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[post_content] => Many traditional systems of medicine consider our digestion and nutrition to be central to the maintenance of health and (when imbalanced) the development of disease. If you look up almost any health problem in a textbook of Chinese Medicine, one of the possible causes will nearly always be “improper intake of food and drink.” This covers a lot of things - eating too fast, consuming very cold drinks, overeating, eating the wrong kinds of foods for one’s constitution, skipping meals, eating while upset, and more.
I appreciate that Chinese Medicine explains the origin of health problems in this way, because it highlights the most fundamental issue - and shows us the way to get the maximum results by changing our behavior. Whereas someone suffering from acid reflux (heartburn) might simply take an acid-blocking drug and think that’s the end of it, such an approach would not get to the real cause – which might be a food sensitivity, overeating, eating too fast, a structural imbalance, stress, or something else. Addressing the cause is better medicine; anything else is just a band-aid.
While “improper intake of food and drink” is a very common root cause of health problems, I think we can actually go one step deeper. If we’re eating and drinking in a way that is damaging to our health, much of the time
we know this, but there’s a mental disconnection occurring. The disconnection takes one of two forms – a split within the mind, or a split between the mind and body.
When the mind is split, we allow ourselves to ignore what we know to be true. We might do this consciously, such as in telling ourselves, “I know I shouldn’t eat this whole container of ice cream, but I had a really bad day.” Eating the whole container of ice cream is harmful to us and we know it, but we justify it with a belief that having done something good or endured something bad entitles us to this indulgence. We may also do it unconsciously, by simply avoiding thinking about how our eating choices are likely to affect us. In either case, there’s a part of us that knows how to care for our body properly, and another part that pretends not to know. Playing this game never feels good.
When the mind and body are disconnected, we tune out the feedback we get from our body during and after eating. It is this split that allows us to overeat, to eat too fast. All bodies give clear negative signals when we do this. When we don’t pay attention to how our body responds to different foods and ways of eating, we miss out on valuable physical information. Not only does our body tell us when we’ve eaten in a manner that it dislikes, it also tells us when we’re treating it well. Unfortunately, the concept of “listening to your body” strikes many as some kind of kooky New Age practice. I would guess that the great majority of modern humans ignore all but the most dramatic messages from their bodies.
A good way to start healing these disconnections is through a practice of doing nothing but eating for one meal each day. Engaging in other activities while eating makes it easy for our consciousness to stray from the vital and enjoyable act at hand. It’s hard enough for many of us to eat consciously even when it’s the only thing we are doing. Why complicate it by trying to multitask while eating?
Relax your mind: let go of worries before you start a meal. If this is hard to do, try making a deal with yourself – tell yourself you can worry all you want at a later time in the day and put it in your calendar. Turn off the TV, put away reading material, keep conversation minimal and light, and turn off any music (or keep it soft and light). Relax your body: no driving, standing, or walking while eating, and no exercise for at least half an hour after eating.
Try to keep a portion of your attention (like ten percent) on how your body feels before, during, and after the meal. With practice, we can learn to perceive which foods our body likes and dislikes - often from the moment they touch our tongue. As we stay connected to our body, it becomes harder to eat more than our body wants. Think like an Okinawan. They are some of the longest lived people on the planet and they embrace a practice called Hara Hachi Bu, which means, "eat only until you're 80 percent full." You'll feel lighter and more energized as you leave the table.
Emotions can strongly affect our digestion and the ability to stay focused on the act of eating. The nervous system is densely “wired” into the digestive tract. It’s why so many people experience nausea, appetite changes, diarrhea, constipation, or other forms of digestive upset when they’re stressed. The
sympathetic division of the nervous system excites us, it raises our level of arousal, and it’s responsible for the “fight or flight” survival mechanism. When the sympathetic nervous system is activated – whether or not we’re in actual danger – blood is diverted away from the digestive tract (because digestion is less important to our immediate survival) and is sent instead to our lungs, heart, and sense organs. For this reason, thinking about the bills we need to pay, a recent conflict, or politics is best saved for a time other than during or just after a meal.
Another reason to avoid being unsettled or engaged in other activities while eating is that it degrades something that should be a thoroughly enjoyable event. The frequency with which we do it doesn’t make eating any less special an act. When we eat, we are doing for ourselves what our mother did for us in the womb, and then while cradled in her arms. Later, she or another family member cooked meals for us and offered them with love. Eating reconnects us to these deep memories of being nourished and engaged with family. We put life-giving sustenance into our bodies and it keeps us alive; it makes us feel good; it gives us energy; it physically connects us with the earth, sun, plants and animals. So, when we eat while talking on the phone, while driving, or while working, we
miss out on something important – a level of sustenance that goes beyond the food itself.
Why not try this week to have one meal of
just eating each day?
Be well,
Dr. Peter Borten
Want to know more?
