There are hundreds of different diets and health fads to choose from...
Raw vegetables or cooked foods?
Eating on schedule or only when hungry?
Eating fresh and local foods with the season or buying greenhouse and imported veggies?

What will a meditation master have to say on these issues, and what will a nutritionist think of his responses?

In this section, Meditation and Health Magazine (M&H) invited Master JinBodhi, president of the Canada Bodhi Dharma Society, and nutritionist Dr. D. Wang, to discuss balance and diet from their different backgrounds—eastern traditional and modern scientific.

Meditation Master JinBodhi
Master JinBodhi, a meditation master from the Tibetan Plateau, and founder of the Canada Bodhi Dharma Society, began teaching his meditation methods in 1991. He advocates living harmoniously with the natural world, while his methods are specially designed to mesh with a modern urban lifestyle. Over the last decade, millions have benefited from his teachings.

Nutritionist D. Wang (Ph.D.)
Dr. D. Wang received her masters in Nutrition Science at Guelph University. Over the last ten years, she has worked on the role of nutrition in brain development, cancer prevention and pharmaceutical cancer treatment. D. Wang received her Ph.D. from the University of Toronto and is well-published, with papers appearing extensively in recognized professional journals.

Rule No. 1:
Reasonable Intake

MJ: The primary component of a healthy diet is the balance between energy intake and energy need.

M&H: How do we know if our diet is “energetically” balanced? And what foods should we eat to get that balance?

MJ: No matter what you eat—fruits or vegetables—it’s better not to eat to the point of feeling really full. 100% full is no good… 50% to 80% is best.

After people overeat, they often feel that their brain has slowed down—it’s like a major traffic jam. When that happens, you sort of lose your clarity... Things don’t click as quickly. There’s a build up of blood in certain areas. The overall sensation is rather oppressive. Under such circumstances, you’re also more likely to sleep poorly and have nightmares.

Both for beginners and long-term meditation practitioners, it is possible to access a state, called ‘spontaneous fasting,’ in which normal energy levels are maintained without the need to eat. This phenomenon shows that food is not the only source of energy we have access to. Still, we are discussing “eating well” today… not “eating nothing.” The main idea is to promote dietary balance—for most people that means eating less. Most of us in this society definitely aren’t at risk of starving, so eating less means being healthier.

A certain amount of fruit everyday is good, especially a wide range, which provides different nutrients. However, overeating fruit can be damaging to the body as well, especially if the fruit is very sweet. It’s all about variety and moderation.

Drinking enough water is necessary, but contrary to what most people think, drinking too much can place an extra burden on the body as well. Diabetics often drink huge amounts of water, sometimes over ten pounds a day—that’s just awful! Generally, they are either overweight or underweight, but let’s say that a healthy person weighs about 150 pounds. Overloading on water can bring their weight up by as much as 30. When that happens, the body is a bit like a rubber pipe under too much pressure—it can’t function properly. All substances, including water, have a certain amount of energy. Excess water consumption causes the accumulation of unneeded energy, just like any other substance. Don’t underestimate it.

N: Very often, people misunderstand the term “malnutrition,” associating it exclusively with a “lack of food or nutrients.” In fact, “malnutrition” implies an internal imbalance in the body’s energy… encompassing both energy shortages and excesses.

As the master said, overeating can have a lot of negative effects on the body, such as high-blood pressure and the accumulation of unneeded fat or energy. On top of that, it can lower mental acuity, causing an inability to focus or remember. It also causes slower reaction times, among other things. Most recently, new studies have shown that overeating causes an increase in the brain’s fibroblast growth factor—a factor that stimulates the growth of connective tissue in the blood vessels. This can result in a narrowing in the veins of the brain. As the veins become restricted, the brain’s ability to get oxygen and nutrients is reduced.

The master also brought up drinking water—a topic that is vital and yet easily overlooked. According to current nutritional theory, a healthy individual must consume a set amount of water every day, either directly or as a component of other beverages and foods. However, excessive water consumption can definitely produce negative effects on the body, particularly when consumed too quickly. There is a clinical condition known as hyponatraemia… it happens when excessive water intake occurs and can be life-threatening when acute. Essentially, it means that the body no longer has sufficient sodium levels to function.

M&H: Isn’t it often difficult for people to control what they eat, though? Especially in social situations that focus on food…

MJ: Of course it can be a challenge, but—really—that’s a psychological matter. Often, we aren’t stuffing our bellies out of hunger at all—just an avarice for good food. For most of us, the function of eating for nutrition was long ago replaced by the habit of eating for taste. This is most evident when people find themselves in large-scale dining situations or at buffets… places like that. There’s this attitude that people have, where they eat as much as they possibly can, because if they don’t, they feel like they’re losing out. It’s as though it never occurred to them that they’re not treating themselves… but abusing themselves. People may think they are ‘missing out’ by not eating everything they can, but then they are missing the point. With food, it isn’t a contest in which the one who eats the most doesn’t win—the only way to lose is by not eating in moderation. Excess damages the digestive system and, hence, the whole body.

