In this video you will learn, as part of your Ayurveda daily morning routine how to pull oil and how to make a wonderful tea that will detox your body and therefore your entire body. (By the way, most good dentists would nowadays recommend their patients to pull oil on a daily basis).
Category Archives: health care
ayurvedic detox juice
In this video you will learn how to make a delicious vegetable and fruit juice, full of essential nutrients and antioxidants that will detoxify your body. You should try to drink this every two to three days.
vegetable stock > lentil soup
Learn how to make a tasty, healthy vegetable stock that can be adapted as a base sauce for any meal or converted into a lentil or bean soup in this somewhat tongue-in-cheek video.
Culling healthy animals is criminal
According to one female farmer in the UK this week, “Culling healthy animals is criminal.” Let’s start with this disgusting euphemism “culling”. This word means: “to reduce the population of a wild animal by selective slaughter.” This word is used so that we think that it is normal and good that animals are born and reared in order to die in order to produce meat for human consumption. But any killing of animals is rightly termed as animal slaughter. But when there aren’t enough butchers around to slaughter the animals, then we “cull” thousands of them instead. And only culling is criminal, not raising them and slaughtering them for human consumption. Animals are sentient beings, just like human beings, and it should be made illegal to slaughter them. The pain and fear they experience in the lead-up to and while being slaughtered is exactly what any human being would experience. “To animals reared for food production, all humans are Nazis.” Ironic and tragic also , then, that the nations of the world with the largest religious communities eat the most animal flesh.
Next I come to why we have a shortage of slaughterers in the UK. Because of Brexit. Every reader of this blog knows that I have been pro-European since the age of 18 and that I vehemently opposed Brexit and all the lies that were told to the British people. Now we have one of the many consequences: animals being culled, empty supermarket shelves, a shortage of nurses and carers. The list goes on. And Boris Johnson thinks he can solve this problem by allocating six-month work visas to EU workers after all. The reaction to date has proved that he can dream on.
And talking of Boris Johnson and the EU, this week has seen refugees drowning in the Channel. Tragedy beyond belief. Boris Johnson’s diplomatic response is to post a three-page letter on Twitter in English addressed to the French President, Emmanuel Macron. Quite rightly, President Macron responded that Boris Johnson could not be taken seriously and that he is no more than “clown” leading a formerly great nation and potential ally of France. He is right, let’s face it. And why does Johnson not have any advisers who told him that he needed to have his undiplomatic letter published in French? This kind of insular arrogance beggars belief.
This has not been a good week for the UK. At least Boris the Buffoon can carry on drinking gin, ignoring his responsibility to all the children he has fathered and illegally celebrating parties at Number 10, as if Corona really were just a joke Pepper Pig illness that just kills off a few elderly people who we would be better of without anyway.
Meanwhile, the church also has nothing to say about human beings dying in the Channel who so desperately needed Christian compassion. Instead, they look on, vote for the most racist Foreign Minister I have experienced during my lifetime, Priti Patel, rub their meat-filled tummies and celebrate how much a non-existent God loves them, at least.
“There are two ways to be fooled. One is to believe what isn’t true; the other is to refuse to believe what is true.”
― Soren Kierkegaard
Ayurveda – detoxification
The first thing I did once I had read up on the subject of Ayurveda (see book recommendations in my last post) was to detoxify my body. I was keen to see if the Ayurvedic principles would work and, if they did, whether I would actually feel physically and mentally healthier. I was convinced by the argument that we are constantly putting toxic substances into our body on a daily basis: animal fats, pesticides and antibiotics, genetically modified produce, alcohol, coffee along with unhealthy bacteria in our water and air. Our bodies are sophisticated enough to adapt to the absorption and partial excretion of all these poisons to the point where we often don’t even notice any obvious effects from them. In reality, however, they all affect every person in different ways, be it in our sleep patterns, digestive disorders, inflammation, infections, mental sluggishness, mood swings and as the nefarious root of diseases such as arthritis, diabetes and cancer.
So I began with an ayurvedan three-stage detoxification process that starts from the moment you wake up until the moment you fall asleep. The three stages build slowly so that you have time to adjust your lifestyle and to incorporate new rituals into your daily routine.