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Last week I wrote about the basic principles of cleansing and why this is the ideal time of year for it. Generally, I favor cleanses that consist of reducing food intake and simplifying the diet to things that are natural, non-irritating, and easy-to-digest. This regimen is best accompanied by an equivalent reduction and simplification of physical and mental activity. Virtually anyone can do this form of cleanse without worry of suffering ill effects. Rather than undertaking a more intense cleanse, people can usually get the same benefit from a gentler cleanse over a longer period of time (even a few weeks or months). If you choose to do something more challenging, I recommend you consult with a healthcare practitioner.
Now, let’s look at the details of how to accomplish this housecleaning.
1. Consume Less (on all levels)
This is just basic mechanics. If you want to clean out a sausage machine, you can’t keep stuffing meat into it. Consuming less means less energy is tied up in assimilating what you take in, and more resources can be devoted to removing waste.
Studies have shown that fasting induces organ regeneration, but a total fast (just water) for more than about a day is difficult for most people. Luckily, some of the same benefits can be achieved through “intermittent fasting” – fasting briefly and repeatedly. A study a few years ago showed a correlation between a 13 hour fast each day (between dinner and breakfast) and a reduced rate of recurrence of breast cancer. Subsequent research indicates that a longer fast can provide additional anti-aging benefits.
When a patient is interested in trying intermittent fasting, I have them aim for at least 14 hours, and ideally 16 hours between dinner and breakfast. This means all your meals are consumed in an 8 (to 10) hour window. This window should correspond roughly with the daylight hours (for example, eating only from 9 AM to 5 PM). In this way, when the sun is shining (the main presence of the Fire Element in our lives) there’s a parallel activation of our digestive fire, and when it’s dark, these organs are allowed to rest. This is what both Ayurveda and Traditional Chinese Medicine recommend.
Outside of this window, it’s ideal to have only water. During a cleanse, I believe it’s permissible to also consume plain, non-caloric, unsweetened herbal teas (avoid even non-caloric sweeteners).
Whether or not you choose to limit your window of eating, during a cleanse (and really, always) you should never eat to the point of feeling full. Fullness means the stomach is packed. Perhaps even stretched beyond its normal size. Rather than aiming for a feeling of fullness, the goal should be to simply not be hungry. So, stop eating at the point of feeling no more than 80% full. It may require some mental retraining, but you’ll find if you pause and listen to your body, this is enough. If you’re slow and mindful during the eating process (that is, giving it all of your attention), you may find that you need much less food than you think.
As I explained in the previous article, this reduction of consumption should go along with a fasting of the mind. Avoid media of all kinds – especially anything that involves conflict or pain. It’s just more to digest.
2. Choose Simple & Easy-to-Digest Sustenance
While many people believe a cleanse should involve zero food, and perhaps even substances to cause the body to purge waste, I see a safe and universal cleanse a little differently. Since I can’t assess the suitability of a strong cleanse for a person I haven’t met, I lean again toward gentleness. Rather than starving the body or taking the herbal equivalent of Liquid Plumbr, think of the process as one of satisfying the body’s minimum nutritional needs while replacing waste with nutrients.
In Ayurveda, the main fasting food is kitchari, a porridge made with rice, mung beans, spices, and occasionally vegetables. You can find lots of kitchari recipes online. For the easiest cleanse, you can have a day or several days of kitchari with well-cooked vegetables in it. For a more challenging cleanse, you can work your way from kitchari with vegetables to plain kitchari (just rice, mung beans, and spices). To take it a step further, you can then go to a day of just rice. To go further still, you can follow this with a day of just rice water (the solid rice strained out). To go further still, you can follow this with a day of just water, and then follow the cleanse in reverse – rice water, then rice, then plain kitchari, then kitchari with vegetables.
In Traditional Chinese Medicine, a simple cleanse is achieved through a qing dan diet. Qing means clear, pure, or light, and dan means bland. This means generally avoiding rich (fatty) and foods that have a strong flavor (i.e., very salty, very sour, very bitter, very sweet, or very spicy). It sounds boring, but it’s easy for the body to handle and tends to calm the internal environment. All sweet processed foods would quality as very sweet, all salty snack foods would qualify as very salty, almost anything fermented or that contains vinegar would qualify as very sour . . . you get the idea. Primarily it’s a diet of whole grains, cooked vegetables, beans, and a little fruit. A staple is porridge known as congee (“con – jee”), usually with a base of rice cooked with several times more water than usual, sometimes with bland root vegetables such as yams.
Many American naturopathic physicians recommend Bieler Broth (or Bieler’s Broth) – a bland green soup presented by Dr. Henry Bieler in his 1965 book, Food is Your Best Medicine. The basic idea is to steam or simmer several kinds of chopped green vegetables (ideally organically grown) in a couple cups of water until tender, then puree the whole thing, including the water, and consume warm. It’s best to use little or no salt.
Most recipes utilize some combination of zucchini, string beans, celery, parsley, chard, and spinach. Some cook and puree the whole thing, while others add some of the leafier ingredients (such as spinach and parsley) just for the last two minutes, or even don’t cook them at all. Also, there are differing philosophies on how long to cook the broth. I recommend that if you have very sensitive or weak digestion, you may benefit from cooking the vegetables for quite a while (perhaps 45 minutes on low heat). You can find many variations if you search for “bieler broth” online. Bieler Broth could be your sole sustenance for a cleanse, or something you use as a supplement. It’s rich in minerals and is considered to be alkalizing.
