What Are You Hungry For? (11 page)

Power Points

•  The principles of Ayurveda, India’s traditional “science of life,” provide a reliable guide for modern eating.

•  Ayurveda treats food as part of your whole life experience.

•  There are six tastes in Ayurveda, each with a different effect on mind and body.

•  Once you know the six tastes, they can be expanded to emotions and other areas of life.

•  Ayurveda respects the wisdom of the body, looking for signs of imbalance long before disease symptoms appear.

From the outset I’ve wanted to show how a weight-loss book isn’t the same as a diet book. Crash diets have always been ineffective, and many aren’t good for the body. But
diet
has another meaning: an overall way of eating. Human beings are omnivores. We have the ability to digest almost any nutrient found in nature. This great gift is also a drawback, however, because finding the best diet leads in so many directions. What should you eat today and tomorrow
and for years to come? It’s a natural question, and there’s an answer. But it’s not really contained in a list of groceries.

Once I started eating better myself, I arrived at a philosophy of food that I believe in completely: The best diet should do the following at every meal:

Keep me healthy

Not contribute to the aging process

Give me a sense of lightness and energy

Refresh my senses

Send the right messages to my body

Increase my sense of well-being

You know the importance of several of these points already. To deliver the whole package, the Chopra Center promotes well-being for a lifetime. At the cutting edge of medicine is the realization that dietary choices can prevent disease and aging. For example, the Centers for Disease Control in 2012 announced that up to two-thirds of cancers may be preventable. Half of these cancers are related to obesity, it is now thought. Another large segment is related to smoking and other environmental toxins.

There is no magic bullet in the area of diet and cancer. It cannot be said that food A prevents cancer, for two reasons: The interaction of food with the body is incredibly complex, and the causes of cancer are just as complex—there are many kinds of cancer. Their causes involve multiple factors, and only a few can be ascribed to a single cause. If you don’t know a precise cause, you can’t name what blocks the cause. We are left with a promising picture anyway: of a natural diet rid of toxins; foods eaten in whole form rather than being processed; and the elimination of excess fat, sugar, and salt because of their known links to a whole range of lifestyle disorders. Heart disease has long been considered a lifestyle disorder, meaning that
positive lifestyle change greatly reduces your risk of contracting this disease. Now it appears that cancer will join the list. In other words, each of us can become more self-reliant in remaining healthy for a lifetime, with minimal dependence on doctors, drugs, and surgery. This isn’t just good medical advice—it will turn out in the end to be the best prevention regimen in existence.

Let me outline in detail how my philosophy of food works.

The principles I follow at every meal are aligned with the time-honored system of Ayurveda in India, which translates from Sanskrit as “science of life.” I have purposely avoided using Ayurvedic terminology in this book, since many people are unfamiliar with the Indian tradition or find it esoteric and somewhat difficult to conceptualize. But since the program at the Chopra Center is based on Ayurveda, let me put Ayurveda into everyday terms for anyone asking, “What should I eat?”

To begin with, Ayurveda is about personal experience. Eating isn’t isolated on its own. A harmonious meal fits into a harmonious day. When you eat a delicious dish, you don’t consciously experience the 323 calories, 25 grams of protein, 7 grams of fat, and 40 grams of carbohydrates it contains. Instead, you vividly experience your five senses and the feelings that eating evokes. You hear soup bubbling on the stove and experience comfort. You feel the creamy texture of a spoonful of custard and have a moment of delight. In Ayurveda, harmony is all-embracing. It includes the vibrancy of colorful foods and the pleasure of a well-set table. Every sensation carries its own message; every message is received by your cells.

In keeping with this Ayurvedic understanding, we pay more attention at the Chopra Center to the personal experience of eating than to measuring each specific quantity of nutrition. Science has done its
work in breaking down the healthful ingredients in food. But knowledge has to be turned into experience and then into applied wisdom. The nutritional label on a bag of potato chips supplies knowledge. Choosing not to buy the potato chips gives you the chance to experience something better. Applied wisdom runs deeper. Consider the following Bible verse:

Better a dry crust with peace and quiet than feasting in a house of strife.
(Proverbs 17:1)

One finds applied wisdom there. I think more of the same can be found in Ayurveda, for anyone who is open to its brand of wisdom.

