7 principles of yogic diet

Yogic diet for a clear mind, a healthy body and a peaceful heart

Yogic nutrition is the principles that keep the mind alert, the body healthy, and the heart calm. To keep the mind alert, we eat food that gives us energy to concentrate and work, so that we are active after a meal, not lethargic and tired. For a healthy body, we choose foods and combinations that are easy to digest, which give the body enough nutritional ingredients and vital energy*. To maintain a calm heart, we take responsibility for our food choices, try not to harm ourselves or others, and practice gratitude. In this text, we will look at several aspects that can be applied to put the above principles into practice in our lives.

*Vital energy – is the natural energy that all living things have around us. Vital means life, the one that gives us life, it is necessary for growth, development, and metabolism. Energy is the power that the body needs to do some work, and we get it from food, sleep, and other sources.

1. We eat natural food – processed as little as possible

Foods in nature have their own potential and chemical composition, and with a healthy diet we strive to affect that nature as little as possible. We have accepted ways of changing the chemical composition of foods, such as cooking and heat treatment, fermentation, drying, and the like. Large food manufacturers make instant products from natural foods with chemical additives and preservatives.
It’s simple, the further a food is from its natural state, the less suitable it is for a yogic diet.

For example, soup from a bag will be absorbed differently in our body than soup cooked from fresh vegetables. As we mentioned above, we want to bring vital energy into our body, and this means that the food we use should have vital energy.

2. We choose local and seasonal ingredients 

We choose what grows in the climate we are in at the current time of year. With modern consumerism, this principle is being lost, foods that come to us from distant places are offered as local, and the specificity of the seasons has disappeared through growing in greenhouses and other artificial conditions.

In order to know how to choose local and seasonal foods, we need to observe and follow the seasons in nature. For example, sour cherries ripen in spring, have a sour note and juices full of vitamins because in spring our body also wakes up and needs vitamins. Then wild green herbs such as chicory (dandelion) and young nettles sprout, which contain bitterness, which stimulates the liver to cleanse itself after long winter nights and a heavier diet.

Watermelons and peaches, which are very sweet, are ripe in summer. According to Ayurveda, the sweet taste cools the body, so it is logical that we eat more sweet fruits in summer. Also, fruit sugar is quickly broken down, takes less time to digest, and won’t burden our digestion on hot summer days (it’s still important to eat fruit on its own).

We should prioritize what nature offers us at certain times of the year in our diet.

3. We are looking for fresh and organic foods

Fresh foods grown with as few chemical interventions as possible. In the name of profit, more and more foods are produced by spraying, genetically modifying, etc. We can distinguish vegetables that are “perfectly shaped and colored” but tasteless and nutritionally poor from “unsightly” vegetables with holes, irregular shapes that have a lot of smell, taste and minerals – we prefer to choose the latter. Old food, which has been in storage for a long time, frozen, canned and leftovers are not recommended as a healthy yogic diet.

Food with “empty calories” will not give us vitality and strength, it will make us tired, and in the long run it can lead to illness and obesity.

This principle also includes trying to prepare most of our meals at home, making them fresh, choosing all the ingredients and eating them after cooking. Food is meant to nourish us, not to indulge in it, develop greed or eat out of habit.

We eat because we need energy for life functions, and we get energy from food. We can ask ourselves which food provides the most and best energy for my body?

4. Thoughtful selection of food combinations within meals

According to the philosophy of Ayurveda, it is very important what we combine with what and what our constitution is so that food gives us energy, and does not slow down digestion. Good digestive fire is the key to health (good metabolism). Given that different foods need different enzymes for decomposition and require different digestion times, it is useful to think about combinations, otherwise the food in our digestive system begins to rot and we have symptoms such as bloating, fatigue, headaches, frequent inflammation, heartburn, etc.

