LESS FOOD GIVES MORE ENERGY & MORE FOOD GIVES LESS ENERGY
- Madhukar Dama
- 13 hours ago
- 11 min read
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1. What Most People Believe
From childhood, we’re told:
> “Eat well and often — that’s the way to stay strong.”
So we assume:
Eating more means more strength.
Eating less means weakness.
But real life shows the opposite. The more we eat, the more tired we feel.
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2. What Is Real Energy?
Real energy is not just movement. It’s your body's deep balance. It means:
Waking up fresh
Feeling mentally calm
No tiredness after meals
Stable mood, deep breath
No bloating, acidity, gas
Light body, deep sleep
Inner joy without needing sugar, coffee, or praise
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3. Digestion Costs Energy
Every time you eat:
The stomach pulls blood away from brain and limbs
Acids, enzymes, bile, and insulin must be produced
Intestines must push and absorb
Liver and kidneys must filter and clean
Any excess food becomes waste, gas, or fat
So if you eat 5–6 times daily, your body is always stuck in digestion mode.
You feel tired, foggy, lazy, or sick — not energised.
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4. What Happens When You Eat More Than Needed
Your body shows these signs:
Sleepiness after meals
Poor concentration
Frequent tea or sugar cravings
Constipation or loose motions
Bloating, gas, heaviness
Poor sleep at night
Fat around belly, under eyes, and neck
Low immunity, frequent infections
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5. Benefits of Eating Less (Rightly)
When you eat light, clean, and timely:
Digestion is smooth
Breathing becomes deeper
Liver and kidneys get rest
Toxins reduce
You feel mentally clearer
Emotions are balanced
Sleep improves
Body heals and repairs during fasting gaps
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6. Comparison Between Two Eating Patterns
Person A – Eats 5–6 times a day:
Eats breakfast, snacks, lunch, tea, dinner, dessert
Digestion never gets a break
Always tired, bloated, sleepy
Craves sugar or tea
Person B – Eats 2 light meals a day:
Eats brunch and early dinner
Long gap for healing and repair
Body feels light and focused
Sleeps peacefully, works smoothly
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7. Real-Life Examples Around You
Village women eat twice daily, walk long distances, feel fine.
Farmers eat millets with buttermilk but lift heavy loads daily.
Grandmothers fast once every 15 days and remain mentally sharp.
Slum children eat once but run and play all day.
But urban families who eat 6 times a day…
feel exhausted, bloated, and dull by evening.
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8. Who Should Not Suddenly Eat Less
People who need caution or medical guidance:
Pregnant and breastfeeding women
Small children and teenagers
Anaemic and underweight people
Manual labourers, field workers
Those recovering from surgery
People with a history of eating disorders
Such people should focus on eating better, not necessarily eating less.
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9. Difference Between Less Food and Poor Nutrition
A poor person eating starch water all day is undernourished, not healthy.
A rich person eating 6 processed meals a day is overfed, but still tired.
A healthy person eats twice daily, with enough ghee, pulses, local vegetables, and fermented foods like millet ambali — and feels fresh, alert, and strong.
Eating less does not mean eating junk or skipping nutrients.
It means eating right food, at the right time, in the right quantity.
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10. Wisdom from Yogis and Traditional Healers
Monks and sadhus followed:
Eating once or twice a day
Early meals (before sunset)
Chewing slowly, eating in silence
Avoiding sugar, snacks, late food
Walking barefoot, sun exposure
Using castor oil or neem to clean the body
Their lives were peaceful, strong, and long — even without gyms, protein shakes, or doctors.
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11. Traditional Poor vs Modern Poor
In the past:
Poor people ate clean home-cooked millets, kanji, buttermilk
Ate twice a day
Walked in nature
Ate local and seasonal foods
Now:
Poor are eating cheap biscuits, bakery bread, sugar tea
Meals are irregular
No sunlight, no movement
Addicted to salt, sugar, spice, fried foods
Don’t confuse simple living with modern poverty.
Earlier poor had clean bodies and clean food. Today’s poor are under chemical attack.
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12. Why We Eat Even When Not Hungry
We often eat due to:
Habit (“It’s 5 PM, must eat something”)
Emotion (stress, sadness, boredom)
Social pressure (“Mummy will cry if I say no”)
Reward-seeking (“I worked hard, I deserve this sweet”)
TV and advertising influence
Addiction to sugar, fried foods, and chewing
> Most of our food is not for the stomach — it’s for the mind.
