, flower extract or your choice of essential oils. Dry skin - add more oils, oily skin - add a spoon of baking soda. Throw away your soap cases and get a soap tray about one feet by one feet with about six inches high sides. Place all these ingredients and make your soap daily.

4. Exercise. Incorporate aerobic exercises or morning walks in fresh air into your daily routine. Keep your skin breathing. The life of each cell in our body is three months. Every month one third of our face cells are changing. Identify these cycles, spare extra time during these days to your face. More exercise, more washing, more water.

I can list numerous things but wanted to keep it simple. This is to motivate you to make a beginning. Once you set sail on this natural path, you will find more options.

Don't throw away those expensive face creams, but pledge to stop investing in them for a month. Try this for a month and experience the difference. Give your face a break from chemicals.

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Tadka - Dressings

We have developed our taste buds for cooked food by use of spices. The taste governs our choice of food - dal makhani, dal fry or dal tadka. So I preferred using the word tadka to spice up our raw fruits and vegetables. Every home has a small accomplishment prepared with normal food to enhance the taste like pickles, papad and chutney. In the restaurant we have things like dressings, hummus, dips, etc. We will combine all these fancy names into one - Tadka.


1. Roasted and crushed walnuts, almonds, flaxseeds, sesame, pumpkin seeds, dried coconut, groundnuts, arhar dal, black gram, etc. Build your list as per your taste.

2. Chutney - This is my best tadka. One can blend any taste into it. These are some base ingredient

• Hara dhaniya
• Pudina
• Kari patta
• Moringa leaves
• Green chillies
• Red chillies
• Ginger
• Garlic
• Tomato
• Kabuli chana soaked
• Kala chana soaked
• Apple
• Carrot

3. Use any one of the above and mix ingredients as per your taste. The following are few suggestions.

• Dal chini
• Hari illaichi
• Kali mirch
• Kali illaichi
• Sukha dhaniya
• Lal mirch

4. Fruits - Eating fruits for one week is never a problem. The inhibition may start when you make shift to fruits only breakfast. Ideally we pick up four different colours of fruits and make a bowl. The following may be added.

• Soaked dry fruits.
• Nut milk.
• Dalchini powder.
• Hari illaichi powder.
• Fresh juice.
• Honey.
• Sesame seeds.
• Flaxseeds.
• Pumpkin or magaj seeds.

5.  Taste is an experience built by us to the right food. Since the taste is consciously developed by us, we can develop it again. At birth nature wants us to be greedy and eat more food to develop our body. Our body fully develops at an average age of 25 years. Now we need to stop being greedy and eat only for maintenance of our body. Tadka will help you to achieve this transition. The best Tadka is a Green chutney. Make it using any available green leaves. Simplest of all is, take a cucumber. Blend half of it in a blender and add the rest as small pieces.

6. Tadka for 7 Days

Dry Fruits - almonds -28, walnuts-14, raisins70, pumpkin seeds-70gms, flax-seeds70gms, groundnuts-100gms, sesame seeds-7 teaspoons, magaj-7 teaspoons, dry coconut grated-14 spoons.

7. Chutney - Choose your day. These can be the base and add tomato, garlic, ginger, green chillies, fresh lime and blend it. These ingredients are always part of our weekly purchases.

• Hara Dhaniya
• Nariyal
• Pudina
• Palak/available local green
• Red Chillies
• Garlic
• Ginger

8. Please finalise the menu for Tadka as per your palate and compile the shopping list. My recommendation for seven days-

• 1. Hara dhaniya - 7 small bunches.
• 2. Pudina - one bunch.
• 3. Ginger - 250gms.
• 4. Garlic - one pod.
• 5. Coconut (giri) - one and dry - one.
• 6. Lemon - 7.
• 7. Almond - 28.
• 8. Walnut - 14.
• 9. Dates - 21.
• 10. Magaj + pumpkin seeds - 100gms
• 11. Sesame seeds - 7 spoons required, 100gms as may be used for fruits and salads too.
• 12. Ground nut - 500gms.

(THESE ARE JUST A SUGGESTION)

9. Sprouts - Sprouts add a crunchy flavour to our salad. Best is moong beans sprouts. So today and tomorrow is the day. If you have whole green moong dal at home do it today or even tomorrow will be fine. Sprouting is very simple if you don't ask anyone.

• 1. Take a katori/bowl of moong dal. Roughly one handful is good for a week.
• 2. On first sight you may feel that one handful is less, this is natural. Don't increase the quantity.
• 3. Wash it thoroughly and soak it for 24 hours. Change water once after 12 hours.
• 4. After 24 hours strain the water and store it any container(if perforated available use it) and cover it with a wet cloth.
• 5. Keep rinsing and straining water as per your convenience every 6-7 hours.

