Nutrition for yoga. How do yogis eat? Food for winter

Do you know what yogis think about nutrition, how and what they eat? We will talk about this in our article.

Breakfast

Contrary to popular belief, yogis consider a hearty breakfast to be the enemy of man. This is due to the fact that from midnight to noon, a person’s energy is not set up for eating. If you still have a desire to have breakfast, then you can drink juice, herbal tea or eat some fruit. After 12 noon, you can eat 2-3 times a day. Yogis do not eat after 6 pm and believe that the stomach should rest between meals.

It is very important, according to yogis, in what emotional state a person prepares and eats food. Negative vibrations are absorbed by food and instead of good, they will harm the body. And a dish prepared in a good mood and with good thoughts will be tasty and healthy.

Meat

Yogis do not eat meat, because they consider it a harmful product, both in terms of its effect on the human body, and for moral and ethical reasons. Animals, along with food, eat a lot of toxic substances and fertilizers. Eating meat causes rotting processes in the intestines and poisons the entire human body. Purine bases, which appear after the digestion of meat, make a person angry and irritable. In addition, meat leads to premature aging and problems with sexual life.

But yogis are wise people and realizing that it is very difficult for a Westerner to give up meat, they say that Westerners have reasons why they eat meat. Western human cells, yogis believe, are genetically poisoned because our ancestors have been eating meat for centuries. In addition, most of us live in cold climates, and lost calories are replenished by eating meat. In addition, the Westerner leads a more mobile lifestyle, which also requires replenishment of calories through the consumption of meat. And finally, meat eating is a habit for many that is difficult to give up. With all this in mind, yogis believe that a Western person can not give up meat, but still reduce his consumption: no more than once a week. The inclusion of a large amount of meat in your diet will inevitably lead to serious diseases.

Bread

Flour products using yeast harm the body. Yeast suppresses the intestinal microflora, and this adversely affects health. Yogis bake bread at home from wholemeal flour without yeast.

If you buy bread in the store, then you need to remember:

black bread is healthier than white;

it is better to use wholemeal bread;

limit the use of bread with the use of yeast.

Sprouted wheat grains, which are extremely rich in vitamins and microelements, are an excellent way to replace bread. One - two tablespoons of grains will provide a feeling of satiety and a daily intake of vitamins needed by our body.

Cooking method:

Rinse grains with cold water. Place in a deep bowl. Pour cold water so that the water slightly covers the grains. Cover the plate with cheesecloth and leave at room temperature for 24 hours. It should be remembered that the sprouts should not be more than 1 mm, it is this length of the sprouts that guarantees the maximum benefit from eating them.

Digestion

Yogis believe that human nutrition should be directed solely to maintaining health and high physical and mental activity. The desire of people to enjoy food and the use of complex cooking recipes for this lead to a significant decrease in benefits and even harm the human body. People forget that they are part of nature, which took care of ready-made food for humans. Plant foods are natural, natural food for humans.

Yogis attach great importance to the issue of assimilation of food. They believe that long, thorough chewing of food is very important and do not recommend drinking with meals. Yogis see nothing wrong with eating dry food, provided that the food is chewed well. Yogis, even liquid food, are first mixed with the tongue in the mouth, and only then swallowed. They believe that this way of eating will fill the body with energy as much as possible.

Yogis have a motto in nutrition: drink solid food (chew thoroughly and bring it to the consistency of saliva) and chew liquid.

Type of person and nutrition

Yogis eat simple food. During meals, they always follow the rule: in the stomach, solid food should be 2/4, liquid 1/4, and another 1/4 should remain free. Among yoga products, vegetable oils are especially preferred, which, in their opinion, contribute to a clear mind and good mood.

Yoga human body is compared to a plant, and in order to properly feed your inner "plant", you need to know what type a person belongs to.

There are three types of people according to Ayurveda:

Signs of this type of people: thin body, narrow chest, thin bones, dry skin and hair. They love changes in life, they think and act quickly, but they also get tired quickly. These people are characterized by a constant feeling of hunger and a sharp change in mood.

PITTA type

Signs of this type of people: normal build, very sensitive to the sun, hair is usually blond. They attach great importance to food, and their mood depends on it. Prefer fatty foods with spices. By nature - leaders, very demanding of others. Sometimes they are aggressive and overly straightforward. They do not tolerate heat well.

