When a plant grows slower than expected one suspects it is not getting the proper nourishment. When a human mind grows tired more than expected one suspects the person is not getting proper nourishment. What nourishes the mind? The mind is nourished but much more than food. It needs sleep, quiet time and reflection and, probably above all, stimulation. Stimulation of the mind can be passive, like most TV viewing or active, like reading a book or engaging in a stimulating conversation.
Having a more than normal tired mind recently I find that passive activities, like watching TV, are much more appealing than active activities like reading a book. It takes more effort but is worthwhile to keep the mind active.
I am discovering another way to keep the mind active and growing is by eating healthy. Yesterday my wife and I went with a friend for to a Middle East Restaurant and enjoyed a vegetarian buffet. Tonight my wife made a most delicious vegetarian chili while we enjoyed while watching the Green Bay Packers on TV win a playoff game. In fact I believe I had little, if any meat, the last two days and I am feeling less tired.
This observation is not enough to make me a vegetarian but not eating meat the last two days has nourished my mind. Maybe meat tires the mind?
Comments
Dave Kruschke — 10 January 2011, 12:55
A True Story about Not Eating Meat, 1/10/11
Years and years ago, at the end of 1969, I started a high paying engineering job but didn’t have my first paycheck. So I spent the little money I had on a fine Japanese rice cooker along with a 50 pound bag of rice. All of us living together pretty much lived on this until I got my first paycheck. I continued to enjoy rice and planned to try a diet of almost all rice. During the very early ‘70s, I tried eating mostly rice. It started out great. There was just one thing to cook each day and it was simple. I was settled on this but after a little over a month, I noticed I was really physically tired, even after I just awoke. I was really tired all day long. Then I noticed a tingling sensation in my legs that came and went. I foolishly didn’t connect any of this to my diet decision one month earlier. I was ready to go to a doctor. But one afternoon while working as a truck driver, I impulsively stopped at an Arby’s Roast Beast store, ordered two Junior sliced beef sandwiches and ate them. An hour later, I was done truck driving and heading home. When I got out of the car, I noticed that my tiredness, numbness in the legs and desire for sleep were completely gone. And I felt very energetic. I cancelled my idea of going to a doctor and started eating some meat again from time to time, even though a popular song during this time was, “I Don’t Eat Animals – and They Don’t Eat Me!” And then, I discovered The Potato. So I gave away my fine rice cooker to friends that I suspect may still have and use this artifact.
Fast forwarding to the present, I am married to a Texas Country Woman who knows the importance of Beans and knows how to cooked them without sugar, unlike the Northern Baked Beans recipe (I hate these). The Mexicans and American Indians also know that beans can be a substitute for meat. So this behavior is what I strive for. This behavior is even depicted on the US Year 2000 Sacagawea Golden Dollar – The Three Sisters of Agriculture: Beans, Corn and Squash.
But it also turns out that Texans really like rice so we bought a cheap rice cooker from you know where. It came with a feature that was supposed to keep rice warm but it burned it instead. Just yesterday, no kidding, I spent over an hour taking this cooker apart to remove unwanted parts so now we have a rice cooker that only cooks rice. It is almost as good as the one I gave away, many years ago…
Bob Graf — 10 January 2011, 23:50
I was the recipient of the rice cooker and we still use it today, some 40 years later.
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