Health foods, kamma, and materialism

[Sam Vara]

Some thought provoking and controversial ideas from David Reynolds on health foods, materialist philosophy, and lots more. It includes this:

Positive mental states are more conducive to positive results, and negative mental states are more conducive to negative results. So it's probably much better to eat bread and cheese, or Snickers bars, or even lizard tails and frog eggs, with gratitude or equanimity, than to consume organic kale, chia seeds, and filtered, sterilized water out of worry and fear about being healthy.

The whole post is at
http://thebahiyablog.blogspot.co.uk/201 ... nd_27.html

[VinceField]

So it's probably much better to eat bread and cheese, or Snickers bars, or even lizard tails and frog eggs, with gratitude or equanimity, than to consume organic kale, chia seeds, and filtered, sterilized water out of worry and fear about being healthy.

If one does anything out of worry and fear, I believe they are coming from the wrong place. I eat healthy food not out of worry and fear, but out of love and respect for my body, and of course, I do so with gratitude.

This advice may seem fine until the person following it develops diabetes or cancer from the constant bombardment of toxic chemicals from their snickers and cheese diet. Also, it seems like little more than giving into unhealthy sensual pleasures that will eventually manifest in suffering, probably something the Buddha wouldn't have recommended.

[Sam Vara]

Indeed. What I find interesting in his article is his claim that the belief that certain types of food are in fact healthy is a type of faith. Further, that this faith is based on a type of materialism; and that at one level it might be expected to clash with the non-materialistic faith that is required by a belief in kamma.

David R. (Pannobhasa Bhikkhu) frequently appears to overstate claims in order to provoke thought in his readers. In the post, he admits that his aim is not to get us to adopt a new set of beliefs (which would be every bit as imprisoning as the old one), but to look afresh at the set we have.

[Mkoll]

Indeed. What I find interesting in his article is his claim that the belief that certain types of food are in fact healthy is a type of faith. Further, that this faith is based on a type of materialism; and that at one level it might be expected to clash with the non-materialistic faith that is required by a belief in kamma.

I have "faith" that eating rotten food will greatly increase the likelihood of food poisoning. I also have "faith" that eating a diet consisting of mostly cheese and snickers bars will greatly increase the likelihood of CHD and/or other illnesses.

So for me it's more a belief that certain foods are more unhealthy than others.

David R. (Pannobhasa Bhikkhu) frequently appears to overstate claims in order to provoke thought in his readers. In the post, he admits that his aim is not to get us to adopt a new set of beliefs (which would be every bit as imprisoning as the old one), but to look afresh at the set we have.

And my impression is his post does do that. It's good food for thought. for sharing.

[m0rl0ck]

Some thought provoking and controversial ideas from David Reynolds on health foods, materialist philosophy, and lots more. It includes this:

Positive mental states are more conducive to positive results, and negative mental states are more conducive to negative results. So it's probably much better to eat bread and cheese, or Snickers bars, or even lizard tails and frog eggs, with gratitude or equanimity, than to consume organic kale, chia seeds, and filtered, sterilized water out of worry and fear about being healthy.

The whole post is at
http://thebahiyablog.blogspot.co.uk/201 ... nd_27.html

The problem with that is that if one eats bread cheese and snickers bars it will eventually affect ones mood and physical health so negatively that it may be impossible to muster much gratitude and equanimity. The mind does not exist in a vacuum. Everything is interrelated and if you eat crap you will eventually feel like crap.

[Sam Vara]

The problem with that is that if one eats bread cheese and snickers bars it will eventually affect ones mood and physical health so negatively that it may be impossible to muster much gratitude and equanimity. The mind does not exist in a vacuum. Everything is interrelated and if you eat crap you will eventually feel like crap.

Yes, that's my view. What Bhikkhu Pannobhasa gets me thinking about, though, is why I believe these things. As he points out in the article, it largely seems to be a matter of faith, as evidenced by the fact that bread and cheese were strongly recommended by the health-conscious a few decades ago; the fact that I myself have never personally tested it; and the difficulties attending the philosophical foundations of materialism. I think the point he might make is that if the mind does not exist in a vacuum, and if everything is interrelated, then maybe if you think beautiful thoughts and eat crap, you will feel beautiful despite the diet. What sort of ontology do we have if we assert that material reality in the form of food must trump kamma?

But as I say, I'm not planning to change my diet on the strength of his article!

[m0rl0ck]

Yes, that's my view. What Bhikkhu Pannobhasa gets me thinking about, though, is why I believe these things. As he points out in the article, it largely seems to be a matter of faith, as evidenced by the fact that bread and cheese were strongly recommended by the health-conscious a few decades ago; the fact that I myself have never personally tested it; and the difficulties attending the philosophical foundations of materialism.

I have tested it. What works for me is a diet with low to zero wheat and dairy and almost no refined sugar. And its not imagination or some kind of materialism, my body functions less efficiently to the point of actually becoming physically ill if i dont do the above.
Its not a matter of faith, its a matter of empirically verifiable chemistry. The reason people can afford to beleive otherwise in the affluent west is that nutritional diseases, except for obesity and diabetes, have for the most part been wiped out.

[Sam Vara]

I have tested it. What works for me is a diet with low to zero wheat and dairy and almost no refined sugar. And its not imagination or some kind of materialism, my body functions less efficiently to the point of actually becoming physically ill if i dont do the above.
Its not a matter of faith, its a matter of empirically verifiable chemistry.

The "empirically verifiable chemistry" is the materialism. Molecules doing their stuff regardless what we think about them.

[ieee23]

Some thought provoking and controversial ideas from David Reynolds on health foods, materialist philosophy, and lots more. It includes this:

Positive mental states are more conducive to positive results, and negative mental states are more conducive to negative results. So it's probably much better to eat bread and cheese, or Snickers bars, or even lizard tails and frog eggs, with gratitude or equanimity, than to consume organic kale, chia seeds, and filtered, sterilized water out of worry and fear about being healthy.

The whole post is at
http://thebahiyablog.blogspot.co.uk/201 ... nd_27.html

I've had an interest in nutrition and fitness since I was 14. I became interested in "eastern things" at about the same time.

My personal opinion is that stress management, daily relaxation practice, and a positive attitude make huge differences, often unappreciated differences to human health. On the other hand I would not agree with the quote above. All of the positive attitudes in the world will not override disease past a certain point. I've seen too many "saintly" ( positive, warm, caring, loving ) die of cardiovascular disease and cancer.

Attitude and stress management count, like the icing on a cake counts. The cake would be genetics, environment, and habits.