The Telangana Science Journal, May 2001


Contents:
The Indian Continent
New Cholesterol Guidelines
Vergetarian Diet
Vegetarians Perform Better
Satva,  Rajas and Tamas


The Indian Continent
About 225 million years ago, India was a large island (from Afghanistan to Burma) situated off the Australian coast. This piece of land includes Afghanistan and Burma. A vast ocean, the Tethys Sea, separated India from the Eurasian continent.  When Pangaea broke apart about 200 million years ago, India began to forge northward. About 80 million years ago, India was located roughly 6,400 km south of the Eurasian continent, moving northward at a rate of about 9 m a century. When India rammed into Eurasia about 40 to 50 million years ago, its northward advance slowed by about half. The collision resulted in the rapid uplift of the Himalayas and the Tibetan Plateau. In just 50 million years, peaks such as Mt. Everest have risen to heights of more than 9 km. The impinging of the two landmasses has yet to end. The Himalayas continue to rise more than 1 cm a year, a growth rate of 10 km in a million years! ( visit: http://pubs.usgs.gov/publications/text/himalaya.html)

The European Continent is part of the bigger Eurasian Continent  separated by the Ural mountains. We consider Europe as a
separate continent, not only because of the cultural and racial differences and mountain borders, but also because Europe
considered itself a continent and told the world that this part of Eurasia was a continent. When Europe (~ 750 million people) is
considered a separate continent from Asia, what is the reason Indian Continent (~1.5 billion people) is accorded a status of a
sub-continent? The reason is that Indians don't consider it a continent. Why? Because Indians were taught by the British that "India is a sub-continent."

The age old Brahmin Sankalpa declares that India is a continent- Bharata Khanda, as part of Jambu Dwipa (Indo-Eurasian Plate).  Every Brahmin in India recites the Sankalpa everytime he or she prays to God.  However, they forget the meaning of Bharata Khanda.  The same Brahmin declares in English that India is a subcontinent (upa-khanda). The Indian Continent, owing to its geographical isolation by the Himalayas and Hindu Kush from Eurasia, and the cultural and racial differences from Eurasia, should be regarded as a separate continent.  We should all give due respect to the Indian Continent and address it as a Continent.  If Indians themselves start respecting the continent, the rest of the world will follow.

New Cholesterol Guidelines
New guidelines for cholesterol were published in the Journal of the American Medical Association. Standards for acceptable cholesterol levels change under the new guidelines, too.  The guidelines also take note of "good" high-density lipoprotein. Current guidelines list 200 milligrams per deciliter of total cholesterol as the desirable level, over 240 mg as high, and less than 35 mg of HDL as too low. The new guidelines remain the same for total cholesterol, but add that 100 mg of LDL is optimal for that form. They also add a listing of 130-159 mg of LDL as borderline high, 160 mg as high, 190 mg as very high. The too low reading for the good HDL is raised from 35 mg to 40 mg. Exercise, losing excess weight and dietary improvements remain the most important lifestyle changesrecommended to maintain healthy cholesterol levels, the NIH says. Dietary goals include limiting saturated fats to 7 percent of total calories and adding more soluble fiber and plant stanols and sterols.

Vergetarian Diet
The American Dietetic Association (ADA) supports a well-planned vegetarian diet. Vegetarian diets tend to be lower in fat, are lower in cholesterol, and have been used to reverse severe coronary artery disease. Vegetarian diets are higher in folate, vitamins C and E, carotenoids, and phytochemicals. Vegetarians usually have lower blood cholesterol and lower blood pressure. Vegans, who eat no animal products, including dairy foods and eggs, need to make sure their diets include sufficient vitamin B12 and vitamin D.

Vegetarians Perform Better
One motivation for a vegetarian diet is better health, and it seems to work, according to Paul Williams, Ph.D., at Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory in California. Comparing 351 vegetarian runners to 8,891 omnivorous runners revealed the following: 1)  Vegetarians run an average of 13% to 14% more miles per week than non-vegetarians. 2)  Vegetarian runners have slimmer waists than omnivorous runners; men by almost two centimeters and women by nearly one centimeter. The waistlines of the omnivorous runners increase with increases in the amounts of red meat they eat. But this association was weaker among higher mileage runners. 3)  Vegetarians have lower total and LDL cholesterol, by about 3% to 5%, which lowers their risk of cardiovascular disease. 
(For more visit: http://www.americanrunning.org/webarticles/fluids_nutrition/nutrition_health/veget.htm)

Satva,  Rajas and Tamas
According to Tammy Baker, spokesperson for the American Dietetic Association, we have 30 or 40 brain chemicals called neurotransmitters that are used by our 10 million brain cells. Five or six of these transmitters are affected by the food you eat. For example, foods high in carbohydrates (breads, grains and cereals) contain the amino acid tryptophan, and through a series of reactions this is converted to serotonin, which has a calming effect on our bodies. If you want to relax, or if you need to calm down, you want to eat foods high in carbohydrates.

Bhagavad-Gita divides the food into three clear divisions. These three categories correspond to three gunas (qualities/ properties): 1) Satva guna: calmness, purity, and balance. According to Bhagavad Gita satvik food promotes longevity, intelligence, strength, health, happiness, and delight. Examples of satvik food include fruits, vegetables, grains, cereals etc. 2) Rajas guna: activity, passion, and restlessness. Examples of rajasik foods are hot spicey foods and slaty foods. 3) Tamas guna:sleep, ignorance, dullness, and inertia.  Meat is a tamasik food.

Sreenivasarao Vepachedu, May 2001
 

Back to The Telangana Science Journal
Back to Vepachedu Home Page