Following A Monastery Diet

If you watched the "60 Minutes" segment on Mount Athos, you will have noticed that the monks there ate only 2 meals a day, with each of them lasting 10 minutes.  You will have also noticed a lot of vegetables on their plates.  In fact, although the monks do occasionally eat freshly caught fish, they eat no meat, and not too much dairy.  They eat mainly a vegan diet, minus the tofu, seitan, and tempeh that we here on the mainland incorporate into our attempts at a plant-based diet.  They eat what they grow on their island, which appears to be various greens, squash, tomatoes, olives, lentils, nuts and fruit (more than likely peaches, figs, pomegranates, and apples).  They often eat bread and tea for breakfast, have an occasional pasta, and a glass or so of red wine.

10-minute meals are fine if there is no table talk.  On Mount Athos, one monk reads from the sacred books while all the others are silent.  As far as the 2 meals a day, I am not particularly opposed to the idea, but believe that our children and those who work 9 to 5 jobs need to eat more often than that.  

What does such a diet do for a person health-wise?  For the monks on Mount Athos, a lot!  They apparently do not suffer from heart disease, Parkinson's or Alzheimer's, and the only cancer recorded there is the rare case of prostate cancer.   Their diet, however, is not the only reason for their good health.  The monks work all day between church services, i.e. they lead a very active life.  There are no T.V.'s on Mount Athos, thus no couch potatoes.  The monks also pray 24/7 and, therefore, do not experience the stress we do with all of our deadlines, traffic jams, and social obligations.  If you want to really reap the benefits of a Mount Athos diet, besides giving up meat, butter, and dairy foods (except I am willing to bet freshly made yogurt and goat cheese), you must also throw out your television sets, do manual labor or exercise regularly, and shuck all social responsibilities (except, of course, local church-related ones).  In other words, you would have to pretty much live like a monk.   I am not saying that there are no health benefits to their diet alone.  There certainly are.  But it would help if we could also strive to remove the daily stress from our lives, spend time in prayer or meditation, and keep physically active.   

The photo (above) is not from Mount Athos, but from the dining hall of the Holy Myrrhbearers Monastery in New York.  The nuns there also do not eat meat, but because they raise goats and chickens, they do eat goat cheese and yogurt and drink goat's milk (on non-fasting days), as well as incorporating an occasional egg into their diet.   As I said in my last post, life there also leaves even one who is merely passing through with a peace that passes understanding.  Shucking off the stress of modern life does one good.   And the all natural, home-grown, vegetarian diet doesn't hurt either. 

Well, I hope you are all having a blessed Bright Week.  Until next time, happy and healthy eating!

.