risks and potentially deadly consequences are not known.- doctors not only treat the symptoms of disease but also the side effects these treatments produce.
These side effects are now considered new diseases that require further treatment. Hence there has
been a massive escalation of illness in the U.S., at a cost of at least $2 trillion each year. - doctor's sloppy handwriting on prescriptions kills 7,000 patients each year.
- 1.5 million people are injured each year because of preventable medication errors.
- every year 7.5 million Americans undergo unnecessary medical and surgical procedures.
- the number one food item consumed is sugar, in the form of corn syrup. This has generated an
epidemic of obesity, diabetes, cancer and heart disease. This epidemic is not being treated at the
causal level. Note: Since the fructose in corn syrup does neither stimulate insulin secretion nor
reduce the hunger hormone ghrelin, you will continue to feel hungry while the body converts the
fructose into fat. The resulting obesity increases the risk of diabetes and other diseases.
Since you obviously cannot expect to receive much help from those who only know how to treat the
effects of illness and not its causes, you may need to take your health into you own hands. Foods have an
almost immediate effect on the body. In fact, it is known that the body’s biochemistry changes within
several minutes of eating a meal. You can easily verify the powerful influence that food has on your body
through muscle testing. (see Chapter 1 for details.) If you eat something that is outright harmful to you,
your stomach will signal indigestion. Some foods can be even more damaging than just causing heartburn.
Research has shown that eating meat in the evening can trigger a heart attack in the morning.
To make it easier for you to figure out which diet and lifestyle are the most beneficial for you,
determine which body type you are. As discussed earlier, different people digest and utilize the same food
in a different way. If a Vata and a Pitta type go to a restaurant and order the same meal, one of them may
feel invigorated afterward and the other one dull and heavy. If Vata and Pitta are about equal, go by the
imbalances your experience. For example, if you suffer from regular skin eruptions, internal heat or
constant perspiration (Pitta imbalances), choose foods from the Pitta food list. If you are prone to
constipation, dry skin or headaches (Vata imbalances), choose foods form the Pitta food list. Likewise, if
you feel cold and suffer from an oily skin or nose and sinus congestion, follow the Kapha diet plan.
The following food charts provide you with specific lists of foods that are most suitable for each of the
three main body types and imbalances. In an ideal situation, you would not require any lists to know
which foods are good for you because your natural instinct would make that decision for you. But most
people’s doshas were thrown off balance with their first taste of manufactured baby formula and whatever
manmade foods became their source of nourishment after that. Once a dosha is out of balance in your
body, you tend to yearn for exactly those kinds of foods that maintain that imbalance. When the body is
congested, the natural urges and signals of the body are also subdued, and cravings result. For example,
an unbalanced Pitta type may crave spicy, sour and salty foods, and an unbalanced Kapha type chooses to
eat cake, candy and oily foods. Healthy Pittas and Kaphas would have a natural aversion to those foods.
Our natural instincts also fail us when we orient our tastes toward nutritional information, time schedules,
and the promises of advertisements.
Since the three forces of nature (doshas) are represented in our body in a unique and individual way,
each one of us has different requirements for the various nutrients contained in food. Our body is only
able to utilize the nutrients of those foods that are suitable for our body type, just as certain feeds are only
suitable for certain animals and not for others. Try giving a rabbit olive oil to eat, and it will get sick in no
time. Give the oil to a rat, and it will have no problem digesting it.
Now, first determine your body type or dominating dosha by reading the sections below and, perhaps,
filling out the body type questionnaire at the end of Chapter 5. Then look at the charts and choose the