Single Meal

American Pie

Comparing an average American’s eating habits with ours is a

revelation by itself.

An American eats a cow / bull every ten years.

In every American there are at least 5 cows in him / her by the time

s/he is fifty.

If he has not got mad cow disease or Alzheimer’s disease what s/he

eats in the rest of his life is any American doctor’s guess.

He eats a pig every three years.

He eats at least 50 chickens and one turkey a year.

Some Americans of course eat much more than that.

My worry is every cow/bull s/he eats, at least an equivalent of 8Kg

of fodder is needed to support its life to obtain 1Kg

of meat.

If an American stops eating 1Kg of beef s/he is saving about 8Kg of

grain for a poor soul in Africa or Bangladesh.

Out of the tons of grain produced more than half (this ratio has gone

up with the increase of Chinese Middle Class population) is spent on

animal feeds and some American cows are better fed than African

kids.

Only to be sacrificed as human food.

The current Pope should give due consideration to these facts and

he should give a hearing to this fiasco and if the grain saved by

saving the poor cows / or bulls is multiplied by the factor of eight by

1000 (well the fed cow’s weight) there is an excess grain in this

world to feed everybody.

Equally FAO should take this into cognizant.

Looking by some of Ceylonese who lavish on food I cannot say there

is any difference to American mentality, here in Ceylon

(especially who visit here to take a break from the winter).

Coming back to a single meal, if an American or Western guy

sacrifices a single meal a week, like our Buddhist monks who live on

a single meal a day, we would be able to feed some hungry children

in Africa and Asia without any problem or NGOs.

WHO also should take this fact to their cognizant.

I don’t believe in what our agriculture minister who says, that food

prices have gone up because of biofuels.

The production of biofuels has being going on for over 25 years.

One should realize that the ancient man and his closest friend the

dog survived on a single meal in spite of their aggressive hunting

skills.

Eat less is my recipe!

Three rice meals a day is two much (unless one is in heavy manual

labour).

I lost my weight only after stopped eating rice.

I was like a pig when I was eating meat including pork!

Dhana and SingleMeal

June 9, 2011 by asokaplus

Single most important principle in Buddhist Practice is its Dhana,

the giving away ones possessions, without expecting anything in

return.

This is something of an antithesis to modern world, where, self,

image and one’s possessions are dear and belonging.

How it is practiced by Buddhist monks is discussed here briefly to

make a novice monk adopt to modern trends in a demanding world.

A Buddhist monk ought to be light in baggage and belongings.

A monk could have only two cloths (Chivara), one for wearing and

another for change.

How it should be made is also under strict and elaborate

instructions.

The eating habits are also under strict code of practice. I would

discuss that in detail here. When it comes to eating, if one ignores

the morning meal, which is very light indeed, a monk has to survive

on a single meal, and that has to be taken in the early evening not

late as is modern day practice.

You may wonder why I took some interest in this

This examination is scientific in nature and if you need satire read

American Pie.

There are many reasons, and I would jot down only a few.

If a monk in the west practices this according to the strict code, it is

a severe test for them, adopting this regime in the winter months.

Equally, I have seen some monks who try to adhere to the regime

regimentally and religiously have ended up sick and malnourished.

If one becomes a Buddhist monk in adult life who had enjoyed

somewhat a liberal life, changing to a single meal is a severe

restriction on their diurnal habits.

One’s hormonal status, glycogen storage and status of the acid

secretion in the stomach are habituated by ones daily routine (life

style).

Changing this having become a monk should be done on a staggered

basis giving time for the body to adjust.

Additionally, many of them do not have an understating of what is a

balance diet.

What I stated above is obvious, but over years, I have seen many

Buddhist monks suffering from food related diseases, especially

diabetes mellitus.

This is something not welcome and unexpected for my own

consumption. I have no intention of going into how one becomes a

diabetic but for me somebody on a single meal getting diabetes

mellitus was something of an enigma.

In this scenario, having thought a bit about it, I put the blame

squarely on the layman.

Hope one is not amazed by this statement.

I would go into this briefly.

The upper and the higher middle class

families are the ones who get quota for the Dhana for the residential

monks in the city.

Their, idea of a meal is a lavish one.

Many of them are also diabetic because of their over indulgence.

The offer of Dhana is not done on a regular basis.

