Healthy, Happy and Wise!
Healthy, Happy and Wise!
As I was reading this article about brain aches from high sugar, high fat, and high salt foods, my thoughts went from the article to my mother, who recently went thru a heart by-pass surgery. Now she had been a vegetarian all of her life; no meat, no eggs, no alcohol, no smoking, as most of the women and many men are in India are. But this surgery wasn’t a shock since growing up in Punjab, I know how much of animal fat in the form of butter, gheo (ghee as is called in Hindi), Lassi, paneer and hydrogenated vegetable fat in the form of DALDA brand that was used for preparing food at home. That DALDA is nothing but vegetable shortening. Although it was tasty vegetarian food and occasional meat that my father would eat, but I think it finally caught up with her and probably will catch up with me in another 10-20 years. Probably more earlier with me and other siblings since we also ate meat, eggs and drank alcohol as part of our lives. I wish I would never had eaten meat, eggs and drank alcohol. But only can move forward and not dwell on the past. Part of me also wishes and hopes my family stops eating meat but that is another story and post for later. Back to my mother’s health, she is on a low fat, no salt, no sugar diet because of her heart, high Blood Pressure and Diabetes. It is kind of a lesson for me to watch what goes into this body. The other thing this article made me think about is about the number of times I have heard people complain about headaches and bad dreams after they eat meat. I wonder if anybody has done any scientific studies on this because I have met about six or seven different people that told me that they get headaches, or they have bad dreams every time they eat meat.
All I know is that I used to get a lot of nightmares when I drank alcohol and ate meat, but I haven’t really had a nightmare or a bad dream for the four to five years. I wonder if there is any connection. Hangovers are common with alcohol. May be it is a person’s state of mind more than physical effect, but whatever it is, it is all good without meat, and alcohol. It also affects a person’s mood as well. Being edgy, angry, hateful, weak etc, but that is all gone and life is still good overall. Waheguru’s hand is there and hope and pray Guru will not let it go. I need it to cross this dreadful ocean of maya, nightmares, hatred, anger, greed, lust, Wordly affairs that are so many and never seem to end and take away time from Guru, meditation, naam, good thoughts, peace, sat sangat, Gurdwara, seva and all other things Sikhi that I wish and hope to do.
Now let us see what else, this morning during commute, somehow I got thinking about Mukti from a shabad I was listening to on a CD. That got me thinking as to why many people think that Mukti or liberation or salvation whatever you may want to call it usually comes from meditating, praying etc. Then thoughts went to those brave Chali Muktay (the forty liberated ones) that deserted Guru Gobind Singh Sahib but came back to fight in the battlefield. Now that is also a great Mukti, to get liberation thru giving yourself up for the cause of the Guru. It everyday things of life, we or at least I tended to kind to recite and remember their names in Ardas merely mechanically without actually thinking about them, but today’s thought about Mukti really put things in perspective. Hence the name of the town “Mukatsar” where Guru Gobind Singh Ji fought this battle and tore up the letter with names of these 40 singhs. What an honor to name a city after these forty, and yet today’s Punjabis including me tend to forget the important lessons of stories like these in Sikh history. This took me back to my post a few weeks ago about “Then how does one get Mukti?” Now I understand! Waho! Waho! Gobind Singh, Apay Gur Chela. Tera amrit is what I long for and hope will be blessed with one day.
Anyways, getting back to the original article, I wish and pray the whole World would become vegetarian, but I know that is only a wishful thinking. This is all His drama and play including meat eating. The rate this human race is going, there won’t be anything left to grow or hunt to eat in another 200 years, unless, we all tear down what we are building and developing and go back to the basics. We all talk about saving the environment being green this and that, especially in the West, but nobody wants to give up hot showers, give up meat or give up other luxeries. Now there is one that can save a lot of trees, a cold shower or Ishnan as I like to call it in Sikh terms; that is more than even the photocopier or a printer at your workplace. And, it is healthy too! I mean someone had to cut a tree or two trees or mine a bucket or two of coal to warm up that gallon of water for your convenience.
