Diets

Buddhism and Diet

Siddhartha Gautama (Buddha) founded Buddhism in the 5th to 4th century BCE in the eastern part of India.

The Buddha was born 563 BCE in Lumbini central-southern Nepal, 150 km [100 mi] west of Kathmandu.

Buddhism has a number of dietary practices that different groups adhere to in varying degrees. Some refrain from consuming animals, alcohol and certain vegetables.

Buddhists eat a vegetarian diet with a core teaching that prohibits taking the life of any person or animal. Some interpret this as allowing a lacto-vegetarian diet diet. This means they consume dairy products but exclude eggs, poultry, fish, and meat from their diet.

Others allow the consumption of eggs.

Some Buddhists consume meat and other animal products if the animals aren’t slaughtered for especially them.

The people who kill the animals are often shunned and forced to live on the outskirts of the village. However, those who consume the products are allowed to do so.
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27 June 2026
The French Paradox – The Myths

“Everyone knows” about the French Paradox – that is, the French consume lots of saturated fat in the form of meat, butter, cheese and eggs and yet have a low risk of heart disease. This proves that the health advice regarding the role of fats and saturated fats in causing heart disease is wrong.

The French Paradox has only been with us for a short period of time but it quickly resonated with the general population – we no longer need to be concerned about the amount of meat, butter, cheese and eggs that we consume.
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1 October 2020
Japanese Diet, Cuisine and Health

Japan is at the top of the list for life expectancy and health. There are strong regional variations although the diet in recent decades has become more westernised and the variations in diet are becoming less distinct throughout Japan.

A wide variety of dipping sauces accompany most meals. Udon is a thick wheat flour noodle and yakisoba is a buckwheat noodle. Soba is the Japanese name for buckwheat.

Despite the increase in dairy, egg and meat consumption in recent decades, Japan (according to the National Health and Nutrition Surveys) still consumes a predominately plant-based diet.

Hookaido had the lowest percentage of plant-based foods at 74.5% in 1980 and 82.2% in 2012. In 1980, Kanto II had the highest percentage at 78.2% with Hokuriku topping the list in 2012 with 84.5%.

Australia and the US consume approximately 30% of their diet from plant-based sources.
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18 August 2020
Global Burden of Disease 2010

The Global Burden of Disease Study commenced in 1990 as a World Bank commissioned initiative that measures the health impact of disease and injuries. It introduced the term disability-adjusted life year (DALY) as a new measure to quantify the burden of diseases and injuries.

It is managed by the Institute for Health Metrics and Evaluation at the University of Washington with the purpose of "understanding the current state of population health and the strategies necessary to improve it."
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27 April 2019
When Vegan Diets Do Not Work

It is not uncommon for people to claim that they have tried a vegan diet and it simply did not work for them. Not all vegan diets are healthy.

Much publicity is given to the longevity of the people of Japan and Okinawa (an archipelago that stretches from southern Japan to Taiwan). However, the population with the longest lifespan and the highest levels of health on the planet is the vegan Californian Seventh-day Adventists.

People are not predisposed to vegan diets or otherwise. When it comes to nutrition, we are pretty much the same – allergies being one significant difference.

Below are components of a healthy whole-food, plant-based diet. Many people on a unhealthy vegan diet are missing a number of important components of an optimal diet.
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27 April 2019