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13. Who Makes Money When You Eat More
Food companies sell you constant snacks and cereals
Doctors treat your acidity, constipation, diabetes
Pharma sells pills for energy, digestion, and sleep
Gyms promise to “burn off” the extra you ate
Dieticians sell calorie-counting apps and weight loss plans
> Your constant eating = their constant income.
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14. How to Begin Eating Less and Living More
You don’t have to jump into fasting overnight. Try these steps:
Eat only 2 main meals a day (brunch and early dinner)
Skip one breakfast per week (e.g., on Ekadashi)
No food after sunset
Drink warm water instead of tea/snacks
Include fermented foods like millet ambali, kanji, dosa batter
Use ghee, ginger, jeera in cooking to help digestion
Walk after meals
Use belly castor oil pack weekly to rest the gut
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15. One Simple Clean Day Plan
Morning:
Warm water + jaggery
Sunlight walk
If hungry: millet ambali or buttermilk
Lunch (10:30 to 12:00):
Cooked millets + sabzi + dal + ghee
Pickle or curd
Chew slowly, eat calmly
Evening (5:00 to 6:00):
Millet kanji or vegetable soup
Buttermilk with ajwain or jeera
No food after 6:30
Warm water before sleep
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16. Eating Pattern and Its Effect
Frequent Eating:
Body always digesting
Fatigue, acidity, gas
Poor focus
Cravings
Weak immunity
Light, Simple Eating (Twice a Day):
Body repairs and heals
Mind stays calm
Sleep improves
Energy is stable
Long-term health increases
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17. Final Message
Eating less is not about punishment.
It is not about becoming thin.
It is about becoming light, calm, free, and alive again.
Your body knows what to do — if you stop flooding it.
> "Langhanam param aushadham" – Fasting is the best medicine.
Eat enough, chew well, and let your body breathe.
HEALING DIALOGUE
Why Are We Always Tired?
A Healing Dialogue on Less Food, More Energy
(Set at Madhukar’s off-grid homestead near Yelmadagi)
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Characters
Madhukar – Local healer, barefoot, doesn’t prescribe, only reveals
Rajesh – Tech worker, rational but restless, full of half-truths
Mira – Rajesh’s wife, teacher, worn down by “healthy living”
Ananya – Their teenage daughter, part rebel, part sponge
Paati – Rajesh’s mother, diabetic, emotional eater, stuck in the past
Adhya & Anju – Madhukar’s daughters, present and perceptive
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Scene: Morning, beneath a neem tree
The air is cool. Smoke from the chulha floats lazily.
The visiting family sits on mats, bringing with them the weariness of privilege.
Madhukar pours warm water into steel tumblers.
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1. Rajesh opens, fidgeting
Rajesh:
Anna… we’re eating clean. Organic, timed meals, ghee, soaked nuts.
Still — I’m exhausted. All day. Every day.
No stamina. No freshness.
Madhukar (calm):
When was the last time you skipped food, not out of guilt — but peace?
Rajesh:
I don’t skip. Even gym trainers say — keep refuelling or your body goes catabolic.
Madhukar (smiling gently):
And how much refuelling have you done in the last ten years?
Rajesh (counts):
Morning almonds, green smoothie, breakfast, fruit, lunch, nuts, dinner… bedtime turmeric milk.
Madhukar:
Your stomach is more employed than you are.
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2. Mira speaks, tired and fragile
Mira:
I fast sometimes — 16:8.
But I snap at everyone. I binge on jaggery or chikki at night.
Then hate myself.
And I still feel tired. Like my bones are sad.
Madhukar:
That’s not fasting.
That’s hunger plus guilt. It tires the body more than overeating.
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3. Paati joins, scoffing
Paati:
We never fasted with apps. We just ate well.
Idli, curd rice, evening coffee. Still we worked in the fields.
Now one skipped snack — and you people faint.
Mira (tightly):
That idli was made at home, Paati. Not from instant batter.
That curd came from your own buffalo, not from a packet full of starch.
Ananya (muttering):
And that field was not air-conditioned.
Rajesh:
Okay enough. Let’s not attack each other.
Anna, just tell us — why are we tired?
Is it pollution? EMF? Age?
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4. Madhukar responds, slowly
Madhukar:
It’s not the age. It’s not the air.
