What does your diet look like?

[AugustGreig]

I am trying to find my way with food. Particularly, coming off Suboxone, I need energy, liver, kidneys and brain regeneration. Sleep is an issue as well. On a deeper level, I'm practicing the very, VERY beginnings of internal alchemy, and thus am interested in changing my body's pH balance. I identify as a Taoist, because it is easiest, but I'm more specifically an esoteric mystic, I guess. I want to know what everyone eats, an their experience with food, changing diets. I just stopped eating meat a few days ago. I have decided I will not eat anything I would be unwilling to procure. So, I would milk a cow, takean egg, kill a shrimp, maybe even a fish. But nothing else. This happens naturally also. I have no moral issue with killing animals, but I do have a moral issue with industry. So ANYWAY:

 

What do you identify as? (Taoist, Buddhist, atheist, gnostic luciferian,Catholic etc.)

What does your diet look like?

     Breakfast?

     Lunch?

     Dinner?

     Snack?

How did you come to this diet?

What benefits have you noticed from it?

How have your different diets made you feel?

Any other observations about certain foods, supplements, etc?

Drugs/medications: side effects, benefits and food interactions?

Any other comments or pieces of advice?

 

SPECIFICALLY FOR TAOISTS

Grains or no grains?

Are whole grains okay?

Natural sugar vs. refined sugar?

Carbs vs no carbs?

Cooked versus raw food?

Vegetable/fruit juice:

     Pastuerized or unpastuerized?

     Better or worse than eating the entire fruit/vegetable?

     Smoothies?

FASTING:

     Resources?

     How long?(min./max)

     Experiences?

 

I really appreciate it guys. I'd like this thread to be a resource for everyone. I find it very difficult to learn what the Taoists diet looks like. I understand this is because of the individual nature of Taoism, and it's feminine and embracing nature. But still, I'd like to know how others eat and why.

[idquest]

5 hours ago, AugustGreig said:

I am trying to find my way with food. Particularly, coming off Suboxone, I need energy, liver, kidneys and brain regeneration. Sleep is an issue as well. On a deeper level, I'm practicing the very, VERY beginnings of internal alchemy, and thus am interested in changing my body's pH balance. I identify as a Taoist, because it is easiest, but I'm more specifically an esoteric mystic, I guess. I want to know what everyone eats, an their experience with food, changing diets. I just stopped eating meat a few days ago. I have decided I will not eat anything I would be unwilling to procure. So, I would milk a cow, takean egg, kill a shrimp, maybe even a fish. But nothing else. This happens naturally also. I have no moral issue with killing animals, but I do have a moral issue with industry.

 

These are the key words. It is going to be your way with food and not somebody else's as every body is different.

For instance, I eat breakfast, no lunch, eat dinner, and no snacks. So I eat two times a day, nothing in between, and it feels right for me now. But such way may not be good for you or somebody else.

Generally, some great mind said (unfortunately I don't remember the name): eat food, mostly plants (not exact quote either). I'd add to this that it is good to alternate / rotate things you eat because all food contain something not good for the body and rotating food would be a way to reduce a negative impact on health.

How to interpret words 'eat food, mostly plants'? I interpret like this. For instance, there is a fashion in the USA to eat 0% fat or 0.1% fat milk products. This in my view is just ridiculous. Natural milk products contain from 3% to 15% fat in them and this is how it should be. Eating plants - I prefer steamed veges, this is better for my digestion, and they are just delicious steamed. If you want to try raw plants - I tried it and did not like it. Didn't feel right for me.

No sugar. There is more than enough sugar in food we buy in store. I stopped buying corn about 10 years ago because it became disgustingly sweet. I do like green tea with dark chocolate, but it is 90% coco content and as such minimum sugar added. Also, modern fruit are more harm than good in my opinion. Like one piece of nectarine is just a sugar bomb. I always cringe when parents buy these nectarine or peaches for their children being absolutely sure they feed them 'healthy' diet.

[MopaiWarlord]

My diet is insanely good right now. 

Feel good about it and sharing this goodness with my taoist friends.

[wenwu]

I bounced around woth a few things

 

I experiemented with vegetarianism but found that i had no energy.

 

For the past year I have been low/no carb and found my body reacts very well to it. 

 

I eat a lot and i like to work out hard too.. martial arts and lifting weights. A very low carb diet helps me do this.

 

However, if i feel like having a pizza I sometimes do. Depending on where the want comes from.

 

Your post comes at a good time for me since I am fasting again right now. This is my third timw doing a 3 day water fast... i may go beyond 3 days this time but i'll see how it goes.

 

One thing i have discovered while fasting is,  it gives you a chance to asses your relationship with food.

 

When the want to eat comes up you can identify if it is from hunger, from addiction, from boredom, or the need for taste stimulation ( this is a big one for me)

 

From there you can break down and have a look at your relationship with food.

