The Place Where Diet Meets Spirit

I have had heartburn for most of my adult life.  Even water could give me heartburn.  A few years ago I was diagnosed with gastro-esophageal reflux. That's just a really fancy name for frequent heartburn.  With the stress in my life, at the moment, it has been pretty bad.  I have come to understand that pain is simply a message.  It is a guide, showing us the way to our real issues.   


My diet has been sporadically good but mostly horrible.  I won't go into too many specifics but I found that I would eat whatever was easiest.  I loved French toast with sliced mangoes and sometimes would eat that every day for a week.  There is a Pollo Feliz (the happy chicken) restaurant just down the street and I would often run down and buy a giant cheese quesadilla or a grilled chicken.  The problem isn't necessarily the food itself, it's how I felt about the food.  It took reading John Robbins' new book, The Food Revolution: How Your Diet Can Help Save Your Life and Our World, before I realized that I was holding two opposing beliefs in my mind/heart.

As I practice Buddhism, I am watching my speech and actions.  I am more aware than ever of a gentleness toward all animals.  How can I deeply love a dog and at the same time eat a cow?  How can I love to paint birds and still run down to Pollo Feliz for some chicken?  How many times have I painted chickens and admired their beauty?  I think this was driving me crazy!  No wonder I had heartburn.  


(slightly off the topic but still a funny story) My friend Joyce Peace, and I, were at Virginia Harrison's house for a party/art event and Virginia's chickens were running around the yard looking very shiny and healthy and photogenic.  So, Joyce grabbed her camera and ran out to take some photos.  When she came back in she was rubbing her leg and making a funny face.  I asked her what had happened and she showed me her photos.  We scrolled through the shots...chicken, another chicken, another chicken, then rooster, rooster, and then sky.  I asked her why she took a photo of the sky and she said that that was when the rooster had pecked her in the groin!  


I also just finished reading the book, The China Study: The Most Comprehensive Study of Nutrition Ever Conducted and the Startling Implications for Diet, Weight Loss and Long-term Health,

which was even more startling than John Robbins' book.  It contains proof that diet is linked to several of the worlds major crisis at the moment.  One of my favorite facts from the book is that with the water used to raise just ONE pound of beef, you could take a 7 minutes shower every day for 6 months!  Astounding!  The amount of water used by cows was provided by the California Cattle Association (to the best of my memory).  You know what?  I am thinking that the above fact might have come from John Robbins' book.  Hey, I read them both last week and they are very similar in some ways.  Maybe some kind person that has read them will straighted me out?


So, no more meat (no chicken or pork or cows or fish...nothing that had parents).  No more dairy (I love cows and if you knew how they milk cows and what was in milk you wouldn't drink it either).  No more eggs.  No more sugar.  


I need to add, at this point, that this isn't just about being kind to animals but being kind...to myself!  Being a human is special and I need to love and nurture myself and show myself kindness.  Eating well is self-love.