Yoga Diet: A Brief Overview

The recommended and most commonly followed diet for a student of yoga is natural and wholesome. The foods we eat are simple, nutritional, and straight from the earth. These foods are easily digested and keep the body vital and healthy. The mind is clear and serene and a daily yoga practice becomes easier to maintain. Processed and canned foods are most often avoided as they leave the body sluggish and full of toxins.

In yoga (and most eastern) philosophy our diets affect far more than just our physical well being. The food we eat influences out vital energy, mental health and capabilities and our emotional experiences. Eating the right foods as well as maintaining the practice of postures, meditation and breathing techniques direct our mind and body towards achieving the goal of harmony.

Foods that disrupt our emotional, physical, and intellectual balance of well being are considered impure. Foods that are stale, tasteless, over ripe or unripe or putrified end up poisoning the body, dulls the intellect and saps the body of it’s energy. This includes include meat, fish, mushrooms, and foods that have been frozen, preserved, tinned, over-cooked, or re-heated. These are Tamasic foods, they should be avoided.

Foods that overstimulate the mind, making it difficult to control intake include: garlic, onions, tobacco, eggs, coffee, tea, chillies and other strong spices, and foods that are sour, acid, or bitter. Chocolate, white sugar, white flour, and most prepared and convenience foods. These are Rajasic Foods, they should be avoided as well

Foods that are nourishing and easy to digest are ideal. This includes: fresh fruit and vegetables, natural fruit juice, milk butter, beans, honey, and pure water. These foods create sustainable energy and create a clear, calm mind, enabling us the use of all of our physical, mental, and spiritual talents. These are Satvic foods, they should be the base of your diet.

This is an extreme design spectrum of a yoga diet based on Ayurveda, a yoga science of life. A well balanced diet can be maintained keeping these ideals in mind. Some yogis find that a vegetarian or raw food diet maintains these standards and enhances their yogic and spiritual journey.