[taijignome]

On 10/21/2018 at 11:36 AM, idquest said:

Generally, some great mind said (unfortunately I don't remember the name): eat food, mostly plants (not exact quote either)

Michael Pollen.  "Eat food, not too much, mostly plants"

[Aetherous]

My diet hasn't been at all strict these days...but I will end up improving it when I'm able to.

 

I eat meat and feel like beef is a balancing food for my nervous system, energy, and mind. Without it, I become a bit too airy. Meat in moderation isn't so bad, depending on the person...unless it's a moral issue.

When I want to feel slightly healthier, I eat lighter foods, chew a lot more, and eat a little bit less than normal. I think that takes some work off of the digestive system, so it can become efficient again and not clogged down.

I like foods where the vegetables are cooked together with other things so that they're just part of the dish...an example of this would be almond spring rolls (where the main ingredients on the inside are: chicken, tons of cabbage, some almond slivers). The cabbage is made enjoyable to eat this way. Another example is Tibetan momos made with spinach.

"The sauce is the boss"...I think sauces help foods be really enjoyable. It's not so much a matter of health, as it is a matter of getting a lot of pleasure from eating, versus just eating for utility. If we make our foods healthier, then making them more enjoyable will ensure that our diet is something we want to stick to.

For some vegetables, cooking them is necessary. Think of kale or swiss chard...I don't believe in eating that shit raw. I don't think it's so fun to eat grocery store vegetables raw, even if it's something easier to digest like iceburg lettuce...imagine biting into something fresh out of the garden; there's a world of difference.

Here's an example of something I tend to make, which is enjoyable and makes me feel healthy...a burrito bowl:

Basmati rice (mince up some cilantro, then squeeze some lime juice over it...just a bit, not excessive like at Chipotle), black beans (preferably soaked overnight then cooked thoroughly with ginger), fresh mango slices (and or avocado slices too), lightly steamed spinach. Shred some colby cheese on top, put a dollop of sour cream and a dollop of salsa. Splash some hot sauce over it all.

Here's an example of something else...

Make some congee (take 1 cup of organic California basmati rice, rinse it clear under cold water, then add 7-10 cups of water to the 1 cup of rice...cook until it's all very liquified and soft). Cook up some pork, let's say with a honey crust. Steam up some veggies - I'm a fan of spinach. Boil an egg until the yolk is almost hard but still kind of soft. Put those things in the congee, and sprinkle nama shoyu (a type of soy sauce) on top.

Dairy, grains, meat, carbs, fats...these all get a bad rep. It's true that some can cause digestive issues...like dairy can easily cause bloating in most people. But it's not that these things are 100% bad. For instance, dairy has some benefits, too - it's very strengthening to the constitution of the person. Our society tends to view bodyfat as a horrible thing, but for an underweight person, they would benefit from having a glass of organic whole milk, or cheese, if they could tolerate it. A person who tends to be ungrounded can benefit some from eating meat.

It's all got to be in balance. Eat too much meat, and your channels get all clogged up. Have too much dairy and you get fat.

Our best tool for understanding diet is our own body...the more sensitive we are to its signals, and the more we know what causes those signals and what can make them go back to normal, the more we can know what helps and hinders us.

[Rishi Das]

I'm on a 'see food' diet. I see it, I eat it. 

 

In all seriousness, throw out the rules and regulations and do what works best for you.

How to know what works best? 

Be mindful of what you're ingesting and how it makes you feel. 

[freeform]

My teachers always say to not overly fixate on food and controlling it. It is fuel. Treat it as that. 

 

Saying that I think it’s important to have food that is the least processed. Avoid packaged/branded products. Avoid sugar. Sugary drinks in particular (including fruit juice).

 

Of course it’s not convenient to prepare every meal from scratch, but it’s doable.

 

If you don’t eat meat, then you must build blood in other ways (huge amounts of leafy greens, beetroot, black beans etc. Look at blood nourishing foods and eat a lot of them) This is important for the internal arts.

 

I do eat meat, I try to buy fully grass fed/pastured meat only. It’s expensive, so I just buy the odd cuts no one wants - cheeks, tails, necks, organs etc. Once you get good at cooking these cuts, they’re often far tastier than the fancy cuts.

 

I eat lots of nuts - walnuts in particular. Bought in their shell (otherwise they go rancid). I try to eat a lot of mushrooms - both medicinal and culinary.

 

I supplement with high quality fish oil and eat other healthy fats. 

 

When doing a retreat, food must be bland and basic - not something to excite the senses. Plain buckwheat, beans, greens. No seasoning.

[Rara]

Hello! As @idquest said, it's down to your particular type. I ignore a lot of the "do's and don'ts" because they don't necessarily work for me. @Gerard had some very good advice for me based on TCM and my birth year/month and it's proven to be very helpful.

