The Zen mealtime verse: The Five Thoughts
We rnust think deeply of the ways and means
by which this food has come.
We must consider our merit when accepting it
We rnust protect ourselves from error
by excluding greed from our minds
We will eat lest we become lean and die.
We accept this food .
so that we may become enlightened.
A Theravada mealtime verse:
Wisely reflecting, I use this food not for fun, not for pleasure, not for fattening, not for beautification, but only for the maintenance and nourishment of this body, for keeping it healthy, for helping with the Spiritual Life;
Thinking thus, I will allay hunger without overeating, so that I may continue to live blamelessly and at ease.
I recently came to terms with the reality that I need to lose ten pounds
Denial, of course, is not a river in Egypt. I have been eating too much. Good food, but too much of it. My clothes could fit better and my cholesterol is going up. New clothes are expensive and high cholestorol numbers are not a good idea.
On the road to losing the ten pounds, I am finding the Buddha's Eightfold Path helpful:
MINDFULNESS: One of the spokes on the path. It is suggested that you do one thing at a time, being fully aware of exactly what you are doing. In order to help me with mindfulness of how much I am eating, I bought a food scale and started weighing everything I prepare at home. The scale is instructive. The package of pasta says a "portion" is two ounces - I have been adding, for one person, four ounces to the pot of boiling water. Two ounces of cheese is a lot less than I have been pretending two ounces to be.
RIGHT ATTITUDE: (Also translated as "right thought" or "right intentions") The Buddha explained that suffering is due to desire, or craving. In the context of food, I notice that I eat for reasons unrelated to my health. The Buddha had nothing against tasty food (this is the Middle Path, after all) but I think that practitioners of the Way would caution against eating for reasons unrelated to health. I have come up with the acronym BANT: bored, angry, nervous, tired. ("Bant," by the way, is an antique English word for dieting) If I eat for any of these reasons, I am using food for solutions for perceived needs that food is not designed to solve. I can also eat for social reasons: others around me are eating, a family member will be upset if I do not eat, or do not eat enough. Eating for reasons other than "my body needs food" is likely to make me fat. One monk said we need to treat both our bodies and our minds with care: overfeeding myself is not treating my body with care.
Another aspect of right attitude is how I view dieting. I can view dieting as deprivation, or as a different way to practice my Path, or a reeducation of myself in eating habits. I can view dieting as a means to attain my goal of continued health and having my clothes fit. I am more likely to keep up something that I view in a positive light than in a negative light. In Buddhism, the practitioner should not see events either as positive or negative, but just as events. I'm not quite there yet.
RIGHT ACTIONS: A quote from Bhikku Bodhi, ("sila" are precepts to follow, "defilements" are greed, anger and delusion):
The Abhidhamma, for example, equates sila with the mental factors of abstinence (viratiyo) — right speech, right action, and right livelihood — an equation which makes it clear that what is really being cultivated through the observance of moral precepts is the mind. Thus while the training in sila brings the "public" benefit of inhibiting socially detrimental actions, it entails the personal benefit of mental purification, preventing the defilements from dictating to us what lines of conduct we should follow.
"Greed" in the context of food may seem obvious. However, I find that "greed" has subtleties. "Greed" can be desire for a specific series of events. For example: I may desire that losing weight make me more popular, or happier. When it doesn't, I may feel depressed or upset. I may then try to self-medicate my depression or upset away with food- and the cycle resumes.
Or: I am bored. I want not to be bored. Instead of dealing with my boredom as just one more thing that floats through my mental landscape, I can whip up some muffins... and then once the muffins are baked (to applause from friends) of course I have to eat a muffin... whether or not my body needs the calories at that time or not.
I have found the following helpful:
(1) The kitchen scale. I weigh as much of my food as possible. Since I cook from scratch most of the time, I can have a very good idea of exactly what I am eating.
(2) Drinking a lot of water. There is a popular diet supplement that instructs the consumer to drink 12 ounces of water before every meal and then sprinkle the supplement on the food. I think that the operative part of the procedure is the water.
(3) Adding extra minutes to my exercise routine
(4) Not eating outside of scheduled times, and, when I have the urge to eat outside those times, thinking about my breathing or drinking more water instead.
(5) Eat what I have chosen to eat and then wait a half hour before I eat anything else. I have learned that my body does not pick up that I have eaten and cease hunger sensations for about a half hour after a meal.
I have kept this up for almost two months and have lost seven of the ten pounds.