Editor's Notebook

Coconut Water is Highly Nutritious
When the coconut is broken, the water gets wasted without its being used properly. Few people know that coconut water is highly nutritious. Protiens, organic acids, sugar, vitamins, minerals like potassium, copper, magnesium, etc., are found in large quantities in coconut water. Both the sick and the healthy will find it a refreshing drink!.

Jackfruit to treat AIDS
Jackfruit can be very useful in treatment of Acquired Immune Deficiency Syndrome (AIDS), report scientists.

An extract of jackfruit, which contains a substance called jacaline, is found to have inhibited the growth of the AIDS-causing human immune deficiency virus (HIV) in test tubes during experiments conducted by French scientists.

The power of jacaline was discovered by Jean Favero from the microbiology and immunology section of the French National Institute for Health and Medical Research (INSERM) in 1993. Jacaline is inactive in lymph cells which are already infected but can protect the healthy ones.

Spice your food, banish cancer
An armament of onions, cloves, mustard and fenugreek seeds, with a splash of celery and coriander, is what the body needs to ward off cancers and invading bacteria, say nutrition scientists. The latest research reports, spicy food, most dear to the heart of a gourmet, say does more than merely please the palate - it prevents cancers and have anti-bacterial and anti-inflammatory properties. The National Institute of Nutrition in Hyderabad reports that most spices prevent cancers and attack harmful bacteria and fungi, while some reduce blood sugar levels, help digestion and reduce cholesterol levels.

Dissection without cruelty
Animal Welfare Board of India and Blue Cross have come out with their computer-aided programme of frog and rat dissection. They hope to persuade Govt. of India to promote use of computer software in schools and colleges and finally work towards a ban on dissection of frogs and other animals.

Ravi Shanker, secretary of the board, maintains that Compufrog, the software for computer dissection is so good that students can dissect as many frogs as they want without the cruelty perpetrated on these creatures and without soiling their hands with blood. The software enables detailed study of each part of the frog. Even the heart beat and flow of blood is simulated on the screen.

Compufrog will be followed by Compurat, which is currently being tested out. Similar software is also proposed for dissection of pigeons and other animals used in research. Gujarat government, in India, has already banned the dissection of frogs in schools.

Expectant mothers can go for prodigies
Recently two scientists claimed that it was possible for expectant mothers to have babies who could be bright, alert and even a prodigy.

Dr. Michail Lazarev, the Chief of Health Sciences Laboratory of the Moscow-based Postgraduate Institute for Teachers and Dr. Brent Logan, the director of the Washington-based Prenatal Institute, substantiated their claims on the basis of their research and development.

Dr. Logan's theory is that if more cells could be preserved at birth, the brain would become much more efficient. (An estimated 75 to 90 per cent of total neuron production die at the time of 'full-term' birth).

With this in mind, he developed a pre-natal stimulation program called 'the cardiac curriculum' in 1982 and later produced a sonic device tradenamed as 'Baby Plus'.

We don't know what Baby Plus (or Minus) is supposed to do. If there are any adverse effects we will come to know, like Thalidomide, only after 10 more years. We also do not know what they meant by cardiac curriculum. However, what we know is the fact that it is possible to stop destruction of 75 to 90 percent cells by telling the expectant mother to eat more fruits, stop drinking and smoking, and doing simple yogic exercises and pranayam (deep breathing) which in turn will oxygenate the foetus, and by having natural delivery. Similarly, ancient Ayurvedic texts are replete with herbs and decoctions which can even change the sex of the baby. All these scientists, instead of re-inventing the wheel, would do well to delve into the old Indian medical texts. Like Deepak Chopra is now doing - marketing old wine into new bottles!

Linger in bed and live longer!
People who hop out of bed first thing in the morning are likely to get a major heart attack according to a Chinese doctor Huang Guoxiong of the Liaoning Chinese Medical College, reports official Xinhua news agency of China.

"Therefore, after first awakening, idle about in bed rather than springing to one's feet to greet the new day. When one hops out of the bed immediately after awakening, even more burden is laid on the heart", Huang said, adding that he had "encountered many incidences of cardiological disease caused by awaking and hopping up".

