“Only when a student is ready, the teacher will appear” an ancient wisdom proves us right every single day.
It was the year 2020 when the whole world was under lockdown.
On a regular day, I found a weighing machine in my home. I dragged it out from a cupboard, blew the dust off with doubt if it would work or not, then I stood over it to check my weight.
The digital weighing machine slowly started from 00 and stopped at 96KG, blinking multiple times, indirectly telling me, “I might burst pretty soon if you keep increasing.”
That was my beginning of understanding the relationship between this body and food.
A couple of weeks later, I enrolled myself in a course related to filmmaking. 15 participants from across the world were participating for over 1 month of LIVE sessions. During one of the sessions, the instructor from Singapore shared his experience of undergoing “Water Fasting” for a week.
I was surprised and couldn’t believe one could live with just water for days.
After a few days, this weighing machine caught my attention again.
I went and stood over it to check the number. This time the number slowly went to 99KG and started blinking.
This made me learn about different types of diets and fasting. I soon experimented with gradual diets with discipline, including water fasting for 2 weeks straight. Within 3 months, I lost 20 kg. From the moment I shared the news, many people started asking what I did, which diet I followed, etc. I even shared with disclaimers.
This blog is not about weight loss tips or which diet to follow but a few rare realizations (Untold secrets) about our relationship with food.
1. Most of the time, your hunger is coming from the mind, not the body.
Whenever the clock hits our regular mealtime, check within yourself with this question, “Is my body asking for food or my mind? Is the body feeling hungry, or is it the mind’s craving?
Two years ago, I was part of a group of 6 men selected to be part of an 8-day WALK near the banks of the river Narmadha in Vadodara, Gujarat.
It was a self-realization journey for people in roles of world transformation like CEOs, Innovators & activists.
Before the start of the walk, we had to hand over all our belongings such as money, phone, digital devices, etc. No contact with the outer world.
We walked in the grace of the villagers who might offer food.
Every day we walked for around 20 km and underwent a few processes designed by the facilitators.
During one of the days, the facilitators invited us to Fast the whole day. (Meaning, you may not take the food offered by the villagers and complete your day with just water)
Along with me, a few agreed to fast.
Some who had food, with a fear of getting fainted on the way, got surprised by seeing us walking the whole day under the sun with just water.
Some of us even volunteered for a few more days of fasting.
This leads to another realization
2. We don’t know how much food quantity our body needs.
A person working physically Vs A person working on a laptop most of the hours per day. Does the quantity differ or remain the same?
When it comes to changes in food habits, most of our mind’s enthusiasm will go towards “Change In Type of Food rather than the Change in Quantity Of Food.”
You would have found yourself saying, “Now I have decided to have only Organic veggies or millet or fruits.” But we start consuming more than what our body needs.Why our focus on the quantity of food intake is equally important?
If you have read the book “Sapiens,” the evolution of human anatomy changed over time based on the type of food they had.
For example, when ancient humans were eating raw meats, the size of their heads was small because the stomach took so much energy to digest the food, so very little was transferred to the brain.
As the idea of cooked food came after tasting food from a forest fire, ancient humans started to have cooked food that took less energy to digest, and it resulted in the growth of the human brain.
When we have more than what we require, the body takes more energy to digest which results in less energy to the brain. That’s why most of us feel sleepy and tired after a heavy lunch or dinner.
If having food in the body is logically similar to fueling a car, then with a full tank, a car performs well. But with a full stomach, why do we feel super tired and sleepy?
Many legends in history have said this: “Sit with hunger, get up with hunger.”
Many physically active people who are 65+ years old have been consuming only 1 meal/day.
People who are focused on spiritual growth are always conscious of the type of food and the quantity of intake.
I have been experimenting with consuming only 50–75% of my ideal food quantity during every meal for a couple of months.
I feel so energetic and could focus deeply for more hours.
We often don’t know what happens to the food after it crosses our mouth. This documentary on Netflix called “Game Changers” has beautifully explained the impact of even a little quantity of food on our bodies.
And this leads to my last lesson.
3. Consider this life as an experiment. Stick to the Quantity which helps you to live your fullest potential.
Thank you for reading till the end.I hope this was useful.
See you soon with the next realizations!
Jai