Finally, many people like juice cleanses because the all-liquid diet tends to clean us out well, and juice is tasty. However, fruit and carrot juices are very high in sugar, which is arguably a significant downside (non-sugary vegetable juices would be better in this regard). Second, because they’re raw, they’re not always easy for everyone to digest. If large amounts of juice upset your digestion or make you feel bloated, this probably isn’t the ideal cleanse for you. Third, some people have sensitivities to fruits and veggies that are high in latex or salicylates. And fourth, some people have difficulty digesting certain kinds of sugars found in produce, referred to as FODMAPs, which I’ll discuss in the next section.
3. Avoid Irritants
Any of the above foods, as benign as they may sound to most people, may present problematic substances to a sensitive individual. The best way to figure out your sensitivities is to eat a simple diet and pay close attention to what your body tells you. But sometimes it’s tricky, so here are a few common offenders to consider.
A. The Big Five: The most commonly problematic foods are gluten-containing grains (wheat, rye, and barley), milk products, corn products, soy products, and eggs. Oats technically don’t contain gluten, but they’re sometimes stored with glutinous grains, and some people are sensitive to a gluten-like protein in oats called avenin.
It’s important to remember that although many people have sensitivities to these five groups of foods, there’s nothing inherently bad about them. However, most people would do well to avoid these foods during a cleanse.
B. Common Irritants: Many people have allergies or sensitivities to shellfish, nuts, sulfites, alcoholic beverages, artificial colors, and preservatives. In addition, deep fried foods, charred foods, hydrogenated oils, processed meats, and all sweeteners should be avoided or consumed in moderation by everyone, and are worth cutting out for a cleanse.
C. Nightshades: Vegetables in the nightshade family – tomatoes, potatoes, eggplant, huckleberries, goji berries, and all peppers – can make some people feel bad, especially folks with joint pain. Symptoms may include achy muscles and joints, skin rashes, itching, phlegm, and nausea. It’s probably a good idea to avoid nightshades during a cleanse.
D. FODMAPs: FODMAP stands for “Fermentable Oligo-, Di-, Mono-saccharides and Polyols” – a group of short-chain carbohydrates that are difficult for the body to digest. For most people, they pass through the body without being absorbed and without symptoms. But in some folks, their gut bacteria ferment FODMAPs and produce hydrogen gas, causing gas pain, bloating, diarrhea, constipation.
Anyone with Irritable Bowel Syndrome or longstanding digestive upset should try avoiding foods that are high in FODMAPs during a cleanse. They may be worth avoiding long-term, if you feel better without them; however, some scientists have suggested that FODMAPs play an important role in maintaining healthy gut flora and shouldn’t be permanently removed from the diet. The list of high-FODMAP foods is long, so if you suspect you have a FODMAP problem, I encourage you to read about this diet on the web.
E. High Latex Foods: These are only a problem for people with a latex allergy (usually you would know this from irritation from latex gloves, condoms, or blowing up a balloon) and they tend to cause itching, hives, nasal congestion, or difficulty breathing. Some foods containing the most natural latex are: apple, avocado, banana, carrot, celery, chestnut, kiwi, melons, papaya, raw potato, and tomato.
F. High Salicylate Foods: These foods contain chemicals that are essentially a naturally occurring form of aspirin. Only people with a salicylate sensitivity are bothered by them (more often the case in people with asthma), and they should certainly avoid them during a cleanse. Symptoms of salicylate sensitivity include: nasal and sinus congestion, asthma, gas, digestive upset, diarrhea, and hives. The list of high salicylate foods is long, so it’s best to look it up if you’re concerned.
Okay, I know that’s a lot to process, so it’s worth saying again that most people don’t have sensitivities to all these things, and significant sensitivities to many foods is pretty rare. For most people, rice, millet, wild salmon, sweet potato and cooked squashes make a good, gentle diet for a cleanse. If you need more variety, you could add most well-cooked vegetables to that list (however, it may be worth avoiding nightshades for the reasons listed above and perhaps avoiding cruciferous vegetables if you find them difficult to digest).
I’d love to hear about your cleanse experience – both past and present.
Be well,
Dr. Peter Borten
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So you aspire to draw gasps of delight, rather than horror, as you pedal through Portland in the nude. Or, perhaps you just want to look good in a thong by summer. Well, you’re reading the right article. Your friends won’t tell you this, so I will–nobody wants to see a guy in a thong. Please, don’t leave the house in that. Now let’s address your body. If you’ve tried eating less and exercising more and that hasn’t worked, these tips will make the difference.
First, let’s just get this out of the way. Are you actually eating less? Rather than thinking of overeating as consuming more calories over the course of a day than you burn, start thinking of it as consuming more calories in a sitting than your body can readily utilize.
