We do not have to be de-energised, inactive or look livid simply because we are fasting, if we can partner with Mother Nature in the nurture of our bodies. Partnering with Mother Nature brings many models. The ones I describe here are either the ones I discovered or are those other persons told me. I hope they would help persons who wish to always keep their bodies alive when they fast.
In the 1970s, I was privileged to read in a small book of the efforts of a wise one to set up a company which would produce whole grain flour foods from whole grains in which the life forces are well preserved. My response to the information so far are two sets of flour foods which I obtain quarterly from Mrs. Folake Sanusi of Oshogbo. The first is composite corn pap flour from the whole grains of white corn, yellow corn, millet and sorghum.They are picked, washed, oven roasted and ground to powder. The second is cassava flour to which the composite flour of white corn, yellow corn, milliet and sorghum is added. I eat the corn pap as pap and the cassava and corn flour or lafun as “swallow”. Either is so fillling that I hardly need a second large meal in 24 hours. There had been times I ate the lafun for dinner by seven or eight and my next serious meal was 24 hours later. The pap is also that filling. If I like, I may have a breakfast of banana or pawpaw when I have either corn pap for dinner. Sometimes, rice and beans or beans and potato may breaks the monotony. I should add that this diet has room for rich bowls of vegetable soup, raw leaves and power houses of nutritional supplements.
Abasiama Ekong, a friend of Udeme James who runs the pantry and kitchen, often wonders how a human can relishly consume a bowl of raw leaves like a goat. I remind her of High School biology. Human bodies, not the humans themselves, are rightly reported to have descended from the most developed or matured animals of those days, a fact which makes every human body describable as a higher animal. It is a pity that Charles Darwin in his theory of evolution could not at that time differentiate man from his body. We, to whom this knowledge has been given in the extension of spiritual knowledge for earthlings at this time, owe it a duty to the generation of Darwin to save them from their ignorance and misinformation. I believe I have cleared the way out of the thicket for Miss Ekong. Now, she brings JIGSIMUR to the table for everyone! She has never witnessed anything that bitter, not even unwashed bitter leaf! My bowl of raw leaves comprises at least two leaves of the fellowing (a) unwashed bitter leaf (b) vervain (c) lettuce (d) one stalk of oregano (e) Chanca piedra (f) nettle or strands of pawpaw leaf or renren (Yoruba name for pepper elder or shiny bush). They are rich in fiber, vitamins, minerals, anti-oxidants, phenolic compounds, enzymes e.t.c. Eating them with morsel of food that are thoroughly chewed provide nutrients that may be lost through cooking, they not only aid digestion but, also, offer immune support. The intestine is such a toxic part of the body that many authorities say about 75 per cent of immune system energy and attention are devoted to it. These leaves are anti-bacterials, anti-viral, anti-fungal and anti-parasite, apart from being nutritive. It is a possible that inadequate attention we give the intestine is responsible for many cases nowdays of bleeding ulcers and cancer in the colon. An unprotected colon may, also, develop Leaky Gut Syndrome when germs successfully nibble its tissue. When the colon leaks on the prostrate gland, for example, could this be the cause of the infection, inflamation and enlargement of this organ, even if a cancerous attack is a more complex event?
My model of nutrition is not done with raw leaves or eating at table like a goat. Udeme, too, has become a master of it. Power foods are in the league as well. This is one reason I no longer fidget when I am told I am having white rice, because I know what is coming is green, enriched rice, dangerous parboiled foreign rice or healthier Nigerian. Spirulina may accompany the rice, pap or soup. It is a blue-green algae with all 18 amino acids, essential amino acids inclusive of chlorophyll and Beta carotene, not to mention vitamins and minerals, cofactors e.t.c. The National Aeronautics and Space Administration ( NASA) of the United States declared it Power Food of the 21st Century long ago, and the World Health Organisation ( WHO) recommended it for children. African inhabitants of the Lake Chad region deserve gratitude from humanity for this plant which Europeans visitors discovered to be the source of their protein. Through oral tradition, they inform us that visitors from space revealed Spirulina to their progenitors.On many wooden doors in their land are engravings of what look like space ship an a ringed planet.
Any-one searching for an energy formula at this time or at any other should keep Pine Pollen or Been Pollen or Royal Jelly or Lecithin at table.When Hassan Oyekan,who has been fasting since he was 10, that is for more than 25 years now, telephones me and speaks of Pine Pollen, he is hilarious because of what he says it does to him.That is a prized secret between us. Bee pollen is no less an energy agent. Royal Jelly is an exclusive foods of the bee queen which lays millions of eggs in her life time. Lecithingives the brain choline and inositol to fire the neurons for nerve energy through out the body. In my view, the hardest nut of a Ramandan fast is abstinence from water in the sunlight hours. The body is between 70 and 75 per cent water. surprisingly, I often do not remember I have not taken water in these hours. Refrigerant foods and herbs, of which I may speak, account for this.