Phase One
So let’s begin by taking a look at the best way to start your day during your first attempt at the first stage of detoxification:
- When you wake up, try to recall any significant dreams and begin your day with an attitude of gratitude for your sleep, health and the start of a new day. Stretching a litte is good too.
- Then go into the bathroom, evacuate as necessary and splash some cold or lukewarm water on your face. Better still, gently wipe your eyes with some pure rose water.
- From there you should go to your kitchen and drink 2-3 glasses of warm water, ideally with some freshly squeezed lemon juice, in order to activate your digestive system and re-hydrate your body after sleeping. You can at this point take any nutritional supplements you require and include the Ayurvedic herb TRIPHALA that can be bought in capsule form.
- In addition to TRIPHALA, which really promotes the detoxification process in your body, you should also make some “CCF” tea that you can pour into a thermos flask and drink throughout the day. This tea has a wonderfully detoxifying effect on your system. “CCF” stands for coriander, cumin and fennel. You simply put a small tea spoon of each of these spices into 1 litre of water and allow it to simmer for about 10 minutes. I also add some slices of fresh ginger and a tea spoon of fenugreek because of their additional flavour and health benefits.
- You should then pull oil. For me this took some getting used to, since I do not like the consistency of oil on my hands or in my mouth. But it is worth overcoming your issues. Pulling oil involves putting about a tablespoon of either sesame or coconut oil in your mouth and swilling it around, rather like you might do with a mouth wash, for 10 – 30 minutes. While you are doing this, you can be tidying up, preparing your breakfast, making your CCF tea, planning your day or whatever, so there is no time wasted. You should spit the oil out in the bin and not down the sink.
- Next, it’s back to your bathroom in order to scrape your tongue with a tongue scraper and then your brush your teeth. Oil pulling, tongue-scraping and brushing your teeth will help to get rid of all the toxins that have built up during the night, leave your breath smelling sweet and your teeth feeling as if you have just had a professional teeth polishing by your dentist. (By the way, as any good dentist will tell you, you should not clean your teeth for at least half an hour after your breakfast or any meal, otherwise you are actually brushing any residual sugars and food stains into the enamel of your teeth!)
- In Ayurveda, you get to enjoy two extremely healthy and detoxing breakfasts, if you have time. First, it is great to start with some fruit, for example, banana, kiwi, orange, mango, apple or berries. You should allow your body 20 – 30 minutes to digest these before eating your main breakfast. So this is the perfect time to have a shower and so on. Or you could use this time for meditation or yoga (more on these two subjects in a later blog).
- Before you shower, if you have time, spoil your body with a dry brush massage before you shower. This not only feels fantastic, but it also exfoliates dead skin that includes some of the toxins that are being excreted by the largest organ of your body. It can also help against the formation of cellulite and it moves toxins that have gathered in your body by “pushing” them towards your lymph nodes that vitally support your immune system. Concluding your shower with cold water is also medically proven to strengthen your immune system.
- After your shower, if you have time, massage your body with an appropriate oil, moisturising cream or body butter in order to feed and hydrate your clean skin.
To begin with, this whole process seems to take way too long, but after a few weeks, you will find ways to speed the process up and, as I said, to do two things at once. Furthermore, you will not only begin to feel so much better that your newfound wellness encourages you to invest the time, but you will also have more energy and be more efficient during your day, easily regaining the time you have invested in the morning.
For me, there were also several other very important consequences of incorporating these ayurvedic routines into my daily life, but more about those in a later blog.
Personifying Anxiety
In the last few weeks I have started using the Calm app in order to meditate. I can recommend it for anyone who is looking for guided meditation. I’m very new to mediation, though, and got into it as part of enjoying the Ayurveda way of life in recent months. When I used to pray, the focus was always either on worshipping God or praying for other people. In meditation, you get to focus on yourself, not just out of selfishness, but also with the aim of being in a better place to serve others.
This morning, the app’s very gifted Canadian main author and speaker, Tamara Levitt, encouraged what was effectively the personification of anxiety.