For instance, your friend Botswana consumes only 1500 calories a day—all in one meal—and she can’t understand why she’s not losing weight. Your other friend Mozambique eats five meals of 400 calories each, and keeps losing weight, even though he’s totaling 500 more calories per day than Botswana. Here’s the deal: Botswana is going so long without eating that her metabolism slows down. Even when she eats both lunch and dinner, her body still goes 17 hours from dinner to lunch the next day. So her body says to itself, “I’m gonna run on 1200 calories per day”—which she exceeds by 300 calories. But more importantly, she eats 1500 calories at once. There’s no way she’s going to utilize all that anytime soon.
Be like Mozambique. Eat frequently. Don’t go more than about four hours between meals (except from dinner to breakfast). Eat a protein-rich breakfast—egg whites, lean meat, beans, nonfat Greek yogurt, etc. Keep dinner light. Your metabolism will speed up. Stop snacking—don’t eat anything between your meals. Let your stomach empty out completely. You’ll get to eat again in just a few hours, so stop yourself before you get full. Didn’t your mom ever tell you not to pack the washing machine with clothes? They won’t circulate at all. They’ll come out dirty and moist. Well, the same goes for your stomach. The goal is not to fill your stomach to capacity; it’s to eat just enough to not be hungry anymore.
Now, if you’re thinking, “But Peter, the food I eat is so damn good, I can’t stop eating until my body will simply not accept any more!” then we need to have a different conversation. It’s called the Stop Going Unconscious While You’re Eating conversation. Wake up. You’re tuning out your body while you’re eating. It’s the only possible way to ignore your body’s cries of protest. Tune in instead.
If your food is so good, why not do everything possible to enjoy the experience? That means putting away your reading material and your cell phone, turning off the TV, placing a piece of duct tape over the mouth of your dining company, letting go of whatever you’re stressing about, pulling over if you’re driving, sitting down if you’re standing, and then savoring the hell out of that food. Always keep part of your attention on how your body feels, and as soon as you’re not hungry anymore—usually with an amount of food about one-and-a-half times the size of your closed fist—stop. Bonus: you won’t be in a food coma after lunch.
You’ll also have more leeway with meals if you limit yourself to only non-caloric drinks. Instead of soda or juice (which have a ton of sugar in them), or a latte (basically a huge glass of milk), just stick to water, unsweetened tea, or—if you must—coffee with just a dash of milk. If you want a calorie-free sweetener, try stevia leaf extract instead of the chemical stuff.
Meanwhile, make sure you’re getting enough deep, restful sleep—at least seven hours. Studies show sleep deprivation is associated with weight gain. Next, ditch the plastics. Most plastics contain chemicals known as exogenous endocrine disruptors that can throw off our hormones and contribute to weight gain. Never microwave anything in plastic, and stop buying water in plastic bottles. Haven’t you heard of that swirling island of plastic in the middle of the Pacific that’s half the size of the US? While you’re at it, stop eating food from cans, since they’re all lined with plastic containing bisphenol-A (BPA), a known endocrine disruptor.
Finally, remember this: In the whole history of the human species, we’ve only consumed large amounts of grains and sugars in the tiniest, most recent slice of time. Our bodies just can’t handle it—we get diabetic, fat, and hypertensive. Even in the last few decades, we’ve gone low-fat due to overly simplistic thinking about how we form body fat. In the meantime, our sugar consumption has ballooned, and so have our waistbands. If you want to lose weight, the single biggest change you can make to your diet is to cut way down on sweeteners and flour.
If you take my advice, you should be in good shape for the naked bike ride. Might want to get your suspension tuned up before then, too.
(Originally appeared in About Face Magazine, Issue 06)
Want to know more?
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[post_content] => Many traditional systems of medicine consider our digestion and nutrition to be central to the maintenance of health and (when imbalanced) the development of disease. If you look up almost any health problem in a textbook of Chinese Medicine, one of the possible causes will nearly always be “improper intake of food and drink.” This covers a lot of things - eating too fast, consuming very cold drinks, overeating, eating the wrong kinds of foods for one’s constitution, skipping meals, eating while upset, and more.
I appreciate that Chinese Medicine explains the origin of health problems in this way, because it highlights the most fundamental issue - and shows us the way to get the maximum results by changing our behavior. Whereas someone suffering from acid reflux (heartburn) might simply take an acid-blocking drug and think that’s the end of it, such an approach would not get to the real cause – which might be a food sensitivity, overeating, eating too fast, a structural imbalance, stress, or something else. Addressing the cause is better medicine; anything else is just a band-aid.
While “improper intake of food and drink” is a very common root cause of health problems, I think we can actually go one step deeper. If we’re eating and drinking in a way that is damaging to our health, much of the time
we know this, but there’s a mental disconnection occurring. The disconnection takes one of two forms – a split within the mind, or a split between the mind and body.
When the mind is split, we allow ourselves to ignore what we know to be true. We might do this consciously, such as in telling ourselves, “I know I shouldn’t eat this whole container of ice cream, but I had a really bad day.” Eating the whole container of ice cream is harmful to us and we know it, but we justify it with a belief that having done something good or endured something bad entitles us to this indulgence. We may also do it unconsciously, by simply avoiding thinking about how our eating choices are likely to affect us. In either case, there’s a part of us that knows how to care for our body properly, and another part that pretends not to know. Playing this game never feels good.
