Portrait image of Dr Rampa in his russet robe.

Diets & Fasting

Portrait image of Dr Rampa in his russet robe.
This world, this existence, is the testing place wherein our spirit is purified by the suffering of learning to control our gross flesh body

Diets are a real cul-de-sac fad today and spiralling totally out of control. All these trends are a total waste of money as all you need to do is eat sensibly, a balanced input that means no snacks here and there. Sensible meals which includes balance of vegetables and fruit whilst drinking plenty of water before and during any meal. All these diet fads today are just after your money and nothing else. The saying goes "you are what you eat" and that is very true. Today there is too much fast-food and ready meals all packed with cheap contents to pack-out or bulk-up creating a produce that is unhealthy for the body, hence one motive why we have so much obesity.

Jamie Oliver, a well loved and renowned English chef, created a big fuss in the UK regarding school dinners and showed the nation that a child's disrupted behaviour was largely down to poor nutrition, discipline was the other missing factor. Jamie changed their diets cutting out all fast foods, chips, pizzas, burgers, the infamous turkey twizlers, Cola and all other fizzy drinks.

All those kids who had zero attention spans at school very soon changed and became model students, even their parents were amazed by the changes. Constipation is caused by eating and drinking such processed rubbish, with many it's over indulging, but when your body is clogged-up it doesn't work as it should thus leaving you sluggish, cranky and bad tempered. Fasting will help but more about that later.

If you look at the ingredients of any modern food dish, sweets, cakes, etc., you will see countless e-numbers. Now these e-numbers are one of many direct cause of disruptive children which has since been proven medically. The portions of each e-number, an unnatural manufactured additive, is perhaps safe in a single dose however as nearly everything you eat has numerous e-numbers added to it the accumulation totals of these e-numbers then becomes a danger.

Dr Mike Fitzpatrick from New Zealand has since discovered that soya contains toxins and plant oestrogens powerful enough to disrupt women's menstrual cycles in experiments. It also appeared damaging to their thyroids. More than 60% of all processed food today contains soya in some form, according to food industry estimates. It is in breakfast cereals, cereal bars and biscuits, cheeses, cakes, dairy desserts, gravies, noodles, pastries, soups, sausage casings, sauces and sandwich spreads. Soya, crushed, separated and refined into its different parts, can appear on food labels as soya flour, hydrolysed vegetable protein, soy protein isolate, protein concentrate, textured vegetable protein, vegetable oil (simple, fully, or partially hydrogenated), plant sterols, or the emulsifier lecithin. Its many guises hint at its cheap value to food manufacturers.

Soya is also in cat food and dog food. But above all it is used in agricultural feeds for intensive chicken, beef, dairy, pig and fish farming. Soya protein that accounts for 35% of the raw bean is what has made the global factory farming of livestock for cheap meat a possibility. Soya oil high in omega 6 fatty acids and 18% of the whole bean has meanwhile driven the post war explosion in snack foods around the world. Crisps, confectionery, deep-fried take-away foods, ready-meals, ice-creams, mayonnaise and margarines all make liberal use of it. Its widespread presence is one of the reasons our balance of omega 3 to omega 6 essential fatty acids is so out of balance.

There is a book out titled "Not on the Label" which informs us of what manufactures do to food before you get it, to "bulk-out" the product, mainly to increase weight so you pay more for the product. Amongst many other horrible things they do with food before you get it. This book is an eye opening account of modern food manufacturing practices and what has taken place over the last 20 years in how food is manufactured and delivered to your supermarkets and tables. Highly artificially refined and full of additives, one of the many reasons for obesity and an additional source to disruptive children.

How many of us actually understand the contents on food labels when we read them? This ignorance about the food we eat and the health implications is because of a continuous stream of additives that you cannot continue to ignore. This book details some horrifying manufacturing practices involved everyday staple foods such as bread, chicken, etc. This book details modern methods used principally in the UK and Europe, but the same food practices are used the world over.

