Food Jugaad (Day 8)

• Eat more natural food than prepared, processed or frozen food: Nature has provided for the right food for every life. It has done it for humans too.
  Eat more vegetables, fruits, and nuts. Why should we eat more natural food? Just one simple evidence: If you come across poop of any wild animal or bird, most likely, that poop would not be as smelly or disgusting as human poop. Stand next to human poop and most likely you will feel like vomiting. What goes in, comes out ;) If you take good (I mean natural)  food in from the mouth, less smelly stuff the body will have to dump out the other end.
  Need second evidence? Nuts last for months. Most vegetables and fruits last for days when kept at room temperature, in open. Now, leave frozen food out at normal room temperature. It wouldn't survive any longer. Cooked food is even worse. It will be unedible within 24 hours!! The more cooked or the more processed the food is, it is likely to get rotten faster.
• Eat more seasonal food than eating frozen or out of season food. When it is starting to get hot in California, the strawberry crop is abundant. Strawberries are big, juicy and also less expensive. If you have picked strawberries in the beginning of May from some farm and when you eat it fresh, you will know what you are missing in eating them from the freeze, or a super-market year around. Eat them as much as you like. Nature makes them in that particular season for some reasons, like, .... who cares? I don't know and what difference it makes if you have a justification ;). Sometimes, live with the heart and let mind mind its own business instead of letting it interfere with everything. Believe me, we all are in good hands with nature. You can trust this.
  This goes with all other fruits and vegetables. Eat mangos in summer. Once it starts raining, stop eating them. Loot nature's bounty when it offers generously; don't store or freeze it to use it out of the season, or year-round ;)
• If you have to make a choice between eating less or over-eating, definitely, choose the former. This will help you stay fit, healthy, and happy. We all want to have bigger cars, bigger homes but please do not go for bigger meals. It just ruins your mind and body.  For a bigger car, you can build a bigger garage. Not a big deal. For a bigger home, you can buy a bigger plot. Not a big deal either. However, for a bigger meal, you need a bigger tummy and a bigger tummy means, a bigger waistline, a bigger (overweight, clumsy) body, and if you fit more in than what it can accommodate, the stomach will not be able to digest it well. You will suffer, you will feel a bit uncomfortable, and you will leave the toilet smelly and disgusting for others ;)
• Eat when you are hungry. Unlearn that you have to eat x number of meals and eat them at the exact same times every day. We are taught that because that is convenient and because for most of us more food is available than what is needed. Eat only when you feel hungry.
  If a child is not hungry, don't force him.  Don't make this a daily struggle between you and your loved one. Let his or her body signal him/her when he/she is hungry. Believe me, this will happen. Like the different colors of skin, different weights and heights of different bodies, or different IQs for different brains, the appetite and digestive systems also vary from body to body. It is that simple.
• When you eat, stop when are 80-85% done. Leave some room in the stomach so it can process and digest the food well. Have mercy on yourself. Have mercy on the poor in the world. Spare some food for others. 
• Go for fasting some days. Most cultures in the world have fasting days. There are reasons for it. There are a lot of benefits too, like.... Sorry, I am not here to convince you. If you need to get convinced, google or youtube 'benefits of fasting'.

(There is one benefit of overeating. I ate more food in a dinner with a friend than I should have. The result is, I feel uncomfortable even at this point in midnight. My wife is happily snoring next to me, but I can't sleep. I have some acid refluxes. What is the benefit here though? I have decided to write something every day for this 30 days period! I would have gone to sleep but I can't sleep because I overate! The result is: I am able to write this post haha. Good night.)