Self-control ranges from individual to individual, so my advice is that people should avoid buffets and social activities in which the main focus is ‘eating.’ Of course, I also recommend eating as little junk food as possible… or none at all—particularly while watching TV. I don’t even recommend eating a proper meal while doing that. Generally, just encourage the understanding that eating more isn’t eating better! Reinforce that idea as much as possible.

If you want to enjoy a healthy, balanced diet, the best way is to break free of your psychological hindrances—the ones that entice you to eat more than you need. Ask yourself what the point of eating something is… How will it benefit you? You’ve got to be willing to make that question a part of your normal routine when it comes to food.

M&H: What happens if I only over-indulge every so often? Can it still affect my body?

N: Actually, every time you eat more than you need, your body is harmed, especially at night. What’s more, if you have an excuse like “I don’t do this all that often, so it’s okay,” you’ll probably allow more binging and do yourself more injury.

The World Health Organization has done research clearly showing that even though starvation is a more serious condition, overeating is one of the fastest growing nutritional problems. At this point, the number of over-weight people in the world is 1.1 billion—equal to the number of under-weight. It’s unprecedented in history.

Rule No. 2:
Balance and Energy

MJ: Different foods provide different kinds of energy. ‘Warming’ foods, as classified by Traditional Chinese Medicine, have a yang effect on the body—“cooling” foods produce yin. Food doesn’t have a will of its own… but it can still influence you. It’s always best to direct and control our eating and drinking habits… to balance the energy that we are bringing into the body. That way, we can adjust our own physiques, modulate our own emotions and take charge of our own health.

M&H: It’s broadly acknowledged that diet influences the body, but how do you explain its affects on emotional health?

MJ: Hard liquor, for example, is warming in nature… where water is cooling. Why else would the body heat up when consuming spirits? It carries fiery energies, or qi. Simple!

If you were to spend some time in a beautiful spot with water, eventually, that volatile energy would naturally dissipate. The cooling effects of water soothe the heart and mind, as well as the body.

Meat is another warming food, while vegetables are relatively cool in nature. There’s a bit of a joke in China—in jest, we say that people from the extreme west, like Tibet and Xinjiang, have enormous tempers because they eat so much more meat than everyone else… And the truth is that a lot of their food comes from cattle and sheep. Before these animals are slaughtered, they often end up struggling in panic. The effects of that state remain with the food, and are carried to the individual who eats it. It’s like a subconscious assault on the mind, the result of which can be a greater tendency to blow up in anger. On the other hand, people from eastern China eat vegetables with their meals, and people from the warmer areas eat a bit of everything—those people have relatively calmer temperaments. What’s more, there is more water in the south, encouraging people to be gentler. A great deal of dry qi is expelled from them by the presence of water.

Tuber crops, like potato, yam, sweet potatoes, taro root, and the southern arrowroot are all good for the body, but they’re all relatively warm in nature, so they promote impatience and agitation. If they were all that a person ate, then they’d accumulate a lot of “dryness”—gain more weight and be prone to less activity. Potatoes and other similar plants grow under the ground. They don’t move, unlike leafy vegetables—soaking up the sun and blowing in the breeze. That’s why green vegetables contain more oxygen and help with both cleaning and producing blood. They make it harder for fat to collect on the body and in the blood stream.

That’s why it’s so good to eat leafy greens. Tubers, root plants and more warmly natured vegetables, should be eaten in moderation with other foods—and never exceed approximately one third of the leafy greens in your diet.

N: This is really interesting, because Master JinBodhi, as a self-cultivator, is here discussing the relationship between diet and health, based on his own personal understanding. Yet most of what he’s saying is supported by scientific evidence.

Most tubers, like potatoes, contain a lot of starch. Often, after people eat very starchy foods, they feel extremely tired and lethargic. That’s because eating lots of carbohydrates causes a series of biochemical reactions in the body. These reactions increase the amount of 5HT (5-Hydroxytryptamine) in the brain. 5HT has a hypnotic and tranquilizing effect, which explains the sleepy, sluggish feeling. By contrast, green leafy vegetables are rich in vitamins and minerals—all required for the body’s metabolic processes. That’s why eating a lot of greens is really healthy.

M&H: I’ve heard that in Japan, it is most commonly suggested that people consume 36 different foods per day. How does food-combining fit with your concept of a dietary ‘balance?’