Detoxification
When we fast, energy for digestion is spent on detoxification, to expand work in the removal of waste and Poison. Therefore, the approximately 100 trillion cells in the body off load their waste and toxins into the bloodstream.The blood transports the wastes and toxins to the eliminative organs…the lungs, the liver, bowels, the kidneys and the skin. In about four different steps, the liver first breaks down these watste and toxins into less toxic substances before they are exported to the other organs and, then, out of the body by the others. This processes require water for hydration and transportation.When we wish to wash an empty soup pot, sometimes with some burns in it,do we not first soak it with water before we lather the water with soap and then wire brush it with an abrasive sponge? However, the Ramadan does not permit the drinking of water or other fluids from sunrise to sunset. Unfortunately,many faithfuls over load their bodies with food after the sunlight hours, thereby over working them than before the Ramadan.
In the Circadian rhythm of the body, the fellowing work schedules have been observed by many cultures,scientists and doctors.
1. 4a.m to 12 noon… Detoxification. That is why we go to wee and to pooh when we rise from bed in the mornings
2. 12 noon to 8p.m…Digestion. This is when Nature expects that we trouble the body much with food. It is probably why Euro-American breakfast is light, comprising about four slices of bread, some butter, one egg and one or two cups of tea or coffee, even in the cold seasons, and why those fellows eat ravenously in the afternoon, when the sun is high, energising plants, animals and man and the earth. I am yet to see native chickens or goats which do not fellow this rythm and do not return to from their forage to sleep in the homes of their owners from about 6.pm, when humans begin to load their bodies with all sorts of food, some light, others heavy.
3. 8.P.m to 4a.m…This is the time Nature allots to absorption of nutrients from food into the blood stream.Thus, we disturb the rythm of Nature when we eat when we should be digesting, eliminating wastes and toxins or absorbing nutritients from digested food. One process will subduce the order or both will be partially done, creating backlogs of work which would eventually cause biochemical and physiological stresses uneasiness,disease and illnesses.This scenario will cause cloggings and Heavy Blood. When there is too much solute (food) in the system and too little solvent (water), a number of things, including”thickened” blood, may happen. Reduced blood water volume may cause reduction of the blood vessels lumen.This is the space the blood volume occupy in the vessels to prevent air infiltration. It is like a vacuum- sealed environment. If water level in the cells and around the cells drops, the blood water volume may yield some water to them to prevent cellular break-downs.Almost simultaneously, the blood vessels lumen, internal space of the blood vessels, will reduce, to prevent the space vacated by water from being taken up by air and leading to the possibility of AIR LOCKS. An air lock is when air separates or create air space in the bloodstream. This may be dangerous to life.
Meanwhile, the thick blood is osmotically stronger than its environment. Remember Osmosis in high school biology? It enables the stronger environment to withdraw water from a weaker one through a semi permeable membrane.Thus, when the thick blood arrive in the brain or any organs, it sucks up its water to make itself less thick so it can easily flow. That is why we experience headache(s) when thick blood enters the brain. The solution may be to drink a few glasses of warm water intermittently. Unfortunately,many persons resort to pain killer instead of addressing the root cause of this problem.Pain in the organs may have arisen, also, from thick blood. In the kidney,urine colour gets more yellowish or darker, and we may experience kidney pain as back pain.
Thus, when we fast, we should not overload the body with food in the times of the day we are permitted to eat.Eat the right foods especially those less bulky most energising and support our nutrition with detoxify herbs.
Some useful herbs. We need refrigerant herbs and foods which flood the body with metabolic water. We should remember, also, that if we drink all the water in the world, our kidneys will run it out unless there is enough sodium to hold it. I don’t suggest sodium chloride or table salt. This is refined sodium and can be dangerous, especially to be hypertensive. My gift for Mecca pilgrims is sea salt. It has about 40 or more biochemic substances which function synergically with Sodium to make it safe. I give sea salt to Mecca pilgrims because the weather is hot. Many of them return to thank me and to give me present for my thoughtfulness. They add only one pinch of sea salt to their water two or three times a day, depending on the stress levels. Right now in Nigeria, the weather is very hot. I never used to sweat in the armpits and in the groins, but now I do. Sea Salt in my meals replaces sodium and energises me. Some aged persons die in a time such as this from heat stroke because, as in a car radiator with low water volume and burning gaskets and knocking engines, their blood water volume, like the cellular water and interstititial fluid (space around the cells which hold sodium are drying up!
