The Zen of Calories

Part Ten: Eat to Live

Bait

In his book, Mindfulness with Breathing, Buddhadasa Bhikkhu, a well-known Buddhist monk — at least in Thailand’s Theravada circles — had these very wise words to say about food:

“We should eat food that is food. Do not eat food that is ‘bait.’ We eat food for the proper nourishment of life. We eat bait for the sake of deliciousness. Bait makes us unwise and causes us to eat foolishly, just like the bait on the hook that snags foolish fish. We must eat the kinds of food that are genuinely beneficial for the body, and we must eat in moderation.”

That is probably the best statement I have ever come across on the subject of Eat to Live vs. Live to Eat.

In the same book, he goes on to say: “Eating bait means eating for the sake of deliciousness and fun. It is also usually expensive. We must stop swallowing bait and learn to eat only food that is proper and wholesome.

“If you are eating bait, you will be constantly hungry all day and night. You will always be sneaking off to eat yet more bait. Eating bait impairs our mental abilities. The mind surrenders to the bait.”

Amen to that.

Another excellent view on what to eat is voiced by Michael Pollan in his book In Defense of Food: An Eater’s Manifesto, where he first states his often-echoed mantra: “Eat Food. Not too much. Mostly plants.”

Succinct and to the point. I could not agree more. Do yourself a huge favor and read the book.

Live to Eat

It is a sad testament to our western culture — especially here in America — that living to eat is a predominant philosophy, if not a religion.

Most of us, deep down, know this. We know that fruit is better than grease-dripping French fries. We know that greens and rice is healthier for the body than a thick, juicy (as in bloody) steak with baked potatoes (covered with scoops of sour cream).

Quite apart from the fact that we could feed seven persons with the soy beans we feed the pig that slaughtered will feed only one person — which is just plain bad economy, if not bordering on criminal — the human body does not run well on salty, greasy, high-cholesterol, high-calorie food. Yet this is the daily menu for a majority of our citizens today.

The fast-food market geniuses do a brilliant job glossing over the gorier details about what we eat. Fresh Chicken, so often advertised, is one of my favorite cases in point. Few of us stop to realize that fresh in this context means recently killed.

Happiness

Many will justify their Live-to-Eat approach with the now shopworn phrase that “We live only once, why not enjoy it.” Let me just say to this (donning my Buddhist persona here for a second) that this is simply not true. This is not all there is to life.

In fact, there is a happiness — reachable by all of us — that runs much deeper than anything this world has to offer in terms of sensory pleasures — of which food is one.

If it is happiness you seek (and who doesn’t?) don’t chase the brief, quite harmful variety; seek something truer, something permanent.

This, however, is not the forum for this, so let me step down from this soap box and return to the subject at hand: We were discussing the salty, greasy, high-cholesterol, recently-killed, high-calorie daily menu of so many today.

A Pact

In fact, this is so much — if not overwhelmingly — the case that it makes one wonder: Could there be a hidden pact between the Fast Food and Medical Industries? An agreement that goes something like this:

Medical Industry: “As long as you keep sending them to us for expensive and very profitable treatment, we will not expose how terribly bad your foods actually are for them.”

A nodding-head Fast Food Industry: “Deal.”

This is not to say that such a conspiracy is afoot; it is to say that by the statistics alone, one is justified in wondering.

Pleasure and Taste

For many the battle comes down to taste, and the pleasure it gives.

We can go a whole day — if not a whole week, and with great anticipation — looking forward to a particular dinner course, one which in the past has given us great pleasure (enter your favorite food here).

The quiet voice that tries to remind us that this sumptuous meal, strictly speaking, is not at all good for us, and that as a result we usually wake up in the night with heartburn and a bad conscience; eventually this quiet voice goes all silent and when comes the day, we sit down to dig in, heartburn be damned.

Short Term vs. Long Term

It may be that true pleasures are few and far between and that we should not squander them. It certainly is true that pleasure is far preferable to pain.

But it is also true that long-term pleasure, say a rejuvenated body that will allow you to make that twenty-mile hike to the top of Mount so-and-so — and with it the most fantastic view and feeling you’ve ever experienced — is far stronger, and far preferable to the short-term pleasure of an indulging meal.

But short term is easier to face than long term, and that’s the crux. Working toward long-term pleasure takes effort, will power, and time. Even though we know the rewards outweigh even the combined short-term pleasures by some sizeable factor, we often go with the burger in hand rather than the long-term survival in the woods.

Eat to Live

It takes less effort to start the car than to walk. It takes less effort to turn on the television than to read a book. It takes less effort to drive to the fast food restaurant than to cook a healthy meal.

It takes less effort to be unhealthy than healthy. It takes less effort not to live than to live.

Living life to the fullest takes effort. It takes dedication and willpower. It takes knowing what fuel makes your body function the best and to choose that fuel, no matter how much work is involved. It takes sticking to that resolve every day of every week, month, year.

Eating to live is not a short-term project. It is a philosophy and a lifestyle that in the end brings far, far more happiness to those who make it, than any amount of bait ever can.

© Wolfstuff