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Hari Om, dear friends. We will now begin a series of lectures on various topics connected to yoga and yoga in daily life. I hope it will also be a pleasure for those joining us via webcast through the Internet. Today’s topic is nourishment, and especially vegetarian nourishment. Let us approach it in a scientific way. In nourishment and how we obtain our food, there are two dimensions to consider. One is the dimension of quantity; the other is quality. If we are aware of these things, we can organize our nourishment much better. Quantity refers to how much we eat, and this covers the so-called macronutrients: carbohydrates, proteins, and fats. They give us the main pillars for our constitution, our body. We need these in a large amount. Then there is the quality dimension, which involves micronutrients. As you know, these are minerals, vitamins, enzymes, and so-called flavonoids, which are certain special chemical elements. Our health depends on these two pillars. When they are balanced, we also have balanced health. In the Western world, where we live in this civilization, the main problem is mostly in the quantity dimension. We know that it is not a lack of things, but even the opposite—we have too much of certain things. Do you know the main causes of death in Western civilizations? There are some typical things: heart and brain infarct (connected with high blood pressure), cancer, and diabetes. These are actually the main causes of death in our society. But we could avoid them quite easily, because all these risk factors depend on food and nourishment. In groups where people live according to slightly different dietary habits, we can easily compare a normal Western-type diet to theirs. Have you heard about the South Japanese group of people called the Okinawans? Okinawa is an island in the south of Japan. People from there are called Okinawans. It is South Japan, so they have good rain, good weather, and good sunshine. They have constantly good nourishment from plants and vegetables. Why are we interested in this group? Because they have the highest percentage of people who live above 100 years; they are called centenarians. For 30–35 years, groups of scientists have been researching this phenomenon: how is it possible? Searching for many causes of their health, they finally found one main factor: their nourishment and food. They are not completely vegetarian, but are a kind of semi-vegetarian group, or we can call them health-conscious people in how they eat. They have a special style of cooking. They always have fresh, varied vegetables. They fry them in very little oil in a wok, and then put plenty of tofu on top. We should not be afraid of tofu, despite some articles on the internet saying it is not healthy. Perhaps it is the opinion of people who do not like tofu. They eat plenty of tofu and fresh vegetables, cooked with very little oil. Another thing is that they never eat until they are completely full. It is somehow in their culture to eat only 75–80% of their stomach’s capacity. I must mention in brackets that they also eat meat. I told you they are not completely vegetarian. Their most precious meat is even pig. But to continue, those people who live over 100 never eat pig. In general, they eat a little fish, one portion every two or three days. That is the maximum meat for them. So they are not vegetarians, but their lifestyle, and especially their eating style, gives good insight into how we should organize our diet. There were questions about whether their genes are better, or their environment is healthier with less stress. But all these things were researched quite thoroughly, and one main factor remained: their food and diet makes the difference. So, from the Okinawans we can learn: do not eat until completely full; eat fresh vegetables with very little oil and some tofu. This is the main thing. Similarly, there was another group with similar ideas, living in Southern California, America. It is a religious group researched over decades—30, 40, 50 years. They are also famous for their length of life. They are the Seventh-day Adventists, a special religious group with a puritan lifestyle. They are actually lacto-vegetarians, or many of them are. Not the whole society, but most of them. Their length of life is four years longer than that of other inhabitants in that area of California. They are puritan; they do not eat special hamburgers or such things, but really fresh fruits, vegetables, some grains, and, as lacto-vegetarians, some dairy and eggs. These groups show that the quantity of food really determines how we can live, the quality of life, and also the length of life. The three macronutrients I mentioned are the main substances of this quantity dimension. Carbohydrates, fats, and proteins build up our constitution and also give the daily source of energy for our life and activity. Considering the lifestyle and diet of these groups—Okinawans and Adventists—it is really not good to be overloaded with these sources of energy: fats, proteins, and carbohydrates. It is visible that they shorten our life. The other problem is that these two dimensions, quantity and quality—macronutrients and micronutrients—are always together; we can only separate them theoretically. When the quantity dimension is too high, then necessarily the quality dimension is somehow lowered and not so balanced. When we prioritize quantity, eating too much fat, carbohydrates, and protein, we bring that into the system. Then we do not have the focus or awareness to take care of the things needed in small amounts, which we should also bring inside. Somehow, when we eat too much fat and carbohydrates, the vitamins, minerals, and enzymes we bring inside are less. Rarely can it happen that we consume too much of different micronutrients, which can cause problems like a kind of poisoning. But the main problem is when we lack certain vitamins and minerals. Actually, it is very easy to avoid this state. We can lower the risk factor for many illnesses with this. Scientifically, research has found a connection with cancer. They found that people eating three to five portions of vegetables per day have a much lower risk for cancer. One factor is the fiber we take in, but also all the other quality dimension elements: minerals, vitamins, enzymes, and chemicals from plants. So if we eat three, four, five times a day a portion of raw vegetable or fruit, it is really good for the prevention of any health problem. What does one portion mean? It is not measured too precisely. One portion is one tomato, one bell pepper, one peach, one orange, one banana—approximately one piece. So if you eat three to five portions of different vegetables or fruits a day, it is really insurance for health care. We are already on the topic of