best way to lose weight? 44.2,3,4-35

[philish]

Okay. Anyone want to help me with this one, coz s and m is definitely out as a weight loss plan.

 

[fkegan]

Okay. Anyone want to help me with this one, coz s and m is definitely out as a weight loss plan.

Hi Philish,
Hex 44>>hex 35 is a great Oracle for weight loss. However, Hex44.2,3,4 >>Hex 20

Let me go with hex44.2,3,5 >> hex35 since Lady Luck >> Rising Sun works better than Lady Luck >> Models.

The major feature of hex 44 is that there is a meeting of two totally different realities; one with all the Yang power and the other with just enough Yin to totally stymie all that Yang.
Hex 35 is about the process of using your energies to assemble lots of friends to serve the ruler. This can be done through the metaphor of the rising sun that uses its light to turn the dark into all the brightly lit things on Earth that form our world (cf. hymn made famous as pop song, Morning Has Broken). It can also be seen through the metaphor of the prince who rallies his fellows to serve together and make a great army for the King.

Overall, therefore this oracle would suggest the best way for losing weight would be to turn the solitary fight against all the temptations and darkness into a co-operative gathering of friends (either other people or interests inside you) serving a greater good.

Hex 44 line 2 would in diet terms suggest there is food in the frig or pantry, not good to invite over guests as social overeating is very tough.

Line 3 as diet issue would suggest exercise is tough and thighs are a painful issue. Recognize the problems raised, don't overreact.

Line 4 may or may not be part of your oracle, so that suggests it is somehow emphasized. Either you feel hungry or your frig doesn't have what you want and focusing upon what you don't have to eat that you really like can be a problem.

Line 5 may or may not be part of your oracle, so it is also in focus, especially in contrast to line 4 which is the alternative. Here a melon is offered magically and it does the trick.

Hope this is of some help. In general I prefer to just interpret hexagrams from their lines without concern with the question, but this one seems better as an ideal diet oracle.

Frank

 

[tigerintheboat]

Pee Wee Herman

The whole thing reminds me of a Pee Wee Herman line. When someone would say that the they loved something, Pee Wee would reply: "If you love it so much, why don't you marry it?"

I wonder if you are progressing (H35) or Contemplating (H20) and there are many alluring diet plans out there (the moving lines) , and you shouldn't marry them!

In response to a question of mine, Ginnie said:

"I once read in a book of health "secrets" that the only consistently proven method of losing weight is for a person to write down every single thing that he or she puts into the mouth, without exception, and that includes glasses of water, cough drops, and every little thing we might think is insignificant. "

Tiger

 

[philish]

Ah!

Yes --wrote it down wrong, but I did get 44.2,3,5>35. Glad you caught the mistake.

PeeWee Herman! Oh, yeah. I LOVE food so much I WOULD marry it. Which is the problem.

Frank-- :bows: This was really helpful.

line 2: I don't have many truly social occasions with food, but I often eat in front of the computer or while reading. So I'm focusing on the interaction there instead of what/how much I'm eating. A classic set-up for over-eating.

line 3: yep. Thighs are the problem zone. Painfully so.

line 5: More fresh fruit! Maybe the implication here is a double benefit--more fruit allows my body to refresh/rehydrate itself; it's not heavy and eating lighter foods would relieve my body's digestive functions to focus on other activities --like dumping toxins/fat/junk. Perhaps the melons here are also the gift of hidden health waiting to be revealed. Hm?

(line 4 possibility) prepare more healthy food in advance (like cut up melon) so it's easily available when I get the munchies.

 

[fkegan]

Hi Philish,
Glad to help. Looked like an Oracle answer where the context of the question was important. And the mythical line 4 also seems important. In general, there are no mistakes in divination, just extra insights that hitchhike upon the 'official' oracle.

There are opportunities in dieting with having portion controlled proper snacks prepared, ideally so that they remind you if this is the 2nd or 12th snack you grabbed.

Hi tigerintheboat,

I realize P.W. Herman is the man's man as it were, but his comedy routines don't generally play well outside his playhouse crowd. My daughter outgrew him about age 10.

Those of us who struggle with succeeding at too many diets and still not winning the war tend to lose patience with such remarks. Yes, journaling is part of the medical, thermodynamic or diet police system. And if done with total rigor and a set of scales and measures it works fine, until the human will to freedom rebels...

The other traditional technique, as one famous celebrity chronicler put it at DFC, "they just don't eat" those in the public eye just give up that area of their life as part of private life no longer compatible with their public life.

However, dealing with such chronic issues in a way that works longer than the immediate fad or jibe requires more thought and co-operation internally and hopefully with others as well...

Frank

 

[willowfox]

Hex 44.2,3,5 > 35

It could well indicate a strict diet of fish, vegetables and fruit. Walking, or jogging.

