Dear Friends,
Namaste!
We are discussing a very important component of the Yogic Lifestyle, viz., “Ahar”or “Eating Right”. We are capturing the whys, whats, hows, whens, wheres and the whos around eating right in the form of axioms that we can remember easily. The first such axiom was related to the quantity of food we eat at a time and we said “Less is More”!
In this discussion, let’s ponder over how often we should eat, what should be the *ideal* gap between two meals. And the guideline to follow here (which is also our axiom number two) is “Eat When Hungry”!
This statement has a few corollaries as follows:
Ø We should not eat when we are not hungry
Ø We should not wait for too long when we are hungry
Ø We should not stuff ourselves to death when we do feel hungry (remember “Less is More”)
For helping us make smart decisions around how much to eat when, let’s define what we can call as the “Hunger Meter”. The purpose of this meter is the same as any other meter. For example, we use the speedometer in our car to know how fast we are driving and then use that reading to decide whether to put our foot on the accelerator or the brake or just put the car in cruise-control.
Similarly, our so-called Hunger Meter should be able to tell us when we are ready to eat again. (We have already decided how much to eat in one go – the quantity should not spill over the cup formed by joining our palms together!)
Before Hunger Meter can be of any use to us, we must calibrate it. We generally oscillate among the following five states as far as our hunger is concerned:
- Starving
- Being pleasantly hungry
- Equilibrium state where we feel neither hungry nor full
- Being pleasantly full
- Overstuffed
The secret of good health is to always remain between states 2 and 4 on this scale of 1 (starving) to 5 (overstuffed). Not eating more than two palms-full at a time will help us avoid being in state 5. “Eating When Hungry” will help us avoid ever being in state 1.
How do we know which state we are in? It should be fairly intuitive but sometimes it may just be a little more complex and hence the following tip may help:
We can sit or stand or lie down in any posture that is comfortable and steady (an “Asana” to be precise) and put the palm of our hand on our stomach. We should close our eyes so that we shut out all external distractions and disturbances. Then we can communicate with our stomach and ask a question, “Which state are we in at this moment?” The stomach will respond back with an answer that, more often than not, is bang on target!
The bottom-line is this. Rather than eating large quantities of food with a lot of gap between two meals, it is healthier to distribute our food consumption over the same time period so that we eat smaller quantities more frequently! This is also the secret behind acquiring excellent health without having to go on “crash diets” and starve ourselves unnecessarily.
The time period between becoming pleasantly full after a meal (state 4) to becoming pleasantly hungry again (state 2) will vary depending upon a number of factors such as:
Ø What has been eaten (some food – such as red meat - is ‘heavier’, some – such as fruits - is ‘lighter’)
Ø When it has been eaten (our metabolism rate is higher during the first half of the day than the latter half)
Ø How the food has been eaten (if the food is well-chewed and eaten with mindfulness, the digestion takes place quicker)
Ø How much has been eaten (less food would be digested quicker)
Ø Who has eaten the food (constitution of a person plays an important role as we shall see in more detail later – basically some people have stronger digestion than others).
Therefore, rather than specifying ‘a single size that fits all’, we will tailor our guideline to optimize the gap between two meals.
Some dieticians have advised eating every two hours. Others have forbidden eating until the ‘previous meal is completely digested’ (usually the entire digestion process takes between four to six hours depending upon the factors mentioned above). We will follow Buddha and take the ‘middle path’!
The middle path is to eat again in not less than two hours but not more than four hours depending upon all of the factors mentioned above and also keeping in mind what is practicable and sustainable in our routine!!
Thus we should end up eating between five to seven meals everyday.
Happy eating…
No comments:
Post a Comment