When the mind and body are disconnected, we tune out the feedback we get from our body during and after eating. It is this split that allows us to overeat, to eat too fast. All bodies give clear negative signals when we do this. When we don’t pay attention to how our body responds to different foods and ways of eating, we miss out on valuable physical information. Not only does our body tell us when we’ve eaten in a manner that it dislikes, it also tells us when we’re treating it well. Unfortunately, the concept of “listening to your body” strikes many as some kind of kooky New Age practice. I would guess that the great majority of modern humans ignore all but the most dramatic messages from their bodies.
A good way to start healing these disconnections is through a practice of doing nothing but eating for one meal each day. Engaging in other activities while eating makes it easy for our consciousness to stray from the vital and enjoyable act at hand. It’s hard enough for many of us to eat consciously even when it’s the only thing we are doing. Why complicate it by trying to multitask while eating?
Relax your mind: let go of worries before you start a meal. If this is hard to do, try making a deal with yourself – tell yourself you can worry all you want at a later time in the day and put it in your calendar. Turn off the TV, put away reading material, keep conversation minimal and light, and turn off any music (or keep it soft and light). Relax your body: no driving, standing, or walking while eating, and no exercise for at least half an hour after eating.
Try to keep a portion of your attention (like ten percent) on how your body feels before, during, and after the meal. With practice, we can learn to perceive which foods our body likes and dislikes - often from the moment they touch our tongue. As we stay connected to our body, it becomes harder to eat more than our body wants. Think like an Okinawan. They are some of the longest lived people on the planet and they embrace a practice called Hara Hachi Bu, which means, "eat only until you're 80 percent full." You'll feel lighter and more energized as you leave the table.
Emotions can strongly affect our digestion and the ability to stay focused on the act of eating. The nervous system is densely “wired” into the digestive tract. It’s why so many people experience nausea, appetite changes, diarrhea, constipation, or other forms of digestive upset when they’re stressed. The
sympathetic division of the nervous system excites us, it raises our level of arousal, and it’s responsible for the “fight or flight” survival mechanism. When the sympathetic nervous system is activated – whether or not we’re in actual danger – blood is diverted away from the digestive tract (because digestion is less important to our immediate survival) and is sent instead to our lungs, heart, and sense organs. For this reason, thinking about the bills we need to pay, a recent conflict, or politics is best saved for a time other than during or just after a meal.
Another reason to avoid being unsettled or engaged in other activities while eating is that it degrades something that should be a thoroughly enjoyable event. The frequency with which we do it doesn’t make eating any less special an act. When we eat, we are doing for ourselves what our mother did for us in the womb, and then while cradled in her arms. Later, she or another family member cooked meals for us and offered them with love. Eating reconnects us to these deep memories of being nourished and engaged with family. We put life-giving sustenance into our bodies and it keeps us alive; it makes us feel good; it gives us energy; it physically connects us with the earth, sun, plants and animals. So, when we eat while talking on the phone, while driving, or while working, we
miss out on something important – a level of sustenance that goes beyond the food itself.
Why not try this week to have one meal of
just eating each day?
Be well,
Dr. Peter Borten
Want to know more?
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Seems the moral of the story is balance. As you stated “One of those impacts is that meat production – in the prevailing manner and scale – is devastating to the planet.” When did extremism become the health fad? All veggies, all meat, all fat? You speak often of balance in emotion and physicality. It appears to me this too should be practiced in our food consumption.
Wow this is an amazing article! This sums up so much of my own inquires and journey around eating meat. In my ideal world (and in my heart) I would love to be a vegetarian and not eat animals. I look into the eyes of my dog, Honey every day and think how could I feel so much love for this animal but turn my head to the killing and suffering of other animals happening so people like me can eat meat? But I’m allergic to eggs and dairy, so vegetarian automatically means vegan for me. And I’ve found myself to be someone who’s health suffers when I go this route. I’ve also wondered if I’m just not “doing vegan right” and if there’s more that I can experiment with along those lines….Looking forward to the next article.
Thank you for this. I have followed a similar trajectory. Last spring I began eating meat after many years. I noticed an immediate increase in energy and focus. I believe my body NEEDS animal protien. I make a point to only eat locally sourced, humanely raised meats. In addition to being more humane they really do pack more of an energy boost for me. I am now needing to “come out” to my vegetarian and vegan friends.
My mother was put on a strict vegan diet by her doctor, in her fifties for her cholesterol and heart health. Cardiovascular disease runs in my family with my grandfather, her father, dying at age 40 from a massive heart attack. He was otherwise fit and slim- it was a shock to everyone. I feel that I have no choice but to give up meat. I wish I was one of the lucky ones with great genes but meat has been linked to increased cholesterol, blood pressure, and clogged arteries. So that needs to be addressed, too. Especially for the many with family history. There is a book, I can’t remember what it’s called, that actually argues cardiovascular disease is a food borne illness due to aninal consumption. I’d like an article that looks at that side of subject if possible.