While I was sitting in a quiet place, first focussing on my breathing, she then encouraged me to think about a situation that causes me fear and anxiety. She prompted me to locate where in my body I could feel this anxiety, physically manifested, as it were. Once I had found it (it could be in your jaw, forehead, chest or gut, for example), I was encouraged to describe for myself its size, its shape, its colour, its intensity and so on. That’s why I’m calling it personification. I acknowledged it without judging it, giving it space and room to manifest itself as a genuine concern in my life – yet all the time aware that my anxious thoughts do not necessarily correspond to reality. I spoke to my anxiety, giving it genuine recognition, saying that I would address it at a future moment, but for now letting it drift away, like the leaves floating leaves on a nearby stream. At the end of just ten minutes, I felt so much more peaceful and even assured that the challenging situation I had been thinking about would one day be resolved. If there is one certainty about any situation in life, it is that it will not stay the same.
A clearer head left me better equipped to start work … at least until a different kind of anxious thought came into my head that would not leave me alone. Hence today’s unplanned blog.
I am referring to the battle raging between Jews and Muslims in Palestine and Israel as I write. I can’t stop placing myself in the minds of my fellow human beings who are living in an overwhelming fear of death. Back in 1997 I spent the night in Belfast and a bomb went off at the end of the road where my hotel was situated. Before the flight home, we all had to get off the plane and identify our suitcases that had been removed from the hold before we could take off because they suspected that we had a bomb on board. The tangible and unforgettable fear I experienced was existentially unsettling in a scary, new way for me, but it was nothing in comparison to what the people in Palestine and Israel must be experiencing right now, especially the children, elderly and infirm.
I’m tempted to take sides at this point, but that won’t help. You can guess what I think anyways. Plus the fact that we don’t have much of a right to say anything, since our countries are benefitting from the enormous wealth we have made by selling Israel and Palestine the weapons they are using to annihilate one another. What we can say, however, is that these war crimes, ethnic cleansing and genocide are being perpetrated because of the revolting and fatal division created by religion, or belief in a different, superior God. How many lives and despicable tortures would never have taken place, if , instead of a primitive, selfish belief in a non-existent God, human beings recognised their beauty, complexity and racial unity with one another and the universe. Even or especially when wrongful political decisions are made.
“If there is an omnipotent God – in the sense of a Creator of the universe, then he / she / they must surely be capable of communicating in a credible and unambiguous way with the entire human race. The absence of this reality, together with the culturally and geographically different accounts of who God is, is ultimately evidence that God is a human creation, invented in order to to justify oligarchical laws and to promulgate tribal superiority. The concomitant racial hatred results in division, untold suffering and unnecessary death.” Beyond Redemption – a shorty story by Nigel Dutton
This religious division does not start at the national or inter-faith level, but already within one and the same faith and ultimately in individual human hearts. When I was a member of the Newfrontiers sect, our church was invited to join in on certain ecumenical activities promoted by the Roman Catholic and Anglican churches across our town. Our church never joined in on the basis that we could not possibly be united with churches that did not believe the gospel and preach the Bible. My former mentor and pastor, whom I still fondly respect and admire, would say to me and even to the other church leaders, “Why would I want to put my race horse (referring to his church) along side your cart horses (referring to their churches)?” If such theological arrogance can exist within one faith, it becomes easier to understand how divisive fanaticism caused by such hateful division between different religions can lead to the appalling suffering that it happening right at this moment between Muslim human beings and Jewish human beings who live in the same street.
Faith really is, as Nietzsche said, a refusal to believe what is true. My hope and intention is that, as the world becomes more enlightened, religious differences might one day be put aside and that people will look first and foremost to the miracles that unite them.
I’ll end with probably one of the deepest lyrics on this subject ever written:
But if you only have love for your own race
Then you only leave space to discriminate
And to discriminate only generates hate
And when you hate then you’re bound to get irate, yeah
Madness is what you demonstrate
And that’s exactly how anger works and operates
Man, you gotta have love just to set it straight
Take control of your mind and meditate
Let your soul gravitate to the love, y’all, y’all
Black Eyed Peas
Post scriptum: today is Ascension Day, a day on which we remember that the resurrected Jesus Christ ascended into heaven in bodily form and now sits, still in his resurrected, new-order, imperishable human body on the throne of eternal heaven, ruling the world and the universe and sovereign over the control of the thoughts and actions of every single (even unborn) child, man and woman.