KAPHA type

Signs of this type of people: small stature, wide chest, greasy hair, usually dark in color, they prefer sweets in food. By nature, they are homebodies, tolerant of others, they speak little and are very thrifty.

Ancient Tibetan monks compared the human body to a temple. Everything must take place in close connection with nature. This is the aim of the continuous development and improvement of people. To cleanse the body, you should know what you can eat before yoga or after class. Effective daily practice invariably concerns the question of how to eat right. This is why the basics of a healthy diet are so important for beginner yogis.

When is the best time for the body to relax and digest food? What can you eat after training and what should be a sparing diet? What does a typical yoga menu consist of and why would the ancient monks successfully use soda? It's time to deal with the most important issues, without which the practice of the ancient teachings will not do.

What can you eat while doing yoga or how to eat right?

Tibetan monks tell contemporaries that the practice of yoga will not do without enough nutrients. Therefore, the menu should be as varied as possible. This opens up ample opportunities for compiling a menu, because the diet will not be so annoying and “harsh”. Moreover, if you do not like any product, you can confidently replace it for a while with more familiar food. Yoga is quite a flexible culture.

However, yoga practitioners are well aware of the abundance of restrictions that are in place all the time.

The main message that yogis give is: "We can eat foods that clarify the mind, bring pleasure and benefit, give ease and satisfaction." Everything else yogis consider simply "garbage" that pollutes the mind and body.

The practice of yoga does not imply any strict restrictions. An individual diet can be recommended for each person. However, an indispensable advice for yoga practitioners will be a vegetarian diet, and for effective cleansing, you can occasionally use soda.

Why a Vegetarian Diet is Necessary

Plant foods provide more energy

Experienced yogis mostly eat vegetarian food not only after training, but also as a main diet. This diet is due to a number of factors:

1. Passion for vegetarianism leads to a slowdown in the aging process;
2. For a long time, the endurance of the body increases;
3. Foods of plant origin are much easier to digest;
4. Such a diet eliminates the formation of toxins and reduces the risk of poisoning at times;
5. Yogis especially appreciate the property of vegetarianism to clarify the mind and influence the spiritual forces of the body;
6. The animal menu obtained by violence (caught fish, killed animal) saturates with much less energy than plant foods.

Food and yoga teaching

The doctrine of yoga teaches us to eat right, according to which the creation of the world is subject to three main qualities: passion, darkness and grace. Consistently consumed food should bring precisely grace, which determines our level of happiness, contentment and humility. After "ignorant" food, it is more difficult to cleanse the body, and we are depressed and sick. Such food is of consistently poor quality. It may be poorly cooked or simply stale. Its companions are artificial additives and ingredients alien to the body. It is this kind of food that is not recommended to be eaten if you want to be happy spiritually and physically.

Diet plan for yoga

The main task in yoga is to eat in such a way as to properly distribute the balance of incoming energy and expended forces.

In fact, with moderate consumption, you can eat a wide variety of foods. What matters is how long you eat. Tibetan monks eat invariably at intervals of several hours. After yoga, you should wait at least 40-60 minutes. This is necessary in order for the body to relax after strenuous asanas. It is also important to normalize the emotional sphere.

When doing yoga in the morning, you can eat some high-calorie and fruit foods and drink half a glass of water. The ideal solution would be a fresh banana or some grapes. Avoid over-saturation of the stomach! More intensive hatha yoga exercises involve significant loads. You should not eat at all before a strenuous workout. But after that it is advised to drink clean water, and after an hour they replenish energy with carbohydrate light food.

Are you doing a more "measured" yoga of kundalini or kriya? Then you can also eat moderately before visiting an instructor or doing home exercises. It will be right to have some refreshment, because you should not practice asanas on a completely empty stomach, so as not to cause exhaustion.

The main task in yoga is to eat in such a way as to correctly distribute the balance of incoming energy and expended forces, efforts made and the result achieved!

Applying soda on your own, especially inside, is not only useless, but also dangerous to health.

To feel lightness, peace and unity with nature, you need to eat right. However, many believe that soda can be used to quickly cleanse the physical component and mental structures. It is not eaten, unlike products. However, the prepared solutions “help” rejuvenate the body from the inside, washing away the blackness and dirt of various origins, like plaque from kitchen utensils. At the same time, methods are even common, after what time after training it should be applied.