A whole range of food additives don’t even get listed on the ingredients. They are called enzymes and these enzymes are kept secret because they do not appear on the label. Industrial bakers use a loophole to classify them as processing aids. The problem for vegetarians and vegans, or for that matter for Jews and Muslims, is that some of these enzymes are manufactured from animals, including pigs. Many describe this as a deception that allows the food industry to manipulate what we eat without telling us. It also pinpoints issues such as the vast amounts of power supermarkets wield over food suppliers both in price and their insatiable demands for cosmetic perfection in the goods they sell, the vicious cycle of underpaid agricultural workers and an unscrupulous reliance on adulteration of manufactured food and a high use of steroids and fertilizers on the farm. Over 85% of the world’s food is now controlled via the supermarkets. If you care at all about the quality of the food you eat and the impacts of modern food adulteration on your health this investigative journalists book is one you should read. It'll change how you view what you see when you go to the supermarket.

Fasting is something which we should all do every few months, depending on one's lifestyle. That should last a minimum of five consecutive days, but longer if you prefer. If you are going to fast make sure that you are in reasonably good health and do not have any of those diseases or complaints such as diabetes or heart diseases, because you can really upset yourself by fasting if you do have such ailments. Assured on these points then you should make sure that your internal plumbing is in good order and that you are not suffering from hold-ups in the rear delivery department, i.e. constipation! You should take a natural Senna laxative the day beforehand so that you are fairly empty inside before you start. Then you completely stop eating, but you do not stop drinking. If you are fasting you would be well advised to take that which the medical profession calls a clear liquid diet and that certainly does NOT include alcohol.

As you are not going to eat anything during your fasting what should you drink? You only drink plenty of water, organic fruit and vegetable juices, but NOTHING of a solid nature whatever. Not even milk because milk is too solid for this purpose. The consistency of the drink should be like water and not like milkshakes. Most Smoothies (alternatively spelt as Smoothy) are out as they can be full of sugar and that is not what you need when fasting. For better results cut out all tea and coffee for the duration. Do NOT drink energy drinks whilst fasting as they make a mockery of fasting; also the high volumes most people drink these days are just going to make them diabetic later on in life, as medical science is discovering.

Fasting is giving your stomach, intestines and bowel a well deserved break from constantly being overworked by the volume of food, or what is passed off as food these days, that people cram down their throats without another thought. Now, do not think that you are going to fast and eat sweets, biscuits or the usual between meal snacks as that is not fasting, that is cheating and that is making the whole fasting a farce. So stop eating all solids and do quite a bit of resting. You WILL lose weight and rediscover genuine hunger pains when you do a seven day fasting and it will not kill you. You will not rediscover real hunger pains until at least day five or seven of your fasting depending on your size and weight.

Don't get any fruit or vegetable drinks that are made from concentrates, it must be 100% pure fruit or vegetable juice. All concentrates are around 80% recycled tap water that means they have very little nutritional value, as the process of concentrating destroys the nutrients and vitamins, therefore a waste of time drinking. Most of all todays food is processed which means it lacks essential nutrients, vitamins and minerals, hence the reason for insisting on organic. Organic has nothing added and nothing removed, exactly as nature intended and full of goodness.

Whilst fasting, you can sit and read, listen to the radio or even watch TV but no gallivanting off to the cinema or to the pub. Anything of that nature is completely forbidden. If you do you will deplete your fat resources faster than expected and will suffer from very bad headaches. So when fasting you do absolutely nothing but rest, as real fasting require you forgo mobility.

You see, if you are going to fast your body has got to keep on working and the only way it can keep on working is to gradually absorb the stored up food in your body cells, that means your fat cells, which today's people have more than plenty of. If you go racing around, going out on social occasions, or doing manual work then you will lose weight far too quickly and will definitely risk collapse, but certainly very bad headaches. To give you an idea of what I am talking about let me tell you that of late there have been an astonishing number of really obese people who have had an operation to short-circuit perhaps six or ten feet of their intestines so they do not absorb their food so much. If too much of the intestine has been short-circuited then the person loses weight too rapidly and all sorts of strange things happen. Go carefully then if you are going to fast correctly as you must stop eating and working. You must rest, and by rest it is meant that you should not go out, or do shopping, or go to any entertainments outside the home, and not even any housework. If you want to fast and get all the benefits of fasting without any of the drawbacks you will have to forego not merely solid food but also mobility.