A couple of key combo rules and tips that apply to everyone:

• We eat raw fruit in separate meals. At least an hour before a meal and two to three hours after a mid-meal. Especially watermelons and cantaloupes, because they are very sweet and ferment very quickly, so if they encounter anything in our stomach, everything starts to rot. We eat each type of fruit separately. We especially never mix fruit with dairy products.

• We try to have only one source of protein in one meal, because different proteins require different enzymes and time for breakdown. For example, if we eat beans, then we do not eat dairy products in that meal. Vegetable proteins (chickpeas, soy, beans, lentils) and dairy proteins (cheese, yogurt, milk) do not like to meet in the stomach. If we already have two sources of protein in one meal, such as eggs and cheese, then we do not add a third, such as a meat product.

• Main meals should have enough protein otherwise we stay hungry. We need to get “all 12”, which means all 12 essential amino acids that the body cannot produce on its own. If we eat animal products this will not be a problem because eggs, cheese and meat have “all 12”, but if we are vegan or often eat plant-based dishes, we need to make sure that our meal has all the complete proteins. For example, a combination of grains and legumes in the same meal gives “all 12” because grains have 6 amino acids, and legumes have the other 6, so together they give a complete protein. Plant foods that contain all the essential amino acids themselves are Buckwheat, Soybeans, Quinoa and Hemp Seeds.

• Spices can improve the digestibility of foods and their combinations. That is why spices and herbs with aromatic essential oils are used in Indian and Mediterranean cuisine. Pepper is the most popular spice in our culture for awakening digestive juices and salivary glands and improving digestion. All hot and bitter spices stimulate digestion, according to Ayurveda, the king of spices is ginger.

• A healthy pre-meal digestive that will wake up the gastric juices and prepare our digestive system for food is a mixture of finely chopped ginger cubes (or grated fresh ginger) in a tablespoon of lemon juice and a little Himalayan salt. This drink can be drunk (and nibbled on) 5-15 minutes before the main course and will whet our appetite, and everything we eat will be better digested.

• Fats are our friends, the myth that fats make us fat is not entirely true. Healthy fats from natural sources, not processed, are very important for our system. Again, depending on the constitution, season and needs of each of us, the need for fats varies, but lean and dry is not healthier than well-oiled.

• Sugar is our enemy, and this myth is only partly true. Sugar is the primary, most nutritious taste, the first we taste with breast milk, everything in nature needs sugar in some form to grow. Sweetness is truly comfort and love and is an important source of energy. The problem with sugar is processed sugars separated from the composition of whole foods because, for example, fruit is not only sweet, it has a sour or bitter note and in all these flavors there is a wealth of vitamins and minerals. Products made from processed sugar are harmful, they acidify the body and prevent the absorption of vitamins and minerals, for example, industrial chocolates, ice creams, factory cookies (in addition to sugar, they often have an abundance of unhealthy fats). Rice, for example, is naturally sweet, a simple starch, but if we are used to very sweet tastes, rice is tasteless. Fortunately, we can move that boundary and accustom our taste buds to recognize milder sweetness if we reduce the sources of “only sweet” processed sugar.

When we listen to our body, we will know what we digest well and what we digest poorly. Belching, wind, bloating and bad breath are signs that this food combination has not worked for us and that the body is struggling to digest it.

If we take these few rules into account, we can create meals that will be easier to digest and healthier.

We need to understand that each of us is different and that we really synthesize what we need from different sources. Also, our needs for the quantity and composition of foods that the body requires change throughout life.

The most valuable thing is to learn to listen to our body and its needs well. We should not judge others for their choices, nor criticize ourselves for our own.

If we eat according to yogic principles, over a longer period of time, the body gets used to receiving quality food, full of vital energy. Healthy, freshly prepared, whole meals do not leave us hungry and after a meal we do not need quick solutions to hunger such as simple carbohydrates and sugars. Our body craves it if it is not fed healthy foods.