Possessing an alkaline environment, soda can only be used as solutions for rinsing the mouth or in gastroenterology. Light solutions of soda have a beneficial effect on the body with confirmed increased acidity of the stomach or a tendency to gastritis. Due to its alkaline nature, it is used strictly in a hospital to restore the normal acid-base balance of the blood.

It is worth noting that baking soda should be used very carefully and only on the advice of doctors. Even for the purpose of rinsing, it is not a panacea. It has been proven that herbal preparations are much more effective. And soda only makes the mucous membrane loose, stimulating the penetration of pathogenic microflora into its deep structures.

This is why baking soda should not be taken for "cleansing" after or before any asanas. It is much better to normalize the schedule of sleep and wakefulness, give the body regular exercise, master the technique of resilience to stress and eat wholesome food. This is how you safely and effectively cleanse your body. Applying soda on your own, especially inside, is not only useless, but also dangerous to health.

Nutrition of yogis is inextricably linked with the performance of asanas and lifestyle. Their diet is based on Ayurvedic teachings. Some foods are strictly forbidden for them, others are consumed in small quantities and for a certain period of time, and still others eat constantly.

Three types of food in yoga

According to Ayurveda, even the best and purest foods are not always healthy. So, there is food that should be consumed only in winter or summer. Some foods should be eaten in the morning because they excite and give energy, others in the evening, as they soothe and set you up for a long sleep.

Yoga (the secrets of the ancient foundations of nutrition have survived to this day) divides all food into three types:

• Sattva, which means "purity". This includes all fresh vegetarian food. Mainly seeds and fruits, wheat, butter, milk and honey.
• Rajas is food that stimulates the body. It is better not to eat products from this category or to reduce their amount in the diet to a minimum. This includes citrus fruits, tea and coffee, as well as spices, fish, seafood, eggs, alcohol, soda, garlic and onions.
• Tamas is coarse and heavy food. It is difficult to be absorbed by the body. Does more harm than good. Relaxes, after its use you want to sleep. These are root vegetables (beef and pork), all canned foods, mushrooms, food with a heavy taste (vobla, etc.). This includes frozen food and food that has been stored for some time. Reheated dishes, alcohol and food that was prepared in a restaurant or store are also considered to be such.

Absolute vegetarianism - that's what yoga promotes. Meditation and nutrition are closely intertwined here. A person who has been practicing yoga for a long time completely refuses animal products and completely switches to natural products. After all, they charge the body with energy and make the body clean.

Yogi Nutrition Principles

The diet of yogis is based on Ayurvedic teachings. The transition to such a diet should be gradual. Based on it, we can say that proper yogi nutrition contains about 60% of natural raw foods (vegetables, nuts, herbs and fruits), 40% of the diet is given to heat-treated food.

Yogi food is closely related to energy - prana. You need to eat so that the products give energy and vitality. Most of all, natural non-thermally processed food is suitable for this purpose.

Every dish should be prepared with passion. When preparing food, a person should experience pleasure, meditate. Enjoy the process. This attitude of the cook charges the food with positive energy.

Eating should be done slowly and in a relaxed atmosphere. Chew each bite thoroughly, at least 40 times. This is how solid food can turn into liquid. You need to drink the liquid slowly, in small sips, savoring every drop. Drink no more than 10 glasses of water per day.

Yogi assumes a minimum amount of "gross material" food, which should be gradually forced out by energy from the Cosmos. Therefore, all foods that nourish the body should be useful.

Yogis advise eating only when you feel hungry. If the body does not want to eat, then it is better to drink water. It is important to learn to distinguish the real feeling of hunger from other similar instincts. We must listen to ourselves and not pay attention to the generally accepted rules of nutrition.

Yogis eat no more than 2-3 times a day. In their opinion, more frequent meals disrupt the process of digestion. These are mostly small portions with useful products, which are enough only to saturate the body. Stop eating when feeling full. Once a week, some yogis spend a fasting day only on the water.

Meat is not eaten here, as it is obtained by force. Clogs up the body. Causes decay processes. It is toxic, as animals are not always fed with healthy products, and sometimes chemicals are added to the feed. It leaves purine bases in the body that the liver cannot process. The remains of such substances make a person angry, unbalanced. Meat accelerates puberty. Makes men rougher, more brutal and causes more base desires. The human body ages faster.

