Detox while fasting this Navratra

Wish you all very Happy Navratras.

Navratras are touted to be the most auspicious days of the year. Many people are used to fasting for either all the nine days or tend to opt for specific days like the pair of first and last, even days, odd days and many other combinations whichever suits them. Whatever your choices be, you need to look your best on these days too. The general norm is to eat once in the evening or at night. And, the food is not the regular grains and rice but made from the flour of a fruit which is called 'Kuttu' in hindi. And, it is extremely tasty. No doubt  about it. So, since you would be sticking to a  diet which includes no junk and additives, you can as well take this time off to get a detox session for your body. You do not have to try hard to do anything. There are only two scenarios: one is if you eat only the evening food and abstain from everything in whole of the day or other is if you take fluids whole of your day.

• If you are among the category to abstain from everything until evening dinner, not only your stomach will get the much needed relief but also your liver. 
• If you are among the category who indulges in fluids all time in the day, keep on drinking appropriate amount of water and fruit juices. Keep away from heavy fruits like banana and papaya. Citrus fruits and berries are the best. Or, watermelon, pomegranate and apple juices will also do a good job. 
• If you can indulge in vegetable juices, stay away from fruit juices as they have high sugar content and may cause blood sugar spikes. Spinach juice, tomato juice, carrot juice are among the best to fill you. 
• Stay away from dry fruits as they are heavy for your body.
• Buttermilk is a great way to go about. 
• You can also drink coconut water as it is extremely healthy and filling for the body.
• Now, during your evening food, eat as much as you can. Take a lot of yogurt. Do not bother with sugar and salt. Generally, it is only 'sendha namak' which is used but some people are used to having yogurt with sugar. Avoid that. Another tip is to replace whole potatoes with baby potatoes. Baby potatoes are rich in many vitamins which the big ones miss and they are not very heavy on carbohydrates too. And, of course, they are much more tasty than their counterparts. 
• Avoid fried items like kuttu pakodas and puris. Stay with kuttu parathas made with less or no oil and sabudana khichdi which requires no oil. Use oven to make the parathas. 
• Do not forget to overfill yourself with parathas or whatever you are having because it helps curb your cravings as well as hunger. 

Following these guidelines for all days you fast will help your body to relax and throw away as many toxins as possible. And, do not become a couch potato in your fasting days. Stay reasonably active without overtiring yourself. A little activity as getting up from one chair and sitting down in another after every half hour also helps.

Another issue which I want to address is that people tend to overeat a lot during fasts which is absolutely normal and will not affect you if you eat properly. But, many restaurants and stalls are offering 'vrat ka food' these days which includes a whole range of delicacies from kuttu ka pakoda and puris to desserts acceptable during fasting. This whole menu adds up to more calories than you should eat in a day which ends up making you fat rather than helping in cleansing your body and overtaxes your system also. A home made food is always healthy and delicious so stick to it and make your fasts worthwhile.

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Fennel Seeds: For digestion and detoxification

Fennel Seeds (saunf in hindi) have become increasingly popular these days to aid in digestion. Well, they do deserve their popularity because of the immense health benefits they provide. You would be surprised to hear that something so insignificant can help us stay healthy for a long time. Everyone knows that it is used as an after-meal breath freshener. But, there is more to this natural breath freshener. 

This herb or spice is very much rich in minerals like magnesium, calcium and vitamins like B1, B2 and B3. It helps with proper digestion of your food and also controls your appetite. It cures the acidity or bloating problems of the stomach. Not only that, it also relieves the respiratory problems so people having problems in the respiratory tract or lungs or even sinus problems should take fennel seeds. It also relieves of heartburn and intestinal cramps and spasms. Fennel seeds are great for women especially as they promote growth of the breast tissue and relaxes the uterus helping in menses period. They are also used to treat the hormonal imbalances in the body and stimulates milk production in the nursing mothers.

Since the seeds are high in fiber, they are also great for detoxification of the body and also in losing weight. Regular intake of the seeds help in dealing with the problem of water retention in the body helping in losing weight and also, as said earlier, reduces the appetite. And, foods with high fiber content always helps the body to get cleanse well. So, start chewing a tea spoon of fennel seeds from today and clean your body naturally. Caution: Make sure you are not allergic to the fennel seeds. It is rare but possible.

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Brown Rice: Benefits

Brown Rice is a better substitute to the stipulated white rice. Why? Because it comes with a whole lot of health and beauty benefits instead of just helping in increasing the carbs in the body. 

Brown Rice is very useful in detoxification and losing weight. How? Because of its fibrous nature. When brown rice passes through the oesophagus and the intestinal tract, it absorbs all the toxins along with it and flushes them out of your body. Similarly, due to its fibrous nature, it helps you in losing weight instead of gaining. Since fibre is actually just passed out of the system rather than being absorbed, it is mainly useful in taking out the unnecessary waste from the body. Eating more fiber is actually very healthy for the body. It keeps your body metabolism in check and regulates your bowel movements for one. It helps in lowering the cholesterol and blood sugar levels. 

And, the best benefit of all is that it helps you in losing weight. How? Fiber is actually pretty heavy on stomach and takes a lot of time to chew so while you are busy chewing your food, your brain takes time to register when you are full and consequently, you end up eating less food, most of which passes out of your system. So, you can maintain weight. And, since it just passes out of your body, it clears up all the toxins. Thus, it makes your skin look good from the inside. So, next time you think eating rice, look out for brown rice and it is actually more delicious than the white rice too. And, you think of detoxifying your body without giving up the food, you might want to gorge on brown rice.

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Do you clean your tongue?

I wanted to talk about how to detox your body and then, I came across an article which said that tongue cleaning was a habit which has been carried out since centuries and it actually has a great importance for our body according to Ayurveda. I was a little surprised to read that because I had always thought of it as a habit which has to be carried daily after we brush our teeth and I thought its importance was limited only to hygienic purposes. But, what I came to learn about was that it is one of the ways to help our body get rid of toxins. 

The question which pops to our minds is How? During our sleep, body gets rid of all the toxins in our body, right. So, how do all these toxins get out of our body? Sweat, urination or excretion. Yes. But, some of the toxins also get deposited as a film on our tongue. So comes the ritual of tongue scraping in the morning to remove this film of toxins. The bacteria present in these toxins are also the cause of bad breath. And, they prevent our taste buds from getting a proper taste of the food. How? Because, they get deposited continuously and if not cleaned, the deposits can become pretty thick and the food we eat is not actually tasted by our taste buds. Ultimately, we do not get the feeling of satiety which the taste buds trigger to the brain because taste buds do not know that we are eating. So, we end up overeating and gaining weight in the process. So, I hope you realise how important it is for us to clean our tongues everyday.

Now, how do you clean your tongue? Using a plastic tongue scraper or your brush? Well, both of the methods are not advisable. Plastic is not good for health and the brush actually does not clean the tongue. It just disturbs the bacteria and sometimes, the bacteria can begin breeding in the brush too which is definitely not good for your dental health. So, you should use a tongue scraper made of gold, silver, stainless steel or brass to avoid toxicity from metals. Be gentle while using the scraper but firmly remove the debris from your mouth. Hold the scraper on both sides and place it at the back of the tongue near the tonsils and start scraping from there. Repeat the movements 5 times. Clean the scraper properly and disinfect it occasionally using baking soda.

Today's Lesson: Detox your body by making tongue scraping a habit.

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