Eating healthy is easy! Just quit your job, cancel your social life, and dedicate your entire existence to the kitchen!
Let's be real—eating right is HARD. Not “climbing Mount Everest in flip-flops” hard, but close. Because in a world where fast food is faster than your Wi-Fi and your schedule is tighter than your jeans after a holiday feast, who’s got the time to perfectly curate every meal?
And yet, the expectation remains: eat according to your Ayurvedic body type, your genetic predisposition, your blood profile, your lifestyle, your grandmother’s traditions, and your gym instructor’s unsolicited advice. Oh, and do it while juggling work, family, and a social life. HA! Let’s break this nightmare down, shall we?
The Ayurveda Confusion – "Am I a Vata or Just Sleep Deprived?", "Am I Eating Right?"
Apparently, eating right starts with knowing your Ayurvedic body & mind type. Are you Vata, Pitta, or Kapha or mix? Do you run hot or cold? Is quinoa your best friend or mortal enemy? Who knows! Because unless you’re a certified Ayurvedic expert (or have an astrologer on speed dial), you’re probably just guessing and hoping that last kale smoothie didn't violate ancient wisdom.
DNA, Blood Profiles & the Mystery of Nutritional Deficiencies
Did you know your genes determine what you should eat? Yeah, because life wasn’t complicated enough. Now, in addition to taxes and health insurance, you have to worry about whether your DNA approves of dairy. And of course, genetic tests cost about as much as a weekend getaway, but instead of relaxation, you get a 20-page report telling you that gluten or lactose might be your sworn enemy. Great.
One Person, Four Different Meals – Welcome to "MasterChef: Family Edition"
If you thought meal planning was hard, try cooking for a family where each person needs a different diet. Dad needs low-carb, Mom needs high-protein, Grandma needs easy-to-digest, and your teenager is convinced they’re going vegan (until they smell chicken). Suddenly, dinner time feels like running a restaurant—except there’s no staff, no tips, and you’re the only one doing the dishes.
The Working Couple Dilemma – "Honey, What’s for Dinner?" "Guilt and Regret."
Two working adults in a household means two exhausted humans who come home after a long day and stare at the fridge like it’s about to reveal the secrets of the universe. Cooking? Ha! It’s a miracle if something other than takeout or instant noodles happens. You know things are bad when your food delivery app starts sending you “We miss you” notifications.
No Help, No Time, No Sanity
Remember when families had house help? Or when grandmothers cooked for everyone while dispensing life advice? Yeah, those were the golden days. Now, if you’re lucky, you have a dishwasher. If not, welcome to the magical world of cooking, cleaning, grocery shopping, and pretending you enjoy it.
The Grocery Shopping Marathon
Grocery shopping sounds simple—until you realize that it’s a three-hour ordeal involving:
Traffic that makes you question your life choices.
Supermarket aisles filled with people who walk slower than your Wi-Fi at 3 AM.
Buying Organic: A bill so high, you consider selling a kidney.
And then, of course, there’s the meal prep, the endless chopping, the realization that you forgot ONE key ingredient, and the inevitable “Let’s just order something” moment.
Cooking for the Young, the Old, and the Forever Sick
So, you’re already balancing work, life, and cooking different meals for different people. Now, throw in:
A child who needs semi-solid food.
A child who needs a high-energy diet for sports.
A diabetic parent who needs a sugar-free diet.
A high BP parent who needs a salt-free diet.
A teenager who eats like a vacuum cleaner but wants to stay "lean."
A grandparent who needs soft food and zero spice.
You in your periods, craving for tangy, super spicy food.
That’s not a kitchen—that’s a full-scale catering business running on pure exhaustion.
