Cool. I always listen to my body. What's good for others may not be good for me and vice versa. Each individual is unique and your own body is your best guide.....the key is not to ignore what it wants to tell you.

Thanks for the reminder.

Cheers!
Navin

I am so happy to know I am on the right track, and I must add that it is meditation that guides me in my choices. Sometimes I have a shift of awareness, a knowing that I must add something to my routine or diet, or the opposite, that I no longer have a need for something.

The news that walking a mile loses more weight than jogging is fantastic, I love to walk or hike and let my eyes feast on the beauty in nature.

Wishing everyone a peaceful day,
Jori

7. East-

feminine..

Sernik!

Love, Passion!

Thanks Deepak re-affirming the simple facts about living,...:)

the idea that walking a mile rather than jogging a mile aids in loosing more weight is counter intuitive to me. i always loose more and get a better work out the more my heart rate increases. is this just my body type?

onegirlIlikeyouridea, I have the same tendency too. I loose more when I run more. Although, I tend to lose more weight in the gym than in the inconsistency of running outside.

Good regular health habits are very valuable.

So are the phone numbers of a good Ayurvedic doctor, Masseuse, chiropractor, and a good line of Ayurveda based health products.

Sometimes a western doc is helpful too. Western medicine is great for things like broken bones, early detection of cancer, and finding out what sex your baby will be.

A good dentist helps a lot too.

All can be helpful if used appropriately.

My late mother beat cancer twice during her life. She used a combination approach. I didn't always agree with her decisions on treatment modality, but I can't argue that she got good results. I might add she had a strong placebo effect going for her: she very much believed she would heal if she stuck to her regimens while in treatment.

Hey, it worked for her.

Hi ‘One-girl-many-ideas’ and Sameer,

I was also very surprised to read that you lose more weight walking than jogging. But maybe you seem to be losing more weight when you jog because you sweat more and lose a lot more fluids than when you walk?

I still don’t understand, though, where the body’s getting the extra energy from, if it’s not from calories, when jogging or running.

Also, I always thought that jogging was a type of aerobic exercise since it requires a lot of oxygen and makes the heart and lungs work hard. I don’t understand how Deepak can say that heavier exercise like jogging and running don’t require oxygen! Anaerobic exercise, on the other hand, as I’ve always understood it is a type of exercise that mainly makes the muscles work like weightlifting.

So you’re not the only ones to be confused here by that part of Deepak’s post. Anyway, I’m sure you need to do all kinds of exercises to keep fit - and jogging is great at keeping the lungs and heart in a good shape. It also releases a lot of endorphins that make you feel good.

So keep runnin’! :)

Lars

Hi Dr Chopra,

I find it interesting that you mentioned vegetarianism since there are a few questions that I want to ask you about this. Maybe some people here could answer them for me or maybe you could devote a post to this topic some time since I am sure a lot of people are interested in it.

I recently read an article about you where you said that you love eating vegetables but that you also like to eat white meat from time to time. I found that quite surprising since you’re a spiritual person and that I’ve heard from my Hindu friends that vegetarianism is about wanting to reduce suffering in the world. I’m curious to know what you make of that sort of moral or ethical view.

Also, from what I’ve read, nutritionists seem to generally believe that because of over-farming in the past fifty years or so in the West, vegetables are not as nutritious as they used to be and furthermore they cannot provide the vast amounts of proteins we need for a balanced diet. I’m wondering what you think about that and if those are the reasons why you’re not a strict vegetarian.

It seems there are almost endless economic, social and health issues related to the vegetarianism debate, I’m sure you are familiar with them all but what do you make of them?

Some people say that since we were originally monkeys our digestive systems were never meant to be digesting meat and that it’s better and more natural for us to eat vegetables. The fact that red meat consumption has been linked to colon cancer seems to support that idea. Some people say that it’s irresponsible of us to continue consuming fish in the quantities that we do when there is an alarming problem with over-fishing. And on top of that there is there is the risk of heavy metal poisoning when consuming fish.

If one chooses not to consume fish oil, I’ve been told the vegetarian alternative is to consume olive oil or flaxseed oil. Is that the best alternative according to you?

Again, it would be great to know what you think about all this.

Regards,

Lars

"Moderation is the best preventive. It sounds banal, but doing a bit of what's good for you is the best medicine"

Dear Deepak, i couldn´t agree with you more :)

Then of course everyone has his/her own level of moderation lol

So in the end it is always best to do what you yourself feel and think best. At least that is what i did and still do and i have not seen a doctor in a long time, which in itself does not mean that much.
But i do agree that we should not make ourselves dependent on outside authorities too much.