http://www.sikhnet.com/news/brain-aches-food-bathed-badness
As I was reading this article about brain aches from high sugar, high fat, and high salt foods, my thoughts went from the article to my mother, who recently went thru a heart by-pass surgery. Now she had been a vegetarian all of her life; no meat, no eggs, no alcohol, no smoking, as most of the women and many men are in India are. But this surgery wasn’t a shock since growing up in Punjab, I know how much of animal fat in the form of butter, gheo (ghee as is called in Hindi), Lassi, paneer and hydrogenated vegetable fat in the form of DALDA brand that was used for preparing food at home. That DALDA is nothing but vegetable shortening. Although it was tasty vegetarian food and occasional meat that my father would eat, but I think it finally caught up with her and probably will catch up with me in another 10-20 years. Probably more earlier with me and other siblings since we also ate meat, eggs and drank alcohol as part of our lives. I wish I would never had eaten meat, eggs and drank alcohol. But only can move forward and not dwell on the past. Part of me also wishes and hopes my family stops eating meat but that is another story and post for later. Back to my mother’s health, she is on a low fat, no salt, no sugar diet because of her heart, high Blood Pressure and Diabetes. It is kind of a lesson for me to watch what goes into this body. The other thing this article made me think about is about the number of times I have heard people complain about headaches and bad dreams after they eat meat. I wonder if anybody has done any scientific studies on this because I have met about six or seven different people that told me that they get headaches, or they have bad dreams every time they eat meat.
All I know is that I used to get a lot of nightmares when I drank alcohol and ate meat, but I haven’t really had a nightmare or a bad dream for the four to five years. I wonder if there is any connection. Hangovers are common with alcohol. May be it is a person’s state of mind more than physical effect, but whatever it is, it is all good without meat, and alcohol. It also affects a person’s mood as well. Being edgy, angry, hateful, weak etc, but that is all gone and life is still good overall. Waheguru’s hand is there and hope and pray Guru will not let it go. I need it to cross this dreadful ocean of maya, nightmares, hatred, anger, greed, lust, Wordly affairs that are so many and never seem to end and take away time from Guru, meditation, naam, good thoughts, peace, sat sangat, Gurdwara, seva and all other things Sikhi that I wish and hope to do.
Now let us see what else, this morning during commute, somehow I got thinking about Mukti from a shabad I was listening to on a CD. That got me thinking as to why many people think that Mukti or liberation or salvation whatever you may want to call it usually comes from meditating, praying etc. Then thoughts went to those brave Chali Muktay (the forty liberated ones) that deserted Guru Gobind Singh Sahib but came back to fight in the battlefield. Now that is also a great Mukti, to get liberation thru giving yourself up for the cause of the Guru. It everyday things of life, we or at least I tended to kind to recite and remember their names in Ardas merely mechanically without actually thinking about them, but today’s thought about Mukti really put things in perspective. Hence the name of the town “Mukatsar” where Guru Gobind Singh Ji fought this battle and tore up the letter with names of these 40 singhs. What an honor to name a city after these forty, and yet today’s Punjabis including me tend to forget the important lessons of stories like these in Sikh history. This took me back to my post a few weeks ago about “Then how does one get Mukti?” Now I understand! Waho! Waho! Gobind Singh, Apay Gur Chela. Tera amrit is what I long for and hope will be blessed with one day.
Anyways, getting back to the original article, I wish and pray the whole World would become vegetarian, but I know that is only a wishful thinking. This is all His drama and play including meat eating. The rate this human race is going, there won’t be anything left to grow or hunt to eat in another 200 years, unless, we all tear down what we are building and developing and go back to the basics. We all talk about saving the environment being green this and that, especially in the West, but nobody wants to give up hot showers, give up meat or give up other luxeries. Now there is one that can save a lot of trees, a cold shower or Ishnan as I like to call it in Sikh terms; that is more than even the photocopier or a printer at your workplace. And, it is healthy too! I mean someone had to cut a tree or two trees or mine a bucket or two of coal to warm up that gallon of water for your convenience.
http://www.sikhnet.com/news/brain-aches-food-bathed-badness
posted by SikhsRus at 12:55 PM
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