Falahārī, actually. Swāmījī talked about this Falahārī diet a lot, and we know about it practically. Some of you also practice it or have the diet accordingly. From outside it is also visible: people on the Falahārī diet sleep nicely, slowly lose weight, and have a much better figure and energy. We knew this, but I found some scientific articles about this topic. They did not call it Falahārī, but it was essentially a Falahārī diet: low quantity and high quality nourishment. The research was done in the US. There were two groups of participants. One group was researched for heart problems and heart diseases; the other for brain functions. The heart group contained people over 40 or 45, with some over 60 when they started this diet. It was a longitudinal study lasting many years—six years on such a diet is significant. This "Falahārī" meant they were told not to eat so much, reducing energy intake to 75–80% of the average American diet, removing about 20–25%. They were also told to consume a diet with a lot of vegetables and such things—the quality dimension. They did it for years, and their heart functions were measured via electrocardiogram, C-protein, and other enzymes—good methods to measure heart condition. After six years, surprisingly, they found really interesting results. The health condition of their heart was similar to that of people fifteen years younger. They compared their condition to certain age groups and found it much better than the usual average. Practically, for us, if you start Falahārī now, after six years you are fifteen years younger in heart health. It is so simple. One doctor in this research group said that these people on the diet definitely will not die from heart problems, high blood pressure, or infarct. One main cause of death is over for them. The other group was on the same diet: less intake of fat, carbohydrates, and proteins (less energy), and high-quality fruits and vegetables. In this research, the focus was on the brain, especially on dementia. Dementia is when you become more and more mentally diminished, losing brain function with age, certain accidents, food habits, alcohol, and lifestyle. Smoking, alcohol, too much fat, etc., are risk factors for dementia. This was also a longitudinal study. People consumed less energy and had high-quality food. The average study period was three years. After three years, they compared groups with different diets. The result was also quite clear: this type of diet is very good and healthy. The doctors concluded that people in this research on the special diet will not die from dementia; they have a very low, even no, risk factor for losing brain capacity. So the same diet has an effect on the brain, the heart, and also the pancreas and blood sugar. We are back at the point where we started: these main factors for death in our civilization—if we have a consciously built diet, it seems we cannot die from these things. Of course, we can have a car accident, but these health problems lower the quality of life. So, a vegetarian diet with little energy and high quality is something we have in our hands to maintain our health. These are the main things I wanted to talk about. One thing that was really interesting for me was the so-called China Project. It is actually a book you can buy, containing the results of a huge study made in China. They started it at the beginning of the 80s, 30 years ago, and researched for 20 years. It was a huge study covering the whole country, though not every Chinese person. The interesting thing is that this study started before the Westernization of diet. It is possible to compare results: how they ate before the Western style of life, and how they eat now. Today’s diet is more and more like the general Western diet—not our vegetarian diet—including too much fat, too much meat, too much energy intake, and too much food from refined sources: fine flour, white sugar, lots of salt, etc. People consuming this Western style of diet got all these "presents" we already have in Western societies: risk for heart disease, brain problems, cancer, diabetes. It is really so simple: eat this diet, and your life will be shorter with lower quality. So, we know a lot about quality and quantity dimensions now. Maybe one more advice, especially for parents but also for all of us, is how to make your child clever and wise with the help of nourishment. I do not know how it is in other countries, but in Hungary there is a law that in baby foods—small jars with carrots, pumpkin, etc.—they cannot use certain additives (the "E" numbers). After a certain age, they can use them. But it seems it is not really for our health. I read about this topic, and there are controversial opinions. Some say these additives do not affect health; others are very much against them. For me, the persuasive thing was one study, a huge study in New York over four years: 1979, 1980, 1981, 1982. During these four years, in all New York public schools, they introduced a special idea in their diet. In all school cafeterias and buffets, they could not give children things containing certain main additives. The first year, they left out color additives. The second year, colors and preservatives. The third year, they did not change anything. The fourth year, they left out another group of additives. What was the result? They measured students' effectiveness in schools, marks, and entrance levels into high schools or colleges. All improved. The third year, it was the same as before. The previous year and the fourth year were again better. I do not know why they did not establish something like this permanently, because they stopped the project. They say that since that time, this is the highest result of improvement in studies in the whole U.S. history of education. Over these years, more than one million students took part. We have to add that at home they could still eat additives. It was not about vegetarianism, but simply about not putting poison in the food. So if it is not ecological or bio food, at least have no additives, or as little as possible. I just remember one thing: in an average lifespan, we eat 4 kilograms of these additives. Every day, about 150 milligrams. It means our poor liver is fighting with poison. So, okay, one more thing for parents on how to improve a child's IQ a little bit more: do not give them rubbish food—no junk food, no additives. And give them mother’s milk when they are small. There was a comparison of children who were breastfed and those who were not. This is how to build up not just the body, but also the intellect. Slowly we are finishing. I hope I could give you some new insight into this topic, especially with these dimensions, because we can understand these things much better. We will continue our webcast also in the afternoon at half past five. Thank you for your attention. Adios.