Detox and have a wonderful life...

Fast-paced urban life sees us exposed to different chemicals everyday. In the process, we tend to abuse our bodies to their limits.

Never in the history of the earth have human beings been more exposed to toxins than we are in these times. These toxins include environmental toxins like cadmium, chlorine, pesticides, chloroform as well as those produced by our own bodies.

Thus, detoxification is the need of the hour and is a major component of good health.

What is detoxification?

Basically, detoxification is the procedure of removing toxic chemicals or poisons that have found their way into your body.

There are toxins in the food we eat, the water we drink and the air we breathe. These are termed as external toxins. Our own body produces toxins as a result of its many metabolic processes that keep us alive. These are termed as internal toxins.

Our kidneys, liver, lungs and intestines work continuously to clean out every cell, organ and tissue in our bodies. However, because of the increasing number of toxins around us, we need to help our bodies cleanse internally by detoxifying regularly. If we don't, then we are allowing for the build-up of these toxins, which play havoc with our health and wellbeing, causing problems like:

• Headaches or back pain
• Joint pain or arthritis
• Depression or lack of energy
• Frequent allergies
• Poor digestion
• Stress
• Premature aging
• Bad breath
• Chronic infections
• Cancer

Practiced for centuries by many cultures around the world (including ayurvedic and Chinese medicinal systems), detoxification is about resting, cleaning and nourishing the body from the inside out. By removing and eliminating toxins, then feeding your body with healthy nutrients, detoxifying can help protect you from disease and renew your ability to maintain optimum health.

What are its benefits?

The benefits of detoxification include:

• A strengthened immune system
• More energy and improved performance
• Stimulation of vitality and retardation of ageing
• Strengthening the body's fight against cancer cells
• Washing the colon, sinus tracts, stomach etc
• Purifying the blood
• Improved digestion and regular bowel movements
• Healthier hair, skin and nails
• Improved cognitive function
• Scavenging free radicals and eliminating toxins
• A reduced dependency on habit-forming substances such as sugar, caffeine, nicotine, alcohol and drugs
• Improved sleep

When should I detoxify?

If you feel tired, fatigued and mentally confused even though you have had a relaxing day, then it is time to detox your body. There are various other indicators as well like skin problems, bags under the eyes, digestion problems, irregular menstrual cycles, unexplained allergies etc. If you have one or more of the above symptoms, then it is time for a detoxification to flush out the poisons.

Detoxification can take place in several different ways and at various levels of severity. There are many detoxification techniques prevalent that range from fasting snd juice fasts to diet modification and lifestyle changes. Learning the different ways to detox your body, mind and spirit can help you lead a more balanced life.

The good news is you can make small, everyday changes that will dramatically improve your health and wellbeing by enhancing your body's natural process of detoxification. Here are some tips to get you started:

Avoid alcohol, smoking and caffeinated beverages ... ...
They are loaded with harmful chemical substances that may damage internal organs in the long process. Alcohol and smoking irritate nerve functions and disturb mental focus. Alcohol affects the liver badly, especially if you make it an everyday habit. When it goes into the system, it takes the liver about 24-48 hours to excrete every last trace of it. When the liver can no longer cleanse the alcohol, it stays on, thus causing diseases like cirrhosis.

Smoking introduces nicotine and other compounds into your body, which result in high toxin levels. Over a period in time and with increased frequency, the toxins accumulate in your body, posing tremendous danger to its vital organs and the functioning of your lungs, in particular. Smoking also clogs bronchial tubes, preventing natural air passage to the lungs. Caffeinated beverages are nothing but calories and sugar and can cause excessive weight gains.

Drink plenty of water... ...
The kidneys cannot perform adequately without sufficient water intake. Our kidneys remove wastes like uric acid, urea, and lactic acid, to name a few. All of which are dissolved in water. When there aren't adequate amounts of water, these wastes aren't removed effectively and kidney damage may result.

The suggested amount is around 33 ml of water for every kg of body weight, ie 2.3 litres for a 70 kg person (around 1/2 an ounce for every pound, ie 60 oz for a 120 lb person). But water alone is not an ideal tool for detoxification because it lacks balanced nutrition to supply the body with enough vitamins and minerals.

Fruit juices are strongly recommended by some health professionals, so as not to deprive the body of important nutrients. Fruits are also good sources of natural blood sugar that help sustain brain's normal function.