According to yogis, man is naturally herbivorous. For normal life, cereals, nuts, vegetables, fruits and milk are enough. It is believed that there is no point in poisoning yourself with meat and killing living beings. Food should be healthy and simple.

It can be said that proper nutrition of yoga is lacto-vegetarianism. Any food of animal origin is unacceptable here: meat, fish, eggs. The exception is milk, dairy products and honey.

Every time after eating, yogis thank the higher forces for the food that they have at the moment.

Eating should be from dishes made only from natural raw materials: clay, glass, wood and porcelain. It is not recommended to eat from plastic and metal plates.

Yoga and nutrition for beginners are interconnected things. Experienced practitioners advise to be patient in choosing food. Go vegan slowly. If this is not possible, then it is recommended to at least observe fasts and arrange fasting days.

Yogi nutrition includes a minimum amount of animal fats. It is believed that they provoke the occurrence and progression of atherosclerosis. They are destructive to the joints. Slagging the body and negatively affect the liver, gallbladder. It is advised to replace animal fats with vegetable ones. It can be any vegetable oil, with the exception of palm oil.

Yogis do not eat sugar and those foods where it is present. Replace it with honey, fruits, berries and dried fruits. In their opinion, sugar is harmful in the form of: caries, obesity, metabolic disorders, diabetes, hypertension, etc.

They exclude salt from their diet or reduce its use to a minimum amount. The prohibition in food concerns garlic and onions. They are used sparingly, only in alcohol tinctures and for colds.

Do not drink stimulating drinks during yoga. This includes alcohol, as well as tea, coffee, hot chocolate and condensed milk. Yogis do not accept tobacco and the process of smoking itself.

The yoga diet does not include yeast products, pastries and confectionery. They are replaced with yeast-free cakes made from chapati flour.

Yogis eat so that their body does not become clogged. They aim to make the body clean and the mind bright.

The composition of the diet

Yogi diet consists mainly of cereals, legumes, vegetables, fruits, nuts, honey, wholemeal bread and dried fruits. The main thing is that the products are not subjected to heat treatment. A special place in the nutrition system is given to milk. It is considered vital for the body. This is a bright and pure product of sattva, capable of giving peace and harmony to the mind.

A combination of milk with vegetable oil, lemon, salt and yogurt is considered incompatible. In one meal, do not eat food with different temperatures. So, you can not eat a cold salad and hot soup or chocolate with ice cream at one main meal. Yogis do not recommend drinking tea or coffee immediately after eating. It is advised to wait 1-1.5 hours, and then drink drinks. You can not heat honey to 70 ° C and above, as it can turn into poison and lose all its healing properties.

Yogi nutrition (menu for every day) includes only products that are healthy for the body, with minimal heat treatment. According to their position, food should heal the body, not pollute.

Yogis thoroughly wash their hands and rinse their face before eating. Do not watch TV while eating, do not read newspapers and do not talk. Fully focus on the absorption of food and try to enjoy the taste of food.

Yogi nutrition: menu for the week

Nutrition according to the yoga system for many people seems strange and unacceptable, but despite this, it helps to improve their health. Increases the endurance of the body. Purifies the body. Heals. Energizes and gives strength.

Here is the approximate weekly diet of these people:

• Monday. It is considered a milk day, giving rest to the digestive system. Drink three cups of milk a day. It can be both warm raw and sour.
• Tuesday. In the morning they eat oatmeal or milk. The grains are soaked from the previous evening in water and a tablespoon of honey is added to the dish. For lunch, they eat rice or potato soup with a small amount of vegetable oil and cheese. Dinner ends with sour milk.
• Wednesday. For breakfast - fruits or dried fruits. If they are not enough, then after fifteen minutes you can drink a cup of milk or tea with cheese. You can add 2 bread slices. For lunch, before the main meal, they eat fruit, and then a vegetable salad seasoned with vegetable oil. It can include a variety of vegetables. For dinner, they drink a glass of kefir.
• Thursday. Breakfast consists of fresh or dried fruits. For lunch, a vegetable salad with lemon juice or vegetable oil. Sprouted wheat with honey and nuts are added to the diet. For dinner, they eat fruit and some wheat.
• Friday. Eat rice-based foods. Breakfast is milk and rice. For lunch, tomato soup or hot soup with spinach and rice. Here you can make a variety of rice dishes, including those with fresh vegetables. The main thing is that they do not violate the principles of nutrition of yogis. You can add a couple of slices of whole grain bread to the main dish. Dinner ends with milk and rice.
• Saturday. Breakfast on this day consists of milk and cottage cheese. For lunch, yogis eat vegetable salad and some bread. Dinner ends with sour milk or cottage cheese.
• Sunday. The diet is saturated at your discretion. Some allow meat.