That's it. Within 4-5 days you will have sprouts. If you smell something odd, rinse and strain is the magic that works.

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How to Make Simple Water Detox

We regularly get our Motor Cars serviced to enhance there efficiency. Similarly one must regularly do detoxification of the body. The digestion mechanism of our body needs to be cleaned to enable proper absorption of nutrients from the food. Food that we eat is primarily carbohydrates, proteins and fats. The nutrients required by the body are not in a state wherein they can be directly absorbed by our body. Hence the body metabolism breaks down the food we eat into healthy nutrients that are required by our body. In doing so there are many toxins which are by products. Sometimes our auto immune system is unable to flush them out and thus they may harm us.  There are numerous ways to do it. 

Every time I searched the Internet, I always got confused with the different methods. I kept trying all methods and finally adopted a very simple one. Water is very essential part of our body as it is the medium which helps in all the metabolism. A simple Cucumber Detox can be made.

Steps for Cucumber Detox

1. Slice a washed cucumber without peeling into circular slices. Take 4-5 cucumber slices and put it in water (Preferably a glass jug with lid). Allow it to marinate overnight.

2. To prevent cucumber slices to float, use a skewer or fork to keep them submerged.

3. Yours next day's water consumption must be from this jug only. Every time you drink water fill this jug again with water. Change the slices of cucumber ever 3-4 hours.

Using these steps with different fruits/vegetables I have made a seven days detoxification guide for myself.

A Simple Seven Day Detox

Day 1 - Cucumber.

Day 2 - Ginger. Wash an inch of ginger with skin and slice it as thin as possible.

Day 3 - Fresh Coriander/dhaniya Leaves. Wash and cut the roots of 4-5 stems. Tie them and put it in the Jug.

Day 4 - Lemon. Wash a lemon and cut circular slices with skin. Use half lemon.

Day 5 - Orange. Wash an orange/malta/keenu and cut circular slices with skin. Use two slice.

Day 6 - Fresh Mint/Pudina. Wash and tie 4-5 stems put it in the Jug.

Day 7 - Fresh Basil/Tulsi. Wash and tie 4-5 stems put it in the Jug.

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Breakfast - Have only Fruits

Breakfast

The best breakfast for a diabetic patient is fruits. God has been kind and he made the selection of fruits easy by making them in different colours. Select four to five different colours of fruits and prepare a bowl for breakfast. If you are on diabetes medication then 60% of your fruit bowl must contain citrus fruits. There is no restriction of any fruit, one may choose papaya, mango, chikoo and the best is the seasonal fruit. One may have up to one kilogram of fruits before 12 O'clock noon.

Sugar in fruits is natural and body absorption is simple. Refined sugar is broken down by body in two or more processes into sugar which can be useful. Natural sugar is absorbed in a controlled manner by the body whereas the refined sugar goes uncontrolled into blood. Refined sugar is hidden in numerous processed foods and ready-made beverages, whereas fruits are visible and thus enable us to control sugar easily.

Person on diabetes medication will have to eat more fruits to satiate in the beginning because of diabetic medicines. Naturally eating one kilogram of fruit in one sitting is not possible. To start with make two bowls of fruits. Eat the first bowl at about 8 AM and eat the second at 11 AM. Point to note here is to give three hours gap between these two helpings. Second important point to note is - the total quantity of fruits that an individual consumes must be up to one kilogram or less than one kilogram only. When I started eating fruits for Breakfast I used to eat about 900 grams of fruits. Since I was on diabetic medication I had to eat more to satisfy my hunger. Today I can make do with just two bananas and an apple or orange with increased energy levels.

How to Win Over Initial Hunger Pangs

1. Drink your fruits. While eating fruits for breakfast chew them to the extent that they become liquid in your mouth. A medium bowl of fruits must be consumed in 20-25 minutes. By doing so we assist stomach in digesting the fruits faster.
2. Cut small pieces and use a fork to pick each piece - one at a time.
3. Soak 15 to 20 raisins in water for 4 to 5 hours in water. Strain the water and store them in a handy container. Eat one raisin at a time whenever you feel hungry and chew it till it becomes liquid in your mouth. One can have up to 20 raisins in a day.
4. Split your fruits in two helpings. Have one helping around 7-8 AM and second helping after three hours around 10-11 AM.
5. Drink 1-2 glass of water after one hour of having fruits.

Dressing up The Fruits Dress up your fruits with them and let eyes too feast upon them. What's beautiful and tasty is always better for health.

