Eating As If It Really Mattered

Products, such as cottage cheese, buttermilk, or yogurt. There are those who avoid white sugar, some who eschew all refined carbohydrates. The long and short of it is that if you are trying to improve your diet, there are only a few broad guidelines that work in general. What you eat ultimately comes down to your particular nature, your particular needs and priorities, and your particular internal and external constraints — such as local and family customs, personal beliefs, finances, work schedules, etc. Still, you can find a way to go that works for you. Keep in mind, however, that it will not happen without time and effort on your part. It will be a learning experience that starts now with no end in sight. And unless you have a very special circle of family and friends, you will definitely be swimming against the current. Ready? Here are four suggestions to get you started.

1. Learn about nutrition in general. Find out about calories, proteins, fats, and carbohydrates; vitamins, minerals, and enzymes; how your digestive system works; what different foods have to offer, the good and the bad. You might try an introductory nutrition textbook. If you are somewhat ambitious, check out the Foods and Nutrition Encyclopedia, Pegus Press.

2. Check out “alternative nutrition.” Read something on Macrobiotics. Pick up a vegetarian magazine. Read the nutritional articles in the Yoga Journal. Go to a lecture or two. Talk to the people at the natural foods store. Take home some flyers. Keep an open mind, but use your discrimination. This is a crime story, and your name is Holmes.

3. Learn about your own dietary needs and predilections. If you have a digestive or allergic disorder, note if it flares up after meals. If so, what did you eat when it flared up and what did you eat when it did not? If you have a condition that is known to be related to nutrition and other lifestyle factors, such as hypertension, examine your customary diet in that light. Consult with a professional who is lifestyle-oriented.

4. Begin to shape you diet in accordance with the converging consensus. Emphasize fresh fruits, berries, and nuts; raw or lightly cooked leafy vegetables; cooked root vegetables; whole grains other than wheat, and legumes, including tofu. Avoid or reduce consumption of sugar and sweeteners of all sorts, whether natural or artificial: check labels for cane sugar, beet sugar, sucrose, fructose, corn syrup, aspartame, etc. Restrict your intake of fats — no more than 20% of calories, ideally more like 10%.

Eat What, When?

Most people hold off eating, even starve themselves, during the day. Then they literally feast at supper time. But what your body needs is just the opposite: “Eat breakfast like a king, lunch like a prince, and supper like a pauper.”

Chinese medicine teaches us that the activation of each organ system in the body rises and falls in a daily rhythm. Thus the stomach reaches its peak of activity and receptivity from seven to nine in the morning, and sinks to its low point from seven to nine in the evening. In other words, it is most receptive to food, and best able to handle it, early in the morning, from seven to nine. Therefore, breakfast is the time to eat plenty of complex carbohydrates, such as leafy vegetables, legumes, and whole, unmilled grains. These slow-burning fuels provide a foundation of energy throughout the active part of your day. If your breakfast was not adequate, you may feel the need for a snack midmorning. You may also get hungry after lunch. Ideal snacks are: nuts, nuts and fruit, crackers with spread.

Proteins, in the form of meat, fish, eggs, tofu, and cheese are ideally eaten at midday, when the heart and the small intestine are at their peak (11-1, and 1-3, respectively). Be sure to complement protein with leafy vegetables (like a salad), not starches (as in bread or potatoes).

Supper can be just a snack. Earlier is better than later. Never eat after eight. Late in the day, simple carbohydrates are best because they burn rapidly and thus are used up in the relatively brief interval from supper to sleep. This includes simple sugars as in fruits, and light starches such as potatoes, white rice, and crackers. In a pinch, supper can be a small portion of anything other than complex carbohydrates or animal protein. Think small (stomach). Eat light, sleep well!

Eat As If It Mattered

Do you have trouble “finding time” to eat? Do you distract yourself to avoid eating? Eating is an honorable and important activity. It matters. In fact, how we eat may have more effect on our health and well-being than what we eat.

To eat with serenity, we must provide the physical and temporal space. We take time to properly plan, prepare, and serve the meal. We set aside a proper place for eating. And we schedule a specific time just for eating.

We also need to provide the mental space. That means that when we eat, we focus on it fully. We take a break from all outward-directed activities: working, reading, socializing, listening to the news, etc. Sharing a meal with friends can be a meaningful social act and a delight. But keep it simple. While eating, keep talk to a minimum, and keep it light. Focus on the eating. Many religious communities observe silence during meals. Sounds extreme? But hey, why not? Try it, you might like it!

To be truly nourishing, eating must reflect caring for ourselves. “Food is love.” When we sit down to eat, we consciously and deliberately switch off our usual attitude of struggling, striving, and producing. We allow ourselves instead to be receiving, relaxing, and enjoying. You may need a personal ritual to make the transition: When you come to the table from some project, from battling traffic, or from preparing food, first wash your hands, sit quietly, and take a few minutes to touch base, rest, meditate, go inside, get centered.

Now for the main event. For proper digestion, chew each mouthful of food. Savor and relish the various flavors, colors, and textures. Visualize health and energy flowing in. Enjoy!