I don’t think it is acceptable to treat large herbivores who know pain and fear like we do. In fact, I cringe inwardly every time I see a cattle truck in the highway. It is also a tragedy to the environment. I personally will not go back to meat eating.
I, too, do not like meat; taste, texture or especially the ground meat and the chance of chewing on something that doesn’t feel like meat – yuck. Because of that, I became a vegetarian over 20 years ago. Not being educated enough and having support from family at home – I gained weight, found if difficult to plan meals besides pasta “something” – I failed to continue vegetarian.
Now, five years ago I really researched, was educated on the animal cruelty in the agriculture industry. I went vegetarian which still included egg and dairy. I still did not feel good about eating egg and dairy, I became vegan. I never really liked eggs or cheese anyway. When I stopped dairy my bloating went away and my stomach flattened. I assumed to be lactose intolerant. I felt so good, lost 30 lbs, looked younger and healthy, and also took the right supplements. I ate foods I enjoyed. I thought I would never change my lifestyle.
Well things changed again. A new relationship, where they consume A LOT of dairy, sweets, and some meat. I now again eat some cheese and some dairy. Each time I feel physically terrible; bloated, heavy and I also feel bad just knowing I renigged on my own morals about cruelty. Now, I at least got them to compromise to pescatarian meals.
In the end, I am going back to vegan regardless. I enjoy that the best. By body responds the best. Some folks just do better on certain diets.
Thank you for your article. I am looking forward to your pros and cons opinion next week.
I was a vegetarian for years in the late 80’s and early 90’s because of the ethical ramifications. When I became pregnant with my first child, I craved meat to the point of distraction. After a month of these cravings, I caved. I look at it this way, my body knows what it needs in order to function. Does me craving that cream filled donut constitute a need? No because it is fleeting. I was craving meat so intensely that I could not concentrate. I felt guilty for doing it but knew it was a necessary evil at that time, or at least I thought so. After birth, I returned to vegetarianism and breastfeed successfully. My oldest two daughters are vegetarians now with their two younger sisters starting on the path now and I follow basically a Mediterranean lifestyle. I do eat some meats on the rare occasion but rarely. It’s what works for me and my family. Maybe we all need to just do what works for us, our families and our lifestyles in order to be happy and healthy.
If you do choose to eat meat, there are local, sustainable options. When eating out, you may not have these options. Ask where your ingredients come from. Choose vegetarian if that feels like the best option.
Once, I asked a server where the fish was from. The reply: Sysco.
Thanks for this article. My journey as a vegetarian started at 19, shunning meat simply because our butcher, at the time, convinced my roommate and it was far more cost effective for us on college budgets to buy a whole side of an animal and have him dole it out to us when we wanted it. After consuming All that meat over a period of a couple of months, we simply turned our back on meat, having essentially overdosed on it. Next it became a bit of a crusade for me, then a “religious” and health decision that resulted in raising four children, now adults, all vegetarians. Of the four, two now eat meat, one remains a vegetarian, and one is a vigilanté vegan. I have remained a lacto-ovo vegetarian at 70, have enjoyed good health ( including fast and sometimes miraculous healing), upon occasion order the chicken special without the chicken ( with less perplexed looks from wait staff than years ago), and, having read about the studies on the longevity and healthy lifestyle of the Japanese and Seventh Day Adventist who are/were vegetarians, probably will remain one.
It would be disingenuous of me to not share my experience and ever growing thoughts on the subject.
To keep it brief, every choice has an impact. Agricultural based fueling is not without negative impacts on the environment, social justice, and the human body. I was a vegetarian for twenty years, and some of those years I followed a rigorous vegan diet and lifestyle. When pregnant, my body overrode my brain based choices. Meat and animal products were mandated by my body and the creation of another human being. I was horrified to discover what my body and growing child demanded for fuel. I gave in to what my body demonstrated as prefered sources of protein.
In the past two years, I witnessed three relatives perish and pass while on meatless diets. All three were brutal deaths.
And, now, journeying out of my fertility years, returning to consuming meat has saved me from disorganized thinking and physical manifestations of exhaustion and other dysfunctional coping that are fuel related.
I am disturbed by the idea that the conversation offered appears to be without mention of the overall impacts of fueling the population as a whole. I would suggest that population impacts the environment in a more rigorous manner than meat consumption. There is no escape from the impact of food sources and the best we may do is be mindful in our practice of living.
Good point, feeding the masses is a large part of the problem. Furthermore mass agricultural practices are as harmful to the environment as mass meat production.
This is an interesting and confusing conundrum that it seems many people are facing right now. I am looking forward to the next installment. There seems to be conflicting information about whether meat (and animal products in general) are good for you, bad for you, or if it’s more about balance. I do wonder however, if meat raised in a more natural, humane way (pastured, grass-fed, cage-free, etc) is better for us than regular mass-produced meat…it’s certainly better for the livestock animals. This possibility is something I don’t really see much in this sort of discussion.
I always knew that someday I would becomes a vegatarian. During my ministry training, I heard the inner prompt and knew that it was time. I have always “heard” animals so it was a logical next step on my path. As a professional intuitive and practicing shaman, it is essential to my peace that I am in harmony with nature.
