My mother is in poor health and is a vegetarian every day. Is this good?

I am a nutritionist. I think if your mother wants to be a vegetarian, she must eat a good vegetarian diet to increase her richness and ensure her health.

The biggest reason why vegetarian food is popular among modern people is that vegetarian food can be healthy. Perhaps people with religious beliefs are merciful to all beings and kill less. Health is everyone's pursuit. I hope to explore the causes of the disease from the perspective of Buddhism and Chinese medicine (at present, the author is still in the introductory stage of Buddhism and Chinese medicine). If people know the cause and effect, they don't have to be afraid of getting sick unless they are caused. For those who were sick in the past, we can restore their physical and mental health through Buddhist practice and TCM health preservation.

First, the so-called diseases in traditional Chinese medicine

Traditional Chinese medicine uses "harmony of yin and yang" to explain health. Relatively speaking, "yin and yang imbalance" is illness. The Yellow Emperor asked the ancient naive theory: "Those who know are in harmony with yin and yang, with technique, with diet and daily life, but not in vain, so they can be in harmony with God and die." After all, being born in heaven and earth, six evils (wind, cold, heat, □, dryness and heat) attack and cause diseases, and seven emotions (joy, anger, worry, thinking, sadness, fear and shock) hurt the internal organs. Irregular diet, overwork, trauma, phlegm and blood stasis and other situations may cause diseases. Modern people live in a polluted environment, work pressure is too high, and civilized diseases gradually appear. From the point of view of modern medicine, parasites, bacteria, virus infection, imbalance of immune system and endocrine system, and even pesticides and chemicals may cause pathological changes. Modern people can't talk about "health" as long as they don't get sick.

In addition, Chinese medicine calls the cause of disease "pathogenic factor". The lack of personal integrity, the invasion of foreign evils and the dispute between good and evil determine whether you are sick or not. Ancient anatomy was underdeveloped. I believe that some doctors at that time didn't know the location and size of internal organs until they had a pair of X-ray eyes, and they also knew the prevalence of pathogens in the body. Today, some qigong masters also have this ability.

Traditional Chinese medicine emphasizes "health preservation", "essence" and "strengthening the foundation", which is based on the concept of "sufficient vital qi and no invasion of external evils" Most people's so-called "health" is limited to "body" and "body" health.

Second, the so-called diseases in Buddhism

Buddhism believes that diseases are caused by karma. Everyone has karma, but it is called a disease only when it destroys the spirit, body or body. I believe that in the eyes of Buddha and Bodhisattva, ordinary people are physically and mentally ill. Some people eat diseases that are not good for both Chinese and western medicine, and they will not use drugs as soon as they learn Buddhism. This kind of miracle, which is generally unexplained, can be easily explained from the perspective of Buddhism causality. Cause and effect cannot be changed, but we can learn from the merits of Buddhism, pay off the debt of cause and effect, and finally eliminate this cause and effect, and the disease will be better. The damage of body organs is more difficult to recover, so Buddhism regards the body as "smelly skin" and the body is not "indestructible" after all.

Third, from the Buddhist point of view, eating meat kills life.

(1) Eating meat may cause diseases:

For example, liver cirrhosis, liver cancer, may be gluttony of pig liver or other organisms, resulting in mental cytopathy. Weak and sick, may be greedy for aquatic organisms such as fish and shrimp. , resulting in lack of healthy qi and evil spirits entering the body. Although eating meat is not killing, it is easy to accumulate into evil spirits (karma) on the spiritual level, from illness to afterlife, to incurable diseases or car accidents in this life.

(2) Diseases that may be caused by killing:

Usually have a headache for many years, if it is not a physiological phenomenon of head vascular disease or hypertension, it may be caused by too many killings. Some people kill chickens and ducks when they are young, and take headache medicine for a long time when they are old. Other serious causes and effects include stroke, chronic cancer, mental disorder, poor bone marrow regeneration, autoimmune diseases and so on. Serious diseases such as car accident, paraplegia, acute cancer and insanity. Usually it may be a problem in the past. No matter how serious the karma is, it may continue into the afterlife. Buddhism talks about "proper business", that is, less killing and avoiding planting karma.

The above diseases generally refer to chronic diseases. The mental level leads to the damage of body organ function. Although learning Buddhism and practicing can eliminate obstacles in the spiritual level, the body still needs medication time to recuperate and recover.

Fourth, bodhisattvas are afraid of cause, while all beings are afraid of fruit.

