one breath at a time
I’ve been reading a lot about eating, fasting, health, longevity etc of late. I’ve reread The Obesity Code by Dr Jason Fung, The Longevity Solution, by Dr Dinicolantonio and Dr Jason Fung, along with a plethora of research articles and websites on the subject of diet and health, and find myself in agreement with Michael Pollan’s assertion that it all boils down to seven words: “Eat food, not too much. Mostly plants.”
Read more about this simple guideline below.
I am currently reading a book by Dr Louis Ignarro PhD and Dr Andrew Myers. It is titled Health is Wealth: Ten power nutrients to increase your odds of living to 100. I am enjoying the read and learning a lot about nutrition from it.
One concept that was mentioned in the book is the concept of Hara Hachi Bunme which is a Japanese term and means, to stop eating when you are 80% full. This is something we as westerners don’t hear very often. I know as I child, I was told:
“Clean your plate if you want dessert!”
or
“You’re not moving from that table until you have eaten every bite!”
I can’t really fault my parents on that. They both grew up through the bread and dripping days of the great depression when to waste food was more than just a shame, it was considered in the same category as a minor felony, due to the fact that food was hard to come by and there were so many who had to do without.
A full definition of Hara Hachi Bunme Ni Suru is given by Michael De Paula
The phrase, in its entirety, is:
腹八分目にする
(hara hachi-bunme ni suru)Hara means “stomach”,
Hachi-bun means “in eight parts”,
Me classifies the former counter into an ordinal, therefore “[a] one-eighth part”,
Ni in this context means “into”
Suru is a verb meaning “to do”.This is put together to mean, “Do [your] stomach into [just] an eight part”, which is easier understood to mean, “Eat to fill only an eighth of your stomach”, or even more simply, “Eat moderately”. (“Japanese Language: verify translation, stomach, idioms”, n.d.)
I have to admit, I like this concept. I used to live with a student of Biomedical Science and she explained to me the idea of eating limited calories if one wanted to increase longevity. I had a hard time grasping the concept, but having seen the way it is set forth in my current reading material, I am beginning to understand. I am sure there are studies I could site which support this idea, but I don’t want to get too technical on this blog!
Suffice to say, I am considering buying smaller dinner plates.
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Japanese Language: verify translation, stomach, idioms. (n.d.). Retrieved from http://en.allexperts.com/q/Japanese-Language-1797/2011/3/verify-translation.htm
There are days when the universe will send you a message that you just can’t miss. It’s like a cosmic clue by four up the side of your noggin and it cannot be ignored. I got one of those, today.
I had spent a couple of hours doing my grocery shopping for the next two weeks. I bought lots of healthy fruits, vegetables, soups, fruit juice etc and then on my way out of
the shop, my eye was caught by a gleaming black and red can of diet soft drink. It was like Odysseus encountering the sirens. It called to me. The weather had been sunny and warm, and I had kept my pace brisk all day, parking my car a little further away from the shops than usual, and really pushing myself to walk so yes. I was thirsty and I’d let my water bottle run dry.
Unlike Odysseus, I had no one nearby to tie me to a mast and save me from the siren call, so I bought the can of cola. Oddly, I didn’t crack it open straight away, but carried it to the carpark where I set it on the roof of my car and started loading my shopping into the boot.
*thunk* *rrrrrrollll* *splat* *hiss*
“Oh well. I didn’t need that, anyway.” I told myself.
Still chuckling, I drove home and made myself a shake instead!
My Life 