Eating less meals

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This topic contains 7 replies, has 5 voices, and was last updated by  InD 5 years, 9 months ago.

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  • #3077

    Samuel
    Member

    I have heard that some people make more time for their formal practice by eating less meals. I’m wondering how this works in practice. In particular, should the practitioner exercise less? Are there any health risks involved? Should more food be eaten each meal? How many meals are consumed a day? Any other practices that should be combined with this?

    Thank you,
    Samuel

    #3078

    Siavash
    Member

    Hi.
    Instead of eating less or more in favor of time, I would consider eating mindfully, walking mindfully, working, speaking, sleeping and doing everything that I can mindfully, of course without obsess and attachment to the idea that I should do everything mindfully, and without attachment to the results.

    #3079

    Samuel
    Member
    #3080

    Siavash
    Member

    Thanks Samuel for the link.

    #3084

    Michael Dunn
    Member

    hello Samuel,

    I’ve never heard anything quite like that, but it doesn’t surprise me that it would be said. I’m not sure that the goal in life is to create more time for practice after all you can do that by going on Retreat and then you would have 24 hours a day.

    Sometimes all we really need is better quality practice time not more of it.

    I would caution against any change to health and diet and exercise If it creates an imbalance in your body mind system. Witch is unique to you so you have to actually experiment with this yourself. And not take it as advice just because it work for somebody else as it may not work for you.

    Michael

    #3085

    Samuel
    Member

    I would prefer it if people do not reply to this thread, unless they are answering my question. Given my health, responding to a notification that I have received a reply by checking on the thread is not a trivial matter.

    As a piece of feedback: I do not recall ever acquiring any unasked for advice on this forum that consists of anything I have not already thought of. When I ask a question, it would save time for both myself and the posters on this form if they only replied if they had an answer.

    Thank you,
    Samuel

    #3086

    dcurtis
    Member

    I’ve read the article you linked to, and have been making efforts to practice this way. Simply put, everything in my life becomes a part of the practice. It’s not just fewer meals, etc. That’s only one element. I already eat very little, and have a simple diet, so it requires little time. I still exercise, I just use that time to train the mind to keep the attention on the present moment.

    Having read and re-read that article, the attention to portion about meals to the exclusion of the rest is missing the big picture.

    I have no way of knowing if you’ve thought of any of this already, so you’ll have to pardon me if I have failed to satisfy your requests. These are the joys of discussion forums.

    #3087

    InD
    Member

    Dear Samuel.
    I can confirm that I had similar experiences that started about a couple of years ago.
    I will just report to you what was and is happening to me in hope that it will help you to understand changes that are happening to you.
    About two years ago I first started feeling that my body started to reject meat. I ate meat all my life, so it was very weird to me and I could not figure out what was happening. I talked to my friends, I talked to my coach, who first suggested to start eating better meat (he said maybe you are buying some cheap meat – go organic).
    I tried all the suggestion but my problem was that for some reason my body was LOSING energy by intaking meat and heavy food. I felt like wasting energy digesting food – felt very stupid, honestly.
    Some of my friends start fearing that I may have some medical conditions and I passed all possible tests to see what’s wrong, but I was said that whatever it is with me – is not a medical condition.
    So I decided to go without meat. AND – nothing happened I just started feeling better, more energy…
    I kept going with my shamatha and very soon in the same fashion dairy products were out – painlessly, absolutely naturally – I did not do anything for that. I do consume “sour milk products”, like kefir etc from time to time, but they seem to not have the effect that milk products had on me: heaviness and lowering the energy level in my body and mind.
    After about a year – eggs were out as well, very naturally without me doing anything or pushing anything or having any vegan ideology behind it…

    I do eat eggs and fish from time to time, when I am out, working and need energy and have no access to food choices in which case body is perfectly all right with this.

    Again – the main driving force behind all that was shamatha – nothing else. I just tried to make my meditation better – that’s all.
    Sugar products, by the way, started decreasing as well at one point and came down to some very healthy amount.
    I was 212lbs when I started practicing few years ago and went down to 183lbs without any efforts.
    The process is still continuing and I can clearly see that the AMOUNT of food intake has been dropping.

    So answering the questions you originally asked:
    I have heard that some people make more time for their formal practice by eating less meals. I’m wondering how this works in practice. In particular, should the practitioner exercise less?
    – I exercise 4 times a week (1.5 hours) + my regular morning 5 Tibetan Rites every day.
    Are there any health risks involved?
    – I recently had a full check of everything – all looks great + I feel much better than before.
    Should more food be eaten each meal?
    – the amount of food only naturally decreasing for me
    How many meals are consumed a day?
    – I would have 2 meals and some very light snack breaks.
    Any other practices that should be combined with this?
    – I pretty much only continue with my shamatha.

    Hope it helps.
    Good luck
    G

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