One should remain in bed for 5 to 10 minutes, and do such movements as self-massage on the chest and the scalp, yawning, deep breathing, stretching and slow movements of limbs before sitting up slowly, Huang advised. "This advice is aimed at mainly middle-aged and old and should not be taken by children and youngsters as an excuse for idling", Huang added. So what is great Dr. Huang? Talk to a good Yoga teacher and they have been saying what you have said now over the centuries. Fashions repeat every seven years! It has become fashionable to carry on more and more re-search and find the same things again and again!

Rebuilding the body from nose to toes
Each year Americans replace 1,35,000 hips; 1,10,000 knees, and tens of thousands of other body parts at an estimated cost of 2 billion dollars. These implants face a hostile environment : The human body is wet, hot, salty, and ever in motion, and its immune system is triggered to reject any intruder. Exhaustive testing, monitored by the FDA, often requires 10 years. Prosthetic costs run high : A simple heart valve can cost $ 2,000 for the part alone. National Geographic, December 1989.

I had written a poem to that effect, in 1977. Titled New Man, it goes like this.

New, new, my heart is new;
it came from a man
from Timbuktoo.
New, new, my kidney's new;
it's guarenteed till
nineteen ninety-two.
New, new, my lungs are new;
if they run out a trade-in
would do.
New, new, my liver is new;
there was a sale, I could've
bought two.
New, new, my eyes are new;
they come equiped with
photocells, too.
New, new, my brian in new;
last year when I went insane,
doctor fit me his wife's brain.
New, new, my member is new;
it wasn't functioning properly
so I had it anew.
New, new, I am brand new;
and though my wife avers I'm same
I don't know I am who!

Traditional cure for Diabetes
If you have asthma, you have got to live with it (with Asthelin pump ofcourse!). If you have got Diabetes, you have got to live with it (with Insulin ofcourse!). If you have got Hypertension, you have got to live with it (on anti-hypertensives ofcourse!). Pray why? No patient seems to be asking that important question. We believe that every disease under the sun can be treated - but not every patient; that is because patient is basically impatient. Now that we are on this subject, here is what you can do if you are suffering from Diabetes.

Ground nuts are very valuable in diabetes. Soak them overnight in water. Eat them raw. Better still, sprout them. Jambuls are traditional medicine. Karela (bitter gourd) is a specific folk medicine. The tender leaves of Mango are considered useful too. Methi (Fenugric) leaves and seeds have been found to be highly effective. The decoction of Kadu (Himalayan gentian or Chiretta) seeds boiled in water are anti-diabetic. Drinking two tablespoons of decoction in which Neem leaves have been boiled, 3 to 4 times, early in the morning is invaluable.

Stomach as graveyard
About twenty years ago (but the memory is still fresh in my mind) I had gone to Deonar abattoir. It is run by the Municipal Corporation of Greater Bombay and the rules lay down that the animals sent to slaughter house should be disease-free and healthy. But most animals were weak, emaciated, diseased and old. Many of the them were filthy with flies swarming around them. Some were having tears in their eyes. If only they knew how to protest, how to fight, how to escape.

Now let me describe to you the scene inside : It is a big room, about 100' x 100', into which they are led in groups. There is a tunnel in which they are pushed by administering electric shock. Their horns sometimes get stuck and break. The other side of the tunnel is locked, only the head of the animal can come out. The butcher stands there in position and immediately puts a clamp around the head (temples) and administers strong electric shock (have you seen how ECT is given?).

The animal becomes limp. It is hung upside down by pulleys and with a sharp knife the throat is slit. Animal bleeds to death. Then the carcass is opened with an electric saw. Bones, skin, flesh and excreta is seperated. The flesh is cleaned. The large chunk of flesh is hung in the cold room (stay in that room for 15 minutes and you will be frozen). From there into the delivery van and in the butcher's shop where it is hung for your attention. In the meantime, flies, dust, germs settle on it. (What happened to your germ theory on which the entire edifice of modern medicine is based?). You then bring it home, cook it over the fire, maybe in an aluminium utensil. What happens when you burn rubber?

