Food, how much do we need?

[justwannabe]

in the wild, horses and cows only eat grass I believe, manatees eat only vegatation, birds could survive on only one type of seed, etc.....
in the animal kingdom many big, strong animals may eat lesss then 5 different foods their whole life. Do we humans really need to eat fruits, vegtable, nuts, grains, legumes, etc.... or could we survive on just one type of food, like apples?
just thoughts
seeker

[Pandara]

Hi Neil,

If and when you have tried it, let me know, also wondered about this one.

[Nichole]

How much food do we need...is what you are asking, "How little and unvaried of a diet can humans beings sustain basal metabolic processes with?" or something else?

I could give you a looonnnngggg reply, though not necessarily an answer, that requires laboratory equipment like we used in exercise physiology lab that measures calories and kilojoules, but then I remember my Yoga teachers speaking of great Yogis who barely stay in their bodies and that cancers, illness and hunger hardly register as disturbances. There are also stories of great Yogis who bring into their bodies and move around enough prana through their breath that they do not need any food, just water or weak milk to feed their bodies (I get all wide-eyed with wonder when listening to stories like this !)

It leaves one deliciously responsible to find ones own dharma! Yummy!

[justwannabe]

Originally Posted by Pandara

Hi Neil,

If and when you have tried it, let me know, also wondered about this one.

If I look into my future, which is not living in the now, I see it reasonable that in 1 1/2 years i will take a year off of work, it is then that maybe I will try that or something close to it but if and when I do I might be hard for me to get back to you on that, I find it hard to imagine that I will be using much of computers at that time

[justwannabe]

Nichole
how large of a variety of types of food? things like calories I no longer concern myself with, personally I think calories are a bunch of hogwash Five years ago I would not have made that statement
just thoughts
seeker

[Alix]

tubeseeker, if you want to get into this, take a look at the teeth of the animals you reference. They are equipped with "grinding" type teeth for crushing grains. Some of the ones you mention also have more than one stomach.

Humans have one stomach (which is equipped with hydrochloric acid) and we have both "tearing" teeth and "grinding' teeth. Just from that evidence alone one needs to assume we need more than one type of food to sustain life. Humans need protein, and they also need grains, etc. If you could find one food that combined all the necessary building blocks you might be ok. The closest you might come though is milk. Its what infants use for nutrition for the first several months of their lives. Good luck in your search.

[Hubert]

I think the argument that animals only eat one type of food, is not valid.
Hey, I'd sheperd cows, goats and sheep when I was a kid !!!
Goats, for example are renown for their appetite, they practically will eat anything they can get their jaws on. Cows, they eat grass ... and plants. How many types of grass are there I wonder, but I am sure there are a lot.

But back to your question: I think it is possible to soley live on whole wheat bread, or on soybeans, or on milk ... but why reject God's generosity of providing us with a great variety of creatures and their byproducts as food ?
I still think our usual diets are not varied enough. More raw fruits, berries, nuts, vegetables (including a broad range of leaves) should be on our tables, and less processed foods.

It is interesting to follow the evolution of eating habits as eating for us, humans is also (if not first) a cultural act. There is great book of Massimo Montanari, "La fame e l'abondenzza", (Famine and abundence), about the history of feeding habits, as culture. In short, there are two lineages, one the mediterranian what respects bread, oil, and vine, an rejecting d another , german (celt) where meat (game) and dairy is the base of nutrition. Given the geographic differences both were appropriate, but not without conflicts.
The debate betwen carnivores and vegetarians is not something new ...

I'd say, try to have a diet as varied as possible, via the yoga guideline for sattwic foods, but without totally rejecting your cultural heritage. Eating can be a form of worship and an opportunity to express gratitude for God's generosity. But if you can meet Him in another form, this can be also neglected.

[Lars Rimböck]

Mulla Nasrudin once had a very old donkey which liked eating more than working.
So he decides to shorten the meals of his donkey.
Everday he gave him half time less than the day before.
After Two and a half moth the donkey died.
O what a stupid donkey Mulla said. Know he was almost able to survive with nothing and than he must die, what a stupid donkey.

So how much food did the donkey need tubeseeker?
Lars
__________________________________________________ __________
Patanjali Yoga Schule Münster

[justwannabe]

Originally Posted by Lars Rimböck

Mulla Nasrudin once had a very old donkey which liked eating more than working.
So he decides to shorten the meals of his donkey.
Everday he gave him half time less than the day before.
After Two and a half moth the donkey died.
O what a stupid donkey Mulla said. Know he was almost able to survive with nothing and than he must die, what a stupid donkey.

So how much food did the donkey need tubeseeker?
Lars
__________________________________________________ __________
Patanjali Yoga Schule Münster

a balance between what he wanted to eat and what the shepard wanted him to eat would be my opinion

[Hubert]

Saint Francis of Assisi used to call his body "Brother Ass". When he died, he asked this Brother to forgive all the pain he caused to him with his austere lifestyle.
So, feed the donkey, so you don't have to be sorry later.

Provided the link as the description fits very well not just donkeys, but the body of a yogi.