MJ: Definitely, a balanced diet combines a variety of foods. For example, we recommend the eating of warm-natured foods, like meat, together with those that are cool, like vegetables… Foods that are difficult to digest and expel should be eaten with foods that are not. Foods that spend less time in the body ought to be consumed with those that spend more. All of these couplings must be monitored if a natural balance is to be found. Firstly, it’s important to be aware that cooler-natured, blood-cleansing, easily-metabolized foods—like most vegetarian foods—are the most beneficial for the body. For that reason, they should be the foundation of any diet. Logically then, foods that are high in fat, protein, heat, but slow to metabolize should be consumed sparingly. This is especially true for the old and the physically weak… Light foods should be eaten more because they’re easier on the vascular, respiratory and digestive systems—they’re better for the kidneys too… among other things.

As for ‘36 different kinds of food a day’—that’s just one point of view. Obviously, the more varied the diet, the more energetically and nutritionally balanced it will be. According to my experience, if about 5 different foods are eaten during the course of a day—veggies and grains included—then that’s normally enough.

When a diet is too based on only a few items, then an excessive amount of one single kind of energy will be collected… and that’s not healthy. When that’s the case, a person becomes extreme in appearance, physique, complexion, personality and thought—it’s actually visible. Sometimes, if a child is acting up, it may be the result of a dietary imbalance. There may even be physiological manifestations. Psychology and physiology—each gives rise to the other… It’s naturally like that.

M&H: What else is there to having a properly balanced diet?

MJ: Balanced food-energy requires attention to timing. We shouldn’t pack all our nutrients and energy for the day into one single meal. That creates a stress-effect. Also, if possible, dinner should be eaten earlier, rather than later.

In the past, people who self-cultivated assiduously believed that there were very specific rules about eating. Following them would make the body stronger and encourage a peaceful, meditative state. Sweet, salty, liquid or preserved—they advised against eating anything after noon or sunset. But those beliefs still need further consideration.

For average working people, coming home late and feeling tired after a day of work… well, not eating isn’t ideal either. Regardless, limit the amount of soup you consume late at night, as well as foods high in calories or difficult to digest.

N: The point that the master raises about spreading out the intake of energy is a very important issue. The Chinese have a rhyme referring to daily eating habits. Translated, it means ‘Eat well in the morning; eat your fill at lunch; and at dinner, only as much as you must.’ The thought behind this expression has also been accepted by the ‘Western’ world. To put it another way, it isn’t a good idea to overeat at dinner. As the Master suggests, eating too much before you go to bed can seriously affect your sleep—maybe even give you bad dreams. This point is especially important—ideally, there ought to be a 4-5 hour break between meals… when a meal time arrives, eat in moderation, focusing on a balance between high- and low-fiber foods.

Rule No. 3:
Eating with a Sense of Joyous Gratitude

M&H: A report was done that stated an interesting cause of obesity in young women. It said that a main factor was a tendency to binge when distressed—a little like people who go on mad shopping-sprees if they’re having a bad day.

MJ: I don’t know how broadly researched that report was, but behavior of that kind is definitely wrong. Teenagers are so often upset… their emotional waves are intense and frequent. If they binge every time they get upset… that’s bad news. Fundamentally, the impulse to binge is no different than the impulse to commit suicide. Using this sort of behavior to drown out emotional disturbances is not only unproductive, but unhealthy. It’s behavior that only worsens physical and emotional wounds… it influences physique… overall health. So, for people who pay attention to their appearance, obviously a balanced diet only improves things. Eating right can give them more vibrance and improve their mood. Regardless of emotional state, binging should not be an allowable option.

M&H: When you say that emotion-driven binging is harmful, I get the feeling there’s more to it. How does emotional state affect our eating?

MJ: Well, when people are angry and they drink water, aren’t they more likely to choke? Even on food? And everything gets hard to digest. For that reason, it’s really important to pay attention to your mental state at meal times. It’s best to apply an open, grateful frame of mind while eating—and even preparing—food. It makes meal-preparation more enjoyable and the food digests properly. As I see it, all green foods have a spirit, you need to use your heart when dealing with them. That’s the best way to receive all that they have to offer in terms of energy and nutrition. On the other hand, being unhappy and negative while preparing or eating food can ruin a meal that would otherwise be good.

More specifically, when we are cooking and washing up, it’s important to avoid making overly loud noises... to encourage relaxation as we go about our business. Also, don’t let your kitchen get too smoky or dirty. After you’re done preparing food, clean the kitchen—it’s better not to leave the kitchen looking like roving marauders were just visiting. It will negatively affect the eating of your food, as will discussing household chores, unhappy matters or work.

M&H: Doctor, the master is talking about a lot of very everyday things here—is there any scientific backing for what he’s saying?

N: Yes, there is. Extensive scientific studies have demonstrated that emotional state affects the compounds secreted by the brain. These compounds cause changes in the way that the body reacts. When a person loses their temper, or they feel bad, their heart rate goes up along with their blood pressure… The stomach produces more acid and breathing becomes shallower. If an individual eats in that condition, there is no way they can absorb or digest all of the nutrients available in the food.

This interview continues in Nature & Diet (Meditation & Health Magazine, September 2006).