From Protein & Avocado Enthusiast to Noodles Survivor: The Brutal Reality of Adulthood
When you’re a single young adult living with your parents, you have the luxury of debating quinoa versus white rice, keto versus vegan, whether dairy is the devil, and non-veg is Tamasik Monster—all while someone else (usually Mom) is cooking your meals anyway. Or you may be able to cook just for yourself, leaving messy kitchen. You can roll your eyes at fast food, sip your green smoothies, and judge your dad’s love for buttered toast or your mother eating leftovers. But the day you move out, start a family, and have kids demanding mac & cheese while your spouse just wants something edible, all those lofty food ideals come crashing down like a Jenga tower in an earthquake.
Suddenly, you’re not debating vegetarian vs. non-vegetarian—you’re just praying dinner happens before everyone loses their minds. Welcome to the real world, where “eating right” takes a backseat to “eating at all.”
The Never-Ending Arguments About Food (By People Who Have No Real Responsibilities)
Ah, the food debates—the endless arguments that sound intellectual until you have a job, bills, a sick kid, sick parents and no time for nonsense. Let’s break down some of the most exhausting ones:
🍗 High-Protein Modern Diet: Should it be plant-based? Whey-based? Is protein even necessary? The debate rages on—mostly among those who don’t cook their own meals and have yet to experience true hunger at 2 AM after a long shift.
🌱 Pranic Food: Some believe refrigerated meals lose their "prana" (life force). Because apparently, we now have to worry about our sandwich's spiritual energy, too. As if your Nose, Brahmrandhra, Agyna, Anahata and Naval are not enough to absorb Prana & Cosmic Shakti.
🗓️ Diet Based on Body Type, Season, and Availability: Good luck keeping up. Your body changes, seasons change, and modern supermarkets sell everything year-round. Unless you travel with an Ayurvedic consultant, DNA test results, and a weather report, you’re in for some major inconsistencies.
🍽️ Five-Course Meals Are a Must: Maybe in a fairytale where woodland creatures cook for you. In real life? You’re lucky if dinner isn’t instant noodles or a sad sandwich. Who even has time for five courses? Most of us are inhaling our meals between meetings, errands, and existential crises. The only “five courses” most people experience are: Coffee, Snack, Leftovers, Takeout, and Regret.
💦 70% Water-Based Diet: A fancy way of saying “eat watery things.” Sounds great—if you’re a cactus. Otherwise, unless you live in the Sahara, this one’s just another fad that makes no sense in practical life. Sure, hydrating is important, but let’s be real—if this rule applied universally, Eskimos and Siberians would have melted by now or your kidneys will be overworked & dead. Also, let’s not pretend soup and fruit smoothies can fix a life full of bad decisions.
🍫 Emotional Eating vs. Genuine Hunger: Oh, so NOW we’re debating whether the urge to demolish a tub of ice cream at 2 AM is "real hunger" or just feelings? Cute. Talk to me after you've dealt with a screaming toddler, a sick parent, nagging spouse, annoying relatives, peri-menopause or a credit card bill that made you reconsider all your life choices. Until you've stress-eaten an entire pizza while contemplating existence, you don’t get to have an opinion.
🧘 State of Mind While Eating Must Be Calm: Ideally, sure. But try telling that to a parent who’s cutting up a toddler’s food while answering work emails and preventing another child from knocking over a glass of juice. Or someone eating dinner in traffic because they didn’t have time to eat at home. Unless you're meditating on a mountaintop with zero responsibilities, you're probably shovelling food into your mouth while scrolling through bad news on your phone. Namaste, indeed.
An attachment to purity is still an attachment. Freedom is not found in what you eat, but in what you let go of.
🥩 Non-Veg Causes Inertia: Right, because soldiers, athletes, and special forces—who train for 10+ hours a day—are just so sluggish from their meat-based diets 😂. Meanwhile, the people debating this are struggling to carry their own 20 kgs grocery bags to their 3rd floor apartment via stairs. Look, eat what you want, but let’s not pretend that eating chicken makes you lazy while a salad turns you into a productivity machine. If that were true, rabbits would be running Fortune 500 companies and soldiers, special forces, sports-persons all would have been sleeping on missions, borders and olympic pools.
