The relationship between yoga practice and your diet

September 4, 2019

This article is sponsored by Tiger Nuts USA

Is the practice that changes your diet or is it the diet that affects your practice? What do the ancient texts say about yogic food and how can it be adapted to today's world?

The type of food we are looking for reflects our development. The state of consciousness is revealed from the nature of the food one chooses. Yoga and Ayurveda empathizes a purely vegetarian or sattvic diet - a diet that helps the development of sattva, the supreme quality of love, peace and consciousness.

The Bhagavad Gita says:

Men who are pure (sattva) like pure foods: those who bring health, mental power, strength and long life; They are tasty, soothing and nutritious, and they give happiness to the heart of man.

Rajasic men like rajasic food. Acid and bitter, salty and dry, which brings heaviness, disease and pain.

The men of darkness (tamas) eat rancid and insipid food, rotten or from the previous day, impure, unfit as a holy offering.

What is a satvic diet?

The basis of sattva is the attitude of ahimsa (non-violence). A sattvic diet is primarily vegetarian, which seeks to avoid any product that involves killing or harming animals. Satvic foods should be natural and fresh foods, preferably organic, and should be taken as naturally as possible, raw, steamed or lightly cooked.

Among the satvic foods we can find the following: ·

Cereals such as quinoa, oats, rice, millet, corn, etc. Cereals will serve to provide our body with carbohydrates and amino acids that serve to synthesize proteins.·
Legumes that provide protein.·
Dairy products such as milk or butter. When consuming dairy products, it must be done in moderation. An excess of dairy consumption increases mucus production and makes breathing difficult.·
Tubers, like the ones offered in our products! High in nutrition, low in fats and 100% organic!·
Fruits and vegetables.When talking about fruits we also talk about juices from them. Juices provide vitamins, minerals and fiber to our body. In addition, they contain alkaline substances that serve to clean the blood.·
Vegetable oils such as sesame, olive, coconut or ghee (clarified butter)·
Nuts and seeds such as nuts, almonds, sesame, etc.·
Sweeteners that are used in the satvic diet should be natural such as honey, molasses or maple syrup.·
Sweet spices such as ginger, cinnamon, cardamom, fennel, cumin, coriander, curcuma, mint and basil.·
Herbal infusions, natural water and fruit juices.·
Food prepared with the attitude of love and awareness.

The era of bad food

The right diet is not only a matter of type of food, but also of the quality of food and the quality of food in our culture is generally low. Poor food quality begins with poor soils, chemical fertilizers, and the use of insecticides and herbicides, with unknown long-term effects. Poor food quality is aggravated by premature harvest, artificial maturation, long transport and refrigeration that often eliminates any possible vitality of the plant. In addition to all this comes food processing, which may include irradiation, freezing and preserving, along with additives and preservatives of all kinds. As if this were not enough, our cooking procedures involve microwaves, and an excess use of oils, fats, sugar, salt and spices. The result is that we are not eating our food, it is our food that "eats us", providing not so much nutrition, but fertile soil for toxins.

This modern food dilemma is making us more aware of our diets. We have to learn to grow our own food, support local and organic farmers, and become politically active in environmental issues. Food is the sacred root of life. If we compromise it, we are putting our own health and happiness at risk.