You need a lot of fluid otherwise you will become quickly dehydrated and if you are dehydrated you will affect your health very badly. It is a horrible thing to happen to one. Certain people with poor health find that if they do fast their liver becomes affected so make sure that your health is good enough before you go in for any of these things like fasting. How long should you fast? Well, until you start seeing things if you like. You can go quite easily five or seven days without food and with many excellent results, but try a two day weekend fasting for starters, take thing slowly as it's not a race.

You can only fast so long as you feel the need to fast. You should not fast more than seven days without taking the advice of your doctor, if you feel uncertain about fasting. If he is the ordinary crummy type of fellow who can see no further than his medical text books he will tell you straight out that you are crazy to fast, but that is because he's never done it. However, for your own protection you should always get medical advice if you are going to fast for more than seven days. When you start to eat after your fasting don't just gulp down burgers and pizzas or you will have all sorts of troubles, indigestion and very bad painful indigestion it will be.

When you are fasting (correctly) your stomach shrinks. It can shrink to the size of a small egg because there is no reason why it should be distended if you are not taking in solid food. Well, after seven days or so your stomach is the size of a small egg, and it has become used to being that size, so if you suddenly get tired of fasting and cram down a whole load of solid food then your stomach will have to distend far more than it likes, and in doing so you will get severe stomach pains. Also your intestines will have shrunk through having no material inside and the intestines too will have to stretch enormously. If you go and gormandise after seven days of fasting you will get more aches and pains than you thought possible from such a simple thing as eating.

After a period of fasting take very light meals, liquid soups, milk and a few biscuits. Next day take a bit more but do not go back to your normal food intake until about three or four days after completing your fasting period. In that way you will get good results from your fasting but contrariwise, if you go and stuff yourself after a fast you will harm yourself which will make your fasting a pointless exercise. Best plan of action would be to create a new sensible and nutritional regime before starting your fasting to include food for when your fasting has stopped.

The only real exercises you really need are detailed within Breathing & Exercise. By taking a long walk of at least a couple of miles whilst drinking at least 2 litres of water each day will see improvements within yourself. Combined with sensible eating and fasting your health and well-being will improve beyond belief. Some of you have asked if I have tried this, and yes I have, with a 10Kg weight loss on a 7 day fast. Exactly what I was drinking to achieve a safe weight loss of 10Kg in one week is this:

Following these simple instructions you can easily lose around 8 to 10 Kilos in five days of fasting and a further 2Kg over the next two days, as it's normal to continue losing some weight after ending your fast. That is until your system becomes used to eating again. I have achieved this 10Kg weight loss in a one-week period without any problems what-so-ever and so can you if you plan your fast sensibly.

Barley Water. You would help your kidneys enormously and help overcome arthritic and rheumatic conditions if you would drink a lot of barley water. It's more beneficial if you make your own barley water than buy the stuff in the shops as that contains far too much sugar and other additives. Here is the best way to make your own barley water as I have done:

When you have the barley water either flavoured with lemon, lime or orange, you will find it is very refreshing either hot or cold. You cannot drink too much of it as it's most beneficial for any age group. A special note: sometimes the barley water appears bluish-pink tinged that's causes some people to think there is a defect; that is not so. If this occurs it is quite normal and safe to drink. Drink as much as you conveniently can of this barley water and in a surprisingly short time you will find that your kidneys are much better and that you really feel better. At the same time as you are having barley water treatment avoid the albumen (white) of the egg. The yolks can be eaten but leave the albumen (the white part).

