Chapter 4: How to lose weight in a sustainable way (How to have better health to better serve Krsna)
The continuation of the 4th part: A spiritual perspective on all this talk about health.
A spiritual perspective
One point that Srila Prabhupada emphasized in quite a few purports is that to become fat is not favorable for our spiritual advancement. As he mentioned, Srila Bhaktisiddhanta Sarasvati used to severely chastise his fatty disciples.
If one is becoming fat, he should reduce his eating. There are three ways to reduce eating: to eat less at each meal, to eat fewer meals (eat only three times per day, without snacks, eat only two times per day, or even to eat only one time per day, according to one’s body constitution) or to fast regularly on Ekadasis and other appropriate days. One may choose one of these, or a combination of two or three alternatives, at his discretion.
An easy way to lose weight is to eat only one time per day during a certain period, like the Muslims do during Ramadan. This is one of the vratas one can do for Kartika or for the month of Purushottama, for example, which awards one great spiritual merits. If one can do it correctly, it’s also a great way to improve his health. Ideally, one can do it during a period when he can interrupt his normal routine and do some retreat to just focus on his sadhana.
Many devotees do this during the month of Kartika, which is considered especially auspicious. The most common in such cases is for one to eat only one time in the afternoon or evening. The main point in this case is to take food that is healthy and easy to digest, in moderation. A good strategy is to start with fruits (that are easy to digest, and thus appropriate after a long period without eating), wait a few minutes, then eat some vegetables (like a salad or sabji) and a few nuts, and only then eat heavier preparations. This way, we can have a balanced meal, with all the different food groups.
The biggest danger of fasting is to eat junk food afterwards. If one does that, he will not only undo the benefits of the fast, but may actually cause harm to his body. This is especially important if one is going to try eating only one time per day, since this is basically a daily fast. If one has cravings and can't avoid eating junk food, it's better to first fix his eating habits, by first increasing the amounts of vegetables and healthy foods. Cravings are frequently a sign of deficiency in nutrients and they tend to become a snowball, since by eating junk food one just increases the deficiencies. The way to escape is to break the routine, starting to eat healthy food, especially vegetables. Simply by eating healthy for a few weeks, the cravings should decrease substantially.
If one is mentally strong, he can do his normal activities during this period. I know devotees who eat once per day during long periods exactly as a way to improve their health and have more time for spiritual practices.
One may panic, saying that this can be unhealthy, but Muslims do this every year on Ramadan, and we don’t see cases of Muslims dying because of that (quite the opposite, there is a lot of material written by Muslins exalting the health benefits of fasting during Ramadan). Similarly, fasting has been practiced by Buddhist monks, Christians, and other groups throughout the centuries. If it was something bad, the scriptures would not recommend it.
To avoid becoming overweight is actually an essential and important point for our services and spiritual life. Too much fat in the body makes us tired and apathetic, not a very good combination for spiritual life.
“To be too fat is not very good for spiritually advanced life. Rather, one should reduce because if one becomes fat it is an impediment to progress in spiritual understanding. One should be careful not to eat too much, sleep too much or remain in a comfortable position. Voluntarily accepting some penances and difficulties, one should take less food and less sleep. These are the procedures for practicing any kind of yoga, whether bhakti-yoga, jnana-yoga or hatha-yoga.” (SB 3.33.14, purport)
Keeping our body weight and other aspects of good health is an important aspect of our sadhana. We should do it as an offering to Krsna, meditating that we are taking care of the machine He gave to us to be engaged in His service.
As Srila Prabhupada explains, apart from the health and spiritual benefits, eating less also helps us to reduce sleep, which is crucial for spiritual advancement since it allows us to reserve more of the precious morning hours for spiritual practice. A sincere devotee may be able to go to sleep at 8:00 or 9:00 pm and wake up at 2:00 am for example, and thus have time to chant 16 rounds and study a little even before everyone else starts to wake up.
When someone is new, the general recommendation is that he should eat a lot of prasadam, so he can lose the taste for mundane food and get attached to spiritual life. As one progresses, however, austerity becomes more and more useful as a way to control our senses and progress to higher levels of devotional service. We can observe that most of our acharyas (and even many of our contemporary spiritual masters) underwent several austerities at periods of their lives. Naturally, we should not try to imitate, but if we can follow their example by as far as possible, trying to control our eating and sleeping, we can progress faster in spiritual practice.