🔥 Non-Veg Causes Aggression: Yes, absolutely. That’s how athletes win medals, soldiers defend borders, and police officers protect homes. Aggression, when channeled properly, is what gets things done. Even Tibetan monks and spiritual masters weren’t peaceful by default—they had to "fight" their own mental chaos and “kill” their Chitta-Vrittis with sheer intensity. Let’s not forget that even Lord Krishna gave Arjuna a pep talk in the middle of a battlefield. So, sure, if non-veg fuels that kind of purpose-driven aggression, maybe it’s not such a bad thing after all. It gives you power to establish Dharma!
🧠 Chitta-Vrittis & Sanskaras Cause Disease: Sure, food matters, but let’s not forget the REAL health killers—stress, anxiety, trauma, and toxic people. You could eat the purest organic diet, but if you’re drowning in unresolved emotions and life’s pressures, your gut is still going to riot. Fixing your mind, habits, and lifestyle should come before obsessing over whether your food has the perfect cosmic vibration. Otherwise, you’ll be an overthinking, anxious mess—just with a slightly better diet.
The obsession with food—whether to eat or not to eat—is just another way the mind distracts itself from the real hunger… the hunger for Truth.
Alright, listen up, Mr. or Ms. "I’ve-got-an-Ayurvedic-consultant-on-speed-dial-and-a-farm-to-grow-my-quinoa": if you’ve got the cash to hire a whole entourage of experts—doctors, astrologers, chefs who can whip up a five-course meal while blindfolded—and you’re still stressing about whether your avocado is organic enough or if Mercury retrograde is messing with your digestion, it’s time to take a chill pill. Seriously, if you’ve got no kids screaming in the background, no boss breathing down your neck, and a bank account that probably has its own zip code. Life’s good! So, maybe stop overanalyzing whether your turmeric latte is ethically sourced and just enjoy the fact that you’re living the dream. Worrying about food trends when you’ve got it all is like complaining about the thread count on your golden parachute. Come down from your high horse, grab a spoon, and eat something delicious—preferably something you cooked yourself laughing & enjoying.
If your peace depends on what’s on your plate, then you are still a beggar.
Moral of the story? Eat what works for you, handle life’s chaos, and stop acting like food alone will unlock the secrets of the universe.
Here's a table that summarizes the number of Enlightened Masters from various countries and their respective altitude regions, based on traditional beliefs and practices associated with high-altitude spiritual areas:
Country | Number of Enlightened Masters (estimated) | Altitude Region |
Tibet | High (Hundreds to Thousands) | Himalayan Plateau, Above 3,000 meters (9,800 ft) |
Nepal | High (Hundreds) | Himalayan Region, 2,500–5,000 meters (8,200–16,400 ft) |
India | Moderate (Thousands) | Himalayan Foothills, 1,500–3,500 meters (4,900–11,500 ft) |
Bhutan | Moderate (Hundreds) | Himalayan Region, 2,500–4,500 meters (8,200–14,800 ft) |
China (Tibetan Regions) | High (Hundreds) | Tibetan Plateau, 3,000–5,000 meters (9,800–16,400 ft) |
Mongolia | Moderate (Fewer) | Mongolian Plateau, 1,500–3,000 meters (4,900–9,800 ft) |
Sri Lanka | Moderate (Hundreds) | Central Highlands, 1,000–2,500 meters (3,300–8,200 ft) |
Japan | Moderate (Hundreds) | Mountainous Regions (e.g., Mt. Fuji), 1,000–3,700 meters (3,300–12,100 ft) |
Kyrgyzstan | Moderate (Few) | Tian Shan Mountains, 2,000–4,000 meters (6,600–13,100 ft) |
Peru | Low to Moderate (Few) | Andes Mountains, 2,500–6,000 meters (8,200–19,700 ft) |
These numbers are more symbolic, based on historical traditions, religious teachings, and spiritual practices. Keep in mind, these numbers are not scientifically verified but reflect long-standing spiritual traditions verified via independent researchers and monastery documents.
