Disqus - Latest Comments for simplysutton

Re: Why Are There So Many Black Buddhists?

simplysutton — Sat, 28 Nov 2020 07:24:30 -0000

It is truly distressing to see the stereotyping, prejudices, and dismissals in these comments by other Buddhists. This is exactly what POC are picking up on unspoken in any white spaces that they visit. That Buddhists would speak to each other in this manner is heartbreaking.

Re: I Tried the “Buddhist Monk” Diet—And It Worked

simplysutton — Mon, 23 Oct 2017 09:21:27 -0000

The registry of which you speak is a completely self-selected sample with all the sampling biases to which those sorts of "studies" are subject. There's no control group, no random assignment, no uniformity of measurement, no nothin' that goes with science.

And I repeat: Obesity is a risk factor. Not a cause. "Mindfulness" does not have a goal in mind like weight loss. As soon as you do that, it's not mindfulness any more.

Re: Lovingkindness, for the living and the dead

simplysutton — Mon, 23 Oct 2017 09:17:27 -0000

i started a metta practice a few months, maybe more, before we learned that my husband had metastatic lung cancer. Of course, all those months he was second in my metta after myself, before everyone and everything else. After he died, for a long time I slotted in his surviving family and friends in his spot. But I have been thinking lately about whether it is appropriate to pray for the dead in Buddhism, Googled it, and found this. I am curious what Sharon teaches. I realize this is an old post and possibly no one is even monitoring this page any more, but I figured it couldn't hurt to ask.

Re: I Tried the “Buddhist Monk” Diet—And It Worked

simplysutton — Tue, 26 Sep 2017 14:22:40 -0000

Alas, this is both bad Buddhism and bad science.

#1. If it was not intended by the Buddha to be a spiritual practice, why are we discussing it here in a spiritual magazine at all? It is apparently the moral equivalent of telling people not to shop at night, so that grocers can go home to their families and we will be safe from grocery-store parking-lot muggers. Maybe we should be discussing that.

#2. The New York Times apparently forgot to mention the vast amount of data showing that (a) weight loss diets do not work in that people neither lose much weight nor can they keep it off. Indeed, the vast majority of dieters end up gaining more weight back! (b) there is zero evidence to support the idea that an always-fat person can achieve the health results of an always-thin person by losing weight, (c) there is some evidence that diets trigger eating disorders, (d) there is some evidence that yo-yo dieting is worse for your health than being fat (and, indeed, may--along with the known health effects of stigma and discrimination--account for some of the data cited to claim that fat people are less healthy), (e) death rates are actually higher for underweight BMI ranges than in overweight BMI ranges, with death rates increasing for both thin and fat people at the extremes. Some extra fat is actually protective! and (f) there is an emerging, robust body of evidence that it is changing habits that improves health, independent of weight.

Moreover, your body is designed by over 15 million years of evolution to run about 4 hours without refueling, 8 if at rest. Going from noon until the next morning without eating is pushing the design envelope towards systems failure. This would be particularly true for someone with issues around sugar metabolism. As Bryan points out up-thread, it could kill you.

And finally, from a clinical standpoint, anorexics get high on the "self-discipline" of self-starvation, too: This does not make it a good thing.

This "diet"--which, as the author notes, is not even a diet as originally expounded by the Buddha--would seem to me to be the opposite of mindful eating which, again, we are pre-programmed by over 15 million years of evolution to know how to do. I observe sila by not indulging in "fun" foods after noon, being mindful of neither over- nor under-eating, and taking special care to be mindful (appreciative) of and grateful for the food on my table. I try to remember to prepare and consume it with awareness of and reverence for all beings that helped bring it to my table. That, to me, would seem to be the Buddhist way.

And there is an emerging body of evidence to show that's good for my mental and physical health, whereas dieting is often not (producing, for example, full-blown depressive episodes).

