Folks, i was reading a book on nutrition. A couple of questions have come into my mind. I noted down certain key points from it (as future reminder to myself). Before i ask my questions, please read at least the 4 simple terminologies below (reading all is beneficial though). My questions follow after these points.
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(1) Organic food: Pure naturally grown food - free of any pesticides.
(2) Non-organic food: Opposite of organic - most of the fruits and vegetibles we get are non-organic.
(3) Toxins: are harmful substances that pollute and irritate our bodies, putting a strain on the efficiency of our vital organs. It affects digestion and circulation system. It is linked to the diseases like Cancer and Heart diseases.
(4) Detox: is a process to heal the body through cleansing. “The most stringent form of detox is fasting”. This method (detox) encourages the body’s natural detoxifying processes by replacing food with water, herbal teas and fresh juices.
Advantages of Detox: It will cleanse and rejuvenate the body, improve the circulation and metabolism (cell growth process), and strengthen the immune system. It can improve the condition of your skin, hair, and nails and slow down the aging process. Improves your ability to cope with stress, declutter your mind and lift your mood, leaving you feeling relaxed and energized.
In a recent study, 46% percent of fruit and vegetables in the UK contained pesticide residues. Tap water can contain heavy metals, DDT, asbestos, arsenic, and nitrates and nitrites from fertilizers.
How to reduce toxic consumptions:
- buy organic food whenever possible.
- avoid drinking tap water - opt for filtered or mineral water.
- reduce intake of processed and packaged foods.
- cut back on sweet, fatty and salty foods.
- always wash and peel off non-organic fruit and vegetables.
- avoid dairy products and meat too often.
- keep intake of tea, coffee, alcohol and fizzy drinks to a minimum.
- avoid food with artificial additives and genetically modified ingredients.
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The ‘Detox’ process mentioned above is nothing but a kinda body tuning, and (to my surprise) fasting is the detox plan as mentioned above by the nutritionist ‘Nicola Graimes’. The fasting, we muslims now a days do in general is as follows: we eat too much in the ‘Sahoor’, then whole day fast, then eat too much in ‘Iftar’ that includes unhealthy things like pakoras, samosaas etc. etc. I was thinking that this whole month of fasting was obligated on us for the betterment of our health (or as a Detox program) in addition to the spiritual benefits by Allah (swt). But the way we fast, gives ‘+1’ point to our health in the day when we are fasting, and then we do ‘-1’ by eating too much and unhealthy stuff. The end result is ZERO, rather more -ve points or more deterioration to our health. Since this is not my field of expertise, i would like to hear from nutritionists or anybody else whether our fasting practice (as mentioned above) still does ‘detox’ for us or we are totally doing wrong with fasting (as we pretty much do with Salat and other rituals)? And to what extent does affect eating too much (all of sudden, as we do) after remaining hungry all day?