Ah yes, the Himalayan diet: yak and wild goat meat, where the only thing growing is your desire after every meal. And yet, somehow, these rugged, barren regions—where even the plants are too tired to grow—are home to the highest concentration of Enlightened Masters. Because, apparently, when you’re surrounded by nothing but snow, rocks, and a constant craving for a decent salad, the only thing left to do is achieve Nirvana. Who needs kale when you’ve got mountains and meat to inspire spiritual awakening? The formula seems simple: one part isolation, one part yak meat, and a whole lot of “I am one with the universe” mantras.
In many Tibetan monasteries in high-altitude regions, the menu is as simple as it gets: yak and wild goat meat, yak milk, and yak milk butter. Who needs variety when you've got a buffet of yak in every form imaginable? Forget about vegetables or fruits—those don’t grow in the rugged, barren landscapes. If you’re lucky, maybe a few prayer flags might sprout, but that’s about it. The monks survive on their yaks, probably with the motto: "Why complicate things with greens when you can have butter with everything?" It’s the original "farm-to-table" concept... just minus the farm.
Society’s Pressure to “Eat Right” While Having ZERO Time
We live in a world that bombards us with the importance of "eating right" while simultaneously making it IMPOSSIBLE to do so. Between long work hours, commutes that drain the soul, family responsibilities, and the fact that no one really wants to spend three hours meal-prepping, it’s no wonder people give up.
So what’s the solution? Honestly, there isn’t a magic fix. But here are some survival tips:
Simplify: Find a middle ground instead of chasing dietary perfection.
Batch Cook: Because cooking every day is for superheroes or extra-ordinary rich ones, not ordinary mortals.
Delegate: Get the family involved—yes, even the kids. If they can work an iPad, they can peel a carrot.
Forgive Yourself: If all you managed today was a peanut butter sandwich and a multivitamin, you’re still doing better than most.
You can chow down on burgers like Warren Buffett and cruise to 94, or stick to roti and onions like an Indian farmer and tap out at 70—but as long as you're laughing, loving, and living your best life, your health & lifespan will take care of itself. Happiness is the real superfood as per Ayurveda!
Whether you eat plants or animals, you are still feeding the body. But tell me—what are you feeding you (Atman)?
At the end of the day, food is meant to nourish, not stress you out. So, eat as well as you can, laugh at the chaos, and remember: no one has ever achieved Enlightenment by counting calories or even fussing about food or diet.
Last year, in the most unassuming of places—an office in Melbourne, while waiting for paperwork—I met an old, Enlightened Tibetan master. The moment our eyes met, we recognized each other’s Samadhi state, and for a while, we simply smiled in silent acknowledgment. Then, conversation naturally unfolded.
He told me about his recent journey to India, where he had gone to meet the Dalai Lama. As he traveled through the country, visiting temples and ashrams, something puzzled him deeply. With a bemused expression, he asked, "What is this fanaticism in India about vegetarianism?"
Having grown up on Yak meat and wild goat, he was surprised to find that in and around ashrams and temples, not only was wild goat meat absent, but even regular goat meat was nowhere to be found. He chuckled, shaking his head, and said, "Why are people so obsessed with what to eat or what not to eat?"
We both laughed, recognizing the irony. Whether one fixates on eating or abstaining, it is still an attachment to the body—one way or the other. Then, after a moment of silence, he shared something truly profound:
"When you cling to what enters your mouth more than what leaves your heart, you have already lost the path."
And then, with a soft smile, he added, "Eat joyfully, live lightly, and let others do the same."
Cheers to eating... whatever actually fits into your life!
Jai Shivay,
Prakriti
Awesome!