I think Nietzsche can probably rest his case.
How it all began
In August 2020, I fell off my bike by hitting a high curb on a bridge in Prenzlauer Berg and injured myself badly. A young Indian student was passing by and went to get lengths to help me. When I insisted on carrying on my journey to visit my daughter, he gave me his cell phone number and asked me to contact him in the next few days in order to let him know that I was alright. When I wrote to him a few days later, he invited me to visit his research centre in Berlin where he is writing his doctorate on the subject of DNA sequencing. It turned out to be a very impressive, central location and even the main staircase of the building was designed in the shape of the double helix (see the above photo).
Our conversation on the roof-top café led on to health in general, and it was on that warm, late summer evening that I first encountered Ayurveda. I subsequently read a few books on the subject and was particularly interested in the overlap with plant-based nutrition and veganism.
If you would like to know more, I can definitely recommend the following two introductions: “Ayurveda” by Sahara Rose Ketabi and, for German-speaking readers, “Wie neu geboren durch modernes Ayurveda” by Kulreet Chaudhary.
Since the beginning of February this year, I have tried to follow the 4 – stage detoxification process recommended in Chaudhary book and these have been the results so far:
- I have lost 7 kg in weight (I wanted to anyways)
- My previoulsy off-course LDL cholesterol has decreased to an acceptable level
- My pre-diabetic level of glucose has receded to a non-diabetic level
- My blood pressure has normalised and I have stopped taking my medication for high blood pressure (under my doctor’s scrutiny)
- I feel fitter and healthier and my VO2 level has increased to 47.8 (apparently very high for my age)
- I have generally gone off foods and drinks that are not good for me
- I feel calmer and more at peace with the world.
The down sides were a phase of unpleasant body odour, skin rashes, a boil on my leg and a nasty bout of gout in my right foot. I can’t prove that these were a result of detoxification, but I think so.
In spite of enthusiastic affirmations to the contrary from fans of Ayurveda, the scientific proof that it works is almost non-existent. Nonetheless, I can without a doubt say that it has worked for me, albeit in tandem with a fairly strict sports regime. Therefore, in the next few blog articles, I’d like to share some tips and experiences from Ayurveda that I have found especially helpful, even, or perhaps especially, during the restrictions caused by Covid-19. Maybe you’d like to give it a try?
“There’s only one corner of the universe you can be certain of improving, and that’s your own self.” Aldous Huxley
Choose vegan: Update #4
Mixed salad topped with tempeh and vegan bacon fricassée
Well, I guess it’s been over three months now since I made the decision to become a vegan and I still have no regrets. I am still enjoying all the benefits and finding that the only disadvantage concerns the amount of time it takes to keep cooking two meals a day if the rest of your family are not vegans.
I am also still discovering new taste experiences from vegan bacon to liquid smoke and nutritional yeast and I have taken up jogging before I go to work in the morning. Although my sole motivation for becoming a vegan was animal welfare, the spin-off has been a loss of 3 kilos in 3 months and a renewed sense of fitness in body and mind.
In recent weeks, perhaps as the result of so many fatal and horrendous “natural disasters”, I have been stumbling across articles about how a plant-based life-style is essential for the protection of our environment.
Among the major issues we face in the modern day are climate change, dwindling natural resources, global health epidemics, and the inhumane treatment of animals. What do all of these problems have in common? Each one is intrinsically linked to, and largely driven by, our global society’s dependence on animal-sourced protein.
As developing nations have gained wealth and worldwide demand for meat and dairy has subsequently risen, the animal agriculture industry has mastered the art of producing animal products en masse in the cheapest, most “efficient” way possible.
As a direct result, the environment, our resources, and all life on earth are now in grave danger. In fact, our obsession with cheeseburgers and chicken wings has brought us into such a disastrous situation that the United Nations Environment Programme (UNEP) recently labelled meat as “the world’s most urgent problem.” And this is not an exaggeration.
