I was on a quest to understand food as it’s been a huge challenge for me since young. In my family health & weight issues are very much prevalent. This is something I struggled with for decades. As I began this quest to understand food and how we should fuel our body about 5 years ago, I realized I didn’t need to look so far as the answers can be seen in one of the oldest scriptures in the world The Bhagavad Gita. So, when yoga came back into my life 13 years later since I first encountered it, I realized many of my questions about healthy living, food was answered.

It is said that a Yogi sees the body as a vehicle for the soul, and therefore treats it with utmost respect & care. The art of Yoga develops our pure inner nature, and the choice of food plays an important part in the process. According to the Bhagavad Gita chapter 17, it is stated food can be divided into three types: sattvic (pure), rajasic
(stimulating) and tamasic (impure/rotten).

Yogis believe that peoples food preferences reflect their level of mental purity, and that these preferences alter as they develop spiritually. I do agree with this. As we deepen our practice, organically you are ready to make changes to support your journey further. I don’t believe that this needs to be forced upon anyone instead as everyone’s journey is special on its own. However, it’s important that we are empowered with these information so that it can support someone in making an informed decision when they are ready to delve in deeper into their spiritual growth.

Sattvic foods are thought to be pure and balanced, offering feelings of calmness, happiness, and mental clarity. Out of the three types, sattvic foods are considered the most nutritious. The yogic food choices are basically a vegetarian + plant-based diet that is based on the principles of Sattvic. Sattvic food should have four qualities, which can be represented by the abbreviation LWPW, which will be described below.

2.LIVING

There are 2 “M” you can pick from. A is Mother Nature. B is Manufacturer/Man made. Which “M” will you go for? I’d say whenever possible pick A.

• Our food should not be processed, tinned, packaged, bottled or canned. Ideally if possible, It must come straight from the farm to our kitchen.
• According to the Bhagavad Gita, chapter 17, verse 10, food should be eaten within 3 hours of being cooked. After 3 hours, it starts to lose the life energy inside it and becomes Tamasik. I realised this was taken very seriously when I served in the ashram, all foods are eaten fresh only. In fact, our forefathers and grandparents also obeyed this law. They used to eat everything fresh – straight from the stove to the plate. However, these days, we find ourselves storing cooked food in the refrigerator for several days.
• When we looked at processed food e.g. biscuits, chips, candies, snacks. Forget 3 hours or even 3 days. Most of them were cooked even 3 years in advance and have been stored in bottles, tins, cans and boxes unfortunately.
• The rule of thumb is , If something is cooked on fire, we must eat it within 3 hours, maximum 5 hours. Don’t eat Dead Foods made by manufacturers but Eat Living Food from mother nature.

2. WHOLESOME

   Mother nature knows best. There’s a reason why She hung dates on trees, and not sugar. There’s a reason why She gives us coconut, and not coconut oil, potatoes, but not potato chips.

• Our food should be unprocessed & unrefined. It should not have been subtracted of its natural elements. (Basically, if there was an ingredient list it should only read 1 ingredient.
• All foods that come directly from plants and trees are wholesome – raw fruits and vegetables for example. They have not been subtracted of anything. White rice, sugar, oils, refined flours, refined wheat – are all highly fragmented foods. The more refined the more fragmented the food is.
• Nature has given each food item a specific ratio of carbs, protein, fats, nutrients – so that we humans can easily digest and eliminate it.

3. PLANT-BASED

Our food should be derived from plants & trees, not from animals. No meat, fish or eggs

• Nature has constructed every organism either a carnivore (an organism that feeds on other organisms) or a herbivore (an organism that feeds on plants).
• If Nature had designed meat as our natural food, wouldn’t she have given us sharp nails andteeth to tear it apart, shorter intestines, strong hydrochloric acid and night vision eyes? Naturedoes not make mistakes. It is a fact that meat is not our natural food.
• I remember Master mentioning in one of our classes how many of us treat our own stomach a graveyard from eating dead animal? Think about it. Our body should be a garden, not agraveyard.
• Fun fact: All religions of this world have favoured vegetarianism. Some of the worldwide fame has been vegetarians, such as Socrates, Buddha, Leonardo Da Vinci, Thomas Edison, Gandhi just to name a few.
• Besides treating our body as a dumpster, eating meat can have affects on the mind. What we eat dramatically affects the way we think. Food has consciousness. If we take living food and positive, living thoughts, we also become positive and living!
• Think about it – all the animals that we chose to eat for protein, are vegetarian animals.

WATER BASED
According to the Bhagavad Gita, our food should be juicy, meaning water rich. Let’s understand what water-rich means.

• In the Bhagavad Gita, chapter 17, verse 8, Lord Krishna describes the qualities of Satvic foods. The first quality of Sattvic food, he describes, is to be r_a_s_y_āḥ – meaning juicy in Sanskrit. Such foods increase the duration of life, purify one’s existence and give strength, health, happiness and satisfaction, says Lord Krishna.
• In the next verse, He also says that foods that are r_ūk_ṣh_a – meaning dry (water-poor) in are Rajasik and are liked by those in the mode of passion. Such foods cause pain, distress, and disease, says Lord Krishna.
• The more water a food contains, the easier it is to break down and the quicker it passes through your digestive system. Once the food gets digested, the healing power (praanshakti) resumes healing the body and curing disease.
• About 70% of our body is water and so, about 70% of our food choices should consist of waterrich foods and the remaining 30% can consist of water-poor foods.

The human body needs food for two purposes, as a fuel for energy and as raw material to repair itself. A pure, natural vegetarian sattvic food choice provides the fuel that it’said to keep the body functioning at its best, gives most energy and contains the fewest additives whilst maintaining purity of the body & mind.

I hope from these insights, it shows you that when in doubt about not knowing what the right food choices you should be taking for overall well being, you don’t need to look any further or anywhere else because it’s already made clear in our scriptures alone. At the same time, this doesn’t mean your food will not be tasty either. With many talented chefs coming up with recipe books, you can easily find such wonderful delicious nourishing sattvic recipes from around the globe. Whether you’re craving for a pizza, a dessert, a smoothie or just good old idlis trust me you are covered.

My humble advice would be to begin by making small changes example, perhaps take an audit of how much water rich & water poor food you are currently consuming. What is the current percentage? From there you can easily make swaps to include more water rich food in your daily choices. As you go on this journey, if you feel ready to make more changes you’ll know when it feels right. Trust your process and journey. You’ll know what to do to deepen & support your spiritual growth from a food point of view.

By Gayatri Pillay