Let Us Sacrifice A Little Bit of Food And Sleep For Our Own Good
The two top causes for diabetes as per Ayurveda are –
Asyasukha – eating at will and
Swapnasukha – sleeping at one’s will.
I wonder how they found out this truth thousands of years ago. But the statement holds good for today, tomorrow and forever. If we can limit our eating and sleeping habits, it can drastically reduce the amount of pills that we need to consume. Here is how..
A clarification before we move forward. Swapnasukha does not limit to only sleeping. It covers all aspects of sedentary lifestyle like lack of exercise, sitting for long and so on.
Calories taken in Vs Calories consumed – There should always be a match between the fuel we consume and fuel we use up. If the fuel we consume (food) is more than the fuel that we use (physical and mental work), then the extra fuel gets stored in the form of fat, and leads to diabetes, high BP, high cholesterol, heart disease, etc.
Exercise is always the first and best choice for us to hit a balance between intake and output of calories. But many of us, unfortunately fail to do regular exercise. Hence, from a long term perspective, there should be a contingency plan, if exercise fails to deliver.
The best way is to limit the calories that we take and to control excessive sleep.
Tips to eat less –
(don’t try this if you are malnourished or have anorexia).
1. Whenever you serve your food for yourself, just take a piece of food from the plate and place it back to the food pot. I know it may not be possible when you’re attending a party, or someone else is serving the food. But it is possible for you to do that when your family member or close friend is serving the food. It is possible when you’re serving yourself.
2. Just take only one plate of food. Tell your mind that all you want is this much food to survive till the next meals. Do not go for second servings at all.
Bottom line is, if you can just for a moment, say no to excess of food, the next moment, your stomach and mind will be okay with it. But these two methods should not prevent you from providing yourself with sufficient nutrition. Only you have to decide the amount of food, how much you actually need and how much is avoidable.
Tips to control sleep: (Don’t try this if you have insomnia). I already have written about how to control sleep. You actually need 6 – 8 hours of sleep, based on your age, body weight, daily habits, mental and physical work etc. But if you think you can sleep lesser, then, try to decrease the sleeping hours.
To lessen the sleep, it is not good to delay going to bed at night. But it is advisable to get up early. Getting up early has lot of benefits. To try that, set the alarm clock to one hour before your scheduled waking time. Get up an hour before, read some book, meditate, or do some productive work for just 20 minutes and then again go back to sleep. Apart from lessening the sleep it adds more value to your 20 minutes. For example, that early morning will be quite and calm and you can concentrate better in meditation, reading etc.
This may not work for all, but I suppose, it is worth giving a try and hope that the efforts will be rewarding.
