CONNECTIONS to HEALTH

Natural Hygiene Natural Hygiene isn't about cleaning behind your ears, although that may be part of it. Let me explain. In ancient Greece the god of healing was Asclepius (son of Apollo) and one of his daughters was Hygieia. She was the goddess of health, cleanliness and sanitation. While her father was more directly associated with healing, she was associated with the prevention of sickness and the continuation of good health. Her festival took place on March 30th, so it seems appropriate to talk about this now. This is where the word hygiene comes from. It refers to those things we do which maintain our health, and stop us getting ill in the first place. A few hundred years ago in England the biggest thing you could do for your own wellbeing was to have good sanitary practises, hence the equation of hygiene and washing. So to differentiate the preventive health care side of hygiene, from the washing behind the ears side, it is now more common to use the term Natural Hygiene. Best Practise We can say that Natural Hygiene is best practises which we can apply to our own lives to promote wellness. In this article I will be talking about the Natural Hygiene approach to diet. Eating in harmony with our bodies Throughout the day the body goes through three phases, each lasting roughly eight hours. The times are approximate; some people might be a little earlier, some a little later, owing to natural variance. The Appropriation Phase From 12 noon to 8 pm is when we provide food for the body and we start to digest it. The Assimilation Phase From 8 pm to 4 am is when the body takes the nutrients from the appropriation phase and uses them for repair and house-keeping functions. The Elimination Phase From 4 am to 12 noon is when the body eliminates all the waste products of metabolism, and the indigestible parts of our food. So if we can eat in harmony with this natural cycle the body can work much more efficiently on less food. How it all works Up until 12 noon we should only be eating foods which enhance the elimination from the body. This means fruit. You can eat as much fruit as you like, but only fruit, for breakfast and mid morning snacks etc. "But if I only eat fruit won't the world fall out of my tail-pipe?" Well yes; that's the whole point. We want to increase elimination. Most people have between 5 and 15 pounds of rotting food stuck in their colons. This will drip toxic waste products into your system. We want to get it out. During the next phase (12 noon to 8 pm) is when we eat our food. To digest protein our stomachs need an acid environment while to digest carbohydrates we need a more alkaline one. This is a bit of a dilemma if your meal consists of protein and carbohydrates, as most meals do. This leads to poor digestion and increased transit times which can then upset the elimination phase. What we need to do is to avoid eating protein and carbohydrates at the same time. Vegetables are neutral in all this so for one meal have protein and vegetables and for the other meal have carbohydrates and vegetables. You will find that you need to eat less food this way as you will be digesting all of it, rather than having the digestive processes upset. Fruit has a much quicker transit time than any other food (about 30 minutes) so if you eat fruit in the appropriation phase, eat it on an empty stomach and leave it for 30 minutes before you eat anything else. Don't eat fruit after a meal as it will be stuck in with the stomach's contents and will ferment. In the next phase (8 pm to 4 am) you shouldn't really eat at all. Digestion works best when we are upright. When we are horizontal (in bed) digestion is impaired so we need to make sure that our stomachs are empty before going to bed. This will allow all the body's resources to work on the repair and house-keeping tasks it has. This will take less energy to accomplish so you will begin to wake up more refreshed. Test it for yourself Don't just take our word for it; try it out for yourself. Give yourself three months of the natural hygiene diet and see if you have lost weight, feel healthier and have more energy. If you think the whole thing is too much of a change all at once then start with just having fruit in the mornings. After a few months gradually introduce the other changes. You have nothing to loose but your fatigue! For more information about eating the natural hygiene way we heartily recommend the book "Fit for Life" by Harvey Diamond. Buy it from Amazon

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