Chinese medicine or modern medicine has good treatment methods (such as qigong, acupuncture, Chinese medicine, western medicine, surgery, etc.). ) Simple diseases of qi and body. However, the treatment of spirit is still in the exploratory stage (such as schizophrenia, disorder, auditory hallucination, and recently there are cases of hypnosis to deal with fear). Mental problems make people fear, so they turn to shrines, spells, witchcraft, asking God for divination and psychic fortune telling. Sometimes it works, sometimes it doesn't, or it works for months and years, and then suddenly there is an accident, sudden death, or the problem reappears. Other religions have the ability to use "miracles" to solve problems and recruit believers, which are either effective or ineffective, but many people are fascinated by the incredible power. People who study Buddhism know that the problem may be karma, know how to repent themselves, know how to recite Buddhism, know how not to recreate new bad karma, know how to start from the five precepts and ten good deeds, and be greedy and suspicious. Although 100% is not effective, it is a real solution to the problem, not an escape. When people are in a hurry, they throw drugs around, find remedies, and ask the gods to be effective, but they don't know that the bigger result is yet to come.

Good doctors treat "not getting sick" and emphasize "the way of keeping in good health". Practitioners who know cause and effect are afraid of cause, so they emphasize "eliminating karma and cause and effect", always keep the heart of "compassion and happiness" and work hard inside. If a Buddhist can "adjust his body and mind", I believe there will be no serious illness, and even if what goes around comes around in the past exists, he can face it calmly. A man of practice is often ill, and it is also wrong to "pick on the karma of all beings", that is to say, he does not "seek Buddha from above" but only wants to "descend to earth". The more he crosses sentient beings, the greater his merits (? ) there is a deviation in mentality. If you want to show a sick face in practice, Ksitigarbha Bodhisattva must have a sick face. A good doctor is full of vital qi (so that he can understand health), and a true Buddhist practitioner should recover quickly and feel completely at ease even if he is sick occasionally.

5. The disease of all beings is the disease of Bodhisattva.

Vegetarianism can keep you healthy, and learning Buddhism can keep you healthy. I hope that those who are sick all the year round can come to learn Buddhism to gain great benefits from Buddhism. And I believe that the correct method of learning Buddhism can make you healthy, happy and Shu Tai physically and mentally, and deeply believe that Buddha and Bodhisattva are full of natural righteousness and all evils are invulnerable. The disease of all beings is the disease of bodhisattva.

As for the weakness of learning Buddhism, I think there is something wrong with the method, or the wrong mentality and insatiable greed. Ask the monk for knowledge of virtue or goodness, and adjust the practice method, because there is something wrong with your health. You still have to see a doctor to see a doctor. Never be superstitious. Only a "famous monk" can enlighten you, the Dharma meeting in a big temple can benefit you, and the well-connected guru can convert.

I hope that people who study Buddhism can understand the meaning of vegetarianism from causality, instead of clinging to the dogma that "learning Buddhism must be vegetarian". This is "the wise learn Buddha".

In recent years, with the increasing incidence of various "rich diseases" caused by overnutrition, vegetarianism has gradually become a fashion under the influence of wave after wave of slimming craze.

In view of the increasing number of vegetarians, how can we be a healthy vegetarian? A few days ago, we visited the experts of dietary nutrition and traditional Chinese medicine in Hangzhou Hospital of Traditional Chinese Medicine and asked them to give some guidance.

Vegetarianism is a university question.

At present, many citizens adopt absolute vegetarianism in order to prevent or treat diseases such as obesity, hyperlipidemia and fatty liver. They not only refused animal fat, but also removed all protein foods such as lean meat, fish and shrimp from the table. Long-term vegetarian diet, if you don't supplement enough protein food in time, will not only be harmful to your health, but also cause malnutrition or some vitamin deficiency.

There are three kinds of nutritional vegetarians in the world, namely vegan, dairy egg vegetarian and dairy vegetarian. From the perspective of "personal physique", adults with good health can be vegetarian. As long as you master the nutritional precautions of vegetarianism and become a vegetarian step by step, the effect will be satisfactory. If you must be a vegetarian, you'd better work closely with doctors and nutritionists to plan a vegetarian menu with comprehensive nutrition.

Different voices of vegetarianism and health

Vegetarian food is good for your health.

● Vegetarians absorb less oil and are not easy to cause arteriosclerosis. For the elderly, it can reduce the trouble of high blood pressure.

● Improve immunity and fight cancer. Vegetables and fruits are not only rich in vitamins and minerals, but also rich in fiber. These fruit and vegetable fibers can not only prevent constipation, but also reduce the damage of harmful substances in feces to the intestinal wall and prevent the occurrence of intestinal cancer.

● Can lose weight and reduce blood fat. Long-term low-fat and low-calorie diet can keep vegetarians from getting fat and keeping slim.

● Reduce the incidence of osteoporosis. Because vegetarians eat less in protein, they can reduce the loss of calcium, so they have higher bone density and are less prone to osteoporosis.

● Most vegetables and fruits are alkaline foods, and generally high-protein foods are acidic foods. In people's stomachs, foods such as meat, rice and wheat often produce acidic reactions after digestion, which requires vegetables and fruits to neutralize and maintain the acid-base balance in the body.

Vegetarian food is harmful to your health.

● Vegetarianism will affect children's development. Many families let their children follow vegetarianism because their parents are vegetarian, but for developing children, vegetarianism cannot provide enough nutrition for their growth, so it is best not to let them be vegetarian.