 

[tigerintheboat]

I Ching as Diet Manual

line 2: I don't have many truly social occasions with food, but I often eat in front of the computer or while reading. So I'm focusing on the interaction there instead of what/how much I'm eating. A classic set-up for over-eating.

line 3: yep. Thighs are the problem zone. Painfully so.

line 5: More fresh fruit! Maybe the implication here is a double benefit--more fruit allows my body to refresh/rehydrate itself; it's not heavy and eating lighter foods would relieve my body's digestive functions to focus on other activities --like dumping toxins/fat/junk. Perhaps the melons here are also the gift of hidden health waiting to be revealed. Hm?

(line 4 possibility) prepare more healthy food in advance (like cut up melon) so it's easily available when I get the munchies.

Philish,

I really doubt that the Yi is trying to be literal here, suggesting more fruit and fish, and to look for magic melons. Not that there is anything wrong with fruit and fish...

I continue to feel that this reading is about the lure and temptation of methods of exercise and weight loss and that it is not specific advice, which can't exist in the readings, but that it is about the whole process and way we are attracted by food and the satisfactions we get from food, aside from the necessary nourishment.

Because if we only ate what we need to survive and/or thrive, the the temptation of the powerful and alluring force, which is what H44 is about, would not play a role. Food has become that powerful force, a chemistry not unlike the temptation of sexual attraction. According to Balkin, H44 is about encounters between opposite elements that are temporary but potentially fruitful.

When we meet an attractive person to us, we could simply enjoy the energy and the exchange. It is a temporary exchange of energy and we can gain from it. If we then want to possess that energy, and keep it, we are in danger. Of course, not every encounter is of this kind.

So, I think, with food. Do we need to possess every bit of food that we see as attractive? The lines in the hexagram explain how to deal with temptations and inferior elements.

Balkin says Line 2 is about keeping inferior elements at bay, and keeping a lid on corrupting elements in a situation, including negative thinking.

On Line 3, this is about the temptation of you getting involved in things that are not appropriate for you, that will hurt and damage your body.

Line 5 is about the potential gift from the gods, brought to you carefully wrapped, dropped, as it were, like fruit from a tree. Balkin suggest that you do the groundwork, doing what you can, to be ready when the fruit does drop. I don't want to go off into diet advice (I am way overweight and struggle with all the issues mentioned herein) but I have one magic melon to mention, just in case I am the one supposed to drop it from the tree. Try a small dose of 5-HTP, as a way of feeling happier and having less desire for food. Available everywhere and inexpensive.

You are viewing, contemplating, taking an overview (H20). Look for negative stuff to remove (Line 2), things inappropriate for you (Line 3) and gifts from the gods such as pleasing ways to exercise or herbs and vitamins to help manage your situation (Line 5)

Tiger

 

[willowfox]

I really doubt that the Yi is trying to be literal here, suggesting more fruit and fish,
and that it is not specific advice, which can't exist in the readings,

Perhaps its strange to the casual observer but the IC can be incredibly literal at times, therefore sometimes trying to figure out the secret meanings of the lines is a waste of effort because the IC is throwing a literal answer right at you.

But anyway the IC will give you very precise advice when you ask, the secret lies in how to find it without going off on a philosophic journey into no man's land.

Therefore, I would certainly consider the statement made by the other poster to be inaccurate.

 

[fkegan]

Hi WF and TinB,

Always an interesting question: how much to take metaphorically and how much literally. Personally, fish in a tank reminds me of reading about the live goldfish eating craze in the colleges in the 1920's though seared Ahi or even sashimi are great diet foods.

The argument over how literal to be with hex 44 and its lines involves both the hexagram judgment and the line judgments. The notion of hex44 involving male/female attraction is itself a literal reference. Structurally, it is simply 5 Yang lines with an open Yin line place at the roots, thus the process of moving toward the Next disconnected from any focus upon where this situation arose from. Which could just as well be advice to look to your goals and ignore any of the roots or past issues involved.

Frank

 

[kitty]

I continue to feel that this reading is about the lure and temptation of methods of exercise and weight loss and that it is not specific advice, which can't exist in the readings, but that it is about the whole process and way we are attracted by food and the satisfactions we get from food, aside from the necessary nourishment.

In other words, mindful eating.

Ol' sage Pee Wee may have been on to something there. If I love apple pie so much that I eat the entire thing -- a la mode, of course -- while sitting in front of the computer (who, me? ), then in essence I am marrying it. I am relating intimately to that apple pie, taking its energy and substance and assimilating it into my body. Am I doing it with awareness, understanding why I'm doing it, and from deliberate choice?

Writing down everything we eat is one way of putting some mindfulness into eating. So can be fad-type diet regimens ( e.g. eat ten grapefruit every day). But those are not particularly refined methods, and they tend to create resistance, meaning we give up pretty quickly and go back to our old ways. They're external to us, whereas true mindfulness is an inside job.