In French times, in about the year l400 or so, enemas were very much a common thing. Soon after that the enema became a fashionable method of treating illness and many very high-ranking families had at least one enema a day. In England the leading families had wonderful enema syringes manufactured so that the patient sat over a hole in a wooden box and then a very ornate enema syringe was placed in position, and the handle pumped which injected a carefully prepared liquid into the bowels of the sitting patient. After which the patient arose and departed in great haste so that the load could be discharged. But fashions change. It's not now so fashionable to use the enema. One goes instead to the local drug store and gets a packet of this or a packet of that, either swallows, sucks, chews, or drinks some noxious concoction which all too frequently gives one a bad pain and violent expulsion that really does nothing to cure the complaint. Does nothing to overcome that which caused the constipation. It seems now that people want to cure the symptom without curing the root cause which, of course, is too crazy for comment.

Enemas don't seem to be fashionable these days as they were but they can improve one's health immensely, helping towards alleviating constipation and other ailments. As we have previously mentioned people just cram food down as if there's no tomorrow and by doing so they clog-up their systems which in turn makes them sick, moody and bitter. A correctly applied enema can do wonders in overcoming constipation and improving one's well-being. Many people are constipated because they do not drink nearly enough water. When we say water we do not mean tea, coffee, fizzy drinks or alcohol. We mean plain and simple water.

One really must drink loads and loads of water if one is to be healthy because when we eat this modern day processed food it gets churned into a paste inside you. Then as it passes through your intestines nutritious substances are extracted from the paste and inevitably moisture also is extracted. So by the time all the unwanted residue from the food gets into the descending colon it becomes a hard dry mass.

It is expelled by spasmodic screwing-like motion of the colon and if the mass is too hard then it cannot be expelled, or if it is expelled it causes pain and irritation. The only way to make this mass easily removed is to be sure that there is adequate moisture in it so that it remains as a pliable paste. Too many of the modern day commercial laxatives on the market today are irritants, that is the action of the chemical in the laxative irritates the bowel and makes it twitch, not as nature intended.

Sometimes it irritates the bowel so much that moisture is drawn from the blood stream through the wall of the colon and saturates the mass of residue and that will causes dehydration! The colon is meant to serve as a reservoir from which the blood absorbs nutrients to circulate throughout the entire system. When the colon is toxic or impacted with faecal matter, poisons are distributed instead and the condition of toxaemia arises. You then begin to feel hungry all the time and eat more than you need because the nutrients are not absorbed and circulated normally.

It is always safe to give yourself an enema and the best position is when the patient lies perhaps on a towel on the bathroom floor, or better still within a bath. Lie on the left side with your knees drawn up. You can administer the enema yourself without any difficulty. If you have some really bad constipation trouble it is a very good idea to have a half ounce of tincture of myrrh and about fifteen drops of tincture of Echinacea. These should be added to a quart of water which is at approximately body temperature. Put this in your enema bag and inject it into the bowels. Keep it in as long as you can and the mixture will saturate the hard mass within the bowels and make it soft so that it may be passed without any pain. After you have expelled the first lot have another enema injection but this time with a quart of body temperature water to which only fifteen drops of Echinacea has been added. That means you do not have the tincture of myrrh with the second enema. This second injection will help you get rid of any pus or catarrh which is lodged within your lower bowel.

Visual image of the Body Mass Indicator Chart

Body Mass Indicator Chart

Using the above chart you can easily ascertain if you are overweight or obese, hopefully not clinically obese. If you are not within the right group you must take action otherwise you will suffer in later years. Use the chart as a guide as it's not 100 percent perfect. The majority of people are overweight due to the quality and quantity of food they eat, drink combined with poor lifestyle. People are sleepwalking their way through life oblivious to what going on, only conscious of false commercial sales pitches!

There are many sound environmental and nutritional reasons to buy and eat organic products only - as well as environmental ones. Here are ten reasons to Buy Organic:

Here are our top ten reasons to Eat Organic.