Industrial animal agriculture is responsible for producing more greenhouse gases than the entire transportation sector combined. Not to mention this destructive industry is to blame for widespread air and water pollution, plus mass deforestation, all of which are threatening species around the world and rapidly advancing global warming and resultant climate change.
Given the magnitude of the problems associated with industrial meat and dairy production, scientific experts have emphasised that there is simply no way for us to meet the targets spelled out in the Paris Climate Agreement unless we significantly cut back the scale of animal agriculture on an international level. Global problems are never some one else’s responsibility.
I am delighted to say, however, that some global companies are moving in the right direction. Google, for example, has designed their cafeterias to be “plant-forward,” analysing consumer behaviour to encourage their employees (or as they say, users) to consume more plant-based foods and fewer animal products at meal times. And the Human Society of the US’s comprehensive Meatless Monday campaign that has helped 263 school districts provide meatless meals one day a week (and consequently eliminated close to 600,000 tons of carbon dioxide emissions and saved the lives of 10.3 million land animals in just five years). This is especially encouraging because we know that changing human behaviour starts with education, whether we’re talking about racial tolerance, understanding that religion is a social construct or animal welfare and protecting our environment.
Furthermore, promoting a plant-based life-style has been a taboo in schools for decades since parents quickly put a stop to it by claiming their children are being brainwashed by radical lefties and animal rights campaigners, an objection which is mainly based on parents not wanting to have to change their own diet and certainly not wanting to have to go to all the extra effort of preparing vegan meals for their children. This objection is certainly not based on empirical evidence or an education that tells the truth about human meat and dairy consumption. I can only hope that this will continue to change thanks to the people in HSUS, Peta and other such organisations.
So, my friends, stopping asking others why they have become vegans and start asking yourself why you are not.
Finally, if you’d like to see the videos that effected this radical change in my life, here they are again:
“The world is a dangerous place, not because of those who do evil, but because of those who look on and do nothing.” Albert Einstein
VanMoof Electrified S
I am a UK citizen but have been living in Berlin for the last 8 years. I have been a keen cyclist since a teenager but have got even more into cycling since moving to Berlin. I cycle from north Spandau to Prenzlauer Berg every day (roughly 38 km a day or last year 9.800 km in a year).
My third bike got stolen recently and on the night I went to my local bike repair shop in Gleimstraße to buy a replacement, I happened to see this cool dude on an amazing bike outside the Schönhauser Allee Arcaden. I knew that this was the bike I wanted, had no idea that it might be electric etc. I didn’t even remember the name right (thought it had a “Z” in it) so couldn’t find it on the internet. In the end I searched for “Fahrrad mit Lampe im Rahmen” and I found the bike straight away. When I read the vision of the company on their website, I was overwhelmingly convinced that I had found the right bike. Then I discovered that the only branch of Van Moof was in my Kiez! So I went there and I have to say that the customer service/sales team were outstanding.
Now comes the honesty moment. I on purpose tried a non-electrified Vanmoof before trying the Electrified S, thinking that the latter would outshine the former. In reality, I preferred the non-electrified version since I am used to changing gears and feeling in control. Plus I love the bonus of daily exercise for my health. Somehow, however, perhaps in part due to the 30 day opportunity to change one’s mind, I decided to take a risk and to go for the Electrified S. I freely admit that this decision was guided also a bit by the desire for prestige and wanting to turn some heads (which the bike in an understated way definitely does).
After just a few days I was totally convinced. The bike is superb in every respect. The attention given to detail is truly amazing. Design: amazing. The quality of the parts: amazing. Riding position and comfort, even without suspension over cobbled streets: amazing. I still get my daily exercise, however I am constantly travelling at 30 km/h and nearly as fast uphill or against the wind. It’s a great experience for anyone who needs to get around a city like Berlin. I am a single parent father with four children, yet I am easily able to do the daily shopping with the carriers attached to the rear bike rack.
By the way, the app is also good but a bit glitchy and has masses of room for exciting development. And the “peace of mind” warranty does what it says. If your bike gets stolen, thanks to the built-in GPS, the VanMoof guys go looking for it. If they can’t find it, you get a new bike. Simple.