This is just an approximate yoga menu. The rules of nutrition allow you to create your own diet and enjoy eating.

Nutrition and yoga

As one practices yoga, a person develops and grows. When a certain point of development is reached, the beginner yogi will automatically begin to eat living and healthy food. At the first stage, yogis become vegetarians, then vegans. In the future, some go on a raw food diet, and the chosen ones go on a prano diet.

Yogi nutrition in this case says that:

• Food should not be a product of violence. Therefore, eggs, fish and meat are excluded. They charge the body with destructive energy.
• Food gives stamina. Purifies the body and mind. Changes thinking. When switching to vegetarianism, thoughts become more sublime.
• Nutrition stops the aging of the human body.
• Products must be completely absorbed in the body.
• Vegetarian foods are very low in fat.

These are just a few of the basics that hatha yoga provides. Nutrition should be reasonable, and the process of digestion of food should not interfere with classes.

After eating, you should wait three hours and only then you can do yoga. After asanas, you can eat only after an hour.

The desired results in yoga can only be achieved by following certain dietary rules. To do this, you should listen to your feelings, then spiritual and physical development will not keep you waiting.

Yoga breakfast features

Yogi morning is the time from dawn to noon. During this period, preference is given to sattvic food, as it is the most pure and noble. This includes fruits: banana, coconut or coconut milk, raisins, pears. Do not eat citrus fruits for breakfast. Refrain from tea and coffee. These drinks are advised to be consumed at lunch, as the energy in the morning is already at its best, and by lunchtime it is significantly reduced. Morning time is considered the most suitable for eating nuts (pine nuts and almonds are preferred) and seeds. The most useful dish are nuts mixed with dried fruits: dates, dried apricots, raisins, prunes, figs.

Nuts are roasted before use and processed into a paste by a blender. Do not advise yoga to eat peanuts - peanuts. They are considered heavy food along with melon and watermelon. Benefit at this time will bring "live" yogurt or buttermilk. All the sweets that you want to eat are best consumed in the morning.

Lunch time yoga

Starting from noon to 15 pm - lunch time. Despite the fact that the sun helps to digest the food taken at this time, yogis still recommend not to get involved in heavy food. In their opinion, the blood at this time loses its energy and becomes thick. Therefore, during this period, foods containing liquid are eaten.

Do not drink canned or reconstituted drinks. They can only harm the body. Yogis are advised to choose fruits and dried fruits in the market, and not in the supermarket.

A little ginger and green cardamom are added to tea or coffee. Drinks are drunk with roasted nuts.

For lunch, they also eat lightly fried. Satiety and benefits will bring yeast-free cakes from. You should not eat yeast bread, as it only gives satiety and does not add health. Yogis like to eat rice with dal. Water with the addition of lemon juice or honey is considered useful, as it improves digestion.

About how a yogi has dinner

Yoga Dinner ends at 6pm. In the evening, you can not heavily load the stomach, as the digestive processes slow down their work. At this time, vegetable soups, steamed, boiled or stewed vegetables are consumed. You can not eat root vegetables and citrus fruits for dinner, as well as seeds, nuts and rice. It is especially harmful to eat animal products.

It is forbidden to eat fried and spicy foods. At this time, it is better to refrain from vegetable oil. At this time, vegetables should be cooked in water or ghee. Buckwheat with milk is considered good food. Any dish can be replaced with a glass of milk with the addition of ghee. You should not drink hot milk.

Food for winter

Winter food, according to yogis, requires a special approach. It should not only nourish the body, but also warm. Warming properties at this time of the year are hot vegetable dishes, where potatoes, turnips, carrots, tomatoes, pumpkins, zucchini, greens are added. If the yogi does not follow a sattwic diet, garlic and onions may be consumed in small quantities.