One-girl,

The reason why walking a mile burns more calories than jogging a mile is that walking a mile takes longer then jogging a mile. However, the number of calories that you burn while exercising is not as important as the number of calories that you burn while doing nothing. If you look at the numbers, even very high intensity exercise burns relatively few calories. However, higher intensity exercise increases the density and tone of a muscle (that includes strength training as well as more endurance related training); a more toned muscle requires more calories to sustain itself at rest then a less toned muscle. Hence you burn more calories at rest with better muscle tone then if you had a less toned muscle. Also walking has a minimal effect on your aerobic capacity.

Having said all of that, walking is still a healthy and safe way to exercise. There is low chance of joint damage and injury and good benefit to the muscle structure and circulation.
Peace,
Scott.

Lars,

I won't answer for Dr. Chopra, only give you my view on things.

There seems to be a lot of different views on eating. Studies have been done that state all sorts of opposites. I eat a primarily vegetarian diet while occasionally eating some fish. I feel good with this diet. I'm able to do anything athletic that I wish and my weight is managed quite well. However, I have friends that eat a pure vegetarian diet and are heavy and some that are extremely thin. I have friends that eat a diet of almost entirely red meat and they are fine, while others struggle with their weight.

I have come to the conclusion that the best way to eat is consciously. Basically to pay attention how your body feels and reacts when fed certain things and go with that feeling. Ease up on things that make you feel sluggish or create discomfort and move towards those foods that add lightness and energy.

I also try not to judge anyone for what they eat or don't eat. Easy to do with friends HARD to do with my children :).

Peace,
Scott.

Scott, cool ones,
here are my distincions,
Swimming, (is) better than running,
Sauna(tharapy)/steamroom, also great for pranayama, and a mantra/sutra,
Weight training, for reversing the biomarkers of age,
early in the morning, burns more fat,
nurturing that innerchild,
makes you eat all the (polish) cheesecake, you like!,
;)
Love, Passion!

Marek,

All true especially about the cheesecake...never had Polish cheesecake, only New York...but I'm sure that they're similar :).

Peace,
Scott.

Deepak, thank you so much for reminding us what is good for us. Namaskar.

Lars, I am in the process of getting initiated in Kriya Yoga, by a sage. As part of preperation for this I have to become a vegetarian. The sage feels, to make it easy on myself I should only eat eggs and fish for a little while, and then, stop eating the eggs and then stop eating fish.

The sage believes that vegetarianism increases our spiritual vibrations.

Lars, Namaskar.

Deepak, thank you so much for reminding us what is good for us. Namaskar.

Lars, I am in the process of getting initiated in Kriya Yoga, by a sage. As part of preperation for this I have to become a vegetarian. The sage feels, to make it easy on myself I should only eat eggs and fish for a little while, and then, stop eating the eggs and then stop eating fish.

The sage believes that vegetarianism increases our spiritual vibrations.

Lars, Namaskar.

Dear H. Helene H. Gordon,
Obliviousness, I consider more a virtue, than,
a offense,

;) Scott,
It's the love that bakes the pie, that makes the ..;)

Love, Passion!

“Although the medical establishment maintains a fanatical adherence to drugs and surgery as the only respectable way to treat illness, nevertheless researach supporting the common sense wisdom of the body's of common sense can still be found.” ~ Deepak Chopra

To support this great insight and prove his point Dr. Chopra gives six points evidence.

What is surprising is that Dr. Chopra doesn’t mention anything about surgery or drugs at all.

He makes statements about good health practices of stress reduction, consuming fresh vegetables, exercise, moderation, which is not at all controversial. These things are well known to the medical establishment.

Also, people measure their commitment to exercise in terms of the time they spend and not the distance they cover. Therefore running and jogging helps to burn a lot more calories and shed far more weight than walking as a regular daily practice.

One wonders what Dr. Chopra wants to prove here contrary to the medical establishment. His evidence is weak and manipulative.

Dr. Chopra concludes by saying: “None of this sounds revolutionary, but there is an underlying wisdom at work. Your body knows what it is doing, and if you listen to it and cooperate sensibly, good health is the norm, not the exception. We are a society with incredible advantages in terms of health, and the sooner we stop relying only on outside authorities, and begin to rely more on the wisdom of our bodies, the better.”

The body knows what it is doing and if we listen to it and cooperate sensibly you may want to use medicines and use surgery when your body cries out that it cannot treat by itself and needs external help to live healthily!

Avoiding medicine and surgery altogether is foolishness. It makes complete mockery of science and rational thinking in the field of modern medicine.

Listen to your body and mind and choose not to follow people who make ignorant statements about science and use bad logic to support their contentious statements.

AJ

thanks everyone for your feedback.

i guess i'll keep running when i'm so motivated. tires the dog out more than the walks, anyway.

good times and sturdy knees,

onegirlmanyideas

DIMWITS

DIMWITS

Deepak’s
Illuminated
Meditators
With
Inspiration
Through
Spirit

Patzi: May we grow ever-more DIM-WIT'ed by the day!