After 17 years, I did the Virgin Diet and found that my inflammation was the result of eggs and dairy. It was shocking to discover how deeply my soul, spirit and intuition were impacted by the change to veganism. I could “smell” how animal products were affecting people. Thankfully, I learned to turn that awareness down! However, I can still “feel” how someone’s diet impacts their vibration.
I have decided that my life cannot be dependent upon the death or suffering of animals.
We still have a long way to go before our food production positively impacts the earth. I am dedicated to organic plant sources. If the animals are honored, a vegatarian diet is an honorable path. However, I cannot comprehend how humans can justify eating animals at this point in our evolution.
If we are to heal this plant and actualize our true potential, we will need to increase our vibrational awareness and harmonize our individual frequencies.
I understand that there are many sides to every story♡
Very interesting topic. Can’t wait to hear what you have to say about it. Pardon me whilst I ramble a bit. 🙂
I didn’t like meat very much as a kid and became vegetarian around the mid-90’s after I couldn’t keep meat down during my pregnancies. But I often cooked meat for my ex-husband and kids, I just didn’t put it on my plate or ate a very small serving. Getting my family to let go of the meat after “declaring” I was vegetarian caused a lot of stress, and the pediatrician fussed at me, even though I was providing other proteins for my kids. Then we moved to Japan. You’re very right about the Asian attitude toward meat being a wealth thing, rather than a health or animal-compassion thing. While living there, I chose to return to eating meat for a few reasons.
1) I wanted to fully enjoy my experience living in Japan, so I wanted to try things like sushi, sashimi, takoyaki, nikuyaki, donkatsu, etc. A big chunk of cultural texture is lost if you’re unwilling to eat local foods when you travel, attend festivals, or visit friends.
2) I wanted to respect my Japanese hosts and be a grateful guest, rather than a picky eater. One of the reasons people started to look sideways at vegetarians in the 90’s in America is because it turned into a religion … because everything in American culture comes down to politics and religion, which is why we are SO divided. Vegans preached at carnivores about being disgusting, and carnivores mocked vegetarians for being “crunchy” tree-huggers, etc. I didn’t want to be “that American” if I was offered sushi. Because I saw plenty of scrunched-up “ick” faces on other Americans while living in Japan, and once a group of tourists even loudly complained about Japanese food while on a Japanese tour bus. I know the bus driver and tour guide understood them. More Japanese people understand English than can speak it well, so there was no way they didn’t hear that. It’s just RUDE.
3) I was in a place where availability was different. Seaweed was abundant, but things like nutritional yeast … not so much. Soy milk is a very different thing in Japan, too. And while my Nihongo reading skills were okay, examining labels to make sure there was no animal product in something became a tedious, difficult labor. Either I had to order and pay more for shipping American foods overseas, or I learned to cook something without the American “health food” ingredients.
4) Going back to family issues … I gave up. It was too much stress. I decided that, like with my Japanese friends and contacts, putting food preferences before relationships was wrong.
Returning to meat didn’t mean I ate it every night. I still wasn’t crazy about it. I served meat dishes only once a week or had it only when we ate out. My sensei and friend and I discussed this once because she was surprised to hear I was a vegetarian in the States, and she didn’t understand American meat consumption in the first place. She said she was shocked to see how much meat some of her other American friends consumed. She held out her hand, palm open, and pointed to it, saying something like, “A chicken breast this big can feed a Japanese family of four. Yet Americans eat one chicken breast each … at every meal!” She was genuinely astonished and confused. And after being vegetarian and going back to meat, I realized I consumed meat probably a lot like how she would have cooked it. One or two chicken breasts is more than enough to add to a stir-fry or soup or curry because the rest of the meal is loaded with veggies and rice.
I now cook meat maybe once every few weeks, and it may last me for a few meals because I live alone these days. But it almost always is a small part of a variety dish (soups, stews, etc.). Otherwise, I love nuts and beans and drink almond and soy milks. I eat eggs. I even bought some takoyaki from Uwajimaya on my last trip to Seattle. 🙂 But it’s very difficult for me to eat a slab of meat as such all by itself because I just don’t like it that much.
Also, my Japanese friend said that Buddhist monks don’t eat meat because of their high regard for life, and, historically, butchers used to be considered very low-class in Japanese society when Buddhism had a lot of influence over the government for that same reason. (Mixing religion and politics tends to influence a civilization’s social status hierarchy. So if the religion has dietary restrictions, which then become law, people outside of that religion become viewed as lower class, and might risk breaking the law by choosing to eat differently.) … But that’s definitely not the case nowadays. In modern Japan, meat is both viewed as a luxury treat and more commonly consumed. Eggs and seafood are consumed more regularly for protein, then chicken and pork, with beef being on top of the list. But they eat more western foods now, too. So fast food, spaghetti dinners, and French pastries are loved, but are often adjusted to Japanese tastes, like McDonald’s offering a tsuki-mi burger during Moon Viewing season in late summer (this is a chicken patty with a moon-like fried egg, teriyaki sauce, and lettuce), or pizza being served with sea urchins. 🙂 All countries alter foreign foods to suit their local palettes, but western foods (fast food in particular) are closely tied to increased meat consumption in Japan. (And, sadly, rising rates of obesity.)