1. Almonds - six (soaked in water overnight).
2. Walnuts - two (soaked in water overnight).
3. Dates/Prunes - three.
4. Coconut Meat/Giri. Add a piece of coconut meat/giri about two inches. This acts like catalyst for all breakdown of food in our body.
5. All nuts and seeds must only be consumed after having soaked in water.

• Hard nuts like almonds and walnuts - 10 to 12 hours overnight.
• Soft variety like cashews and seeds - 4 to 5 hours.

If you start fruits only for breakfast, within a week you will notice a wonderful change. However there is someone within you shouting - Is this my life? Don't listen to that voice. Just carry on, remember it takes 21 days to change habits. Best healthy food stays for lesser time in stomach. Fruits remain in our stomach for one hour and eight hours in our body. Animal protein being complex remains in our stomach for 4 to 6 hours and in our body up to 72 hours.

All and any fruit can be eaten. As mentioned earlier natural sugar never interferes with body functions, it's the refined sugar which causes problems. The selection of acidic or alkaline food matters only when a deficiency or excess of a nutrient exist in the body. For diabetes ideal fruit is citrus fruits. The problem occurs when you consume even one spoon of sugar. The body is lazy and consumes refined sugar first. So remember refined sugar is poison for a diabetic patient.

Eating Fruit on Empty Stomach

We all think eating fruits means just buying fruits, cutting it and just popping it into our mouths. It's not as easy as you think. It's important to know how and when to eat the fruits. What is the correct way of eating fruits?

1. It Means Not Eating Fruits After Your Meals.
2. Fruits Should Be Eaten On An Empty Stomach.

If you eat fruits on empty stomach, it will play a major role to detoxify your system, supplying you with a great deal of energy for weight loss and other life activities. Let's say you eat two slices of bread and then a slice of fruit. The slice of fruit is ready to go straight through the stomach into the intestines, but it is prevented from doing so due to the bread taken before the fruit. In the meantime the whole meal of bread & fruit rots and ferments and turns to acid. The minute the fruit comes into contact with the food in the stomach and digestive juices, the entire mass of food begins to spoil. So please eat your fruits on an empty stomach.

You have heard people complaining - Every time I eat watermelon I burp, when I eat durian my stomach bloats up, when I eat a banana I feel like running to the toilet. Actually all this will not arise if you eat the fruit on an empty stomach. The fruit mixes with the putrefying of other food and produces gas and hence you will bloat. Graying hair, loss of hair, balding, nervous outbursts and dark circles under the eyes all these will not happen if you take fruits on an empty stomach. There is no such thing as some fruits, like orange and lemon are acidic, because all fruits become alkaline in our body. If you have mastered the correct way of eating fruits, you have the secret of beauty, longevity, health, energy, happiness and normal weight.

When you need to drink fruit juice - drink only fresh fruit juice, NOT from the cans, packs or bottles. Don't even drink juice that has been heated up. Don't eat cooked fruits because you don't get the nutrients at all. You only get its taste. Cooking destroys all the vitamins.

But eating a whole fruit is better than drinking the juice. If you should drink the fresh fruit juice, drink it sip by sip slowly, because you must let it mix with your saliva before swallowing it. Best is to eat your fresh fruit juices and not to drink them.

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Being in the Moment

See—not just look at, but truly see—the colors in front of you.
Listen—not just hear, but actually listen—to the sounds around you.
Feel—not just touch, but verily feel—the ground beneath you.
Breathe—not just inhale, but really breathe—the air around you

for example when accidentally your phone slips from your hand, your world shifts to slow motion.

You can’t name the intensity, but it’s so overpowering you can almost taste it as you reach for the plummeting device. Everything is more vivid: the colors are louder, the sounds are brighter, your movement, at least for this split second, mimics the grace of a ballerina.

You are completely in the moment, alert, fully aware of the world around you as the gadget nosedives toward its cracked-screen fate.

Then, suddenly, it’s over. You catch the phone at the last possible second, the panic subsides, and your world speeds up again, covering everything with an opaque layer of dullness, thrust into the prison of daily routine. In a meaningful way, you become less aware—less free.

But it’s possible to channel that same level of awareness on demand, isn’t it?

we need only pause and intentionally slow down the world around us.

See—not just look at, but truly see—the colors in front of you.
Listen—not just hear, but actually listen—to the sounds around you.
Feel—not just touch, but verily feel—the ground beneath you.
Breathe—not just inhale, but really breathe—the air around you.

When we recapture this level of awareness, that is when we experience real freedom.

Practice meditation, be one with the Master. Live In the moment. Discover thy self !

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