What's interesting is that while at first glance eating mindfully seems like a lot of work, once you get in the groove, it's the reverse. No extreme diets with fancy bells and whistles (which can be expensive); just a nice, sensible plan like the one 44 seems to indicate.

By the way, could the reference to fish be advice for you to avoid red meat? And I don't see any mention of processed food there at all ... just fresh plant products. Processed foods contain all sorts of hidden ingredients. One of the most common is "high fructose corn syrup", which is a high glycemic index food that can mess up the insulin response system in the body (which has to do with energy level and weight control, among other things.) So read those labels!

 

[philish]

Thanks everyone! I'm a little amused at how much interest this post has gained, but then weight loss is a modern obsession.

As for what the Yi is recommending --I tend to believe that it's speaking directly to me and my local conditions. Particulars or generalizations don't matter as much to me as the perception I have that this is MY reading for MY issue. If I want basic weight loss advice, I could pick up Reader's Digest or Prevention and get a clue. But I wanted advice particular to my circumstances.

I found it interesting that it seemed to address my habit of late --eating in front of the computer. That seems to be the initial problem right now. So yes, mindfulness is the key, and this is where MY mindfulness should begin.

As for the fruit/fish/fresh veg angle: I live in a very landlocked and seafood lite region of the States. Good fish is not affordable, fresh or abundant here (unless you like farmed catfish). (The last time I bought a bag of frozen Tilapia, it was from China.) So I doubt the Yi is strongly recommending fish for me. Although, I agree with you, WF, the Yi can be astonishingly literal sometimes.

Mindfulness of my temptations. Yep. That's the key. Not to make it a life/death struggle also v. important. Not focus on self-recrimination, past choices.

they tend to create resistance, meaning we give up pretty quickly and go back to our old ways. They're external to us, whereas true mindfulness is an inside job.

I truly believe this is essential to my predicament. In the past I've kept journals and fastidiously (and obsessively) wrote down each crumb I consumed. Yes, I did discover how much and what I was actually eating throughout the day, but I couldn't sustain the experiment because I began associating my self-worth with how much I did or did not eat that day. External validation can easily turn into condemnation if you're not already very happy with yourself to begin with. And I wasn't.

 

[tigerintheboat]

Magic Melon

Thanks everyone! I'm a little amused at how much interest this post has gained, but then weight loss is a modern obsession.
.....

Mindfulness of my temptations. Yep. That's the key. Not to make it a life/death struggle also v. important. Not focus on self-recrimination, past choices.
.....

I truly believe this is essential to my predicament. In the past I've kept journals and fastidiously (and obsessively) wrote down each crumb I consumed. Yes, I did discover how much and what I was actually eating throughout the day, but I couldn't sustain the experiment...

Waking up this thread...anyone still interested in this subject?

I am having several small epiphanies lately with regard to food...

(1) Our brains are actually affected by everything we have eaten before, all the way back to childhood, what our treats were, what our mothers fed us, how they regarded mealtime, what their attitude was toward not finishing food on your plate (my grandmother had a "clean plate club" that I couldn't be in unless I finished all my food). Eating is not a rational process for most people, and planning rational plans, without taking all that into effect, is doomed to the kind of failure we are all familiar with.

(2) Eating and the desire to eat and the way the body processes food is a complex biological/chemical process. Actually, the word complex doesn't begin to express the complexity of what we are dealing with. Accordingly, we need some chemical/biological help to go along with whatever plans and actions we do make.

Accordingly, today's diet advice is
(1) Read Dr. David Kessler's book "The End of Overeating." This explains in great detail how the (American) food industry is systematically creating more and more foods loaded in fat, sugar and salt, and how this changes our brains.

(2) Try 5-HTP. One of the reasons we eat is that we are not in a satisfied state, and are looking to feel better. We weren't hungry, we just wanted to feel differently. Our serotonin leves are not high enough. Quoting from one product description:

"5-HTP is a drug-free, amino acid derived from plant that naturally increases the body's level of serotonin, the chemical messenger that affects emotions, behavior, appetite, thought and sleep. Today's stress filled lifestyles and dietary practices may negatively affect how the body handles serotonin. Regular use of 5-HTP ... helps promote a more positive outlook and greater appetite control"

I am eating much less since I started using this stuff. While I haven't lost much weight, I don't have nearly as many thoughts about food as I used to! Even that is a relief.

Finally, to relate this to your reading, for me, 5-HTP is the "magic melon", falling from the sky, sent by the gods. (Sorry, I just realized I already mentioned this before!)

Tiger.

 

[philish]

I'm glad you mentioned the 5-HTP again, actually. I began using it a year ago when I took myself off an anti-depressant (nasty business) because I was about to lose my health insurance. Have sort of left off using it lately and fallen back into my coffee addiction. But this past week I began taking it again and am feeling some subtle results.

Good call. Doesn't replace portion/quality awareness, but I do think it reduces my carb cravings. There's another combo I've had some success with in curbing cravings. Will post it here soon when I can get to the bottle.