Bhaktananda on Health and Aging

[Jitendra Hydonus]

Mccoy

I decided to review Brother Bhaktananda’s - and therefore most of Yogananda’s recommendations for food and health and slowing the age process- recommendations and suggestions about health and eating. We have been talking about it in another thread - ‘Longevity and Health’ - but since some of the threads have apparently disappeared ( that you created on aging ) I thought this may be a good place to bring up the topic of aging. Brother Bhaktananda once told me that I had a long life ahead of me. Being now 71 I suppose that prediction has already become some what true.

I find that what you said about Rajasi has also become true of my life….He may have had cancer much younger if it was not for his generally good health, and following a good diet. There were three times in my life that I found I may have easily died by health problems had it not been for practicing Hatha yoga, eating a vegetarian diet, a constant practice of Yogananda’s energization exercises and the grace/blessings of the gurus.

[mccoy]

Good idea to resurrect this post, I wrote those things in 2014 and 2015, before I went deep down the rabbit hole of nutrition helthspan, longevity, reading dozens of books, articles and participating in the forum of caloric restriction practitioners.

I tried a low-carb diet with moderate protein, I tried a vegan diet, but at the end I went back to the SRF/Bakhtananda diet, specifically designed to my own individual tolerances and needs.

For example, I had to cut down fruit drastically, since I noticed that my blood glucose is rising, due to age but probably due to past excesses in sugars, although natural (I used to drink vast amounts of  fruit juice, use to eat ridiculous quantities of honey, fruit and so on).

So, only modest amounts of fruit, no honey, very little cereals now. However some people tolerate glucose well even when not young and for them it's good to eat healthy carbs.

After my recent research and listening to the neurological signals coming from the body (how the body responds to foods). presently my diet is based upon the following food.

Breakfast: kefir or yogurt or Greek yogurt or fresh milk with cacao powder and erythritol

Lunch: all kinds of vegetables, then low-fat cottage cheese or mozzarella, walnuts with splinters of parmesan cheese or other cheese, often low-fat. Other nuts like almonds, pistachios, hazelnuts, pecans and so on.One green banana as a sweet.

Dinner: basically a replica of lunch, with different vegetables.

With lunch and dinner I'll also include beans, eggs, mushrooms, when I can.

I find that my body does not tolerate very much starch and cereals (they bloat me without satiating me very much), so I eat modest amounts of them. Some people tolerate them better, they can be nourishing and inexpensive, too many can result in problems (elevated fasting blood glucose) but it all depends on individuals.

Beans are considered a very healthy food, their starch is not deleterious but they usually must be eaten in moderate amounts. I eat them as a side dish or as a condiment.

[mccoy]

Mccoy  Brother Bhaktananda once told me that I had a long life ahead of me. Being now 71 I suppose that prediction has already become some what true.
I find that what you said about Rajasi has also become true of my life….He may have had cancer much younger if it was not for his generally good health, and following a good diet. There were three times in my life that I found I may have easily died by health problems had it not been for practicing Hatha yoga, eating a vegetarian diet, a constant practice of Yogananda’s energization exercises and the grace/blessings of the gurus.

If Bro B foresaw a long life for you, I think it's going to be 100+. 71 is presently not even the average life expectancy, which in America is around 80 or a little less for males.

Cancer is the most dangerous of the 3 horsemen of death.

Cardiovascular disease is pretty much preventable. Cognitive impairment ditto. Cancer, that's another deal altogether. Whatever tool we have at disposal, we should use it.

The above being said, high glycemia (blood sugar) seems to support the growth of cancerous cells. A way to avoid high glycemia is to avoid sweets and many cereals. This also implies avoiding too much fruit. Of course, dried fruit must be avoided like hell.

Are you checking your fasting blood sugar? It's the easiest thing to do, for a few dollars investment, you can buy a monitor and stripes and detect any unwanted rise in fasting blood sugar.

Another easy trick is to monitor your blood pressure regularly. A high pressure is an ally of the 1st horseman of death, cardiovascular disease, which includes heat stroke, brain stroke, myocardial infarction, and other pretty things.

[mccoy]

Whoever is serious about his or her health, should monitor at least fasting blood glucose, at a pharmacy or at home, I'm going to post the best monitor for the buck, the one which I use.

Ditto for blood pressure. regular measurements are a good life insurance. If BP rises, take action, even pills if necessary, they are far better than strokes.

[mccoy]

The four Horsemen of the Apocalipse are:

1-Conquest
2-War
3-FAmine
4-Death.


The 4 Horsemen of chronic disease and premature death are:

1-Heart and cardiovascular disease
2-Cancer
3-Neurodegenerative disease
4-Diabetes and metabolic disease (this is actually of support to the previous ones).

Yogananda was hit by the first horseman, heart disease (heart stroke or myocardial infarction)

JAnakananda was struck by the second horseman.

Of course, the horsemen were allowed to hit these saintly figures because of karmic reasons. Being borne with human imperfection is common with Avatars, since they need to be anchored to the material world by some imperfections, lest they dissolve in the cosmic ocean.

The causes of Rajarsi's cancer may have been many. Almost surely, as already said, his rigorously healthy lifestyle checked the growth of his brain cancer and brought to him who knows how many years of extra life. However, the following image speaks for itself. Those sinister figures are the astral intelligences which govern these deathly diseases. Behind the death of Janakananda there was a malign activity of the third astral horseman of death.

[Jitendra Hydonus]

Mccoy thanks for your concern and I will take some of those precautions. However, I do not believe you know what type of Cancer I had. It was melanoma….stage four. Which was most likely caused by the Sun and not diet at all. I was driving a truck at the time and it started with my left arm which frequently sets in the window seal exposed to sunlight.

Stage 4 cancer is the stage where cancer has spread to distant organs and is also known as metastatic cancer. Stage 4 cancer is typically not curable but there are treatments available and improvements in cancer treatments are being made constantly that increase the survival rate for patients with late-stage cancer.

By the way currently I am completely cured of melanoma. Credit given to the gurus on this miraculous journey back to health.

[mccoy]

Steve,  yes, I remember it was melanoma, if I'm right you went through the new immunotherapy procedure, which by the way does not increase enormously the probability of survival, statistically. So, yes, the grace of God and Gurus has been perhaps the governing factor.

Diet cannot do miracles against cancer. Some people are born with unfavorable mutations in the BRCA genes, which makes them prone to cancer, whatever the lifestyle.