You may not be able to implement all these practices. It's alright. Start with some changes and slowly implement other practices as well.
Following the traditional food practices is the best.
Refrigeration should be totally avoided or used only for frozen or chilled foods.
Don’t eat anything with more than five ingredients.
Don’t eat anything your grandmother (or great-grandmother) wouldn’t recognize as food.
Don’t eat anything containing ingredients that no ordinary person would keep in their pantry.
Only eat foods that eventually rot.
Eat foods that have been predigested by bacteria or fungi.
Avoid buying foods from supermarkets.
Treat meat and milk as a seasoning or special occasion food.
Eat animals or use fermented dairy products from animals that have themselves eaten well.
Buy only seasonal and local fresh fruits and vegetables. All fruits and vegetables are suitable for consumption for everyone, even if you are diabetic.
Do not store vegetables, fruits and any cooked food in the refrigerator.
Make your own pickles. Do not eat pickles daily.
Wash vegetables and fruits in tamarind water.
Wash and cut the vegetables. Do not wash after cutting.
Rinsing in two changes of water and soaking dals, cereals and grains cooks them better. This also reduces cooking the cooking time. Do not throw the soaked water.
Do not use bleached, hard water or municipality supply water directly for cooking. Use filtered drinking water for cooking.
Use cold pressed cooking oil from local mills. Bull driven wood pressed oil is best.
Avoid fried foods as much as possible. Frying increases the toxins.
Do not fry in the same oil more than once. Throw the oil after frying once. Deep heating during frying, produces cancer causing chemicals in oil.
Eat freshly cooked food.
Do not use plastics and aluminum or other such things for packaging the foods. If you want to get parcels, take steel boxes from home.
Do not use a pressure cooker, microwave oven and high heats to cook the food. These methods destroy nutrients in the foods.
Do not eat dry foods daily.
Thin buttermilk or a few spoons of curd, prepared from genuine milk at home can be taken.
Do not eat ghee daily. Ghee is a special occasion food.
Non-vegetarian food is not at all bad. However, it's not suitable for eating in larger quantities and regularly. Monthly 1-3 times intake of non veg foods like country eggs, country chicken, openly grazed goats, beef, pork, fish cooked at home is fine. Do not eat broiler chicken and factory eggs.
Eat only when you are hungry. When you are really hungry, simple food tastes good and digests properly.
Refined foods are not foods. Maida, refined oil, white rice, packaged milk, dairy products, polished dry fruits, white eggs, broiler meat are all refined foods. Tablets are also white coloured!
Do not eat cooked food after 8 PM. Digestion slows down after evening. Cooked food, eaten at night, is not digested completely. If you are hungry late at night , eat fruits.
Fasting is a very healthy practice. Fasting doesn't lead to weakness. Fasting gives strength. Practice as much as fasting possible. You will find your limits.
Eat plain & simple foods during fevers, colds, infections or any other diseases. Eat only if you are hungry. By eating less, recovery will be faster.
Start cooking in mud pots. Start with one item like dal or sabji. Buy mud pots from a local Potter. Ask him the procedure for proper usage of the pots.
Completely remove the froth that develops on dals, vegetables and cereals while cooking. This froth is made of phytic acid. Phytic acid creates many serious digestive problems.
Replace sugar completely with traditional local sweeteners like jaggery. You can eat all types of sweets made with jaggery, even when you are diabetic.
Do not add sugar or milk to hot beverages like tea and coffee. Use jaggery instead of sugar. Black, lemon, honey, green, ginger or spiced teas sweetened with jaggery are fine.
Salt is not a food. Except while cooking, do not use salt for other preparations like salad, snacks etc. Use unrefined salt. Do not sprinkle salt on foods while eating.
Do not be ashamed of following traditional food practices, eating simple foods, and celebrating events with minimal traditional foods.
Take Care
Madhukar & Savitri
Lifestyle Coaches