Naturopathy

Dyspesia or Indigestion: The cardinal remedy for dyspepsia is light food, if the patient can take to fasting for 24 hours all the better. Thereafter in take of easily digestible, nutural foods is advised. Fats and condiments must be avoided. Bland food, mostly vegetables cooked in water, juicy fruits and buttermilk (churned curd with water added) should be taken. Excess of food, like everything else, is bad and a person suffering from indigestion must eat less than he can digest. That would be the first stop in the treatment of this dsease.Application of heat through hot compress or a hot water bottle to the abdomen for 15 to 20 minutes twice in the day, either on an empty stomach or two or three hours after meals, can activate your disgestive processe. The procedure could be alternated with cold compresses, applied for a minute or so in between hot compresses, could accelerate the pace of recovery.The above procedure is merely a palliative. The patient can get permanent relief if he increases his body heat through vigorous exercise. Indigestion is the disease of the sedantry, active and brisk people generally do not suffer from the malady. Take a walk to begin with or light exercise. Jog a long, if you can and if there is a grassy lawn around your house, walk on the dew covered grass. Avoid rice as in our country rice is associated with lentils which are not easy to digest. Eat rice with vegetables. Take fruits in-between the meals. Masticate your food properly so that it mixes well with the saliva. Take adequate quantities of water. Alcohol and tabacco should be taken in the minimum possible quantities, if not altogether stopped.Constipation:The treatment of constipation should start in the kitchen and not in the lavatory. Eat the wheat flour without passing it through a sieve; unmilled and unpolished rice is the best. Your food should contain two parts fruits and vegetables and one part cereals. Boil the milk only once; let it not thicken by overboiling. That would give your system the roughage it needs.In case of chronic constipation, eat more of cucumber, tomatoes, carrots, spinach and cabbage. The total intake of these should be a minimum of 250 grammes in the day. Eat them as you eat salad - season it with a pinch of salt and juice of a lemon in order to make it more palatable. Eat thrice in twenty-four hours, but if you are above forty, do not take more than two meals in the day. Do not take it literally: you can eat fruit in-between the meals, but in reasonable quantities. Better still, make fruits a part of your morning and evening meals. Talking of fruits, the best fruits are seasonal and those which are available to you within hours of having been picked.Some people suffer from constipation because their intake of water or liquids is too insufficient. The water intake should be three to four litres in summer and one to two litres in winter. A glass of water taken in the morning immediately after waking up can help many cases of constipation.When the muscles of the large intestine lose their tone or strength, stools tend to adhere to its insides. Atony of the intestines can be cured by exercise. A walk in the morning or evening, better still jogging will help.Another way to help the intestine to void the stool is to cool it. Take a rough towel, fold it so that it can absorb water and place it on your lower abdomen after immersing it in cold water. Let the coolness percolate to the abdomen for about fifteen minutes. A mud pack can also be tried. Take about one kilogramme of clay and knead it into a dough-like consistency and spread it evenly on your lower abdomen - from the navel to the pubes. Some people are known to have benefited more from a mud bath than from a cold towel. It should be done before you go for a walk. Cooling and then warming it through exercise helps the large intestine regain its tone.In the beginning, you may not have the urge to void your bowels. But do not wait for the 'Call" of nature. Visit the toilet at the time your usually do, even if the "call" is not there. Remember that habit plays an important part. The best course is to drink about half a litre of water and take a walk for ten to fifteen minutes before you visit the toilet immediately after dinner: it may surprise you to hear of intake of food followed by the effort to void your bowels, but remember that it takes fourteen to eighteen hours for the waste matter left after absorption of food into the system to leave the body. The churning of the stomach and the resultant activity of the intestines when you are ingesting food helps relieve constipation.