You should minimize the consumption of citrus fruits and dairy products. Cheese is an exception. Nuts help keep warm. They are consumed whole, fried or processed into a paste, to which raisins should also be added. Do not drink cold drinks with ice in winter. Ginger, black pepper or fenugreek seeds are added to the tea.

Allows you to achieve a lot in the life of yoga. Healthy nutrition is an essential companion of asanas and helps to achieve physical and psychological perfection.

Yoga Nutrition Principles

Since yoga, as we have already found out, is not just “physical education”, but a complex system, it also has a section on nutrition. True, these rules arose on the territory of the Indian subcontinent, the natural conditions of which are very different from ours, so the rules of a healthy diet of a true yogi may seem unacceptable to us. Well, or not quite applicable to our reality. But first, let's find out what they are.

Yogis observe the following general dietary rules:

- it is best if the food corresponds to the area of ​​\u200b\u200bresidence and the season of the year. So, in central Russia, it is more correct to focus on local vegetables and fruits, and not on mangoes with avocados or coconut milk. This does not mean that they should not be eaten at all, but it does mean that the basis of nutrition, most of it, should be local products. The slogan "Buy local!" fits here. Even better, of course, would be to grow, but this is not always realistic;

- The most useful will be well-digestible and freshly prepared food. At the same time, cooked food is better than raw (this does not apply to fruits), hot food is better than cold, and fresh food is better than heated. Food should be eaten immediately after preparation, and fruits - straight from the garden, because the fresher the product, the greater its benefits. Reheated food is of no use. Also, frozen foods should be avoided, be it fresh-frozen or frozen convenience foods;

- Eat only when you feel hungry

- if there is no appetite, you can not eat, replacing food with drinking water (namely water, not juices, drinks or milk);

- You need to eat so as not to overeat. That is, you should not stuff food into yourself “to the last”. You need to get up from the table without feeling heaviness in a full stomach. Two handfuls of food are considered an ideal serving (do not forget that it is warm in India). You need to wait until the food is digested before proceeding to the next meal, so it is optimal to take a break of 2-4 hours between light meals and 4-6 hours between heavy meals;

- food should take place in a calm atmosphere, you should not rush, you should chew food thoroughly until it is crushed in your mouth. There is no point in swallowing whole pieces. If you sit down at the table upset, then negative emotions will damage digestion;

- you do not need to have breakfast immediately after sleep, first it is better to drink a glass of warm water to “wake up” the digestive tract;

- different schools of yoga in different areas give different answers to the question of whether to drink with meals. Some say that it is better to drink a glass of water an hour before a meal, and then you can drink it an hour and a half after a meal. But in Sri Lanka, they believe that you can drink food while eating with small sips of warm water;

- yoga calls for eating most of the daily diet during the day. It is believed that digestion is most intense between 11 and 14 hours. Breakfast should be light, and dinner should be no later than 2 hours before bedtime, otherwise the dream will be restless and the person will not rest.

Eating before sunrise and after sunset is considered wrong in yoga, since the vital energy in the first case is not yet active, and in the second it is no longer active, that is, the maximum benefit from eating will not be obtained. However, it should be borne in mind that the further north, the greater the difference between summer and winter day length. It is unlikely that at the latitude of the Arctic Circle, even a yogi will find it useful to starve for six months. In addition, yoga states that the regimen and amount of nutrition should correspond to the individual characteristics of a person: his lifestyle, the rhythm of work and rest, and the goals set.

In matters of nutrition, yoga intersects with another ancient Indian science - Ayurveda, the traditional, ancient system of Indian medicine. In both yoga and Ayurveda, all products are divided into three types: sattvic, rajasic and tamasic. These types come from three concepts: sattva, rajas and tamas.

Sattva is the quality of goodness, purity, balance, harmony, in general, all the best, worthy, which one should strive for.

Rajas is the quality of passion, excitement, activity, irritability.

Tamas is the quality of inertia, inaction, indifference, ignorance.

Also, ready-made meals belong to one of these three types. Moreover, depending on the method of preparation of a dish (and it consists of several products), one quality can be increased and another quality reduced. People have these same qualities, and by eating certain foods, it is believed that one can put the body in order. But this is another topic, it is much broader than the actual conversation about losing weight.

