Why one meal a day?

A place to discuss health and fitness, healthy diets. A fit body makes for a fit mind.
Anicca
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Re: Uposatha & the 6th Precept

Post by Anicca »

Monkey Mind wrote:then I have zero problems with hunger later in the evening.
Couldn't say "zero" problems - but restraint helps. What's amazing is the next morning - no where near as hungry as the night before... but then it is legal to eat.

That is why i am curious to find out what is really considered legal to eat after noon - maybe just knowing i could eat cheese and sunflower seeds would make it easier to eat nothing!
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BlackBird
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Re: Uposatha & the 6th Precept

Post by BlackBird »

Anicca wrote:
BlackBird wrote:Mind you, in the Thai Forest Tradition the definition of a 'meal' is somewhat blurry, considering the amount of cheese we're running through at the Monastery...
Could you explain? I understand cheese and sunflower seeds and other ?not-foods? are eaten in the afternoon - early evening. You can drink filtered fruit juices, but something like v-8 juice is a food?
I was being a bit tongue in cheek about how much cheese we eat and consequently how full everyone's stomachs are in the evening. As far as V-8 goes, I'm no expert on how they're doing the Vinaya-dance here, but I would suspect it would be unallowable.

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mikenz66
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Re: Uposatha & the 6th Precept

Post by mikenz66 »

BlackBird wrote: I was being a bit tongue in cheek about how much cheese we eat and consequently how full everyone's stomachs are in the evening. As far as V-8 goes, I'm no expert on how they're doing the Vinaya-dance here, but I would suspect it would be unallowable.
Dark chocolate is quite common in some quarters. Ajahn Tiradhammo (Abbot of the Ajahn Chah monastery in Wellington) has a preference for Gummi Bears... :anjali:

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Since they are soft and basically sugar + colouring, I guess that's not much different from honey...

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altar
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Re: Uposatha & the 6th Precept

Post by altar »

Yes I recently did an experiment in which I melted them. It looked something like a fruit roll-up afterwards so I wanted to see if I could harden it and eat it like one and put it in the freezer because I was too impatient to let it happen overnight. The problem was it got stuck to the plate, and I was afraid of letting it harden too much because of that.
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Agent
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Re: Uposatha & the 6th Precept

Post by Agent »

Hmmm. I often wonder about the different "allowable" snacks, beverages, etc. It seems like there can be a tendency to obsess over and put more thought and energy into that than the average person puts into just simply eating 3 meals a day. I would prefer to contemplate why I feel such a strong need for food after noon than think of technicalities and justifications that would allow me to eat some sort of food.
Vayadhammā saṅkhārā appamādena sampādethā.
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Agent
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Re: Uposatha & the 6th Precept

Post by Agent »

Just wanted to do a quick follow up since yesterday was Uposatha.

I went ahead with the one-sessioner's practice, taking my meal at 11am. I used the time I would have spent cooking and eating breakfast to extend my morning meditation. I was a bit hungry when I started but by the end of the meditation I felt fine. I've noticed when skipping meals that the body seems to just be conditioned to eat at certain times, if I ignore the hunger it goes away fairly quickly.

Overall I found it to be well worth it and plan to continue this practice.
Vayadhammā saṅkhārā appamādena sampādethā.
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Re: Uposatha & the 6th Precept

Post by Sobeh »

Agent wrote: I've noticed when skipping meals that the body seems to just be conditioned to eat at certain times, if I ignore the hunger it goes away fairly quickly.
This is a long website detailing various meal habits from various times and places across the planet; such information can help to dislodge the idea that "three square meals a day" is somehow an objective human need.
PeterB
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Re: Uposatha & the 6th Precept

Post by PeterB »

For health reasons I cant do the 6th precept observance now, but following the Chithurst example I used to find a few squares of dark chocolate kept me going on Uposatha days... :smile:
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Vardali
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Re: Uposatha & the 6th Precept

Post by Vardali »

As I don't usually eat much afternoon/evenings anyway, the "no meal" after noon isn't usually a problem; though I do drink a bit of watered fruitjuice usually. My normal eating rythm is having my main meals around 10am and 2 pm, so shifting to noon time isn't too hard unless I am at work as our cantina opens just around noon-time. But then I am not too fussed if it's a few minutes past, as this would strike me as obsessive and defeating the principle idea ;)
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Re: Uposatha & the 6th Precept

Post by Phra Chuntawongso »

For me I go for 2 meals a day.
As for non foods after midday,my understanding,as instructed by my teacher,non chunky drinks are ok,(so I guess V8 is cool)as are foods that you do not have to chew.Don't know how gummi bears fit into this catorgory.Must buy some and see.Cheese---not sure,but hey,I am not here to judge,just to try and learn. :reading:
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jcsuperstar
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Re: Uposatha & the 6th Precept

Post by jcsuperstar »

just be like this monk, and you can use your powers to hold the sun at about mid day so you can eat all you want!!!

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nitindogra
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Re: Why one meal a day?

Post by nitindogra »

So what exactly do you eat when you eat one meal per day David ?
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DNS
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Re: Why one meal a day?

Post by DNS »

nitindogra wrote:So what exactly do you eat when you eat one meal per day David ?
My most common foods I eat, include one or more of the following:

Stir fry vegetables with sauces and spices and tofu
Curry vegetables
Curry tofu with rice
Ethiopian foods, such as lentils, cabbage and carrots, with the flat-bread injera
Vegan deli slices for sandwiches
Veggie burgers

I eat a variety of mostly vegan foods. It is not so much about the content, but the size; you want to make sure to eat enough so that you don't get too hungry later. For example, if you normally eat about 2,500 calories per day, you could do very well with only 1800 to 2,000 calories all in one meal. It makes you full and there is little to no hunger later.
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Ytrog
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Re: Why one meal a day?

Post by Ytrog »

As a lay practitioner you have to be careful about what you eat as your only meal. If I would follow my usual breakfast, which consists of a few slices of bread, then it would not be a healthy meal if it was the only one. I do this on Uposatha days now, but I would say a varied meal would be better.

I'm still trying to learn how to cook, however so a single meal in the morning would not be conductive to that.
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timmbuktwo
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Re: Why one meal a day?

Post by timmbuktwo »

One meal a day is better then 2 , which is better than 3 , and so forth. Like stated above in close form, the more your body has to physically work on digestion, that time is not available for healing (in many forms including physical or spiritual ) . BUT definitely what is in that meal or 2 is key, the more natural and non-violent that meal is , obviously the better, more fruit the better, less cooking the better . You will find in due time after your body has "healed" itself and re-generated ( 5mnths to 3 years depending on past diet, a MUST transition period ) that you actually have more energy, more strength , and can get in touch with yourself (and others) like un-imagined previously . This does include any serious "diseases" cases, you can heal yourself , good will to all .
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