Eating Healthy

Ethan_McCune

What is the best eating habit to have? I was thinking of skipping one meal every day, or maybe just eating less in general. I know vegetarianism is a choice in Buddhism, not a requirement, but I don't know. Any advice?

how

Greed, hate or delusion make a disquieting meal
&
Compassion, love and wisdom make a slim ego.

lamaramadingdong

"Hunger is the best sauce."
Alton Brown

Straight_Man

I'll play it straight....

The hardest is to cut down, day in and day out, how much you eat each day. If you can reduce lunch to some yogurt and have one big meal a day, that is probably the best way to go for cutting back, IMHO.

Bunks

Eat lots of vegetables. Everything else eat in moderation......often easier said than done though!

Invincible_summer

Michael Pollan's 7 Rules of Eating:

7 Words & 7 Rules for Eating

Pollan says everything he's learned about food and health can be summed up in seven words: "Eat food, not too much, mostly plants."

Probably the first two words are most important. "Eat food" means to eat real food -- vegetables, fruits, whole grains, and, yes, fish and meat -- and to avoid what Pollan calls "edible food-like substances."

Here's how:

1. Don't eat anything your great grandmother wouldn't recognize as food. "When you pick up that box of portable yogurt tubes, or eat something with 15 ingredients you can't pronounce, ask yourself, "What are those things doing there?" Pollan says.

2. Don’t eat anything with more than five ingredients, or ingredients you can't pronounce.

3. Stay out of the middle of the supermarket; shop on the perimeter of the store. Real food tends to be on the outer edge of the store near the loading docks, where it can be replaced with fresh foods when it goes bad.

4. Don't eat anything that won't eventually rot. "There are exceptions -- honey -- but as a rule, things like Twinkies that never go bad aren't food," Pollan says.

5. It is not just what you eat but how you eat. "Always leave the table a little hungry," Pollan says. "Many cultures have rules that you stop eating before you are full. In Japan, they say eat until you are four-fifths full. Islamic culture has a similar rule, and in German culture they say, 'Tie off the sack before it's full.'"

6. Families traditionally ate together, around a table and not a TV, at regular meal times. It's a good tradition. Enjoy meals with the people you love. "Remember when eating between meals felt wrong?" Pollan asks.

7. Don't buy food where you buy your gasoline. In the U.S., 20% of food is eaten in the car.

Also, I will add that drinking lots of water helps curb hunger and having a hydrated body is good too.

wrathfuldeity

Eat alive...thus we are eaters of the dead. Its not what you eat, its how you eat it and what you do with it? We are transformers of energy...what do you do with your consumption?

wrathfuldeity

how said:

Greed, hate or delusion make a disquieting meal
&
Compassion, love and wisdom make a slim ego.

Or feasting on greed, hate and delusions is a delicious meal in which to become compassionate, full of love and wisdom.

federica

how said:

Greed, hate or delusion make a disquieting meal
&
Compassion, love and wisdom make a slim ego.

@how, now you're just being a smartass....

Sometimes it's wiser to just answer the question.

matthewmartin

A short list of Buddhist-y advice on eating. It might not apply due to radical changes in what we understand about health and the difference in effective practice for a beggar-monk and a layperson:

1) no onions, garlic, etc. They make you horny and chase women. (It's in the Brahma Net Sutra-- many Buddhist cook books follow this rule, although I think to say the science behind it is bunk-- maybe the rule should be updated to say "no viagra")
2) No meat. Only the Chinese and Korean monks follow this rule. Elsewhere, the rule is don't do your own butchering. In the US, I'm guessing maybe 50% of Buddhists are vegetarian, but because the host country is 98% non-vegetarian, you will hear the 98% martial every sort of argument about meat to desperately justify it.
3) No eating dinner. This rule was intended to show the laity that you aren't getting fat off their generosity. It has been since interpreted as an austerity to break your clinging to food. I think this is a pointless austerity as you will just eat a larger breakfast and lunch and your body will adjust. An austerity that ultimately is no inconvenience... what good is that? (If austerities are pointless in general, that's yet another question)
4) Celebrate with Torma, it's a Tibetan cake made of toasted barley flour and butter. They shape them into fantastic shapes and use them in rituals. And then eat them.
5) If you cook, use up everything. This is a piece of Zen advice, again to show the laity that gave you the food that you value their sacrifice. In feudal Japan the peasants were essentially giving food to the monks so the monks could eat better than them (although monastery food was still just rice slop in a bucket-- it was better than millet)
6) Tofu and Seitan appears to both be Chinese Buddhist inventions to replace meat in the diet.
7) There are many versions of "thanks" that are similar to Christian grace-- however it isn't a Christian practice dressed up as Buddhist-- monks and laity alike have ritual phrases for giving thanks to those who provided the food.
8) If you are interested in merit (good works), feeding monks (all traditions) and vegetarian feasts (Chinese tradition) is an good way to rack up merit points.
9) Mindful eating, aka, eating really, really, really slowly is an interesting practice to re-center yourself in the present.