Unconditional Love comes so easily for you, my dear--and Thank You for sharing with me Donatella's delightful words--I can't see a voice like hers staying quiet from the Intentblog; at least not for too long--it is her nature to share her wisdom and love (which in no uncertain terms is considerable regarding It's consistent purity).

All my love to you, and the "Sister-hoods" you speak and write so richly about! Dave

Hi Scott,

I agree with you, there are so many conflicting studies that have been done on eating that it can make one quite confused.

I also agree with you when you say that there probably isn’t a diet that suits everyone and that each person has to find out for ourselves which foods seem to ‘agree’ with them best. But it can help our choices if we learn as much as possible about nutrition to make sure that we are getting what we need, sometimes we may feel good on a certain diet but it may not be as good for us as we think. For example, I’ve tried fasting and it did make me feel very peaceful but that’s probably because the fasting forced my metabolism to slow down. However, conventional medicine tells us that fasting for more than 3 days can cause damage to the body, so I may have been fooled by the sense of peace I felt. So I guess we can’t trust the body’s signals all the time.

Finally, I agree with you when you say we shouldn’t judge people for what they eat or don’t eat. I hope that I’m not coming across as judgmental or intrusive when I am discussing what I’ve read about Deepak’s diet. I’m sure he’s got good reasons for having chosen to eat particular foods and I’m just curious to know what those reasons are. He’s a doctor trained in conventional medicine and a very spiritual person so it makes it particularly interesting to know about his reasons for choosing particular foods.

For instance, he wrote in his article that he eats white meat – so I suppose that means fish and poultry. I guess he eats fish because they contain oils that are very beneficial but why does he eat poultry? Is it because he thinks that it’s not enough to just eat vegetables to fulfil our protein needs or is it because of the minerals contained in poultry? Does he believe that a vegetarian diet would only suit some people and that other people who are perhaps very busy or have a certain body type need to eat a non-vegetarian diet?

Moreover, I’m interested also in the ethical, ecological and spiritual side of things. Does he believe it would be preferable to be vegetarian for spiritual reasons but that our bodies need some sort of meat or fish to maintain good health? Or does he think that eating meat is perfectly natural and follows the ‘laws of nature’ and that being a vegetarian doesn’t necessarily make one more spiritual or compassionate?

These are difficult questions. Maybe Deepak doesn’t have clear answers on these questions himself but I think it’s good to think about these things. I think it’s great, Scott, that you’re a vegetarian. I don’t know if that necessarily makes you more spiritual but it definitely shows that you think about what you’re eating.

Take care,

Dear Dr Chopra,
Your remark " While too much of a good thing is bad " is welcome and must be taken on board , However I will like to add :
" Too much of every thing we aspire and do in this material life is bad ".
Chanakya the learned said " Ati Sarvatra Varjayet" mening excess in every thing is prohibited.

Hi Geeta,

It’s interesting that the sage you're initiated by, in Kriya Yoga, believes that vegetarianism increases our spiritual vibrations.

Kriya yoga must be fascinating - maybe you could write a “weekly intent” letter some time to tell us all about your initiation and what your sage is teaching you. It would be great to learn more about it.

Take care, and may your already high spiritual vibrations go even higher!

Dear Dr Chopra,
Your remarks " While too much of a good thing is bad " is pertinent on the subject but I would generally suggest " Excess of everything is bad in what we aspire and do in this material world " . To corroborate this I like to quote Chanakya the learned . He said " Ati sarvatra varjayet" meaning excess of every thing ( without reservation) is prohibited.
We must learn to strike a balance in our every action.

Is Mr. Ravi Kopra back as Helene Gordon? Hmmm?

If so welcome back Mr Kopra, I don't like censorship.

Ravi Kulkarni

the ultimate goal

the enlightened erstwhile man of
medicine, goes on preaching this:
avoid surgery and medicine even
when your body needs them.

no antibiotics for killer bugs.
for psychos no psychotic drugs.
(only om meditation and hugs)
no surgery for broken bones
but get fast on your cell phones

and ask your guru what Vedas say,
and ask him what Ayurveda says.
as the ultimate goal is to ascend to heaven
he has the keys to both, the hell and heaven.

~White Wings
http://whitewings.sulekha.com/blogs/blogdisplay.aspx?cid=95931

Next storm taking shape

Lars, I have not been initiated in KRIYAYOGA yet. When I do, I will share my experience with all of you my friends at IB. Thank you for your comment.

After reading every one's comments I came to the conclusion that, some of us eat a whole lot, and not necessarily what is considered nutritious and look like bean poles!! Others eat right, and in right proportions and still look like apples!! What is the reason??