High caloric and processed foods are mostly hard to digest and lack a good amount of soluble and insoluble fibres to cleanse the digestive tract and intestinal wall. They often make the body prone to bloating and constipation. They also include toxins that are unhealthy for you. So, to detoxify your body, just keep those processed foods off your menu.

Meat, poultry, fish, pork, game, eggs, dairy -- sure, these foods can taste great, but they also contribute to poor digestion, a sluggish colon, high blood pressure, kidney stones and gall stones, to name but a few of the associated downsides.

In addition to that, meat contains difficult to digest enzymes, which means that it can hang around in your system for longer than is desirable, causing your digestion to be blocked by mucus. Some studies even claim that eating red meat can contribute to colon and prostate cancer.

Fibre-rich foods are excellent for flushing toxic residues out of the body. If you try this approach, you will see an improvement in your overall health, with many minor niggling symptoms disappearing altogether.

Increase the intake of foods like beetroot (chukandar), berries, broccoli (hari phoolgobhi), red grapes, spinach (palak) and carrot (gajar). These foods contained antioxidants that fight free-radical attacks and inflammation, protecting the immune system and body cells. They also help keep the skin texture radiant and glowing.

Moreover, they contain important antioxidants called flavonoids and polyphenols that fight cancer and cardiovascular diseases.

Spices are excellent for the purpose of drawing toxins out of your body and leaving you feeling more energetic and healthier in general.

Eat plenty of raw garlic (lehsun) either whole, chopped up or in juices. Garlic is a premiere infection and disease fighter, which unlike antibiotics does not harm our body's beneficial intestinal flora. Garlic increases phagocytosis; the ability of white blood cells to fight off bacterial infection (toxins).

Eat fresh ginger to aid digestion, and to stimulate blood circulation and lymphatic flow.
Ginger (adrak) also helps to open the pores and eliminate toxins. Consume some hot chili peppers with your meals; start with mild chillies if you are sensitive. Eating chili peppers will increase circulation, which means more nutrition reaching your cells and wastes leaving efficiently.

A sedentary lifestyle and worn out body cells make the immune system prone to illnesses. Exercise like walking and jogging are best recommended to maintain strong stamina and boost energy levels.

When your body is not healthy, it will let you know in many ways. You don't need products or supplements to obtain good health.

If you take good care of yourself through simple ways, your body will cleanse itself naturally.

Addiction... Money!!!!

People go so crazy after money that nothing else matters in their life. I have seen some of the most selfish and money hungry people abroad. All they care about is money and more money. Relationships hardly matter. If someone is being nice to you, it definitely means that they want some help from you. So you better be cautioned. If people think that you might not be of any use, they just stop picking your calls and become “busy” all of a sudden.

I have seen a lot of people transition in a similar pattern. When they land abroad for the first time, they look vulnerable and modest. They try to get friendly with anyone and everyone, trying to extract as much information from them as possible.

Once they are reasonable settled and start earning good money, they can’t handle it. They develop so much of ego that you start wondering if this was the same person you knew. Further down the line as they establish themselves, they are in an adrenaline rush and feel that they are better than others in everything.

The next thing they come up with is cursing India or defaming India in front of every sundry. They just love to talk about Indian population, pollution, corruption in front of people from other countries.

Recently, I was in the west on a family visit. At one of the group party, “Cockroaches” and “lizards” in India were discussed as some wild animals which eat human flesh. Once there was a discussion going on about cockroaches and I blurted out “My friend got bitten by a scorpion once here in US. What would you say about that?” And everyone fell silent after that. Isn’t scorpion worse than a cockroach? They behave as if they were “lucky” to have left the populated country and ended up in the land of opportunities.

No matter how much they try or their children try, they end up becoming a confused bunch of humans. They are neither Indians nor westerners. Wannabes are very common and every time I meet one, I feel sad for them. One thing I did not know before going abroad was that people go there just to make money. The only thing that matters there is money.

Unless you buy a costly car, people don’t give you respect. Unless you show your costly laptop, people won’t treat you well. Unless you buy a 42″ HDTV, people treat you like a beggar. If a person owns a BMW, he will treat all the Toyota owners like big losers. Status matters a lot and you need to showoff a lot.

Unless you have a high paying job and booze all the time, you are treated like a useless person. I loathed many people I met there. Because what matters in life is not money, relationships matter the most to me. I don’t make friendship with a person, because I think he/she might be of some help to me in the future. I don’t just break friendship with a person because I think he/she might not be of use to me anymore.