So, one should strive for sattvic food, it is the most favorable for a person. Such food in Ayurveda and yoga is considered to be plant foods, as well as fresh food, freshly cooked or not cooked at all. Rice, cereals, bread and other dishes are sattvic if they are freshly cooked, and in addition, they should not contain meat, fish and certain spices. Also, sattvic food does not have a strong taste, because it awakens passion, and sattva is peace, and passions are contraindicated for it.

The list of these products may vary slightly in different schools, but these differences are small. Sattvic foods most often include most fresh vegetables, fresh fruits, freshly cooked cereals, legumes, milk, sweet cream, fresh yogurt, butter and ghee in moderation, most nuts, seeds and vegetable oils when cold. extraction, as well as a significant part of natural sweeteners (honey, cane sugar, brown sugar). Spices: cinnamon, cumin, coriander seeds, fennel, basil, cardamom, ginger, turmeric. At the same time, it is believed that only organic milk (not pasteurized, not from packages) should be consumed.

Rajasic food has a strong, rich taste. It also includes all spicy, salty, sweet, fried, smoked, stewed and otherwise artfully prepared foods. All dishes of animal origin from meat, fish, poultry are also rajasic, as well as alcoholic drinks, drugs and medicines. Moreover, too hot food, spicy or sour, belongs to the same group. The list of products will include fermented products, including yogurt or kefir, eggs, cheeses, white sugar, most sweeteners, some types of legumes, avocados, salt, radishes, citrus fruits, peanuts, sugary drinks, strong tea and coffee. Rajasic spices include garlic, asafoetida, black pepper, red capsicum, and mustard.

The third group: food that leads to apathy and inactivity. According to the Hindus, this food is not suitable for consumption at all. This includes rotten and stale food that smells bad and tastes bad. But, unfortunately, this is not just standing and spoiled food. It is also food that has been placed in a refrigerator or other cold place, and reheating it will not change its condition. Tamasic foods include most types of fast food, fried foods, frozen foods, microwaved or heavily processed foods.

At the same time, many yoga teachers say that the product itself does not belong to one of the three groups, but the way it is prepared also affects. And vegetables can become tamasic if they are fried with spices, and eggs or fish can acquire the qualities of sattva in a certain way of cooking. However, this is a topic for a separate discussion.

In the teachings of yoga, it is generally accepted that rajasic food contributes to overeating, one of the main signs of its use: a feeling of heaviness in the stomach, it also awakens passion and carnal desires. And tamasic food develops rudeness, stupidity, aggressiveness, indifference in a person.

Yoga and Ayurveda have their own view on the problem of excess weight. They consider the statement that “overweight is associated with overeating” to be an oversimplification, since many people eat as much as they want, but this does not affect their weight. And others are literally sitting on bread and water, but they just can’t lose those extra pounds. Yoga teachers are encouraged to listen to your body.

That is, one should not only adhere to the principles of yoga nutrition, but also note how the body reacts to them, what helps and what does not. Harmonizing nutrition and performing asanas will help normalize metabolism, cleanse the body, and weight will return to normal. But it should be remembered that yoga is slower than many diets. If there are a lot of extra pounds, then you need to take care of yourself for several months, or even a year, before the real effect becomes visible. On the other hand, the lost weight will not return in the near future or after the first holidays. By the way, many yoga exercises, in particular for relaxation, breathing and others, reduce excessive appetite with their calming effect.

It should be borne in mind that it is necessary to follow the rules of nutrition most accurately and take care of yourself at the very beginning of yoga classes, whether it will be asanas or a diet. The main thing here is to get involved. As classes continue, a certain rhythm of life will be established, and at the same time the body will be cleansed, and tastes in food will begin to change. And at some point a person notices that he absolutely does not want what he had to limit himself to. And if you still want to, you can introduce this product or dish into the diet, only a small portion and not often.

And it should also be borne in mind that the advice of yoga masters regarding nutrition is based on the peculiarities of the practice of yogic exercises and at different stages of progress in yoga, different dietary recommendations may be given. There is no one nutrition system in yoga, each school develops its own principles. They have a common basis, but particulars may differ. For example, somewhere they say that all fried food is harmful and tamasic, and in other recommendations it is advised to roast nuts and seeds.