Hakeem Khalid

Nutrition

Details

To live one must eat. But, we not only eat to live, what we eat also affects our ability to keep healthy, do work, to be happy and to live well. Knowledge of what to eat and in what quantities is a prerequisite to the healthy and happy life…
Nutrition is the science that deals with all the various factors of which food is composed and the way in which proper nourishment is brought about. The science of foods, the nutrients and the substances therein, their action, interaction and balance in relation to health and diseases. Nutrition science is the area of knowledge regarding the role of food in the maintenance of good health. Thus nutrition is the study of food at work in our body.

Food is anything solid or liquid that has a chemical composition which enables it, when swallowed to do one or more of the following

1. Provide the body with the material from which it can produce heat, or any for m of energy.

2. Provide material to allow growth, maintenance, repair or reproduction to proceed.

Supply substances, which normally regulate the production of energy or the process of growth, repair or reproduction.

Good nutrition requires a satisfactory diet, which is capable of supporting the individual consuming it, in a state of good health by providing the desired nutrients in required amounts. It must provide the right amount of fuel to execute normal physical activity. If the total amount of nutrients provided in the diet is insufficient, a state of under nutrition will develop.

Nutrition is one key to developing and maintaining a state of health that is optimal for you. In addition, poor diets coupled with a sedentary lifestyle are known to be risk factors for life- threatening chronic diseases and death: Heart disease, Stroke, Hypertension, Diabetes and some forms of Cancer. The major health problems are largely caused by excessive energy intake and not enough physical activity.

There is increasing evidence that nutrition—what we eat and what we don’t eat— may be related to as many cases of avoidable cancers as tobacco use. Nutrition stresses the use of whole food as a medicine. Nutrition is an essential part of healing in many indigenous societies. Whole food and natural diet is an effective answer to many health complaints and conditions

Prevention is preferable to cure

Food Charts:

Group 1:

BREAKFAST:

Milk, Butter, Carrot Pudding, Almond Pudding, Pumpkin Pudding, Oats, Herbal Tea,

LUNCH:

Curry of: Radish, Carrot, Turnip, Beet Root , Pumpkins, Okra, Courgette, Boiled Rice, Moong Daal (Yellow Lentils), Chapatti, Lettuce, Custard, Oats

DINNER:

Same as Lunch, including Herbal Tea

FRUITS:

Banana, melon, Guava, water melon, leachy, Sugar cane, Cucumber

Group 2:

BREAKFAST:

Egg Pudding, Pistachio, walnuts, Dates, Mango Pulp in Syrup, Honey

LUNCH:

Lamb, Black Gram, Onion, Ginger, Mint, Garlic, Methi (Fenugreek), Green Lentils, Chapatti

DINNER:

Same as Lunch, including Herbal Tea

FRUITS:

Mango, Papaya, Apricot, Grapes, Mulberry, Coconut

Group 3:

BREAKFAST:

Peanuts, Sultans, Fried Egg, egg omelet with gram flour, Yogurt, Gooseberry in Syrup,

Herbal tea:  boil 2 Cloves and a piece of cinnamon in 1 cup of water for 3 minutes and add 3 drops of lemon juice

LUNCH:

Fish, Chicken, Beef, Bitter Gourd, Peas, Cabbage, Tomato, Aubergine, Spinach, Mango, lemon and green pepper pickles, Cauliflower, Potatoes, Gram Flour, Corn

DINNER:

Same as Lunch, including Herbal Tea

FRUITS:

Apple, Orange, Jambulam, Peach, Pomegranate, Plum, Pineapple, Cherries, Strawberries

· Let food be thy medicine and medicine be thy food. (HIPPOCRATES – The Father of Medicine)

· Without proper Nutrition Every other form of Therapy Is Virtually Worthless

· The Doctor of the future will no longer treat he human frames with drugs but rather will cure and prevent from disease with nutrition. 

   (THOMAS EDISON).

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What does temperament of the drugs means?

The temperament of the drugs means the whole chemistry and properties of a drug, its quality of having toxicity or otherwise. The drugs belongs to plant, mineral & animal origin have their own temperaments. Because of the temperament the property of one drug differs from the other.

The different ingredients of a drug have a molecular structure (Surat-Mauiyah). Therefore their temperament is also different. When ingredients of different temperament assemble in a compound drug, they develop and produce a different temperament altogether.

Al-Kindi (A distinguished pharcognosict died in 873 A.D.) established a method to asses the temperament, degrees of compound drugs and illustrated as follows. Cardamom
1 warm ½ cold ½ moist 1 dry
Sugar 2 warm 1 cold 1 moist 2 dry
Indigo ½ warm 1 cold ½ moist 1 dry
Embolica 1 warm 2 cold 1 moist 2 dry
Sum:- 4 ½ warm 4 ½ cold 3 moist 6 dry
Thus the drug is dried to the first degree.

