A Real Breakfast || By Beth Hinnen, Certified Mindfulness and Meditation Teacher
Full disclosure, I am not a doctor, a nutritionist, nor a health expert. What I am is a dedicated Buddhist practitioner who is intensely interested health, particularly my own. It started with Yoga teacher training in 2001, which coincided with 9/11, and that event coupled with the mind expanding teachings of eastern philosophy led me to question everything I had been doing health-wise (and also, mentally, emotionally and approaching life in general) up to that point. For now, let’s stick with health.
I used to have terrible spring allergies, and after a workshop with a Chinese medicine doctor, I gave up coffee, switched to green tea and my typical seasonal stuffy-nose and congestion, disappeared. Additionally, I got terrible sinus infections leading to bronchial issues, and even had my tonsils taken out when I was 20 to clear up my frequent sore throats. In my 30s, I went to an ENT doctor who said I would have to have sinus surgery at some point. In Yoga teacher training (my 40s), I tried a neti pot, and faithfully began using it weekly (and hourly when I had a sinus infection), and more times than not, it cleared up my infection within a day (I could literally feel — and ugh, see — it leave my body), and over the past three decades my sinuses have returned to such a healthy state I rarely get sinus infections, can breathe easily, and no surgery needed.
However, COVID did me in. I was okay with the isolation having studied at a Zen monastery for a decade. Only, I did not keep up with enough physical activity (except for the rehabilitation of my hip as you may recall from previous blogs), and my diet was all over the map. Post menopause, it has all caught up with me, weight gain, tiredness, hot flashes and a host of other issues. Enter, Substack. I started following health-minded folks which led me to Victor. He’s a certified nutritionist and writes blogs specifically for women and hormonal balance. I was hooked.
While his blogs cover the hormonal spectrum, what has stood out to me the most is how undernourished women are. The “diet culture” of the past fifty years has not done us proud. It has, in fact, harmed the most basic premise that the body is absolutely capable of regulating itself if it is taken care of, well fed and well rested. And these are not in isolation. Taking a soothing hot bath does not replace eating proper amounts of protein, fat, carbs and fiber, at every meal, nor does it make up for several nights of 6 hours of sleep. What struck me the most (and all of Victor’s articles have sources listed at the end), is that on 1500 calories a day, the human body suffers malnourishment and interprets that as starvation.
As I started to track my calories, along with the macronutrients of protein, fat, carbs and fiber, I was shocked to see that I had been feeding my body 1100-1400 calories per day for years. And pre-menopausal, my body could take this. Post-menopausal, it has rebelled. So for the past 2.5 months, I have been reverse dieting, basically increasing calories, specifically protein and carbs, so that my body has proper nutrition to do all of the tasks it is meant to do, like … grow and retain hair … moisten the skin … balance mood evenly throughout the day … retain energy in the afternoon without dragging. Having vacillated between depression and anxiety for decades, shortly after starting Victor’s protocol, I found myself on the golf course, completely relaxed when normally, I would be anxious about staying up with the group ahead, and worried about the group behind hitting into us. As I looked ahead and behind, I had neither worry nor anxiety and felt myself simply enjoying the outdoors and being active. It was remarkable.
So it got me wondering if anorexia or the idea of starving the body, is also on a scale like autism. After all, for years I had kept myself on a very limited calorie intake, not too much bread (or none at all), not too much meat (I was vegetarian for several years and did not maintain proper protein levels), and when sugar became a culprit, I cut back on that. I tried a Keto diet which made me feel worse; I tried intermittent fasting for almost a year and it didn’t work (meaning, I didn’t have more energy, clarity of mind, nor lost weight). As it turns out, the hormones most out of balance for me are cortisol and the ones produced by the thyroid. In such cases, intermittent fasting pumps up cortisol, which spikes insulin and causes cravings, because the body is not being fed three meals a day. And that in turn signals starvation, forcing the thyroid to conserve energy and not burn what is coming in.
Now, I never would have categorized myself as anorexic. Indeed, I love food and have cooked quite consistently for the past 30 years. However, in light of this new information — that a body is most healthy with 30 grams of protein at every meal, 10 grams of fat, and yes, carbs at every meal — I now realize I was slowly starving myself, with the diet culture egging me on (pun intended). I have, for most of my adult life, been on the spectrum of anorexia — reduced calorie intake below the level of health, not debilitating and definitely not optimum. In one of Victor’s blogs, he suggests not measuring every bite, and giving yourself permission to eat a full meal. I cried reading that. And so began my recovery from an unhealthy relationship with my body, to stop seeing it as “the enemy,” and rather, to listen more closely to its signals.
Indeed, the Buddha found this out when he became an ascetic, and ate only one kernel of rice a day. He said his belly button touched his spine. A full-blown anorexic, it suddenly dawned on him that this would kill him … and without a body, he would never reach enlightenment. It was this experience that gave him the Middle Way … not indulging in sense pleasures, nor going to nihilism and punishing the body by denying it food, sleep, care. Both he said, were dead ends and would not lead to enlightenment.
For me, who knows if enlightenment is in the cards. What I do know is that I will no longer treat my body with such disregard. And in full disclosure, I have gained weight (about 5 pounds), and yet with the mood stabilization … that feels okay. I trust that more things are happening below the surface of my skin for my health (according to what Victor posts), and eventually, my body will regain it’s ability to regulate between holding on to fat and letting it go. Also, it’s crazy how much food 2,000 calories a day actually is. There are way more groceries to buy, cooking to do, and of course, cleaning up. And … I’ve never been happier, more grounded, and energetic. My spiritual practice feels turbocharged with clarity and commitment.
Lastly, as the Buddha said, don’t believe me. Try it for yourself. Get some whey protein, eat some eggs, toast, yogurt, fruit and make breakfast a real meal again.
About the Author: Beth Hinnen came to the spiritual path from the corporate world. After experiencing impermanence and greed, she left to study Yoga and has over 1,000 hours in Yoga teacher training, and ended up specializing in the Yoga Sutras of Patanjali, spiritual scripture that closely aligns with Buddhism. From there, she studied Zen Buddhism for over ten years, including in-person, month-long monastic retreats, until she earned certification, in January, 2023, as a Mindfulness and Meditation Teacher with Jack Kornfield and Tara Brach. Currently, Beth is a co-leader of the IMCD Council, and on the Teachers Collective, as administrator. She hosts a Meetup group called Yoga Meets Buddhism, and for the past three years, has held an online Dharma Wednesdays class that discusses the Yoga Sutras while also bringing in Buddhist teachings, along with Sufi poets, Christianity, Judaism and other spiritual paths that reinforce the words of Sri Swami Satchidananda, the founder of Integral Yoga where Beth studied. “The truth is one, the paths are many.” More information about Beth is at www.samayaco.org.
