The Minimalist Diet By Robert Frederick Lee

In life, many people participate in various daily events and activities that help them enjoy being who they are. People may enjoy getting together with friends, going to the mall, going to an amusement park or simply finding relaxation in nature. However, a big part of everyone’s life is of course eating and many people find pleasure in doing so. Eating is a very enjoyable and delectable must for everyone but should be done so, like everything in life, in a smart and intelligent way. Being smart and perceptive when eating is a large part of nutrition.

The essay by Henry David Thoreau, “Where I lived and What I Lived For” tells Thoreau beliefs of how society should live. He asks deep questions such as, “Why should we live with such hurry and waste of life?” to encourage the reader to contemplate their lives and values. He said, “Our life is frittered away by detail.” and goes on to emphasize the value of, “Simplicity, simplicity, simplicity!” Thoreau states simplicity and self sufficiency are virtues society should live by; however, they potentially jeopardize the community and are consequently not viable today.

Thoreau believed it was best to live a simple life claiming,’’I wanted to live deep and suck out all the marrow of life’’ (par. 1). He wanted to get the most out of life and make sure he was truly living. Although he lived in the woods he went to Harvard University’s library to check out books. Many people wonder how could you

Living life in simplicity is a trend set by Thoreau as he goes to the woods to be free from society’s expectations. He desires for everyone to stop living their life so complicated as they’re being consumed by the want of materialistic things “Most of the luxuries… positive hindrances to the elevation of mankind” (Thoreau Walden “Economy”). As society

Human beings had always developed a curious mindset in search for compact answers to the unknown. The general curiosity of life, what it is composed of and how to live it correctly has been a topic that has resonated through the ages and is still considered an enigma. However, the poet,author and philosopher Henry D. Thoreau had stated in his essay entitled “Walden”, that the best way to experience life was to “reduce it to its lowest terms.” He stresses the idea that by simplifying our lives into a concentration of necessities rather than wants; people are able to experience life to it’s most true and raw form. Thoreau uses the literary technique of metaphor in order to further emphasize this method of living.

He thinks a once driven society has been destroyed by industrial innovation allowing for non-necessities to be common place. To him, these items serve as distractions to the utmost priorities in life, and society will continue to head astray unless certain conditions are met that force the layman to revert to a simpler lifestyle. He further backed up this philosophy with a questioning of the need for progress and an economy in general. Thoreau, just after delivering his testament to the fact that we should live with simplicity then attempts to explain why. In doing so, his bias is further established. Thoreau declares, “Men think that it is essential that the Nation have commerce, and export ice, and talk through the telegraph, and ride thirty miles an hour, without a doubt, whether they do or not; but whether we should live like baboons or like men, is a little uncertain” (Thoreau 86-87). Members of society believe that in order to thrive, there needs to be steady consumption. They need to be able to ride quickly on trains and communicate quickly and have many other materialistic needs. Thoreau concurs that we are living like unintelligent creates who think what is not is essential is. Society is convinced they are needed, but human-kind has lived without them before and have been fine. He thinks, this possesion of new modern technology needs to be decreased in order to achieve the beauty from simplicity. However, he

Momaday describes living “in” one’s environment as a form of intimacy: “There is an intimate, vital link between the earth and himself”. There are habits and activities that define this condition. Hunters hunt animals, but they do not hunt them into extinction. People grow vegetables, such as, corn, squash, and beans. They also gather fruit to consume. They make arrangements to live on the land without being detrimental to it: “He lives on the land: he takes his living from it: but he does not destroy it”.

Throughout the book “Walden and Other Writings of Henry David Thoreau”, Thoreau argues that living a simple life leads to spiritual independence as well as the freedom from the grind of everyday life. Thoreau emphasizes the fact that simple life enables you to live life instead of merely existing. In order to argue his point, he left his existing lifestyle to live in the woods, provide for himself, saunter, and write daily in his journal. His project was then compiled into short essays to make his case. Thoreau set out to prove in order to live well and be free, one must free himself mentally, and physically from the manual restraints humanity puts upon himself.

“Go confidently in the direction of your dreams. Live the life you have imagined. It's not what you look at that matters, it's what you see. Our life is frittered away by detail... simplify, simplify.” This quote is by Henry David Thoreau. Thoreau is an American author. He was a simple man and in this quote he states, “Our life is frittered away by detail… simplify, simplify.” this means of all the details in life like where you life, how you live , he says to simplify them and have a simple life. What does it mean to be a Human? It means knowing how much it cost to exist on earth and what you owe or should do to help and keep the earth clean and livable. Also what is the best way to live, where and how should you live and

Also, Thoreau reveals that he doesn’t like “modern improvements”(Thoreau 32) because that just pulls away from the simple lifestyle and isn’t considered a necessity in his eyes. Instead, Thoreau believes that necessities of life are four things which are: food, shelter, clothing and fuel. More importantly, he describes how nature already provides this; therefore, people need to accept the gifts nature already give (Thoreau 12). It’s something free and we often take for granted because we always look above it for something that is unnecessary. Furthermore, Thoreau also says, “The mass of men lead lives of quiet desperation” (Thoreau 7) which can be explained as not having happiness due to the typical American lifestyle. Thoreau is trying to tell that many people often disregard and are incapable of appreciating the basic things of life because they’re too busy trying to acquire things that could change their status quo but in the end, it can never satisfy their needs because it’s only temporary.

Even though a subsistence lifestyle is not as efficient as going to McDonald's, it’s worth it. This lifestyle could decrease obesity and diabetes, help the environment, and solve the dilemma most people have with their food. Which is less, 17 hours or 40? This lifestyle has more positives than what most people see. The health of the Earth and humans can improve if more people live like this, but sometimes it just can’t be done. If a subsistence lifestyle is not an option, go hunting and grow a garden. These are just seasonal things that many people, rural or urban residents, can do. It’s not a lifestyle, but it’s a step in the right

Nature and the benefits of a simplified lifestyle were important to Thoreau. Thoreau makes the statement how “brute creation requires more than Food and Shelter. Even in a certain climate, Thoreau felt that a man’s necessities are Food, Shelter, Clothing, and Fuel. He states how cats and dogs require the same second nature.

However, we don’t need an expensive luxurious house, but we do need to have the luxury of having some kind of roof over our heads in order to be satisfied with our lives. A house like Thoreau’s “which hardly cost more than the annual rent of such a ruin as his commonly amounts,” is just as beneficial. Thus proving that having the simple things in life can also benefit us just as luxuries can. While many people enjoy getting luxurious clothing, it is sometimes good to have something simple as Thoreau did. Simple clothing can essentially save you money and help you to get other things that are more important.

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Life should be led with simplicity. This is Thoreau’s mantra as he began his two-year experience of minimalist living. Thoreau is explicit that life should not be so difficult and so