It’s the digestion.
Ananya:
But digestion is fine — we poop daily!
Madhukar (draws a spiral in the mud):
Tell me — do your eyes shine?
Is your breath fresh?
Do your joints feel light?
Can you sit still without restlessness?
(Everyone falls silent.)
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5. Mira breaks it
Mira:
I always feel full… but unsatisfied.
Tired after meals. Numb in the head.
Even after “healthy food”.
Madhukar:
Because more food means more work for the gut.
The fire that’s meant to give you clarity gets trapped in your belly.
Like pouring water again and again on cooked rice — it turns to rot.
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6. Rajesh leans forward, unsure
Rajesh:
But isn’t food our fuel?
If we eat less, won’t we collapse?
Madhukar (quietly):
If that were true, beggars would be weak and billionaires would fly.
But we all know — many of the overfed are the most tired.
And the underfed often glow.
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7. Mira frowns, gently questioning
Mira:
But don’t we need energy from food?
Madhukar:
Yes — but not every hour.
Imagine a bullock cart. If you keep adding wood to the wheel, it won’t move faster. It will break.
Your stomach is like that wheel.
It needs rest to roll.
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8. Ananya adds, curious
Ananya:
So it’s not just what we eat — but when and how often?
Madhukar:
Yes.
Your body wants rhythm, not constant feeding.
Anju:
Appa says even light can’t enter if you keep stuffing the window.
(Everyone smiles.)
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9. Paati sighs, softer now
Paati:
I thought I loved food.
But maybe… I just wanted to feel less alone.
Madhukar (softly):
Most of what we call hunger — is emotion with no name.
And most of what we call tiredness — is blocked breath.
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10. Rajesh sits back, realising
Rajesh:
So we’re not eating wrong food… we’re just eating too much. Too often.
Madhukar:
Exactly.
You don’t lack nutrients.
You lack gap.
You lack space for your own fire to return.
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11. Mira whispers
Mira:
But then why do we keep eating?
Madhukar:
Because silence is uncomfortable.
Because food is easier than feeling.
Because no one taught us that energy comes from emptiness.
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Closing Scene
No one speaks. The neem leaves rustle above.
They feel the air in their lungs. The heaviness in their bellies.
They don’t ask for a solution.
They just sit.
Still.
Digesting — not food — but truth.
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“We Just Let the Fire Return”
Final Scene – 3 Months After the Dialogue on Less Food, More Energy
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Setting:
Same neem tree. Same soil. Different people.
There are no tiffin bags today. No nutrient charts. No questions scribbled on paper.
The same family sits cross-legged again, only now — they're not rushing.
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Characters
Madhukar – Still the same. Still barefoot. Still not selling anything.
Rajesh – More grounded, but not fully “converted.”
Mira – Steady, quiet confidence now replaces her food anxiety.
Ananya – Less cynical, more inward. Still funny.
Paati – Softer. But not ready to give up everything yet.
Adhya & Anju – Observing with deep stillness, small smiles.
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Scene Begins
1. Mira starts
Mira (placing her palms on the earth):
I don’t feel tired anymore.
Even with the same housework, the same people, the same weather.
The heaviness is gone.
I didn’t change my food.
I just… changed how often I ate it.
Madhukar (smiling gently):
You gave your body space.
And it started speaking again.
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2. Rajesh, slightly defensive still
Rajesh:
I didn’t go all the way.
Some days I still feel like I’ll faint if I don’t snack.
Especially at work — when everyone’s munching or drinking something.
Mira (nudging him):
But now you notice the tiredness after overeating.
Rajesh (nods):
Yes. Earlier I thought food was the solution.
Now I see — it’s often the reason.
Madhukar:
Even realisation is digestion. You’re digesting old habits.
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3. Ananya speaks slowly
Ananya:
I used to chew because I was bored.
Now… I just sit.
I don’t even miss snacks.
Music sounds better.
And food tastes more... alive.
Adhya:
Because now you’re hungry when you eat. Not just eating to escape.
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4. Paati joins, smiling but real
Paati:
I still want coffee some evenings.
But now I know I’m not tired — I’m restless.
I take a few deep breaths instead. Sometimes that’s enough.
Anju (giggling):
You’re breathing coffee now, Paati.
(Everyone chuckles)
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5. Rajesh shares a social moment
Rajesh:
Last week, our neighbor said, “You’ve lost weight. Which app are you using?”
