YOGA AND DIET

People always ask me about a yogic diet, what diet we follow ? and why ? Please find some info I use on my yoga retreats in Andalucia to learn the basics on yoga and food.

You do not have to follow a yogic diet to take up yoga, many people however after seeing the huge benefits of yoga, meditation and our other practices later decide follow some or all of the diet.

  It is our responsibility as teachers to pass the information down correctly to you as students. Please feel free to email me should you have any questions.

In Yoga food is grouped into three catagories, Sattvic, Tamasic and Rajastic

Sattvic food is the purest diet and the most suitable for any serious student of yoga. Sattvic food nourishes body and mind. Maintaining a peaceful state and calming and purifying the mind enabling it to function at its maximum potential. A sattvic diet leads to the balanced flow of energy between a fit body and peaceful mind.

Sattvic foods are cereals and wholemeal bread, fruit and vegetables, pure fruit juice, milk, butter, cheese, nuts, seeds, honey and herbs.

Tamasic foods are considered injurious and benefit neither body or mind. Prana is withdrawn. Dark thoughts may rule ones head. Reasoning may be clouded. The body will find it difficult to fight against disease. Examples of tamasic foods would be garlic, onions, fermented foods, stale and overripe foods and meat. Of course alcohol

And tobacco are included in the tamasic group.

Rajastic food is over stimulating to both body and mind. Examples such as coffee, tea, fish, eggs and salt and hot and spicy foods.

Vegetarian Diet

The elements needed to repair the body and up build, protein or nitrogenous food, carbohydrates, hydrocarbons or fat and minerals are found in much higher quantities in non meat foods than in those containing meat. The main supply of organic minerals comes from fruit and vegetables, these organic minerals purify the blood, act as antiseptics and serve as eliminators. Fruit and Vegetables keep the alkaline supply in the blood at the correct level. They are a source and the most important one of vitamins. Raw vegetables contain our main source of vitamins A, B and C. Vitamin C integral for the healthy formation of bone and teeth can only be found in fruit, vegetables and milk. [Some methods of preparation, cooking, dehydrating, frying etc, can damage vitamins in food.] The high levels of uric acid found in meat are impossible for our body to breakdown and can result in damage to the nervous system, headaches, epilepsy and diseases of the muscles. Vegetarians have more energy, specifically endurance. All foods found in the vegetable kingdom have absorbed the suns energy. Meat products undergo a process known as putrification, during which a poisonous toxin is released, animal proteins putrify at double the speed of a vegetables. Putrified meat has be shown to cause the rise of high blood pressure. Parasites ingested by the human come from meat and fish.  It has been noted though out history that people who have lived to extremities in years, well over the age of 100 have done so solely living on a vegetarian diet. Vegetarians are known to recover from disease and heal more quickly than meat eaters. Nature has provided all we need to nourish our bodies.  It was known that at one point man ingested no animal flesh. It is likely in the event of a terrible cataclysm on earth, man was forced to turn to killing animals with the intent of consuming their flesh in order to survive. A yogi does not advocate cruelness to animals, this includes killing an animal to eat its flesh. It is unnecessary.You can read and see video links in my previous post which show the extent of the cruelty in the keeping of, birth, life and death of the animals supplied for meat in your major supermarkets.