Nigeria is blessed with many herbs and proprietary plant medicines. Stingy nettle is one of the best herbs for cleansing the blood. Stingy nettle is better, but rare to find in just about any place. The proprietary brand is often available, however. Jobelyn is good for recomposing the blood. In several control studies, it has shown ability to almost normalise within 24 hours depleted blood hematocrit.Upcoming is South African liquid drink named Jigsimur. It is backed with the medicinal values of Lime Juice. In several experiment, many germs have revealed their inability to survive in lime juice. In 1747, Dr James Lind ended the era of scurvy in England when he gave sailors Lime in their drink. Many often returned from voyages abroad with most, if not all of their teeth gone, because they had cross deficiencies of vitamin C. What lime juice contribute to Jigsimur is Citric Acid of friendly bacteria in the intestine which controls the population of unfriendly bacteria and, rather than friendly bacteria ( PROBIOTICS), is what producers of today’s yogurt now add directly to their fermented milk products.
In this season, as in any other, we may also count on proprietaries as Amazon Blood Support and Rejuvenating Drink which stimulate production of more stem cells from the bone marrows. This neutral cells migrate around the body and donate themselves to communities of specialised cells such as the liver, retina, gums, kidneys e.t.c, where they are damaged, dead or dying cells to be replaced.We may also count on the following to improve the vigour of the blood.
Personally, I assumed the liver needs protection most during detoxification. All the poison released from the cells during a fast will be sent to the liver to break down into less harmful substances. I always liken the liver to a fireman who must be attired in low or non-combustible uniform during fire fighting.
Milkthistle…is one of the most well-known hepa- protectives.In controlled studies, animal fed carbon tetra chloride, terrible poison,died in- masses. Mortality was mild in another group fed with milk thistle along with these poison. Other animals on Milk thistle food supplement before they were given the poison did not die.
Carqueja …cleans the liver out. Golden Seal Root, taken one week on and one week off,kills germs.
Amazon A-V kills viruses in particular while Amazon A-F destroys bacteria and fungi. Dandelion struts between the kidneys and the liver. Jerusalem Artichoke works wonders. We should remember pawpaw leaf, chanca piedra, bitter kola, bitter leaf, oregano leaf e.t.c. I do not leave the brain and the eyes out of my therapy at this time. They are bombarded by toxins and wastes during detoxification.
Chlorella… helps the detoxifying heavy metals in the brain which may make some person brain sick or present depression like symptoms. Unfortunately, psychiatrists merely suppress these symptoms with drugs often taken throughout life because they either know little or nothing about heavy metals in the brain or chose to not believe in it for the safe of their drugs prescription. Thus, many seemingly incurable brain diseases have been eased or cured, using herb and diet.An example I will never forget is a well-known Nigerian” Brain Dead” woman. She was taken abroad to her daughter and son-in-law,both doctors. Reconfirmed brain dead, she was send back home to live a vegetables life.Local Therapists took over. This presumed Brain Dead woman recovered and went on to study for and earn a Ph.D. degree!.
Still on the brain
Gotu Kola…drives blood into the two hemispheres of the brain. I knew of its value and that of Ginkgobiloba during several years of 11am to 1am work schedules in the Editor’s chair of The Guardian and The Comet newspapers.
Wonderful Kola
Compliment them, energising the entire body. Detoxification often comes with Die- off- Effect. An illness being treated suddenly gets worse with Inflamation, pain e.t.c.
Curcumin… quietens it. It maybe obtained from natural temeric (that yellowish portion) or from very powerful proprietary brands named curcumin 2000X because the curcumin has been complexed with natural anti-inflammatory to make it 2,000 times more powerful than natural curcumin. I cannot forget OMEGA-3 Fish Oil and Magnesium Thronate which has been reported to revive many brains in dementia or ravaged by depression.Ditto Coconut Oil which offered ketones to brain cells suffering from Diabetes of the brain..
Other Questions
This have to do with conceptions and misconceptions of fasting. The general conception is that, by agreeing to fast during a religious fast, all by condescending, all of one sin would be automatically erased and one’s name would be engraved in The Book of Life. Personally,I belive it is the change the fast brings about in the spirit which makes the difference. We must personally atone for all sins. When we become new within,that is when we become born-again, the returning karma would find a different and pure soul. It would then bounce back beacuse it has no homogeneous soul to attach to for an impact. It may even be disintegrated before it reaches us if our vibration have become powerful and opposite enough to shatter it. An example I mentioned in the first article of this series was the fast of King David to save the life of his first son by Bathsheba, the woman he seduced from her husband and had put to death in a war to cover his tracks.The boy died irrespective of David’s fast, covering his body with ash and wearing rags.