It’s also important to eat freshly cooked prasadam and avoid eating from the fridge as much as possible. For this, it’s important to learn how to cook simple preparations quickly, so we can take fresh prasadam at every meal. Any kind of processed food is a no-no.
The next step is to try to find the exact amount of food the body needs, and adjust accordingly. As Krsna explains in the Bhagavad-Gita, one can’t perform yoga if he eats too much, or eats too little. This is something that can be noted not only in human beings, but also in animals. If there is no food, they starve, and their consciousness becomes focussed on food. If there is a lot of food available, they overeat, become sleepy and propense to sexual activity. However, if the food is just sufficient, they remain healthy and active. Therefore, the key for success is to be able to identify how much the body needs and give just as much. It's better to err by eating a little less than by exaggerating, since it's easy to just eat more if necessary.
One who eats too little may become emaciated and weak, but one who eats too much will become fat and diseased. Nowadays it is much more common to see overweight devotees than emaciated devotees, so the priority for most of us should be to become more disciplined in our eating habits. To fast regularly on ekadasis and other appropriate days help enormously on that, giving both material and spiritual benefits.
Milk: good or bad?
It’s said that “we are what we eat”, which is certainly true, considering that our bodies are composed of the nutrients we get from the food. The components in our muscles, bones, skin, and so on were all salvaged from the food we ate in the past. However, we are what we eat also in another sense: food affects our consciousness, including our mood and emotions.
One book we study regularly as part of our spiritual studies is the Bhagavad-Gita. There, one interesting concept is explained: that all our activities, the information we receive, our actions, and especially what we eat affects our thoughts, emotions, and therefore our future choices. We think that we are free to act as we please, but actually, our current choices are strongly influenced by the result of past decisions, just as what we eat today is based on what choices we made yesterday in the supermarket.
All these different factors are divided into three categories, represented by three modes: goodness, passion, and ignorance. Choices related to the mode of goodness lead to peacefulness, satisfaction, equilibrium, and happiness. Choices related to the mode of passion lead to tension, excess, anger, violence and frustration, while choices in the mode of ignorance lead to laziness, apathy, bad habits, and depression.
Foods obtained through violence are connected with the modes of passion and ignorance, and thus are not good for our consciousness in the long run, just like alcohol, smoking, or drugs.
In this line, the Ayurveda recommends a lactovegetarian diet, composed of vegetables, fruits, grains, seeds, nuts, honey, and milk products. With the exception of milk and honey, this is a diet very similar to the modern vegan diet.
One could ask why the Ayurveda recommends milk products and honey instead of completely avoiding all animal products, like the vegan diet does. The answer resides in how the foods are classified. In a vegan diet, foods are classified simply based on animal or vegetable origin, while in the ayurveda foods are classified based on the effect they have on our consciousness. Milk and honey are thus accepted because they favor the mode of goodness (although being of animal origin), while certain vegetables, like garlic and onions, are not recommended because they bring effects related to the modes of passion and ignorance.
Milk and honey are also accepted because they can be obtained in ways that don’t harm the animals, different from meat where someone has to be killed. This leads to a whole different discussion based on the attitude of people from some of the ancient societies and the modern attitude. Nowadays, most of the time, we have an exploitative relationship with nature, while the ancients had a more harmonious, cooperative attitude.
In the present day, the dairy industry does terrible things to the animals, and of course, many sensitive and compassionate people want to avoid it completely. On the other hand, many people take care of cows, protecting, feeding, and building relationships with them. Cows and bulls are very social animals, and can make friendship with a human the same way a dog does. So one may have a pet dog, and another a pet cow. In both cases the animals are protected and happy. If one can properly maintain a cow and her calves, he can use the excess milk without exploitation. The problem thus is not the milk in itself but in the relationship with the animals.
Apart from all the moral considerations, there is also the health aspect, with some arguing that milk is a nutritious, beneficial food, and others vehemently condemning it. Even if one concludes that milk is good and that to drink milk from a protected cow is acceptable, what to do if one is living in a city, without the possibility of having a pet cow? Should he buy milk in the supermarket or should he become a vegan?
