Chinese Buddhism, Vegan, and Diabetes
The public healthcare and government-advocated diet, which is high-carb, low-fat with seed oil, are not the main sources of metabolic diseases like diabetes. Here in Taiwan, at which Chinese Buddhism is widely spread and advocates veganism to its people, things are just got complicated very, very much. My family is also influenced greatly by it, resulting in miserable and irretrievable sickness.
Because of my parents' Buddhist belief (my mom actually), my diet had been based hugely on starch and seed oil, though not vegan completely and meat was still allowed. However, my diet since kid was mainly composed by rice, noodle, rice porridge, vegetable cooked by soybean oil, flour and sucrose. For me, this kind of diet had lasted until 2021 when I was 35 years old, and my health got even worse when I was studying in Chinese Buddhism school (no meat at all) for about two and half years.
I was thin and tall since kid, for about 170 cm when graduated from elementary school at twelve; I also had near-sight problem and wore eyeglass since 8~9 years old. I think my insulin level was always extremely high since I was a kid: I had emotional instability, lack of focus and light mentality issue. All these metabolic symptoms were exploded into uncontrollable when I was fourteen years old.
When I was 14, I got serious social anxiety disorder: not feeling uncomfortable when talking to people, but had deteriorated ability to interact with people, resulting in unpleasant on both side. Actually, there are very subtle and delicate nuances when talking and socializing with people. A bit of eyebrow-raising, a swerve of head, etc, would make a huge difference in understanding and communication. I gradually lost the ability of observing and responding at people delicately, thus have experienced lots of pain in interpersonal interactions over the years since my junior high.
Then my mom died two years later when I was 16, in which my illness had resulted greatly; she knew that she must do something wrong so that I just looked weird and mentally ill, but she could not realize what the exact wrongness she did to me. Actually, she died in terrible situation and a painful process, and I could do nothing but take care of her as much as I can, and watched her die miserable and wretched.
At the same time, I could not study and graduate from my senior high school. Actually, I stayed and left school back and force repeatedly until I was 19 and could not graduate at the end, for that I was diagnosed type one diabetes; I was given Amaryl by doctor, which exhausted my pancreatic insulin secretion almost immediately, then the insulin analog (humalog and lantus) were prescribed. No any dietary advice was give, but seed oil and no red meat; no any starch was forbidden.
Chinese Buddhism again played a role, though negatively, in my disease treatment, of which mentality issues occupied mainly. As a religion with focusing on reducing human's mental suffering, I was attracted to it hoping my disease, no matter physically or mentally, could be healed by its religious regulation and diet restriction. However, it was not true; overall, my health and blood-sugar control were getting worse and worse, resulting in terrible situation in the 2021.
I was in great pain at that year: I felt insurmountable depression and intense suicidal ideation. I could not get up and feel spiritually in the morning, which had been for almost 15 years but got its peak in 2021. My situation was so bad that I almost tried to harm myself (but I didn't do it), hoping it would relieve my mental suffering. Nonetheless, suffering sometimes creates struggle and willingness to survive: I started to look for alternative information, treatment and papers from the internet, which knowledge are contradict to medical and doctors' advises completely, All these valuable perspectives and methods from Richard Bernstein, Gary Taubes, Nina Teicholz, Jason Fung, Eric Berg, and others have been my companions in managing my T1D to this day.
But all these treating methods contradict Chinese Buddhism, which insists on veganism—that is to say, its diet is mainly composed of high-carbohydrate foods and seed oils. I have begun eating meat—including beef (which is considered taboo even by non-Chinese Buddhists here in Taiwan), fish, lard, heavy cream and butter—since 2021, while reducing carbohydrates like rice, sugar, flour and processed foods as much as I can. Besides, I no longer attended any Chinese Buddhist festivals; gradually I got healthier and more stable on my blood sugar control.
There are three fields and ideologies that are difficult or impossible to change: politics, food, and religion. In a capitalist society like Taiwan, surrounded by profit-driven medical companies/hospitals, pharmaceutical manufacturers, and food industries, Chinese Buddhism only makes things even more complicated and incurable. It is not only a religion with strict dietary restrictions, but also exerts significant influence on politics through financial means and vote mobilization, just like a major power broker controlling both politics and diet simultaneously. Changing people's dietary habits is extremely difficult, and it becomes almost impossible when a religion gets involved.
There are more than 90 thousand people undergoing kidney dialysis in Taiwan (23 million in population), which means 3,500-3,800 people per million need dialysis in routine. It is just horrified, while public healthcare, government-advocated diet, food industries, drug companies and high-carb diet together result in this metabolic hell here in Taiwan.
It is not necessary to be a vegan to be a Chinese Buddhist; besides, there are other Buddhism traditions to follow in Taiwan or around the world, such as Theravāda Buddhism. There are always ways to walk around it when health is the top priority.