I have also noticed that this wonderful cycling experience comes with a health warning! I can’t help noticing how both car drivers and pedestrians are not accustomed to bikes travelling so fast! Hence, cars so frequently cut you up because they do not realise how fast you are travelling and pedestrians, who often do not hear you coming, are also shocked and step out unexpectedly right out in front of you, so you have to be much more alert than when you are riding an ordinary bike.
Conclusion: if you live in a city and you like cycling and you have some money to spare, buy a VanMoof Electrified S. You won’t regret it.
“Cycling is possibly the greatest and most pleasurable form of transport ever invented. It’s like walking only with one-tenth of the effort. Ride through a city and you can understand its geography in a way that no motorist, contained by one-way signs and traffic jams, will ever be able to. You can whiz from one side to the other in minutes. You can overtake £250,000 sports cars that are going nowhere fast. You can park pretty much anywhere. It truly is one of the greatest feelings of freedom once can have in a metropolitan environment. It’s amazing you can feel this free in a modern city.” Daniel Pemberton
Choose vegan: Update #3
Spanish “vegan” salad
I’ve just got back from a wonderful two weeks in Spain (Andalusia). It is so easy to relax there and I love everything about it: the people, the weather, the language, the culture, the music, the sea and the food. And they never seem to go to bed, not even families with young children. Ernest Hemingway wrote: “There is no night life in Spain. They stay up late but they get up late. That is not night life. That is delaying the day.”
Being a vegan in Spain was much harder than in Berlin. In fact, I failed to keep going. I had lunch on my first day in a chiringuito overlooking the Mediterranean. I asked the waiter for a vegan salad. He looked puzzled and asked for confirmation. “Just salad, please,” I explained, “maybe some tomato, cucumber, peppers and lettuce – nothing that has come from an animal.”
“Sí, señor,” he replied confidently as he went away to place my order with the kitchen. About ten minutes later, my vegan salad arrived (see photo above) complete with a mound of tuna fish and sliced egg.
I had a similar experience in the shops and supermarkets. It was so much more difficult to find almond milk or soya yoghurt and although I managed to buy some tofu, I could not find any seitan or tempeh.
There is a paradox here somewhere. It is currently harder to live a plant-based life in Spain where there is an abundance of fresh fruit and vegetables than it is in Germany where there is an abundance of meat and where we import so much of our fruit and vegetables from Spain. How can this be? Why is that veganism, rather like buying organic produce, is a privilege of the stronger economy?
Leaving the politics, power and lobbying of the meat and dairy industry to one side, I can only assume that we are dealing with a matter of culture and education. When your country is more than three-quarters surrounded by a sea teeming with fish, naturally it becomes part of the culture to enjoy paella, salpicón, fish soup and barbecued sardines. Yet we know that doing something for cultural reasons does not make it morally right. Were Spanish children to be exposed to the truth about the suffering that these fish and other animals in the meat and dairy industry endure, I am confident that there would be a gradual shift in the culture too. Then, countries like Spain would become the ideal place to enjoy a plant-based lifestyle.
And finally, what about vegans killing flies or buying down pillows, leather sofas or wearing wool pullovers?
Logically, if the primary motivation for a plant-based lifestyle is to prevent the unnecessary suffering of animals, then it would be better to avoid killing wasps and flies and so on if at all possible. I hope you get my gist. To go into more detail rapidly becomes absurd. For example, when I was in Spain, there was a plague of jellyfish. These fascinating animals have no eyes, no heart and no brain. Would it be okay to kill them? I’d still say, better not.
With down pillows, leather sofas and wool pullovers, the answer is easier. In order to produce these goods, animal suffering is nearly always involved. One glance at the videos contained in the hyperlinks above should be enough to convince you.
Now I’m back home, I am back on course with my plant-based diet and feel better for it. However, I am still a bit jittery about the latest Brexit statements coming for the UK. Apparently, it could happen that UK citizens living in Europe will no longer receive their pensions. Ah well, as my son said, at least I could go and open the first vegan restaurant in Torremolinos?
“I would sooner be a foreigner in Spain than in most countries. How easy it is to make friends in Spain!” – George Orwell