Corresponding to Yoga there are three categories of food – right, sometimes-right and totally wrong 🙂
Well, actually this classification is based on Gunas – three states of matter which can be found everywhere – in Mother Nature, our minds and even in food.
The first Guna is Sattva – it’s the purity, bliss, goodness in everything. Sattvic food gives you pure energy, motivation for achievements without rage, peace of mind and good physical state. It’s light, whole and unprocessed and easy to digest – well, it’s exactly that food which is recommended by dietitians and our Moms It is what we call healthy food – fresh, full of vitamins and fiber, with proper combination of proteins, fats and carbs. Sattvic food traditionally includes:
- – Milk and dairy products
- – Soft pulses, soft beans (ones which you don’t have to soak overnight)
- – Seeds and nuts
- – Minimum processed cereals, unrefined flours
- – Seasonal fruits and vegetables
- – Unrefined oils
- – Not hot spices – cinnamon, ginger, cardamom etc.
- – Sugar (also unrefined of course), jaggery and honey
Also it’s very important how you cook the food – sattvic food is lightly processed (our cooking teacher was saying that “Partial cooking is better than full cooking”, but it does not work for all foods of course), nothing deep-fried and breaded You should eat fresh – even the purest food looses its sattva while being kept for more than 12-24 hours. And consume seasonal vegetables and fruits because the veggies should be grown in natural conditions. There is a rule of “eating what is available” – for example, if fresh vegetables are not available in your area in winter, prefer eating preserved ones (in the most simple and natural way of course), instead of eating greenhouse cucumbers.
The second category of food is Rajasic – the food in Guna Rajas -gives us passion, motion, and energy. Which is great, right? Well, yes, but no – this type of food also can make you irritated, hot-tempered and it’s hard to digest it. Rajasic food can be consumed when you feel low in energy and need some extra “push”, preferably being combined with Sattvic dishes.
- – Non-vegetarian food – meat, fish, eggs
- – Hard pulses and beans, which have to be soaked overnight and cooked for a long time
- – Onion and garlic
- – Hot spices
Rajasic food can be fried, but also should not be kept overnight.
I must say consuming non-vegetarian food is quite contradictory in yoga tradition – we’ll just leave it here for you to decide.
And the last type of food Yoga recognizes is Tamasic – it falls in Tamas Guna and represents (and gives to our body) laziness, inertia and drowsiness. That’s all types of stale, processed, packed and ready-to-eat food. The most common Tamasic foods we consume:
- – Refined flour, sugar and oils and everything that includes them – pastries, chocolates, pizzas, cookies (unless you make them from Sattvic ingredients)
- – Everything with added flavors and sugar – sweet sodas, flavored milk, sweet breakfast cereals – list is almost unlimited
- – Chips and other packed snacks (except for plane nuts)
- – Cooked food that has been kept for a long time
At first glance Tamasic list includes all the nice and tasty things, right? It gives fast satisfaction, but it’s difficult to digest this food and it makes us feel heavy and lazy – not exactly the right feeling for Yoga practitioner.
Eat right, Sattvic and healthy! It’s also important to know how and when to eat – read more on that!