First question is about how the animals are treated. In many countries, most farms use an industrial system where the cows are kept in small spaces, fed only grains and treated with antibiotics. In my humble opinion, this type of milk should be completely avoided. Not only is this treatment of the cows unacceptable, but the milk is also not very healthy. Cows that are fed only grains are essentially diseased cows, and the extensive use of antibiotics doesn’t help either. This type of milk is lower on nutrients, rich in omega 6, and contains various contaminants.
Another type is milk from pasture-raised cows, where the cows have the freedom to roam around a large area and feed on grass. The treatment of the cows is much better, much less antibiotics are used, and the milk is much healthier. This is the type of milk that may be acceptable to consume when there is no option of ahimsa milk available. The decision is up to you.
From a health perspective, milk does have a series of useful nutrients, including modest amounts of omega 3, some vitamin B12, and vitamin A in its active form, as well as a wide range of vitamins and minerals.
Practically, no plant-based source supplies any amount of omega 3. This is a particular type of fat that is found only in animals. What plants have is alpha-linolenic acid (ALA), a precursor that can be converted in the active forms of omega 3 (EPA and DHA) by our body. The problem is that this conversion is limited and inefficient, therefore only very small quantities are effectively converted. As a result, a vegetarian will always have only small amounts of omega 3, even if he eats large amounts of chia seeds or walnuts. Although milk products offer a relatively small percentage of omega 3, it comes in the active form, serving as a good complement. This is also another reason to avoid refined vegetable oils: they are rich in omega 6 which competes with the scarce omega 3.
The only way to consume more omega 6 without harm to our health is to simultaneously also consume more omega 3, something that is very difficult for vegetarians, and even more for vegans (nowadays there are some vegan supplements of Omega 3 extracted from algae that contain EPA and DHA; they are an option, but they are generally expensive and the quality is not always up to the mark).
Similarly, vegetable sources don’t include vitamin A in its active form, but only beta-carotene that (although called "vitamin A") is an inactive form that needs to be first converted by the body. The problem is that a percentage of the population have difficulty converting a sufficient amount. These usually struggle in a vegan diet, unless they supplement with pills. Milk contains vitamin A in its active form, which can be useful in such cases.
Since both the vitamin A and the Omega 3 (as well as other important nutrients) are actually present in the fat of the milk, butter and ghee have it in a concentrated form. One that has difficulty in digesting milk can get vitamin A and D (as well as omega 3) by using these. Nowadays it's possible to get these nutrients in the form of pills, but in past eras the only reliable dietary source for vegetarians would be the milk.
Milk products are also an important source of essential amino-acids, high-quality fats, minerals, like magnesium and zinc (from which many of us are critically deficient) as well as most vitamins. They are also an important source of iodine. Nowadays, iodine is mixed in the commercial salt in most parts of the world, therefore it stopped being a problem in the largest part, but traditionally iodine would be a serious problem for vegetarians, since the main sources of this mineral are fish and seafood. Unless one would have the opportunity of eating seaweed frequently, iodine would be a problem. Again, milk offers good amounts of iodine (from 59 to 119% of the RDA per cup), serving as a reliable source for lacto-vegetarians.
The main point about milk being healthy or not is about how much processing the milk goes through. Milk taken directly from a cow is very different from powdered milk, for example. The more the milk is processed, the more its properties are lost.
Raw, unpasteurized milk from a pasture-raised cow has about 4.5% fat and, as mentioned, is rich in essential nutrients, such as omega 3 fats, vitamin A and so on. In its original state, milk is a living food, full of nutrients.
However, most of the time this milk that comes from the cow is processed. First there is homogenization, where the droplets of fat in the milk are dissolved by a mechanical process, so it becomes a homogeneous fluid. After the milk is homogenized, the cream will not rise to the top (therefore you can't use it to make butter) and the fat becomes quickly absorbed by the body, which creates negative effects.
Next there is pasteurization, which kills all the beneficial bacteria in the milk and destroys some of the nutrients. The resulting milk is still generally good, but more properties are lost.