1. As some of you alluded to it, it depends upon how many calories we are burning. That depends upon exercise and our muscle mass.

2. Ayurvedically speaking, it depends upon what is our Prakriti. If my Prakriti is Kapha, I will tend to be overweight. If I am Pitta, I may not have trouble with obesity.

3. I believe our weight also depends upon our endocrine system. If one has an underactive thyroid gland one puts on weight. Also pancreatic gland that makes insulin is an important gland that influences our health. Almost half of us have pancreatic glands that do not function normally. When we eat carbs with a high glycemic index, such as sugar, white bread, the pancreatic gland makes inappropriate amount of Insulin. As you all know, Insulin in excess, gives the signal for the body to store glucose as glycogen. So with in a few hours of eating this food that is sugary, we are very hungry,due to hypoglycemia, again. So we eat again. It becomes a vicious cycle.

So what should we do?? We should stand naked infront of the mirror and look at ourselves and see if we look like apples. (Truncal obesity, having a belly, not having a nice waist) We don't need to measure our fasting insulin level. So if we look like apples we suffer from HYPERINSULINISM. We should eat carbs that have low glycemic index. We should balance, good carbs, good proteins, and good fats. I personally like the ZONE diet and have put many children on it with good results.

Thank you friends for reading my comment. Namaskar.

Dear Geeta,

Thank you for this very interesting comment. Very much appreciated!

Yet on a lighter note i would like to add some nostalgic comments from my past. These are not my words but they were sent to me yesterday in a powerpoint file together with some hilarious animations. But this file was in the Dutch language. So i translated the text for all to enjoy:

Nostalgia!!

Did you grow up in the fifties, sixties or seventies of the past age?

How did you survive that?

The cars did not have safety belts, head rests and certainly no airbags.

It was pleasant in the backseat and not dangerous.

The rail beds and the toys were colourful and painted with at least lead holding paint
or other poisoning wax.

There were no child securities attached to sockets, car doors, bottles with medicine and
chemical cleaning.

You could cycle without a helmet.

You could drink from the garden hose or other sources instead of mineral water from sterile bottles.

We built soap boxes and those of us who were lucky to live in a steep alley could try to establish speed records and then come to the conclusion halfway, that they forgot to put in the brakes.

We were allowed to play outside.

We had grazes, broken arms and legs, also teeth beaten out, but never was somebody charged with this.

We were able to eat candy and sandwiches and drink soft drinks with real sugar, and we never had health problems cause we played outside and were active….

We could share one bottle with the four of us…, drink from the same bottle, without anyone of us dying from it.

We didn´t have playstations, Nintendo 64, X-boxes, videogames, 99 cable channels, video recorder, dolby surround, mobile phone, computer, chatrooms on the Internet….. but friends we did have.

We could go walking or cycling to visit friends, also when they lived some more miles away,
ring or just walk inside a house to go find our friend to play with outside.

Yes, outside, in that ruthless world! Without caretaker. How was that possible??

We played football with one goal and when someone was not allowed to play with us he did not get a psychic trauma from it and the world did not end either.

A few pupils were perhaps not that good as others and stayed down, but nobody was sent to a psychologist for this. Nobody had problems with concentration or was hyper active, that year was simply repeated and everyone got his chance.

We had freedom, set backs, successes, tasks, and learned to deal with them.

Big prize contest :

How did we survive all this?
And above all, how could we develop our personality?
Are you from that Generation too?

Then you will certainly know how it was in those days.

Nowadays they may perhaps say that life was very dull in those days, but….
We were content and happy!!!
Or weren´t we?

Hi Lars,

I agree with all that you say in your #24 post and I wasn't accusing you of being judgmental toward Dr. Chopra (I thought your questions were excellent actually), only a reminder to myself not to judge. I read about a Spiritual teacher once who said that if at any time he held himself up above others due to his vegetarianism, then it was time to have a steak (LOL!). I liked that. To me it was a reminder that externals (food we eat, language, looks, etc.) was all a poor disguise to hide our divinity. I remember David Simon (Deepaks colleague at the Chopra Center) saying that telling us he ate a vegetarian diet, but when he visited his Aunt she would serve chicken. He always ate it as he felt that the love and Prana that she put into preparing it was more valuable to him then in keeping to his vegetarian diet in the strictest sense. I like that too. Sometimes the invisible ingredients are the most nourishing.

Peace,
Scott.

Scott,

Thanks for your interesting and fun comments.

Geeta,

Thanks for sharing your medical knowledge with us. The GI diet sure seems to be the best diet to follow for most people.

I completely agree with what you wrote mieke.I was one of those kids. Thank you so much.

Lars, thanks a bunch.