Yoga and Diet - An approch to Yogic Eating

You are what you eat. If you want stay healthy and fit, you have got to eat healthy. No matter how hard you exercise every day, it will all go to waste unless your diet is also healthy and nutritious. The same holds true for Yoga. The practice of yoga should be complemented with the right kind of food to fully enable you to benefit from yoga. Moreover, the correct diet can aid the building of endurance levels and improve concentration as well.

Yoga Diet

The yoga diet is an essential aspect of the practice itself. In general, while performing yoga, it is best to eat everything in moderation and follow a well-balanced diet that provides all vitamins and minerals.

One of the ways of following a yoga diet is by focusing on gunas or the interplay of energies. Yoga practitioners believe that there are three energies in this universe. These include sattva or purity, a calm and peaceful energy; tamas or darkness, a dull and gloomy dark energy; and lastly, rajas or passion, a creative and tumultuous energy. These three energies encompass all existence and actions, and are reflected in one’s diet as well.

Sattvic food is the purest diet possible and helps maintain the body in a peaceful state. It is a completely vegetarian diet, but is extremely nourishing and easy to digest. Sattvic food types include cereals, whole meal grains, fresh fruits and vegetables, milk, legumes, nuts, and seeds. Most yoga practitioners prefer to follow a sattvic diet as it is believed to help in the purification of the body, and thereby the mind.

Tamastic (dark) and Rajastic (passionate) foods should generally be avoided. Tamastic food is unhealthy for both the body and mind and should be avoided. Tamastic food types are stale, under or over-ripe fruits and vegetables or canned, reheated or fermented meats. Even over-eating is considered tamastic and is said to withdraw your energy and result in inertia. Alcohol and tobacco are also categorized as tamastic food substances. To follow yoga correctly, all tamastic foods should be not be consumed.

Rajastic foods are stimulating food with a strong sweet, sour, hot, salty, or bitter taste. These food types tend to disturb the equilibrium of the mind and body by stimulating the senses and making one restless. Eating hurriedly or over-indulgence is also considered rajastic. Therefore, the sattvic food diet is most beneficial for yoga. So now that you know the basics of a Yoga diet, the choice is yours to make. Remember, good health is not incidental, it is an active choice.

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Some References:
Diabetes-Daily-Care - Diet pattern and activity schedule are necessary to prescribe a diet chart. Weight reduction is easily achieved by regular exercise.