Every person you speak to, says “Everyone is selfish here” but they behave cheaply themselves. One of my friend had caught fever and definitely nobody cared for him, since he won’t be of any help when he is down with fever. In India, people come to your aid or atleast take you to a doctor.

Abroad, people don’t call or visit you because they are scared you will ask them for a favor. Everyone is self-centered. I like independence but not that kind of independence. I want money but not at the cost of relationships. I cannot endure a fake relationship where the other person is just using you for something. I cannot break friendship with a friend, for no valid reason and behave as if nothing happened. I would rather not stay in such a place surrounded with manipulative people.

This post came as a result of a talk I had with a friend years ago who loves the west and would rather not prefer coming back to India. There was a time when he said the western world was better than India in every way. I never bothered to argue. Today I pity him as he will never be treated like a localite. He will always be treated like an “alien”.

I am not against going abroad and having a successful life. Its the addiction and the hate that comes with success. Especially the addiction of acquiring money and showing off. Hope the next generation Indians born abroad are more balanced and proud to have a Indian bloodline.

Frankly speaking I have seen a ray of hope in this direction and that spells good.

I loved this quote made by George Lorimer. ...>..
“It’s good to have money and the things that money can buy, but it’s good, too, to check up once in a while and make sure that you haven’t lost the things that money can’t buy.”

Drug rehab... an article for good living

Inpatient drug rehab is what many consider the "last step" for dealing with a loved one who's suffering from a substance abuse program. Unlike an intervention, or prescription therapy, inpatient drug rehab is a 24-hours-a-day solution for a problem, or even a disease, if you like, that itself is manifest 24 hours a day.

Addicts are people who need help, and they need help near constantly. Some drug rehab programs, such as Alcoholics Anonymous, aim to provide a structure based upon weekly meetings and a mantra of self-assurance.

This two-part approach has been highly effective for many, many people - including some friends of mine. The structure gives the addicts a feeling of control over their schedule, the very concept of time itself. The mantra is even more important in that it gives them a chance to feel like they control the need, rather than the need controling them.

Inpatient drug rehab is for when the above process doesn't work, or has stopped working. Inpatient drug rehab is for people who are, sometimes quite literally, on their last opportunity to turn their lives around. It is a severe but often necessary process for people who are decidedly unable to kick their habit.

Commonly, people will turn to inpatient drug rehab to help their loved ones overcome some sort of addiction. The most common is obviously substance abuse, such as heroin or cocaine, or even more common addictions such as alcohol or marijuana. Doctors and experts in the field consider substance abuse addictions amongst the hardest to overcome, simply because it works on more biological levels than, say, a sexual addiction.

Heroin, for example, not only stimulates the pleasure receptacles in your neuro net, but creates new pathways that only the drug can fill. So you get a two-edged sword of want and need. It becomes not only a mental addication - a "habit" - but a physical one that is done at first for pleasure, but soon simply for the need to just get through the day.

Any hope of long-term recovery, then, lies in breaking that second dependency and removing the patient from an environment where he or she has access to drugs. This is why so many serious drug abusers who haven't had success with other methods do have success with inpatient drug rehab.

This is why inpatient drug rehab is considered by most in the field to be the best, and most certain method of treating substance abusers or addicts of all stripes.

My own blog rules....

I have no idea on what I will write here... I do not know why I blog... I don't even know if I can write... write well that is. What I do know is that I need a release.

And that is probably all I will do. Vent.

It is possible that over a period of time, the content on the blog will automatically fall into some sort of pattern. But I will make no attempts to achieve that deliberately.

I also promise to refrain from making deliberate and concious efforts to think of topics to write on.

I don't know who will read this. It does not matter if no one does.

I don't know if I can write and contribute to the blog religiously. I don't think that I have the discipline to write regularly and I will make no efforts to make a disciplined effort to do so now. I will write only when I want to and when I feel like . And if I ever write again, I don’t claim that I may have something specific to write about.

This blog is likely to be a narcissistic effort at self indulgence.

I promise myself never to make a conscious effort to read, re-read and edit once I finish writing.

I will refrain from making any efforts to be politically correct.

I will express myself even if I am likely to hurt sentiments - even my own.

I will be spontaneous (if I ever write again).

I will not refrain from naming names

I will forever be incognito. Yes. I am a coward.

I will not claim that the rambling on this blog are opinions or statements that I have absolute and complete belief in. My opinions will change as the information that I have changes.

I will contradict myself. Across different blog entries and even within each blog entry

I do not claim that I will never plagarise.

I will, in all probability, never stick to the edicts that I have stated above.