The Cosmos in a Carrot: A Zen Guide to Eating Well [Paperback]

Carmen Yuen (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: August 23, 2006

The Cosmos in a Carrot distills the best of Buddhist wisdom, nutritional information, and health advice and puts it together in a lively guide that challenges conventional thinking. Aimed at a broad audience, the book is divided into three main parts: What Would Buddha Eat, A Mindful Diet, and A Mindful Diet in Action. Author Carmen Yuen offers authoritative discussion of nutritional science, such as calories, antioxidants, and the different types of fats, and gives practical suggestions on consumption strategies, mindful grocery lists, and recipes. In clear, informed prose she helps readers understand their relationship to food, weight, and health by using a “whole systems” approach of mindfulness techniques to break the patterns of unhealthy eating. The Cosmos in a Carrot explains how to integrate foundational Buddhist ideas, such as non-violence and no-self, and practices like the tea ceremony into the reader’s everyday experiences with food. Profiles of four “mindful eaters” help personalize the process.

Editorial Reviews

From Publishers Weekly

Diet and nutrition books probably number in the thousands, and they all preach more or less the same message: control your portions, don't eat processed foods and drink lots of water. The nutrition message in this book, by a writer with a Buddhist studies background, is similar, but there's a twist to distinguish this guide from its eat-better kin. Looking at eating in a Buddhist light makes it possible to slow down, become aware and make better food choices. The book rests on the mindfulness teachings of Vietnamese Zen master Thich Nhat Hanh and demonstrates the practical applications of his Buddhist teachings. Much of the material is helpful. Two appendixes summarize core mindfulness teachings, and short portraits of four "mindful eaters" show the book's approach in action. Strategies abound, although some are more realistic than others. For example, asking local farmers for advice seems geographically limited or simply romantic. The author does acknowledge that organic means more expensive. This book will work best for people who are tired of diet books and ready to be more thoughtful about food. For those who constantly struggle with eating, making a connection between eating and the noble Buddhist truth of suffering may be revelatory. (Nov.)
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Product Details

• Paperback: 150 pages
• Publisher: Parallax Press (August 23, 2006)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 1888375604
• ISBN-13: 978-1888375602
• Product Dimensions: 9 x 6.1 x 0.5 inches
• Shipping Weight: 10.4 ounces (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 3.4 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (5 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #1,182,843 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

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Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

28 of 35 people found the following review helpful:

1.0 out of 5 stars Some interesting but more just wacky., January 2, 2007

By 

Tenzo - See all my reviews

Amazon Verified Purchase

This review is from: The Cosmos in a Carrot: A Zen Guide to Eating Well (Paperback)

The premise starts off nice. Healthful eating.
But from there she goes 'Earth Goddess' wacky.
"Cholesterol is like SUVs" they clog up the highways and arteries. ???
"Cows will not eat genetically modified corn' [given a choice].
In America all the cows corn is genetically modified.
Talks about eating organics but then makes it evident that she does not know what organic is.

In some areas she just makes up stuff, citing no source or study. Kind of a friend of a friend once told my friend that.........

There may be a few nuggets of wisdom in this book. However digging through the misinformation, statements that come out of nowhere, forcing the results to equal Buddhism, it was just plain irritating. Their is more bad information in here than good.

I'm Buddhist and a certified nutritionist, so I thought this would be an interesting linking of the two.

It wasn't.

21 of 27 people found the following review helpful:

1.0 out of 5 stars Fails to deliver or even understand, January 2, 2007

By 

L. Dougherty "power reader" (Med School) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: The Cosmos in a Carrot: A Zen Guide to Eating Well (Paperback)

The book promises, "The Cosmos in a Carrot distills the best of Buddhist wisdom, nutritional information, and health advice "

It delivers on none of it's claims.

The Buddhism is shallow, at best.
The nutritional information is wrong.
The health information is a handy cut and paste from web sources.

The strange thing is, she does not appear to have read her own sources. Source information (when available) does not nessisarily support her point.

The book reads more like a Freshman paper. Lacking understanding of the subject and a superficial understanding of what she writes about.

2 of 4 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Impressed, February 25, 2011

By 

Pavel Somov, Ph.D., author of "Lotus Eff... - See all my reviews
(VINE VOICE)   

This review is from: The Cosmos in a Carrot: A Zen Guide to Eating Well (Paperback)

Mindful eating is one of my writing topics. I wrote "Eating the Moment" in 2008. So, you'd think, I really shouldn't be supporting competition, so to say, but I don't operate like that. If I like the book, of course, I am going to say so. So, I am researching for my next project and I stumble upon "Cosmos in a Carrot" and, after about an hour with it, I have this thought: if I had read this sooner, I would not have tried to publish my own "mindful eating" project (which technically originated around 2000 but I didn't get around to submitting it until 2007, a year after "Cosmos in a Carrot" was written). I am not going to evaluate the nutritional guidance offered in the book because it's not my area of competence (I consider "mindful eating" a "how to eat" rather than a "what to eat" genre). But I am truly impressed by the Buddhist part. I see another reviewer slammed the book saying the "Buddhism (in the book) is shallow." Well, how deep can it expected to be from a "mindful eating" alternative to dieting? After all, the goal of mindful eating genre is not to turn a reader into a Buddhist but to offer a reader a Buddhist/Eastern take on eating. This book certainly does that.

Morever, "Cosmos in a Carrot" - in my opinion - accomplishes another extremely rare thing (when it comes to Buddhist-inspired "mindful eating" genre) - it strikes the sweet spot of moderation (and Middle Way) in explaining the Buddhist ethics of mindful eating. A typical "mindful eating" book - and I've had a chance to review a few - tends to idealize Buddhist eating ethic. "Cosmos in a Carrot" doesn't do that - the author manages to offer the big picture of Buddhist eating ethic without over-attaching to culture-specific details. That's a huge accomplishment. With this in mind, I highly recommend this book - at least, as one of several readings on the matter, which is really the way to go anyway. Prospective reader: grab yourself half a dozen of mindful eating books - this one, something by Susan Albers, by Jan Chozen Bays, by Linda Craighead, and pick out what works for you. I wish you well.

Pavel Somov, Ph.D., author of Present Perfect, Lotus Effect, and Eating the Moment