Okay, done with long ramble. 🙂 I usually don’t have much to say, and you probably don’t need any more feedback on Asian nutrition habits; I enrolled with your on-line nutrition course a couple of years ago, and loved it. I just suspect my experiences with going from a vegetarian American food culture to a meat-eating Asian food culture will confirm much of what you say for this discussion. If not, I’m curious about where it differs. Either way, I look forward to hearing more. ^_^
I don’t think that it is possible to humanely raise animals who are killed for their meat. I think that people are kidding themselves by saying that the manner in which a sentient being is raised makes the difference. The being is eventually murdered for his or her body. End of story. That’s why I don’t eat meat. I will take a b-12 and any other vitamin necessary to protect my health, but I consider it a moral responsibility to be a vegetarian/vegan.
Dr. Peter,
I too am confused on this, a proclaimed vegetarian at 10, scant meat eater again at 15. Whole 30 survivor and was a straight carnivor. I am matriculated in acupuncture school, which brings up a whole new set of “rules”. But I think the problem is with the system- the over production, the disconnect from how our food gets to our plate. Also the extensive noise around what and when and how we should eat with the excessive new diet, widget, or trend is exhausting. I appreciate your forum to discuss this.
I have to agree with you that a part of the problem is the disconnect from how our food gets to our plate. I may be shunned by many people posting on this blog, but I have chosen to live a lifestyle that brings me up close and personal to the food I am eating. I have a large garden and preserve as much food as I can in addition to hunting animals. It has been a life changing experience for me to get into hunting and I believe that being able to kill the animal I plan to eat brings a whole new meaning to fueling my body. My boyfriend and I have a goal to only eat hunted meat and participate as little as possible in purchasing meat from factory farms. My body suffers without meat and in the act of spending months in search of an animal I become in tune with what it means to harvest one and use it to fuel my body.
On another note, I believe that vegan and vegetarian diets may be just as bad for the environment as a meat based one. Typically these diets include or require unique foods/supplements that are from far away places and cannot be produced locally. The amount of energy it takes to produce and transport these products can be astronomical. Possibly eating whatever foods can be locally grown might be the best option if the environment is the focus for your food choices. I look forward to further discussion on this topic, thank you Peter Borten
Next month (early Feb.) I will be 78 years old, and I have been a vegetarian / sometimes pescetarian since the early ’70’s (1972, I believe). The reason I stopped eating meat was when I lived in Malibu, CA, and rode through Topanga Canyon to go to work in “the valley) as a sales rep. for Amtrak. Every morning when I drove across the mountain, I passed this little “hippie” farm, with lots of animals running around, and they had a big, huge sign up that said, “Love animals; don’t eat them”. For a while, it would make me angry every time I saw that sign. Then one morning I asked myself, “Why do I get so angry every time I read that sign?!” It then became clear to me that it was because I had a guilty conscience for eating meat. I knew I loved all animals, not just dogs and cats, so when I took a look at what happens to these animals when they are killed, that did it for me. I became a vegetarian and haven’t had meat since, except for some seafood, and ya know what? I haven’t missed it at all! Back then, it was harder because the restaurants didn’t offer many vegetarian options, but now it is so easy, as there are many other choices on menus other than meat entrees. I try not to eat too many diary products, but cheese is just one of those things I can’t give up. Now though, I look at the cheeses in the markets, and many are marked as having vegetarian rennet (Tillamook in the NW, for one example, and most cheeses are labeled now if they are non-meat rennet). Also, when I buy eggs, Zupan’s, Whole Foods and probably some other markets offer eggs that are not just “cage free”, but are free range (at a higher price of course, but worth it). I have never had any health problems in all those years because of being a vegetarian. I think it is up to each individual for the choices they make, but I am at a comfort level being vegetarian/part pechetarian. I have very high respect for people who are totally vegan; I’m just not there, yet. I will say to all vegetarians and vegans, there was a GREAT cookbook out years ago, called “The Cookbook For People Who Love Animals”. I have had that book for DECADES, and it is still one of my favorite books. I look at it more as a book of poetry rather than a cookbook. It is a statement of love, peace, and higher consciousness” to quote the Vancouver Island Vegetarian Assoc.). It is still out there under used books (Powell’s City of Books, for example). All through the book there are poem, quotes and essays from famous vegetarians such Henry David Thoreau, Saint Francis, Leonardo sa Vinci, Mahatma Gandhi, Henry W. Longfellow, Tagore, Count Leo Tolstoy, George Bernard Shaw, and many more. It is so inspiring; a really lovely book, and I think all vegetarians and vegans would love it. Thank you, Dr. Peter Borten, for you interesting and inspiring articles. Wishing everyone the best!
P.S.: Ooops! Please excuse the typo errors; also a mistake on age (I’ll be 76, not 78). Thanks!
Tricia