Features
Monday, 18 January 2010 02:01
Written by Hailey Meng

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Starving your way out of Samsara

As that age-old Chinese saying goes, “Being warm and well-fed makes you think about wanton lust.” Tut, tut, tut. Buddhism is all about renunciation of worldly desire, and Chinese monks traditionally believed that eating only two meals a day and fasting after 2pm was good for concentration and meditating – hence easier to get into the Zen – while stuffing your fat face was certainly no way to connect with the Great Buddha. (While we’re on the subject, we doubt Jesus would have approved of that second helping of yuletide log – although you are guaranteed He would have forgiven you.)

Roll on 2005, and an American doctor named Albston piped up with claims that the Chinese Monk Diet has a scientific basis. According to him people can easily lose weight by following their own ‘feed-fast cycle.’ If you stop eating after 2pm, so the theory goes, your body will produce more ‘thin hormones’ to help you lose weight. The diet was huge among – who else – Hollywood celebrities, and soon became popular in China too. Many young Chinese women are attracted to it because it is easy to follow and results are almost instantaneous: according to quack Albston, the monk diet can, on average, help you lose 4 to 6 kg in the first month, and 2 to 3 kg in the month after.

Read on for the thousand-year-old secret of the monks...

Breakfast: Normal breakfast with 1-2 extra cups of fruit.

Lunch: A full meal with 1-2 extra cups of fruits and vegetables

Note: Nothing after 2pm but water or black coffee/tea. If you’re really hungry, have one hardboiled egg or 2-3 diet crackers around 4-5pm. Drink 3 liters of water every day. Oh, and eat less red meat. And there we were thinking monks already denied themselves enough of life’s pleasures…

LINKS: Fat China - Special Report 
The 12 steps to the Chinese Diet
Wacko Chinese Celebrity Diets
Shedding the weight at the gym
Detoxing your liver

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