Because of my parents' Buddhist belief (my mom actually), my diet had been based hugely on starch and seed oil, though not vegan completely and meat was still allowed. However, my diet since kid was mainly composed by rice, noodle, rice porridge, vegetable cooked by soybean oil, flour and sucrose. For me, this kind of diet had lasted until 2021 when I was 35 years old, and my health got even worse when I was studying in Chinese Buddhism school (no meat at all) for about two and half years.
I was thin and tall since kid, for about 170 cm when graduated from elementary school at twelve; I also had near-sight problem and wore eyeglass since 8~9 years old. I think my insulin level was always extremely high since I was a kid: I had emotional instability, lack of focus and light mentality issue. All these metabolic symptoms were exploded into uncontrollable when I was fourteen years old.
When I was 14, I got serious social anxiety disorder: not feeling uncomfortable when talking to people, but had deteriorated ability to interact with people, resulting in unpleasant on both side. Actually, there are very subtle and delicate nuances when talking and socializing with people. A bit of eyebrow-raising, a swerve of head, etc, would make a huge difference in understanding and communication. I gradually lost the ability of observing and responding at people delicately, thus have experienced lots of pain in interpersonal interactions over the years since my junior high.
Then my mom died two years later when I was 16, in which my illness had resulted greatly; she knew that she must do something wrong so that I just looked weird and mentally ill, but she could not realize what the exact wrongness she did to me. Actually, she died in terrible situation and a painful process, and I could do nothing but take care of her as much as I can, and watched her die miserable and wretched.
At the same time, I could not study and graduate from my senior high school. Actually, I stayed and left school back and force repeatedly until I was 19 and could not graduate at the end, for that I was diagnosed type one diabetes; I was given Amaryl by doctor, which exhausted my pancreatic insulin secretion almost immediately, then the insulin analog (humalog and lantus) were prescribed. No any dietary advice was give, but seed oil and no red meat; no any starch was forbidden.
Chinese Buddhism again played a role, though negatively, in my disease treatment, of which mentality issues occupied mainly. As a religion with focusing on reducing human's mental suffering, I was attracted to it hoping my disease, no matter physically or mentally, could be healed by its religious regulation and diet restriction. However, it was not true; overall, my health and blood-sugar control were getting worse and worse, resulting in terrible situation in the 2021.
I was in great pain at that year: I felt insurmountable depression and intense suicidal ideation. I could not get up and feel spiritually in the morning, which had been for almost 15 years but got its peak in 2021. My situation was so bad that I almost tried to harm myself (but I didn't do it), hoping it would relieve my mental suffering. Nonetheless, suffering sometimes creates struggle and willingness to survive: I started to look for alternative information, treatment and papers from the internet, which knowledge are contradict to medical and doctors' advises completely, All these valuable perspectives and methods from Richard Bernstein, Gary Taubes, Nina Teicholz, Jason Fung, Eric Berg, and others have been my companions in managing my T1D to this day.
But all these treating methods contradict Chinese Buddhism, which insists on veganism—that is to say, its diet is mainly composed of high-carbohydrate foods and seed oils. I have begun eating meat—including beef (which is considered taboo even by non-Chinese Buddhists here in Taiwan), fish, lard, heavy cream and butter—since 2021, while reducing carbohydrates like rice, sugar, flour and processed foods as much as I can. Besides, I no longer attended any Chinese Buddhist festivals; gradually I got healthier and more stable on my blood sugar control.
There are three fields and ideologies that are difficult or impossible to change: politics, food, and religion. In a capitalist society like Taiwan, surrounded by profit-driven medical companies/hospitals, pharmaceutical manufacturers, and food industries, Chinese Buddhism only makes things even more complicated and incurable. It is not only a religion with strict dietary restrictions, but also exerts significant influence on politics through financial means and vote mobilization, just like a major power broker controlling both politics and diet simultaneously. Changing people's dietary habits is extremely difficult, and it becomes almost impossible when a religion gets involved.
There are more than 90 thousand people undergoing kidney dialysis in Taiwan (23 million in population), which means 3,500-3,800 people per million need dialysis in routine. It is just horrified, while public healthcare, government-advocated diet, food industries, drug companies and high-carb diet together result in this metabolic hell here in Taiwan.
It is not necessary to be a vegan to be a Chinese Buddhist; besides, there are other Buddhism traditions to follow in Taiwan or around the world, such as Theravāda Buddhism. There are always ways to walk around it when health is the top priority.
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https://www.blogger.com/profile/17529498359072421715
https://louisophie-essays.blogspot.com/
https://x.com/louisophie_/
https://github.com/louisophie/withinretreat
#socialissue,#healthcare,#diabetes,#dietary,#essay,#life,#religion
https://louisophie-essays.blogspot.com/
https://x.com/louisophie_/
https://github.com/louisophie/withinretreat
#socialissue,#healthcare,#diabetes,#dietary,#essay,#life,#religion
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