QuestionHello Evelyn Alexander,
Greetings of the day!
I am 73 years old. I am from India and lead a very active life. I suffer from coronary artery disease (CAD), hypothyroidism, hypertension, high LDL Cholesterol and Triglyceride. Could you list down vegetables and fruits which I can safely consume each daily to rejuvenate my health and later reduce my drug-dependency.
AnswerDear Mrs Bela Sarkar,
Many greetings to you, too! I hope you are having a wonderfully active day, today! You most certainly have quite a list of organic malfunctions to cope with, so I hope these activities which occupy you are pleasant and rewarding.
It is great to hear that you still feel a reserve present from which to find restoration or replenishment of health- rejuvenation might be a little too much too ask, however, as you are now entering that phase of life in which one hopes the soul has adequately matured. Not all good things are necessarily young!
There is little joy in living to an old age without energy and zest. One owes one's Spirit Self the aspiration to drink life to the full, including the very last, sweet drops. It is always very challenging to find oneself crumbling towards the end, and we need to start at a young age to prevent this from happening as much as possible. But we must stay reasonable. It simply is not holistic, and beneficial to the soul and spirit to want to stay young forever.
Diet can do a lot for your soul. In a sense we eat to nourish the soul so that it may ripen and help the spirit to develop itself better. This is the art of attention and perfecting oneself.
Furthermore, a balanced diet is kind to the organism. The right vitamins and minerals stimulate the physiological taxability:more important than a robust system is a flexible and rhythmic one, competent at coping with change and adversity. Life is all about healing, actually. Health is not a static norm we must aim to return to.
Vitality is also greatly enhanced by attitude, or one's psychological capacity for reletevating and finding meaning in one's being and doing. One must keep the larger picture in mind, or endeavour to paint a picture for oneself to begin with. Too often we live in a second-hand, or indoctrinating world which is not our own. Only by being yourself can you self-empower and work on wellness.
Clearly, this is very familiar to you, for you already reach for a light and fresh diet in the hope this may revitalise you. And to and extent it most certainly can underpin your intention to stay right in the middle of life and not to be dominated by your disorders. It shows your connection between inner and outer worlds is still very much intact.
Also, your self-awareness is flowing between upper and lower poles: you are sensible about the ailments you have (seeking diagnosis) but wish to emphasise the whole you by focusing on a more holistic treatment in diet. Neither you nor your doctor(s), let alone I, can forsee if you will be able to come off medications altogether. It also depends which drugs you are on. An Aryuvedic or Homeopathic treatment (in combination with conventional pharmaceuticals) tends to offer a better prospect of drug reduction. This is because this course of treatment appeals more to the salutogenic (self-healing) properties of your body-mind-soul. This is what vitalises you, especially when the physical body itself, towards the last quarter of one's life, no longer excells at regeneration.
In alternative medicine, we respect the fact that the regenerative powers are naturally weaker in older age. The spirit is moving towards a retirement and with this excarnational gesture there is a loss of inner warmth or activity at the metabolic pole .Don't worry, this does not mean that you're not going anywhere far, yet! But it allows the spirt more meditative freedom. One becomes a "wise woman". It is therefore unnatural to want to over-do it at this age (be a body builder or a popstar, for example, like some folks in Hollywood).
Aryuveda would write your diseases down to an over-active Vata, which dries and hardens the system (arteries). The Vata-type of illness is notably hard to cure fully once it has become chronic. One will have to learn to live with it, and use it as a final steering mechanism towards a new attitude of soul (less agitated, or passionate in a hyper-active sense).
The body, naturally, becomes more mineralised, so we must take care not to add excess foreign minerals, like salts to this burden. In your particular case, furthermore, your pathological tendency is one of sclerosis, with a head-pole predominance, and probably less emphasis on physical activity (nature walks, sports, gardening,crafts). In sclerosis there is too much cold at the metabolic pole, or blood-dynamic. We try to warm this up and restore a more vigorous flow with flower teas and (stewed)sweet fruits: peaches, plums, apricots,cherries, mango, melon,grapes, kiwi, blueberry, pineapple, dried fruits (dates, figs, raisins). Hot herbal infusions can be drunken throughout the day. Use flowers and aniseed, fennel, cardamom, ginger, corriander.
You ought to be cautious with pulses (dried beans) and cabbage-type plants. These demand too much from the lower system. Also the consumption of meat must be severely reduced. Onions and garlic bring more warmth, but braise to soften slowly and do not use raw. Raw vegetables, salads for example, must be taken only in small amounts, to refresh your palate and for the joy of the colours, textures, flavours (so choose the finest organic-dynamic produce and treat yourself!)
Vegetables had better be lightly cooked: preferably with a little warming vegetable oil fried, or otherwise steamed. Think of "fruit" vegetables like: courgettes, augergines,pumpkin, tomatoes, cucumbers, pickles. Also, Beetroot (oven baked), potatoes, but not carrot (too mineralised).
Milk and honey are very nutritive and warming for older people, too. This drink/food strengthens the I in all its mildness and vulnerability. The magic of the cow and the bee work together in a most regenerative fashion.
Buckwheat is particularly good against heartdisease. Rice is another grain you can eat without worries (easy to digest). Millet is also light, but wheat is more moist-warming, energetically.
A predeliction for salt would indicate, the moreover, a tendency to identify too much with your physical life (ignoring your spiritual side). A more devotional or awe-inspired attitude combined with more relaxation (meditation/contemplation) would be curative. Keep your heart warm and your soul breathing!
I hope this gives you a few new ideas on how to look with optimism towards remaining vital and active. Hopefully your complaints will reduce with time and loving attention, or at least stabilise to give you minimal distraction from the enjoyment of your life.
I wish you the very best,
My warmest regards,
Evelyn.
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