When asked to examine a Monk in the Upper Irrawady Region, I had to use all my prowess as an Anthropologist. What does a Monk Eat? When are his eating times? Most Buddhist monks dont eat after 12 noon so you have to find ways of prescribing medications or diet as medication. I have also noticed that more than 95 per cent of the Burmese Monks are thin, even though I did come across some overweight cambodian buddhist monks, i am sure due to some other reason.
I remember reading a very long time ago that rats fed restrictive calorie diet compared to their litter mates who were given free access to food lived much longer and had greater energy to enjoy their caged lives. Ha, you might say, what applies to the rat does not apply to us..Then, what about our brothren the Monkeys? In the above study published in 2006, I think from the National Centre for Primate Research at the University of Wisconsin, the same results bore out, while following two macaque monkeys for over 20 years. Cantu a 25 year old had the human equivalent of 2000 calories per day while his compatriot Owen ate 3000 calories per day.
I thought of the subtle irony of what was presented. (there is an anthropologist who loves Derrida for you). Owen is a very american name even though it is of scottish and celtic origin, it also means Youth (paradoxical here). Cantu as a name continental flair to it. Subtly we can say that they were comparing an American Diet to an European one?
While Cantu had good skin and good hair, the glutton Owen had wrinkles and slack skin and his hair was brittle. Cantu stood erect and had as much energy as he had when he was a little monkey but Owen the Overeater could hardly stand up because of arthritis. Blood tests showed Owen the American had high blood sugar and high triglyceride levels.
Lesson is clear here for the rest of the world.. If you want to live like Americans, you will begin to look like Americans.. But be like Cantu, while enjoying all that America has to offer, live longer and healthier by avoiding the superficial culture of America..
this is a message to my Wannabee Western friends in Asia..