If you eat mindfully, it is highly likely that you will naturally eat the most in the mornings (they don't call it "break" ing the "fast" for nothing). Beyond that, you can't make a decision like this based on an article in the mainstream media. In the first place, if this was not an experiment but an observational study, there are all kinds of variables that could be influencing the results here that are completely uncontrolled. What was the health status of these people? We only have their weight, based on this article. Is there some sort of self-selecting process going on as to who eats this way and who doesn't (e.g., rich people who live in clean, low-crime communities, have access to good food and good medical care--because data shows that the single most powerful predictor of health status is zip code), creating a huge sampling error? There are other variables besides when you eat that contribute to weight: Stress, lack of sleep, endocrine disrupters in the food supply and in the environment, medications, certain diseases, genetic inheritance. . . some of those people might have different eating patterns &/or weigh more as a result of those things. Were the differences between groups clinically significant, or just statistically significant? If the average group differences were only a matter of a few pounds, then who cares? Were the samples representative of the population you wish to extrapolate to? Were they of your race, for example? Your age and gender represented? Is their weight any different now than it was before they started eating this way? And that's just off the top of my head.

In short, correlation does not prove causation. Ever. And main-stream media is notorious for not only confounding the two but for over-extrapolating from study results.

As Buddhists, of all people, we should be critical thinkers. "What is that? And how did it get here?" as the Zen koan asks. You can ask that question for decades. Unenlightened humans tend to think they already know the answer, jump to conclusions and hasty actions, and do not look further. We, by virtue of our hours upon hours on the mat, can do better.

Re: Trump to hold campaign rally in Iowa next Wednesday

simplysutton — Wed, 24 May 2017 21:28:52 -0000

I thought he was exhausted.

Re: Cheating in Online Classes Is Now Big Business

simplysutton — Fri, 06 Nov 2015 15:50:40 -0000

It also hurts everybody downstream -- customers, patients, consumers. I am convinced it is precisely the cheaters who go on to injure and even kill people by prescribing the wrong medication, building bridges that won't stand, etc. If you would cheat your professor, why would you not cheat your neighbor? Besides which, they're all out there in the professions ignorant as the day they were born. They can't help but hurt people.

Re: How Many College Students Are Going Hungry?

simplysutton — Tue, 03 Nov 2015 12:04:22 -0000

I teach a 12:30 class two days a week and students are constantly falling asleep in there. I had put it down to my own dullness and the stuffiness of the room until it occurred to me to ask last week who'd eaten breakfast. Not one single hand went up. I asked who'd eaten lunch: Three hands went up. That's 36 kids who'd had no breakfast, 33 who'd had no lunch. No wonder they're struggling!

And now I understand that anywhere from 15% to 60% may be doing so because they have no choice, not because they are "too busy," the reason most often given at the time.

I'm actually considering carrying in finger foods.

Re: Students Who Feel Emotionally Unprepared for College Struggle in the Classroom

simplysutton — Mon, 12 Oct 2015 20:47:05 -0000

It's not a study. It's a Harris poll. So there's no original article to read.

Re: Salad Sandwiches

simplysutton — Thu, 20 Aug 2015 21:34:16 -0000

This looks fabulous!

Re: How to set up parental controls on Android phones and tablets

simplysutton — Thu, 02 Oct 2014 07:04:42 -0000

The Play Store! Of course! Why didn't I think of that?? Thank you so much! I'll head over there now. That app sounds like just the ticket.

Re: How to set up parental controls on Android phones and tablets

simplysutton — Wed, 01 Oct 2014 11:29:47 -0000

Sorry -- I'd Googled the HTC1 and was kind of assuming, in a sleep-deprivation-induced stupor. . . he has an old HTC1.

He can't buy anything on it. I'm more worried about him aggravating people at weird hours of the morning and dialing Hong Kong. Or 911 (he gets paranoid).

But I still want him to be able to call his friends and of course take calls: I figure if he's bothering them they're big boys and can let his calls go to voice mail or even block him if they need to. But late last Saturday night he called his ENT's after-hours service to tell them he wasn't going to die after all and that they would still have a patient and wasn't that wonderful?

Re: How to set up parental controls on Android phones and tablets

simplysutton — Mon, 29 Sep 2014 19:28:04 -0000

What I actually need is a little different. My husband is fading fast mentally and I need to be able to do things like have the phone shut down after 9 p.m., for example, restrict long-distance calling, that kind of thing. Is that doable on his phone?

Re: Cripples, Bastards, and Broken Things: Disability in Game of Thrones

simplysutton — Wed, 11 Jun 2014 12:22:43 -0000

I saw that, too. But I think that's British usage, to equate the dissertation topic with the subject of the doctorate.