The entire scene inside a slaughter house tends to bring out the greatest terror from within the animal, when against its will, it is dragged through the slippery floor to be killed. The extreme terror in the animal, activates adrenalin (a powerful biochemical agent) in the blood. When the animal is killed, this is retained in the blood and turns the meat into poison.

In the same way, the waste and toxic matter in the bodies of the animals, passing through its blood and tissues on the way to excretion are stopped in death, retained, and later passed into human bodies through the meat.

The bacteria and wastes in the human body produce an excess of uric acid, which sets off a condition called collemia in the blood. If there is a concentration of this acid in a particular region, because of a sudden shock or irritation or change in blood pressure or temperature, the acid manifests itself into a variety of diseases, ranging from epilepsy, paralysis, dyspepsia, diabetes, dropsy, angina-pectoris, cancers of the colon and rectum. The victim is not the animal, it is you.

Oh, Baby
To Call Zack Strenkert a big kid is an understatement. At 17 months old, the Bloominghburg,N.Y., toddler weighs a whooping 68 pounds, as much as an 8 or 9 year old. He's a 3 feet tall and almost as big around. Zack, who weighed 10 pounds, 12 ounces at birth, goes barefoot because his ankles won't fit into shoes. And he wears largesize adult diapers.
Tests for thyroid problems. diabetes and other disorders were negative. The diagnosis: morbid obesity.

He's never been a big eater,' mom Laurie told the Associated Press. He'll have a quarter-cup of cereal for breakfast, crackers for a snack, a half a sandwich for lunch. She says she told her story to reporters in the hopes of finding a specialist who can help her son.

Oh, Mom
Put the baby on fruits only diet (preferably citric variety) and give Phytolacca Beri Q 5 to 10 drops in warm water tds. Give him cold baths in all seasons and massage him with hot towel thereafter. Contact us, if necessary.

And read what Dr. Alec Forbes, M.A., D.M. (Oxon), F.R.C.P. (London) has to say on allopathy: "It is time that a great deal of attention was paid to using alternative systems of therapy. I am not saying that orthodox medicine does not have its place. But, as a first line approach to human therapy its operation cannot be recommended except in the case of acute surgery for accidents and one or two other mechanical things which it does very well. However, if you consider the cost of hospital admissions and the increasing rise of the drug bills you will see that it is rapidly pricing itself out of the market. There are other therapies that are equally applicable to humans, and are very much easier to apply".

Vegetarianism

"I have a convinction that only through Vegetarianism can the world become truly civilised and non-violent" - Albert Einstein. I too firmly believe that Vegetarianism alone can change the destiny of humankind.

India can regain its moral authority in the world through Vegetarianism. Vegetarianism helps one to become a cooperative and compassionate person in a society swept by the gun culture, greed and selfishness.

Some Great Vegetarians
Jesus Christ, Gautam Buddha, Mahavir, Guru Nanak, Zoroaster, St. Mathew, St. Paul, Albert Einstein, Isaac Newton, Plato, Virgil, Pythagorus, Emerson, Charles Darwin, Mahatma Gandhi, Voltaire, William Shakespeare, Albert Schweitzer, George Bernard Shaw, Benjamin Franklin, Henry David Thoreau, Annie Besant, H.G. Wells, Leonardo da Vinci, Leo Tolstoy, and ofcourse Leo Rebello.

St. Paul abhored meat eating and considered it as an indication of religious degradation. Likewise, Zoroaster enjoined on his followers to avoid meat-eating for purity.

Coronary Club
I'd like to start a "Coronary Club". To join this club a person must : - Eat junk food - Be obese - Concentrate only on earning black money - Be a chain smoker and hard drinker - Indulge in sex - Take all kinds of drugs - Never smile - Always fume, fret or be critical - Be suspicious and tense - Not rest, relax or exercise. Those interested in joining may write to me.