 

To answer your first question, I identify as Taoist.

 

Secondly, I believe the key is to eat "seasonally", but again based on your type. So I'd recommend Gerard's advice if he's kicking about. The below info isn't strictly what he said, but it's more an example of me bringing in his ideas.

 

As it's autumn here in England and I live in the north, warming soft/wet foods seem to be the best for my all-round wellbeing. Plenty of stews and soups, even Weetabix in the mornings with warm coconut milk works well for me. Grains are my friend I like oats, rice, bread. These all seem fine as I don't overdo it. I've discovered the joys of warm plums too. They are the only fruit I really eat right now. I'd eat cold bananas, watermelon, satsumas etc. in summer but I can't face things like that at the moment.

 

I eat a lot of refined sugar, mainly in chocolate form because I love it, but I have a very physical lifestyle so I don't believe it's doing too bad for me.

[Eden]

Prior to the age of 20 I mostly ate unconsciously... just ate what tasted good... THen when I got to the age of 19 and 20 I happened upon ganja and mushrooms and altered states of consciousness and meditation and yoga and eventually raw foods diet. 

 

I did like 6 years of fruitarianism cause I felt great from being so clean but in the last few years I switched to a heavier diet and more balanced diet cause I was experiencing negative effects from kundalini.. It was like fruit diet was turning the voltage up on the energy flow and my body and the channels werent built enough to handle it so it was burning me out. 

 

Now I really appreciate more balanced diet with more fat and protein and less carbs, and hardly any sugar. I stick to WHOLE ORGANIC as that seems the universal rule for any diet... no processed crap or anything with large chemical names I cant pronounce... just get as close to what its form is found in nature. Lately ive been eating things like quinoa for a carb source, nuts and seeds and eggs for protein and fat... and i try and eat some form of green in my meals as well , either steamed or raw stuff like lettuce. ANother big thing I notice is that food, especially eggs and more rich fatty/proteiny foods are good for building the sexual energy, but for whatever reason sugar in any form, even fruit, seems to interfere with the process of Jing to Chi, that process where the sexual energy is transmuting to chi... for me it just never happens if I eat sugar... 
 

Another thing for me has been the difference in how carbs feel vs fat... for whatever reason fats feel alot more gentle and restful in my system compared to carbs... I feel more at ease eating Ketogenic type foods, but I do notice that some carbs is necessary in my meals to help with the upward movement of Jing to Chi... curious if others have experienced this. If I just eat keto foods I feel very restful and peaceful but there is no upward momentum of the sexual energy rising and converting to chi. But I also dont want to overconsume carbs as carbs in general burn similar to fossil fuels and create byproducts from that combustion, free radicals... In a way food and fossil fuel is really obsolete way of getting useable energy as it creates tons of pollution for the environment and we have to rape and pillage the Earth to extract food/fossil fuels.. Maybe one day we will be fully transitioned to getting energy from more sustainable sources like wind or wave motion or sunlight or fushion energy...

 

 

[Basil]

What do you identify as? Eastern Orthodox 

What does your diet look like?  I refer to my diet as "seasonally vegan."  I am vegan about half the time but there are other times when meat and dairy is mixed back in.  

     Breakfast?  Almost never eat breakfast, drink coffee (no sugar) and water in the mornings.

     Lunch?  Most days (esp. at the office) I have fruit and a small entree.  For example today it was a banana and some vegetable korma.

     Dinner?  This is the one full-size meal I have in a given day.  Veggies, a grain (often rice), mushrooms, legumes, beans, and if I'm going to have meat, this will be when.  

     Snack?  I snack more than I should, often on breads.  

How did you come to this diet?  In my early 20s I was an annoyingly committed vegetarian, even though I routinely had headaches and generally didn't feel all that well.  I started paying more attention to my diet when I started getting acupuncture.  My acupuncturist helped make small dietary/lifestyle changes, for example incorporating fermented foods into my diet.  The "seasonal" aspect of my diet is also a product of the fasting calendar of my church and the fact that my wife does cross-fit and prefers a paleo-diet.  

What benefits have you noticed from it?  The thing I've noticed is, that when I pay attention to how I feel, that I generally have a pretty even energy level and avoid the boom and bust cycle I used to experience.  

How have your different diets made you feel?  See above

Any other observations about certain foods, supplements, etc?  In general, I try to avoid sugar and bleached white flour as they make me feel lethargic.  I also generally try to avoid foods with preservatives (we make lots of little trips to the grocery store, thankfully it is not far) as they also generally make me feel unwell, especially my digestive system.

Drugs/medications: side effects, benefits and food interactions?  I am not on any meds, so not applicable.  

Any other comments or pieces of advice?  Pay attention to how you feel, keep a log if need be, and make small incremental changes.