federica

Being Italian, I eat onions and garlic a-plenty and I can categorically swear to you it definitely does NOT make me chase women.

Zayl

Well, I've been looking into the Mediterranean diet, myself. It's not exactly a strict diet plan, though. Essentially you eat mainly fruits and vegetables, grains (bread, pasta, etc), nuts, olive oils, fish, and small amounts of meat and dairy, and red wine. The focus is on variety and smaller portions, as well as sitting down and sharing meals with people (a practice that I enjoy)

I'm 23 and fairly overweight with terrible blood pressure and cholesterol for my age. I really need to get on top of things while I'm still young enough to actually get healthier.

DharmaMcBum

I'd say eat small adequate meals regularly and walk as much as you can. A good thing to check on is the amount of carbohydrates your actually eating compared with what you need. I never bother looking and just worried about fats and sugars then my daughter became a type 1 diabetic and suddenly I started counting for her. Then I looked for myself one day and realised where my bad eating was.
But really, small regular healthy meals and exercise.

karasti

Our son is also a type 1 diabetic. You get quite the eye opening look when you have to start tracking every bit they put in their mouths. My teenager (not diabetic) is currently studying nutrition in his anatomy class and they are doing the same thing and he is having the same "am I really eating all this??" eye opener. It's a great practice if you are interested in healthier eating. Record honestly your normal eating habits for several days. Look it over. You'll be surprised what you find when you include the slice of cheese here, the apple there, the spoon of peanut butter, the gulp of milk from the container, and so on. Adds up like crazy and most people quickly discover they eat far more carbs than their lifestyle requires. My 17 year old requires about 3500 calories a day with a lot of carbs because he is an endurance athlete. So trying to fit his abnormal diet and workout routine into an average high school class has been challenging for him. Great exercise to do, though, tracking all your food.

footiam

Ethan_McCune said:

What is the best eating habit to have? I was thinking of skipping one meal every day, or maybe just eating less in general. I know vegetarianism is a choice in Buddhism, not a requirement, but I don't know. Any advice?

Check the food pyramid, mate!

lobster

Ethan_McCune said:

What is the best eating habit to have? I was thinking of skipping one meal every day, or maybe just eating less in general. I know vegetarianism is a choice in Buddhism, not a requirement, but I don't know. Any advice?

Supper is the best meal to skip. You can skip instead of eating. Then meditate and sleep well.
What you consume is important, Mediterranean, vegetarian, Indian yumminess, Chinese diversity, Japanese fish diet etc . . . all wonderful
. . . but how you consume is more important.
http://eatingmindfully.com/mindful-eating-tools/

anataman

karasti said:

Our son is also a type 1 diabetic. You get quite the eye opening look when you have to start tracking every bit they put in their mouths. My teenager (not diabetic) is currently studying nutrition in his anatomy class and they are doing the same thing and he is having the same "am I really eating all this??" eye opener. It's a great practice if you are interested in healthier eating. Record honestly your normal eating habits for several days. Look it over. You'll be surprised what you find when you include the slice of cheese here, the apple there, the spoon of peanut butter, the gulp of milk from the container, and so on. Adds up like crazy and most people quickly discover they eat far more carbs than their lifestyle requires. My 17 year old requires about 3500 calories a day with a lot of carbs because he is an endurance athlete. So trying to fit his abnormal diet and workout routine into an average high school class has been challenging for him. Great exercise to do, though, tracking all your food.

There is great smartphone app called 'nutracheck' that my wife uses, and on occasion I use it for a while when I get that bloated sensation, knowing I'm stuffing my face too much. It soon makes you cut down, reduce portion size and cut out the alcohol or get off your arse and exercise more.

You can go on any faddy diet you like but the answer to eating healthy is knowing what not to eat, and how much. Oh and eating mindfully!