● It is easy to lack vitamin D; Vitamin D is difficult to get in food, especially there is almost no food containing vitamin D in vegetarian diet.

● Vegetarians are easy to retain calcium, but they are still deficient in calcium because they don't eat dairy products.

● Due to dietary restrictions, vegetarians are prone to lack essential nutrients such as iron, zinc and vitamin B2.

How to be a vegetarian scientifically to keep healthy?

Eat more fresh vegetables. If some vegetables are stored for a long time, vitamins and other nutrients in them will be greatly lacking. For example, after spinach is stored at room temperature of 20℃ for 24 hours, its loss of vitamin C will reach 84%.

Nutritional parts that should not be discarded. Like beans? Dishes, some people only eat the top when they eat? Throw away the beans. In fact, what is the proportion of vitamin C in beans? There are 2-3 times more children.

Stir-fry with strong fire. According to the determination, the loss of vitamin C in vegetables fried by fire is only 17%, and if they are braised after frying, the loss of vitamin C in vegetables is 59%. Therefore, stir-fry should use strong fire, so that the fried dishes are not only delicious in color, but also less in nutritional loss. Adding a little vinegar when cooking is also beneficial to the preservation of vitamins.

Eat stir-fry while it is hot. In order to save time, some people like to fry the dishes in advance, and then wait for everyone to eat together in the pot or eat them while they are hot next time. In fact, vitamin B 1 in vegetables will lose 25% in the process of heating up after frying.

Eat vegetables and soup. Many people do not like vegetable soup. In fact, most vitamins are dissolved in vegetable soup when cooking. Take vitamin c as an example. When Chinese cabbage is cooked, 70% of vitamin C will be dissolved in vegetable soup. Boil fresh peas in water for 3 minutes, and 50% vitamin C is dissolved in the soup. When washing and cutting vegetables, if the vegetables are cut and washed, a lot of vitamins will be lost to the water.

Meat dishes fried with vegetables absorb more oil. Some people don't eat fat in order to lose weight, but prefer to eat vegetables added to meat. The researchers found that water-rich vegetable cells are filled with air, while meat cells are filled with water, so vegetables are more likely to absorb oil, which is not conducive to losing weight after eating.

Vegetables of different colors have different nutritional values.

The darker the color of vegetables, the higher the nutritional value; Light color has low nutritional value. Among them, according to the order of green, yellow, red, purple and white, the nutritional value decreases in turn. And different colors of vegetables have different effects on health, so try to eat them together.

Green vegetables: mustard, spinach, etc. , rich in vitamin C, vitamin B 1, vitamin B2, carotene and various trace elements, has a certain therapeutic effect on hypertension and insomnia, and is beneficial to the liver.

Yellow vegetables: leeks, pumpkins, carrots, etc. , rich in vitamin E, can reduce skin spots, regulate gastrointestinal digestive function, and is beneficial to spleen, pancreas and other organs.

Red vegetables: tomatoes, red peppers, etc. , can increase appetite and stimulate the excitement of the nervous system.

Purple vegetables: there are purple eggplant, purple lentils and so on. It has the functions of regulating nerves and increasing adrenal gland secretion.

White vegetables: water bamboo, lotus root, bamboo shoots, white radish, etc. It can adjust vision and calm mood, which is beneficial to patients with hypertension and cardiomyopathy.

Nutrients that vegetarians should especially supplement.

● Vitamin B 12: It can make red blood cells, help growth and development, and maintain the normal function of the nervous system.

Food source: beer yeast, dairy products, vitamin B 12 fortified food.

● Vitamin D: It contributes to the absorption of calcium and the growth and development of bones and teeth.

Food sources: eggs, cheese, fortified foods containing vitamin D.

Special suggestion: sunbathing is the most effective way to get vitamin D.

● Iron: Helps oxygenated blood circulation.

Food source: nuts, tofu, pumpkin seeds.

● Calcium: strengthen bones and teeth, help muscle contraction and participate in coagulation reaction.

Food sources: milk and dairy products, soybean milk, tofu, dark green leafy vegetables.

● Zinc: The growth and development of muscles contributes to the normalization of human metabolism and male sexual function.

Food sources: almond fruit, soybean milk, tofu, unrefined whole grains.

Women should not be vegetarian for a long time in three periods.

It is worth noting that vegetarians will reduce women's estrogen levels. Because of its special physiological characteristics, women should not be vegetarian for a long time for at least three periods in their lives:

1. For girls in the stage of sexual maturity and development, long-term vegetarian diet will lead to low estrogen level, delay the development of secondary sexual characteristics, and hinder the development of women's breasts and gonads and the beauty of their bodies.

2. If women of childbearing age are vegetarian, the level of estrogen will decrease, which will lead to pregnancy disorder.

3. Due to ovarian atrophy, menopausal women have insufficient estrogen secretion or "end". If they are vegetarian for a long time, the symptoms of "menopausal syndrome" are more obvious.