The temperament is a quality of drug it means the drug is hot and cold in touch and vice-versa. It actually means that the drug is potentially or action wise hot in comparison to the body. The potency and degree developed inside the body. The action take place after in-take of drug, which increase or decrease the body temperament, stimulating the thermostat, centre of hypothalamus, by increasing the Basic Metabolic Rates (BMR), by releasing various harmones. A drug is said to be hot because it produces certain symptoms related to heat after intake. A drug is said to be cold when it lowers the temperament by influencing hypothalamus or decreasing the BMR, as such the symptoms produces after intake of drugs of various temperaments attributed to hot, cold, Damp or dry.

In Unani all drugs are defined in temperamental qualities and graded into four degrees according the potency of their qualities as hot, cold, moist (wet) and dry. Thus a hot drug graded in degree one, two, three and four and cold, moist and hot are defined vice-versa. Thus the first and second degree is safe and third have a toxic effect of mild nature and the fourth considered having side-effects or toxic.

For maintaining health it is imperative to maintain temperaments as well. It is also paramount to a physician to keep the temperament in mind while diagnosing a disease. The dominance of one or more humour in the body vitiate humour itself and create a condition i.e. cold disease.

There are various factors which affect the humours. When disturbance in the quantity, quality and equilibrium in one or more humours occurred due to the effect of atmosphere, diet, psychilogical or otherwise it causes disease.

It is the observation, experimentation and experience of ancient physicians who had under taken clinical trials on living beings and treated with single as well as compound drugs. According to the actions, resulted in the human body, observed and examined by the physicians, the temperament was defined and determined.

Drugs of Herbal, Mineral & Animal origin are used. They form a large number of formulations and shape acceptable to the patient.

Drugs are used in crude form as single drugs and compound form.

Because single drug sometime could not give desired effect and results, they can give less and sometime severe action. A drug of compound ingredients counteract the toxic effect of chemically active principle and act as antidote and enhance the required action of other single drugs.
On combination of multiple drugs in a formula having different qualities and active principles of mild or severe nature interact with each other. In the process the toxic effects or side-effects reduce to nil therefore the trend continue.

In Unani drug sugar or honey is the base as a preservative. So if the preservative are standard then the drug retain the quality, efficacy and also retain the life for more than one year. The methods of preparation of compound drugs, preservatives are described in detail in NFUM, Part-I.

All the drugs used in compound formulations are safe & non-toxic. These drugs are prepared according to the specific process & methods. Before preparation of Unani drugs toxicity of drugs are kept in mind and so the toxic ingredient are purified and de-toxified. Due to this process the toxicity is reduced to nil and the efficacy remains. Hence, the Unani drugs are absolutely safe.

The medicinal plants are a type of vegetation for example some fruit or vegetables are used to stop diarrhoea and some are administered to increase hemoglobin in anemia. There action is fast. As such Unani medicines take effective action in the patients of acute diseases as well as of chronic diseases.
In the following acute conditions Unani drugs take immediate action.
I. Indigestion, Acidity, Flatulence
II. Diarrhoea
III. Dysentery
IV. Bronchitis
V. Coryza and Cattarrh
VI. Abdominal pain
VII. Urticaria and other ailments
The misconception that the Unani drugs act only in chronic diseases is absolutely in-correct. The Arthritis, Bronchial Asthma, Sinusitis, Hepatitis etc. becomes chronic due to repeated administration of allopathic drugs. These can be cured in acute condition by Unani drugs. As almost all the Unani drugs are used orally or locally and injectables are not used in the system, therefore they act like the allopathic drugs through the same route.

Ecological & environmental factors affect the balance of humours in the body and also vitiate them. Maintenance of humour and promotion and preservation of health depends on six essentials which influence the living being with respect to preservation of health and causation of disease.
The Six Essentials (Asbab-e-Sitt-e-Zarooriya) are:-
I. Hawa-e-Muhit (atmospheric air)
II. Makul-vo-Mashrub (food & drink)
III. Harkat-vo-sakun badni (physical movement & rest)
IV. Harkat-vo-Sakun al-Nafsani (Mental movement and rest)
V. Naum vo-Yaqzah (Sleep and wakefulness)
VI. Istifragh-vo-Ihtibas (Evacuation & retention).

Diagnosis is involved investigation of the cause of disease through pulse reading, naked eye examination of urine & stool and through the other conventional methods i.e. auscultation, palpation, percussion with the help of some modern tools. Thus, the spot diagnosis is made very easy.

Modes of treatment are four. I. Regimenal therapy
II. Dieto therapy
III. Pharmaco therapy
IV. Surgery.

Regimens are five as under.
I. Exercise
II. Massage
III. Hammam
IV. Douches
V. Regimen of Geriatrics
Hammam and massage therapy is available in Govt. Nizamia General Hospital (Unani) Hyderabad, Andhra Pradesh.
Cupping therapy as another speciality treatment of Unani is available in Central Research Instt., (CCRUM) Hyderabad, A.P.

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