I said, “I’m just eating less often.”
He laughed — said, “Dangerous. You’ll get weak!”
I smiled and told him, “For the first time, I feel strong.”
Madhukar (nods slowly):
Let others fear hunger.
You’ve begun trusting it.
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6. Mira reflects on other shifts
Mira:
My sleep is deeper.
My thoughts don’t swirl after dinner.
Earlier, I used to lie awake wondering if I was doing health right.
Now… I just lie down.
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7. Madhukar offers a rare longer reflection
Madhukar:
When you stop feeding fear, clarity returns.
When you stop chewing emotions, they come out in dreams, in music, in breath.
Food becomes sacred when it stops being constant.
And the tiredness you carried…
Was your body begging for pause.
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8. Final round of reflections
Ananya:
Appa’s still carrying dry fruits in his laptop bag.
Rajesh (laughs):
Now I carry them for others. Not for me.
Paati:
I still keep jaggery in my drawer. But now it lasts a whole month.
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Closing Moment
The neem leaves fall again, just like the first time.
But this time, no one flinches.
No one asks for a diet. No one asks for the next step.
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Anju closes with innocence
Anju (stretching out under the tree):
Hunger is not the problem.
Too much full is the real trouble.
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Madhukar’s Final Words
Madhukar (quietly, almost to himself):
The fire has returned.
Not because you followed anything.
But because you stopped running from silence.
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Scene Ends
No goodbye. No healing plan.
Just a shared stillness. A body that has rested.
A fire that has space to burn again.
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[Topic Closed]
Let this not be a method. Let this be a memory.
The body remembers lightness — when we stop filling every moment.
The Fullness That Drowned Us
A Poem After We Stopped Eating All the Time
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we were not tired because of age.
we were not tired because of work.
we were not tired because the planet was sick.
we were tired
because we ate
too much.
not junk.
not poison.
just…
too much.
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they told us
"food is fuel"
but forgot to say
that even fuel
will drown a flame
if poured nonstop.
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we kept shoving laddoos down our loneliness,
rice down our boredom,
tea down our guilt,
and jaggery down our childhood memories.
every bite was an apology
for some unfinished feeling.
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it wasn’t gluttony.
it was fear.
of hunger.
of silence.
of emptiness.
of feeling.
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and so we chewed our fear
three times a day,
plus snacks,
plus post-snacks,
plus guilt-snacks,
and called it
nutrition.
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we called sleepiness “laziness”
we called cravings “deficiency”
we called bloating “old age”
we called gas “office stress”
we called sugar addiction “culture”
we called fatigue “normal”
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but our tongue had no taste
our eyes had no shine
our breath was shallow
our bones were heavy
and our thoughts came like coughs in the dark
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we were tired
because the fire inside us
never got rest.
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and one day, under a neem tree,
not in a hospital,
not in a lab,
not in a clinic,
someone said:
“you’re not sick.
you’re just too full
to feel alive.”
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we didn’t believe it.
not at first.
we thought he was poor.
too simple.
too empty.
but emptiness was the very thing
we were avoiding.
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so we tried.
not fasting.
not keto.
not some influencer’s plan.
we just waited.
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we waited before chewing.
we waited before swallowing.
we waited before making food
the center of our day.
we let hunger arrive.
not like a guest to be impressed
but like a truth
to be felt.
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some days it was hard.
some days we screamed into bananas.
some nights we dreamt of dosa
like lost lovers.
but slowly,
like the rain that doesn't ask permission,
something changed.
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the fog in our heads lifted.
the ache in our knees eased.
the bloating went away.
the taste came back.
the breath got deeper.
the thoughts got slower.
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we stopped chewing on regret.
we stopped digesting guilt.
we stopped thinking through snacks.
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we didn’t become saints.
we didn’t stop coffee.
we didn’t kill the fridge.
we just
stopped worshipping fullness.
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now, when we eat,
we eat.
when we don’t,
we don’t panic.
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and in that space
between one meal and the next
something magical returned—
the fire.
the clarity.
the real energy.
the forgotten rhythm.
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less food.
less chewing.
less noise.
more fire.
more breath.
more soul.
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turns out,
we were never weak.
we were just drowning
in the very food
we thought was saving us.
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and now we walk lighter,
not because we lost weight,
but because we
lost the lie.
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[End.]