So on the day all the sugary, starchy, heavy but nutritionally unbalanced is offered. These Dhana days also happen to fall on weekends and holidays. The monk has nochoice. They consume a diet heavy in carbohydrates which stimulate their pancreas to the limits on weekends and practically having an

austerely meal rest of the week.

My theory of this up and down (erratic) stimulation of the insulin status, make them prone to diabetes in middle age.

This may be aggravated by lack of exercise and having sugary

drinks (tea) to counteract the late evening hypoglycemia.

It is the duty of the layman to look after their welfare on a regular

basis instead of lavish feast once a month.

Medical education is in its prime stage now especially on nutrition,

the doctor should advise the upper middle class families what is a

balance single diet for a monk who are practically at the mercy of

the rich laymen who impart their inherent diseases to the clergy.

I would give some advice later regarding what to be offered and

what ought not to be but for now let me digress a little.

I wanted to test myself whether I can survive on a single diet.

(For the record, I have not taken a single rice meal over 12 years

and it is my health secret!)

I am more than convinced that it is possible and healthy.

But it takes time and it cannot be practiced overnight.

Prehistoric Man

Prehistoric Time -15,000 to 30, 000 ago

Having proved it to myself, I delved into man’s prehistoric period and how man survived in adverse climatic conditions and food scarcities.

Hunter gather never had three meals a day.

At best he had only a single square meal never three meals.

He mainly survived on big games in a community life style. He was

omnivorous and supplemented his diet with fruits and nuts. They

probably did not suffer from diabetes mellitus and his teeth were

strong, the enamel was thin but the dentin was thick, hardly had

caries. In times of food shortages and diseases there were signs of

enamel deficiency and bone diseases. These changes are recorded in

prehistoric fossils which date back to 15,000 to 30,000 years. Until

such time he became nomadic man milk was in short supply. Only

milk supply was maternal. The average woman was thin, and she

only had children once in four years or so. (It is now believed that

when a woman is thin -prehistoric women had to work hard, almost

equaling man’s efforts-like modern day women athletes the ovulation

does not occur. Additionally, prolong breast feeding without weaning

suppresses ovulation).

The man probably was sturdier and taller but comparatively thinner

since he had to work hard in hunting exercises. He probably lived a

shorter life than a woman (45 years), probably 35 years or so died

not of modern day diseases but by injuries sustained in hunting.

As far prehistoric man is concerned a single diet existence is not a

fantasy but a fact.

Paleolithic Period- 5000 to 13 000 years

Why man became an agricultural man is a mystery but available

evidence suggests dramatic changes in climate at the end of the ice

age and population expansion. With the emergence of the nomadic

life and mans entry into agricultural endeavours, he entered into a

sedentary life style.

However, he never gave up game and hunting until such time he

domesticated adequate livestock.

I would like to figure out that he was never a pure vegetarian.

The Asian wolf became associated with man around 13,000 years

ago probably scavenging around man’s domain. The dogs and wolf

can live on a single diet perhaps even longer and with the loss of

mammoths and huge games, wolf also found living difficult but

drifted with the man for game. His eating pattern, scavenging to

begin with which our present day dogs inherit and illustrate by

scavenging city dumps, is a reminder that even this period the man

existed (present day practice of feeding a single meal to a pedigree

dog which I don’t agree with) on a single main diet.

Even though, the agricultural practices were extensive, failure of

crops were common phenomena, the demise of Maya Dynasty was a

true example of catastrophe in history. In spite of extensive

agriculture, food was not plenty and the food preparation from

harvest to meal was labour extensive and man continued to

supplement meal on animal and animal sacrifices. In this period

population expanded probably because women becoming

comparatively fatter and fertile (it is interesting to note that when a

woman is too fat, like present day, fertility drops) and their body

composition was ideal for reproduction. But with success there was

impending catastrophe too. Famines were common due to

reduction of crops, failure of rains or floods.

The man became shorter and less sturdy due to sedentary life.

We may be able to surmise that even in this period man ate a

variable diet, characteristically a single meal which was

supplemented by animal, fish, shells, fruits and nuts.

How and when man discovered use of salt and spices is open to

question probably towards the latter stage of Paleolithic time.

Contemporary History from 5000 years to 2500.

During this period man was eating mixed diet containing milk (animal), sugar, salt, spices and animal and fish products. In spite of agriculture man

never ceased to consume animal food, in fact it became a major

constitute, judging by the tribal and religious practices from 5000 to

2000 years.

