How Does Healthy Diet Affect Your Yoga Journey?
How Does Healthy Diet Affect Your Yoga Journey?
If you have been practicing yoga for a while, you might have noticed some great changes to your body. Not just physically, but also mentally. If you are an intermediate yogi, you might also want to look into a way to improve your body system health. Although there’s no such a yogic food menu in the history of yoga listing out all the foods yogis should eat, theirs is a yogic diet for people to follow.
What Is The Yoga Diet
Yoga practice improves your awareness of your body and your thoughts. Similar to yoga practice concepts, a yoga diet also has a great improvement on your body system. It is not an alternative weight-loss method, but rather a diet plan for you to achieve and maintain a healthy lifestyle.
What Are The Three Basic Concepts of A Yoga Diet?
According to Ayurvedic, there are three principles of a yoga diet:
Rajasic
Rajasic foods are foods that could cause stimulation to your body and mind. Foods that are spicy, bitter, salty, dry, and hot are considered rajasic foods.
Example: Fish, Shrimp, Chicken, Coffee, Tea, Potatoes, Chocolate
Tamasic
Tamasic foods are often referred to as foods that slow down your mind, give you a desire to stop and rest. Heavily oil foods and overnight foods are also considered tamasic foods.
Example: White flour, Overnight food, Jam, Whisky, Fries, Cheese
Sattvic
The concept of Sattvic plays the most important role in a yoga diet. Everything you consume during a yoga diet should be Sattvic. Sattvic foods are pure foods that are easy to digest, light, and do not cause any overstimulation to your body and mind. They could bring improvement to your health, strength, and relaxation. While it is not a huge factor, the foods in your yogic diet should be organic since Sattvic foods should be unprocessed.
Example: Fresh green vegetables, rice, wheat, apples, nuts, seeds, honey
What Are The Benefits of A Yoga Diet?
- The Sattvic concept is the basic guideline for a yoga diet. Eating foods like vegetables, fruits, and whole grains could absorb a large amount of fiber, which strengthens your gut’s consuming ability.
- Most Sattvic foods are vegetables and fruits. They contain a large amount of fiber and are very easy to digest. According to research, plant-based eaters tend to have a faster metabolic rate compared to meat-eaters, which means they burn calories faster.
- Although the main purpose of a yoga diet is not weight loss, it is a healthy way to lose fat and gain good fat from Sattvic foods.