The yogic diet

Warning: This blog entry is to be read solely for educational purposes and is way too general – just a different perspective.

I’m going to summarize and/or blatantly copy material from lectures or from the Sivananda Yoga Teachers Training Manual about how yoga philosophy views proper food and nutrition for body and mind. In this philosophy, a “yogic diet is one that brings inner peace to the body and mind and…the mind has the proper building materials for the development of a strong and subtle intellect and a good memory.” Sattvic foods “supply maximum energy, increase strength and endurance” while rendering the mind “pure and calm and generates equanimity, poise and peaceful tendencies.”

So, I hope you can take a few minutes to read this entry and try a few recommended foods or way of eating for a little while and see if you notice any difference. I basically followed this dietary recommendations for a month and I feel great. Sure, I missed the spices and the coffee but I also think there are compromises that we can make along the way….it is all about balance. So, no, eliminating caffeine is not on my agenda yet and if your body type can’t handle certain types of food than adjust. What is important is to see how the body reacts to different types of foods and make appropriate adjustments.

Anyway, how yoga views food is based on the three qualities or gunas which exist in all things. Within the dietary category, the three food related adjectives of each guna is in parentheses. These are sattva (pure), rajas (overstimulating) and tamas (putrified). To save time and space and to avoid confusion, this entry will only focus on sattvic food and the sattvic way to prepare and eat food.

Overview: A sattvic diet is lacto-vegetarian but the dairy based products should be organic and not come from animals that are fed chemicals. Yogurt and cheese are not considered sattvic though and eggs are not vegetarian. Generally, milk products shouldn’t be eaten after lunchtime. Processed food should be avoided as much as possible.

Vegetables: Should be grown locally and eat only what is in season as nature produces what the body needs at that time of the year. By eating locally, the vegetables have the highest amount of nutrition and less likely to have preservatives. Seeded vegetables (such as cucumbers and squashes), all leafy vegetables, and roots or tubers are good. These are best eaten raw or cooked as lightly as possible.

Grains: Corn, barley, wheat, unpolished rice (ie no white rice), oats, millet and quinoa. Whole grain bread rather than processed wheat flour based ones. Grains supply the necessary carbohydrates, the main source of energy for the body, and they also contain about half the amino acids that are needed to form protein.

Proteins: Pulses, nuts, and seeds. (note: if you don’t already know, the amount of protein that the body needs is FAR less than what was pounded into us when we were kids. We owe that misinformation to the beef and dairy industry which included the “food pyramid.”)

Fruits: Fresh and dried and pure fruit juices are all good. Fruits contain important minerals, vitamins and fiber and helps keep the blood pure because of its alkalinity. Try to avoid the mixing of alkaline and acid based foods together.

Sweeteners: Honey, molasses, maple syrup, and apple juice concentrate. White sugar is called “white poison” in some yoga circles apparently.

When to eat: Best to eat only twice a day. Once between 10 and 12 noon and once before sunset (although adaptations can be made if the sun isn’t up that long!). Cooked food should be eaten within three hours of cooking it. Reheated food is considered rajasic and yesterday’s leftover and/or microwaved food is considered tamasic or just bad.

How to eat: Don’t eat standing up. Best to eat with the hand because the hand will bring more prana (life energy) into the body. To not agitate the mind and the nervous system, it is best to not talk while eating or at least avoid heated discussions. In terms of portions, overeating isn’t recommended. You can try to visualize your stomach size and then fill it with 50% solid food, 25% liquid and leave 25% of it empty.

Intake of water: About 70% of your body weight is water. Daily, your body loses about 4 pints of water through the skin, lungs, kidneys, and the digestive tract. Water is necessary to dissolve and distribute food within the body. It also keeps the body temperature stable through sweating. To aid the digestive system, water should be drank after a meal and not during it. In order to give the digestive system a rest, it is recommended to not sip water every 10 or 15 minutes but instead just drink more water every hour or so.

Fasting: This is a real toughie – recommended to fast about twice a month in order to purify the body, to give the digestive system a rest, and to calm the mind. The best time to fast is 11 days after the full moon and 11 days after the new moon which works out be about every two weeks. Swami-ji said trying to fast should be a gradual process over a period of months. So, for instance, try first to go from 3 meals down to 2 on fasting days, then eat only raw foods, then only fruit, then only fruit juice and finally just water. But, if you get hungry and can only think of food, then eat. Generally, no one should fast for more than one day.

Although I said I wouldn’t, I’m going to add this information about the other two gunas in on the end just because I found it interesting.

“Rajasic food agitates the mind and destroys the mind-body balance by overstimulating it. Rajasic foods increases lust, anger, greed, selfishness, violence and egoism. Rajas is the energy that creates dissension in life and wars in the world.” Rajasic food includes the following:Stimulants of any kind (caffeine, tobacco etc), onions, garlic, radishes, unripe fruit, heavily spiced or salted foods, white sugar, sodas, prepared mustards, and “anything that is excessively hot, bitter,sour, or saline”

“Tamasic food makes a person dull, inert, and lazy. It accentuates the tendency to suffer from chronic ailments and depression, and fills the mind with darkness, anger and impure thoughts. Abandoning tamasic food needs to be among the first positive lifestyle changes you make.” Tamasic food includes the following: meat, fish, alcohol. Note: through personal experience, I agree with the manual’s finding that “the craving for alcohol dies a natural death when meat is withdrawn from the diet.” Other tamasic food includes: overripe food, mushrooms, ice cream, vinegar, and chocolate. Any stale, decomposed, or unclean food is tamasic. Also, any food that has been deep fried, burned, fermented, barbecued, or canned.