This is probably the period where single supper or a single meal changed to multiple meals especially in the upper classes but slaves and lower classes subsisted on an average single large meal.

The longevity and average health increased proportionately to

double the prehistoric period.

Most of the sages and philosophers except hedonists lived an austere

life while recommending the same to the masses.

2500 and the emergence of the Vegetarian Life

Even though some Jainers advocated vegetarian life, it was with the emergence of the Buddhists way of life in India that preceded the current wave of vegetarian (purported to be healthy) food fads.

Neither, Ten Commandments, the Jesus Christ’s Sayings nor Muslim Koran

abhors sacrifices of animals.

The vegetarian life is comparatively new one probably only 2500

years old in the history of mankind and that is why, there are so

many misconceptions.

Unlike monkeys, baboons and gorillas who are mostly vegetarians, from which man originated in an evolutionary point of view, the man had always been a carnivorous mammal.

2500 years is a small time in evolutionary time scale, a healthy

dialogue on vegetarian diet is mandatory in the present context.

Our intestine and teeth bear different relationships to tree dwelling

mammals, some are morphological in nature (genetic) and some are

based on the diet (environmental) we eat.

That is the view I hold, an opinion not substantiated.

As far as the growth and development of children are concerned my view is that single diet is not adequate.

That is my entry point to discuss another point of view.

Can a young novice monk who has not gone through puberty be

sustained on single diet?

This is a question I find it difficult to answer even thought I have stated my gut feeling above. This is another reason I defer on ordaining young underage monks (there are other reasons stated elsewhere) apart from psychological maturity to go on an austere life as prescribed by Vinaya.

Parents should have a critical say in these issues.

They should not plunge a young one into priesthood early in their tender years.

What should an average Dhana (Single Meal) should contain?

The physiological effect and the calorie intake of an average meal should

last 18 hours.That is the time when the glycogens storage starts to become

depleted. The diet should not have high sugary (desert) components that

stimulate surge of insulin and late dumping syndrome due to insulin

surge at the time of the meal. The vegetarian diet has no problem since the fiber makes the release of dietary sugar gradual.

The best desert for the monks is not ice cream but fruits.

Out of the fruits, the best is bananas which releases its sugars

slowly without upsetting insulin surges and maintaining a stable blood sugar. Milk and curd are preferred, since they give a supply of fat for starving intervals.

Missing ingredient is nuts, not only they contain short fatty acids which supply nutrition for starving intervals and also healthy vitamins.

I would encourage the young monks to go liberal on fruits and

nuts.

A supply of nuts (not aggalas and jaggery and sweets), fruits, papaw, banana and proper breakfast cereal containing millet (Kurrakkan) should be the breakfast for our monks.

Somebody should invest and develop a proper breakfast cereal for our kids (which can be used by young monks in their growing years) instead of foreign breakfast cereals. For the monks in the West a Buddhist dietitian with knowledge in Vinaya practice should investigate how their mid day Dhana

should be constituted.

My belief is many of them are having an inappropriate diet for

winter conditions. I hope a good breakfast cereal will emerge from

the West for the monks on a meagre diet.

My prescription for priesthood is entirely different. When I see young monks in the TV giving emotional speeches rather than mature sermons, I become sometimes terrified.

Even my twilight years, I sometimes reserve my judgment or giving

advices on certain issues. Never over the telephone, only, when I can

have an eye to eye contact with the person concerned where I, can

have an immediate assessment of the person’s psychological makeup

and the reactions.

One can do more damage by volunteering advice not appropriate. My advice goes as this. Let the young one follows a simple observational life. In other words learn to observe in a simple scientific and logical fashion.

Teach them science in simple terms as we tend to understand them from facts to fiction. Children learn fiction better in the early years and they should be

allowed to mature into scientific and factual way. They have the philosophical views embedded in their brains. Encourage them as much as possible.

This is why they always asks mommy why?

Encourage the philosophical views at an early age, even though we do not have ready made answers always.

Then only they should be allowed to think of a religion or religions in their life. If we are to stop, young from being taken into terrorist or religious cadres, that is the only way out left. That is the very thing we are not doing at present and ignoring. We are slowly encouraging and allowing young militants being made out of innocent minds because of our failure in commonsense education. Most of the religious and militant groups know this very well, the best currency to propagate their rigid views is the young mind.