Re: Cripples, Bastards, and Broken Things: Disability in Game of Thrones

simplysutton — Wed, 11 Jun 2014 12:21:53 -0000

While we're at it, let's don't conflate the books with the show. They are not the same. Hodor, for example, is not played for laughs in the book. There are other people with the same extrasensory (for lack of a better word) skills as Bran in the book -- some able-bodied, some evil: Jon can do it, for one. And in the books, it is clearly the brown people getting the white queen her throne back. That she attempts to interfere with their ways, and with other cultures in her path does not reflect their need, but rather the tendencies of white people everywhere -- in the books. Martin does not have complete control over what the show ultimately does with his characters or story.

Re: Seven NY McDonald’s to Pay Thousands in Wage Theft Settlement

simplysutton — Mon, 24 Mar 2014 12:07:14 -0000

This happened to me on an internship at a hospital a gazillion years ago -- I had no idea at the time that it was illegal.

Re: Beginner’s Tip: Get Closer

simplysutton — Sun, 16 Mar 2014 09:12:36 -0000

This made me smile.

Re: Soldier Devestated to Find Dog Given Away During Deployment - ABC News

simplysutton — Fri, 02 Aug 2013 17:24:19 -0000

I suspect Jake is right -- but I sure hope not.

Re: Possible Pics of Family George Zimmerman "Saved"

simplysutton — Sat, 27 Jul 2013 15:55:15 -0000

I agree, this story didn't pass the sniff test from the git-go. But NewsBall hardly seems a credible source.

Re: Business - Ellen Ruppel Shell - In Praise of Downtime - The Atlantic

simplysutton — Sat, 30 Jun 2012 12:57:32 -0000

The bigger scam is that by promoting overwork, employers are getting something for nothing. You are essentially donating anything over 40 hours to the corporation/institution/agency you work for. Suckah!!

Re: Russian Debate About Rights of the Disabled

simplysutton — Tue, 09 Feb 2010 21:04:28 -0000

"Saving bad babies" leads to an economic burden on society. I have had this conversation in the kitchen at my own workplace. Don't need to go to Russia for that sh*t.

Re: Evil Fatties

simplysutton — Tue, 04 Aug 2009 18:07:41 -0000

I hate how the Healthcare Debate (tm) so often turns into a blame game about which group of people are the cause for outrageous healtcare expenses. It's the fatties, it's the smokers, it's the illegal immigrants, it's the elderly, etc.

Funny you should mention that. A discussion at lunch at work yesterday degenerated into just that level of discourse, and I stayed pissed about it for hours. A coworker mentioned every one of the above-listed, and also threw in "bad babies" that "we save so they can go on to be severely disabled" and "people who don't take care of themselves" in which class she included "noncompliant" patients.

I'm sitting there with my non-compliant size 14 butt and my obvious ex-bad-baby physical disability--assistive device and all--wondering, "WTF am I? Chopped liver?"

Apparently.

I vote we tax bad attitude.

Re: Evil Fatties

simplysutton — Tue, 04 Aug 2009 18:01:43 -0000

And "bad babies" as one of my coworkers recently said. And disabled people. And anybody who "doesn't take care of themselves" and/or isn't "compliant" with what their doctors tell them to do. All these people should not get treatment. Because they either survive/grow up to become disabled, or they "go into expensive end-of-life care."

I am a Bad Baby, saved, as she put it, so I could become a disabled adult drain on her upper-class white pockets, and I'm not compliant. I won't take five different drugs prescribed for me because they are either unnecessary (there are non-drug ways to accomplish the same thing), dangerous (compared to the potential benefit) or both.

So I'm sitting there with my obvious physical disability and my big butt, while she rants, wondering, "So what am I? chopped liver?"

What's amazing to me is how widespread this ass-hattery is.

Re: Explanation of Benefits

simplysutton — Fri, 03 Jul 2009 21:43:42 -0000

The most awful one I ever saw was for my hysterectomy. My Gyn was worried about cancer and wanted her partner to assist. The insurance company paid $150 for the 2nd surgeon--this is for an MD with internships and residencies and board certs out the yazoo to travel from her office to the hospital, scrub, do a 3-hour surgery, and travel back to the office. Less than $50 per hour. The system sucks.

Re: I Am Ms. Unremarkable Fatty

simplysutton — Tue, 23 Jun 2009 19:28:36 -0000

Here's what skeeves me: Besides all the stuff above, the ninny knows nothing about marriage, and she's going to tell us all how it should be done.