Wicked Warrior

As above, why are you going there? I used to go to pubs and clubs with friends but got bored quickly so would hang around for a bit and then walk back home. At that time of night, the streets would be dead quiet so it would be perfect time to sing a shabad or recite some bani on the way home without distractions.

I might go on a one-off event if I felt it was important and consume a soft drink from its container (rather than a glass that probably hasn't been washed properly).

It all comes down to parents. All they teach their children is how to to gurdwara, do matha tek, take prashad, eat langar and go home.

But the Gurdwara should be the one place you can learn about Sikhi. At home, parents should practice Sikhi so that their kids can see and learn and reinforce the message.

Animal protiens acutally seep calcium out of bones and make our blood acidic.

US has the world's highest consumption of dairy and also world's highest rates of osteoporosis.

I've found one paper that talks about "animal proteins" and hypercalciuria but then doesn't specify which animal proteins, nor can it determine the mechanism. Knowing which "animal protein" is important - there's a huge difference between the flesh of an animal and its milk.

With the second statement, that is correlation and not causation. There's a difference. Example: There's a negative correlation between fresh lemons and number of fatalities on US highways. As more fresh lemons are imported into america, there are fewer accidents on the American highways.

Better example: There's a strong positive correlation between the amount of ice-cream sold by street vendors and the amount of crime committed. If I thought in the same way you did, I would say that ice-creams cause crime! This is wrong. What you need to look at is the mechanism - in this case, crimes tend to be higher in the summer and guess what? Summer is when more ice-creams are sold.

You need proof beyond correlation. You need causation.

Beyond this, Karah Prasad is made with flour, sugar and ghee. Ghee comes from butter. Butter comes from milk. Milk comes from cows. So are you now saying we should stop karah prashad in Gurdwaras?

I don't understand why they don't ensure people learn about all world religions. When I was at secondary school, we covered a new religion each term - christianity, islam, judaism, sikhism, hinduism, buddhism. That covered the first two years.

In which case, go with a group of friends, two of whom stay outside and call the cops if you're not back out in say 10 mins.

If it is something suspicious, then you're potentially allowing other more naive people fall into their trap.

If you're not sure, you can use landregistry.gov.uk to check out who owns the place. Maybe he was just trying to be hospitable? Guru Ji teaches us to view everyone as God and not with suspicion.

Sorry, but this is clearly NOT the way to proceed as a Sikh of the Guru. :nono:

Why? I have heard of many enlightened Gursikhs asking important questions before Guru Ji in this way. Didn't Bhai Mani Singh Ji use this method to decide whether to follow Guru Granth Sahib or Banda Singh Bahadur?

I have already slowly begun to accept that Guru Ji does things for the best.

There have been many Sakhis which show Guru Ji always looking out for us.

1. Remember that humans used to be lactose-intolerant because once weaned, they did not consume milk. There are areas in SE Asia where the population is largely lactose-intolerant still. This has been shown through genetic testing.☺

2. Boosting calcium intake through dairy products has been proven to reverse osteoporosis (measured through DEXA scans). Where is the evidence for your claims?

In that case, shift your sleeping pattern - go to bed earlier. You may have to go to bed very late one night, have as little as four hours' sleep and remain tired the following day but that night you would sleep earlier eg 10pm instead of 11pm and should wake up earlier as a result.

The main difference is my brother-in-law's family were huge and outnumbered us by something like 4:1. There was nothing overly extravagant about it.

For me, as long as me, the bride and Guru Ji are there, I don't give a rat's arse about what else happens/who comes.

Depends on what's causing it. Could be an underlying physical cause - might be worth having a chat with a doctor.

Ignoring the night time sleep for a moment, do you have problems concentrating/falling asleep during the day?

You got to remember that almost all of it is cultural and not religious. Hence the costs involved. My sister had a wedding recently. No meat or alcohol at the party but because of number of attendees plus cost of getting relatives from abroad, it was very expensive.

It's not as scary as it sounds. The parents can chat to get an idea of each other - the girl's family will want to know what kind of family their daughter might be going into and the boy's family need to know what kind of background the girl's come from.

As a boy, I've been grilled by the father, mother, grandparents and siblings of the prospective girls. It's more scary to meet and chat with the girl in my experience.

Is there any power or benefit in tattooing oneself with Bani? What would happen if I had the entire of Guru Maharaj tattooed on my body?

I signed up to our local one. Was good - meeting girls and their families. It can be a lot easier than relying on word of mouth.

I tried the online sites and found them to be useless (didn't seem to find anyone I got on with or who wasn't vacuous). Your experience may be different.

All depends on you.

I'm not amritdhari but don't drink or eat meat. I've no qualms about walking into a pub - I'm not gonna start drinking. However, it depends on what you're going to do and how you consider things.

If you're going for a social drink, you can drink non-alcoholic drinks but any glasses used will have probably contained alcohol and may not have been washed properly. In which case, something like a J2O or 330ml bottle of coke may be adequate. They come in sealed bottles and you can drink straight from the bottle.

If you're going for food, the crockery and cutlery may have been used on meat products and may contain residue, even if thoroughly washed. Alternatively, you may not be bothered by such things.

Is there any way it can be changed to an alternative venue that you may be more comfortable in?

It's not impossible, just difficult.

Try using myfitnesspal for logging food intake. It's surprising to see how much people eat when they record it. As above, you need to be in a calorie deficit. The above website/iphone app helps guide you as to how much to eat by limiting your calorie intake. More importantly, it recalculates your calorie intake as you drop your weight. A lot of diets don't adjust for this so you reach a plateau. But don't focus purely on calories or you could get away with eating a tub of ice-cream. Look at low GI foods.

It's a bit more extreme but quite a few people have lost weight through the intermittent fasting diet. You eat 500kcals for two non-consecutive days. That basically amounts to 2 roti and sabji to eat (preferably in one go) as your only meal in 24 hours. The idea isn't to lose weight (it's a side effect!) but to live longer. Read up on it first.

Exercising is important. Look at progressive exercises - no one expects you to run a marathon straight away. Look at the couch to 5k program (c25k) which is what I used to get me running.

Be careful with your caffeine intake - I've seen people develop palpitations and headaches because they consume so much.

I remember a katha by Bhai Harjinder Singh Lallie. Each of the sentences in that pauri relate to what was going on in the world.

Some holy men were washing themselves in between meditation so they were always "pure" or clean. They would wash every few hours. Their belief was that they needed to remain clean so they could find God. Guru Ji tells us you can wash your body as many times as you want but you will not find God by doing so.