One piece of applied wisdom is “First, do no harm,” the same instruction given to physicians in the Hippocratic oath. The food you take in shouldn’t interfere with the body’s natural state of well-being. Second, eat food that comes as close as possible to being harvested that day. Your palate can immediately tell the difference, and according to Ayurveda, so can the rest of your body, because taste is the principal way that we instinctively shape our diet.

At the Chopra Center we recommend that you eliminate or minimize the use of
FLUNC
foods, an acronym for food that is:

F
rozen

L
eftover

U
nnatural

N
uked (microwaved)

C
anned

In Ayurveda, the fresher the food, the more life force, or
prana,
is available. This principle applies to all categories of food, including not only fruits and vegetables but also meat (including fish), eggs, dairy, and grain. While we encourage you to move toward a plant-based diet, we believe that high-quality (and organic where possible)
meat (including chicken and fish) and dairy, in moderation, can be enjoyed as part of a balanced diet.

More Tips for Maximum Freshness

Choose fruits and vegetables that are locally grown, freshly harvested, and prepared as soon as possible after picking. They are more flavorful and delectable, and they send your body the message that it’s receiving the highest-quality nutrients. Foods that are stored and shipped great distances are more likely to be affected by oxidation. As soon as a piece of fruit or a vegetable is picked, the process of decomposition begins. A banana turns brown after sitting for an hour because free radical molecules deplete it of its natural antioxidants.

Eat in Season

It’s best to eat fruits and vegetables that are in season where you live because they will have the best flavor and nutritional value. If you live in an area where produce isn’t available year-round, look for fruits and vegetables that radiate the most life force. If they look and smell fresh, they are most likely to taste good and contain optimal levels of energy and information.

Visit Your Local Farmers Market

Farmers markets not only offer fresh, organic foods that are in season, they are also interesting places to visit, whether on your own or with friends and family. You can learn a lot about food and its benefits by talking with the farmers who grow it—and you’ll also be supporting your local economy.

Grow Your Own

Growing your own fruits, vegetables, and herbs can be fun and satisfying. Even if you live in a small apartment, you can try a container
garden on a windowsill or balcony. There are many excellent books on organic gardening—choose one that suits your area and climate.

What Does “Natural” Mean?

The terms
natural
and
unnatural
require a little explanation—many labels tout a food product as “natural,” a claim that can mean anything the seller wants it to. The U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA) doesn’t strictly define or regulate the use of the word in food labeling except in the category of meat. When you buy a tub of “all-natural” yogurt, it may legally contain toxic pesticides, genetically modified organisms (GMOs), antibiotics, and growth hormones. On the other hand, the legal standards for foods labeled “organic” in the United States are under federal regulations (although there are perennial complaints that inspections tend to be haphazard and loose). In general, choosing fresh organic foods will ensure that you are getting products with the highest levels of purity and vitality.

Natural vs. Organic

Toxic persistent pesticides and herbicides

Natural

Allowed

Organic

Not allowed

GMOs

Natural

Allowed

Organic

Not allowed

Antibiotics

Natural

Allowed

Organic

Not allowed

Growth hormones

Natural

Allowed

Organic

Not allowed

Irradiation

Natural

Allowed

Organic

Not allowed

Animal-welfare regulations

Natural

No

Organic

Yes

Lower levels of environmental pollution

Natural

Not necessarily

Organic

Yes

Audit trail from farm to table

Natural

No

Organic

Yes

Certification required, including regular inspections

Natural

No

Organic

Yes

Cows required to be on pasture for pasture season

Natural

No

Organic

Yes

Legal restrictions on materials allowed

Natural

No

Organic

Yes

Chart adapted from
www.stonyfield.com/why-organic/organic-vs-natural

The following chart handily summarizes what we’ve just discussed.

Mindful-Eating Meditation

To receive the full benefits from the food you eat, your mind must come into play. Hasty, thoughtless eating is unsatisfying, while putting your attention on every bite—mindful eating—is the way to gain real satisfaction. Chewing a single bite of food with total focus is miles away from gulping it down. Some people are amazed at what they’ve been missing.

The following meditation uses the power of attention to improve digestion and metabolism along with the whole sensory experience.
It should be done when you are eating alone and undistracted. The technique involves slowing down and deliberately intending every movement.