Yoga Diet, Modern Life: Part 3

Rajasic foods

“Foods that are bitter, sour, saline, excessively hot, pungent, dry and burning are liked by the Rajasic and are productive of pain, grief and disease.”

Bhagavad Gita

Rajasic foods overstimulate the body and mind, increasing stress, destroying balance within the body and mind and leading to unhappiness. Commonly used foods such as onions, garlic, radishes, tea, coffee, stimulants, very spicy and or salty food, refined sugar, fizzy drinks, spices and over-processed food are all counted as Rajasic. Even Sattvic food can become Rajasic if it’s eaten quickly – think of how many times you’ve had lunch on the go followed by indigestion!

Many of us have a natural tendency when working or in stressful situations to crave Rajasic foods “to get through the day”, for example, drinking endless cups of coffee or sugary fizzy drinks. Spicy food can even become addictive – chilli addiction actually is a thing! Chillis themselves are not addictive but the substance capsaicin found in chillis is able to trick the tongue into thinking it has been burnt. The negative sensation becomes addictive – a bit like thrill-seekers searching for a greater high from going on more and more extreme rollercoasters. Obviously this heightened state of excitement is incompatible with the calmness sought during yoga practice.

Before you go and throw out all your teabags though, it’s fine to allow Rajasic foods in moderation – although some yogis may disagree with my thinking on this. I quite literally wouldn’t be able to function without my daily cup of tea first thing in the morning! The trick, as with most things in life, is balance – achieved by eating plenty of Sattvic foods.

Tamasic foods

“That food which is stale, tasteless, putrid, rotten, and impure refuse, is the food liked by the Tamasic.”

Bhagavad Gita

Tamasic food brings about laziness, lack of motivation, anger and poor mental and physical health. It includes meat, fish, eggs, alcohol, intoxicants, mushrooms, stale and rotten food. It can also be other food which has been over-cooked, deep-fried, burnt, barbecued, reheated and containing preservatives. Overeating (even Sattvic food) is Tamasic.

Much of the illness and disease in the UK (such as diabetes, heart disease, cancer and mental health issues) has clear links to Tamasic foods.The food readily available in supermarkets as ready meals, served in plastic boxes as takeaways and eaten without any consideration about where it comes from or what happened to it en route to our bodies is all making us worse off in terms of mental and physical health.

Before starting to practice yoga, my diet contained many Tamasic foods (although I’ve always eaten plenty of fresh vegetables as well) and I wondered why I always felt tired, was overweight and suffered with IBS (Irritable Bowel Syndrome). I switched to a yoga diet before I started my teacher training and the effect on my digestion and energy levels was very definite – no more IBS symptoms and enough energy to raise a son, hold down a full-time job and teach yoga classes 3-4 times per week.

Other factors

Many yogis are by choice vegetarian or vegan as this avoids Tamasic foods and enables them to apply their interpretation of Ahimsa (non-violence) to other sentient creatures. This is a personal choice and every yogi will have their own way of practicing Ahimsa. There are also economic and environmental factors to consider. The cost of rearing meat exceeds the cost of producing vegetable crops in terms of money and the environmental waste produced – therefore avoiding meat is cheaper and can help towards preservation of the planet.

Summary

The old adage, all things in moderation applies as much to a yoga diet as it does to anything else.  Whatever food you choose to eat, treat it with respect – be grateful, don’t binge, chew thoroughly and savour it!