Most of the milk sold nowadays, even the so-called "full-fat" milk is actually toned milk, that has part of the fat removed. Instead of 4.5%, we are given 3 or 3.2%, the rest is transformed into butter and sold separately. The most important nutrients of the milk (vitamins A and E, omega 3, magnesium, etc.) are dissolved in the fat, therefore when the fat content is reduced, part of the nutrients are lost). The lower the fat content, the biggest is the loss. When it goes down to skimmed milk (that has 0.5% fat or less) it's already practically useless. Take away: if you can't get real whole milk, at least get full-fat. Don't go for low-fat or skimmed milk, they are worse in every way. Without the fat, milk becomes just a juice of sugars and protein, losing most of its properties.
Finally, there is the UHT process (where the milk is heated to above 135°C and then cooled down and put into a carton. More nutrients are destroyed and the milk becomes essentially dead. UHT milk is at the bottom of the chart. As far as possible it's better to go with raw or at most pasteurized milk (you can usually find it in pouches in the refrigerated session of the supermarket).
One way to “revive” UHT milk is to transform it into yogurt. By introducing a milk culture and allowing it to reproduce, many of the negative qualities of the UHT milk are nullified and it again becomes a nutritional, alive food. This also helps in many cases where people have difficulty digesting the milk, since yogurt contains far less lactose and the fats are present in a form that is much easier to absorb. An easy way to make yogurt is to get a kefir culture, this way you can get fresh yogurt every day.
Finally, regardless of the level of processing, milk has two ingredients that are not very helpful in most circumstances: lactose and whey. Lactose is a type of sugar that although low-glycemic favors weight gain, while whey is a protein that creates a strong insulin response in the body. Whey is useful for body-builders (who can take it after training to simultaneously provide the body with protein, and to create an insulin response that will make the body quickly mobilize it to build muscle), but it is not so useful in most other circumstances, when we want to keep the insulin levels low, avoiding spikes of hunger and fat accumulation.
The fat present in full-fat milk blunts the insulin response caused by the whey, and offers a good level of satiety, therefore it can still be taken (in moderate amounts) even by someone wanting to lose weight. Skimmed milk, however, should be avoided, because it creates a strong insulin response, making one more hungry. Ironically, skimmed milk is more fattening than full fat milk.
One important tip, if you are going to consume milk (especially if you are trying to lose weight), is to always drink it hot. If one drinks a glass of hot milk, chances are that he is going to feel completely full, while cold milk frequently just makes one feel more hungry. This has to do with the way the body absorbs the nutrients: the nutrients in hot milk can be more easily absorbed by the body, which creates the sensation of satiety. Cold milk is interpreted as just another liquid and doesn't create near as much satiety.
Another option are different types of yellow cheese. As long as you get real cheese, made from milk (and not processed cheese, mixed with vegetable oil), it will offer most of the good aspects of milk (good fats, good quality protein, and most of the nutrients), without the lactose and whey, which are the problematic aspects. Just be careful to not overdo it.
In conclusion, both a vegan and a lacto-vegetarian can be very healthy, it’s just about being attentive to maintaining a balanced diet and eating high-quality food. If one has access to good quality milk, this can be a good addition to one’s diet, otherwise, he can follow a vegan diet and complement the nutrients he may be deficient with supplements.
What about exercise?
In this book, I'm not commenting much about exercise, but that does not mean it's not important. Apart from having a bad diet, many people are also sedentary which creates further problems.
Just as the human body was not made to be continuously eating, it was also not made to remain in the same position the whole day. In previous times, people would be healthy without the need for separate exercise because they would move and walk a lot doing their daily occupations. Even housewives would be busy the whole day doing physically demanding activities. Now we have machines that do everything for us, and this artificial lifestyle also takes a toll on our health.
The solution is simply to move more, walk more on foot, do more house chores by hand instead of using machines, climb up the stairs instead of taking the lift, and so on. This can be supplemented by daily walks, cycling, swimming, or other activities that one may enjoy.
An observation is that many people do aerobic exercises to lose weight, but exercise is really not a good way to lose weight. One should do exercise to tone the body, improve his cardiovascular system, improve the hormonal system, etc. To lose weight, it is much easier and faster to focus on the diet.
Another observation is, just like most things in life, too much exercise can be harmful. Too much aerobic exercise produces free radicals that shorten one's lifespan (elite athletes usually have a life expectancy of around just 60 to 70 years, sometimes even less). Impact exercises like running can wear out the articulations and create lesions, etc. Just like many other things in life, too much of a good thing can bring a bad result. Again the secret is moderation.