5. How to eat and the importance of chewing

When and how we eat is almost more important than what we eat. If we eat in peace, when we are hungry and chew our food, our food will go down well. It is not healthy to eat “on the run” or in a hurry, in stress, in an argument or in an atmosphere that is not suitable for a meal. Let’s try to make time and a place for a quiet meal and dedicate ourselves to food.

Only when we are hungry do we eat with gusto, if we eat when we are full, out of greed, in between meals, constantly a little, our stomach is constantly full and we never feel that nice healthy call of hunger. It is also not good to overeat because then we eat suddenly, greedily and too much at once. That is why we are careful about how much and when we eat, just hungry enough to satisfy us, and not so hungry that we cannot stop.

In order to properly dose how much we will eat, let’s learn to chew.

According to Ayurveda, each bite should be chewed 30 times. Maybe that is a bit too much, start with 20 times for solid food. Overeating and eating quickly is like putting a big log on a small digestive fire, of course we will put it out, but when we eat slowly and chew, we fan our digestive fire and everything we eat will start our metabolism nicely.

When we chew thoroughly, digestion really starts in the mouth, we turn food into a mush that our stomach can easily process. While we chew, our salivary glands wake up, and our intestines prepare for what is coming. We can also really enjoy the flavors that are developing, perhaps putting a slightly different combination on our fork each time, so that each bite is a special experience for us.
By eating slowly and chewing thoroughly, we experience our meals and enjoy them.

6. Prayer and gratitude

Perhaps the most important principle of yogic nutrition is to eat with gratitude and respect for the meal in front of us.
When we eat gratefully, our being eagerly accepts the energy from the food, if we are ungrateful and picky, we send our body the message “maybe this is not the best for me”.

Living in cities, we have lost direct contact with how food grows and the path it must take to get to our table. If we plant or grow our own food, we know how much effort, time, attention and knowledge each carrot requires. We know how to appreciate everything because we have made the effort, we will not throw food away, be picky and spoiled.
We need to think about how many hands it took for each ingredient to be on our table and understand that it is our responsibility to nurture the value of the food and resources we have.
The economic situation changes so easily and when “hard times” come, let’s not take for granted the abundance we now have. With the possibility of a large selection of foods and richly stocked shelves in stores, our spoiledness has also developed, which leads to ungrateful pickiness.

The relationship we have with food is the relationship we have with other aspects of our lives, so we can start from there and be grateful. Praying before eating is precisely what it does, to become aware of the beauty and richness of what we have and eat with gratitude.

Prayer can be our silent sentence: “Thank you for this meal, may my body accept it with gratitude and use it to the best of its ability to take in everything it needs.”

7. Movement and exercise

Movement and exercise are an integral part of a yogic diet because a body that does not move or remains passive for a long time automatically has slower intestinal peristalsis, less oxygen for the brain and other organs to function, a weaker heart, etc. and this cannot be fixed even with the “healthiest salad”.

Healthy exercise is necessary to keep our systems active and vital. Yoga is a discipline that offers us all aspects of exercise because we work on strength, stretching, mobility of joints and spine, health of internal organs, lung capacity and brain function. Yoga uses various methods, along with the practice of yoga asana, to specifically address the awakening and massage of the digestive system.
For health, we need to have “cleanliness and fluidity” of our organisms because diseases occur when energy in the body does not flow.
Energy flow is synonymous with body movement, breathing rhythm, good metabolism, circulation and other changes that occur daily within our system. Good energy flow = health.

Summary

We often hear that a yogic diet is vegetarian or vegan. This is not necessary, it is certainly better to eat homemade, fresh and lovingly prepared foods from reliable sources than factory-processed and fast food, even if it has the label “bio” or “organic”. Vegetarian food has also become big business, so what is sold under the label of healthy food is no longer living food, often just as full of sugar and additives.

According to these principles, we are invited to think about what we buy and what we feed ourselves and our families. We need to take responsibility for every food we choose, because by buying we invest in the production and consumption of that product. So let’s try to see that our choice is a way of saying “yes, I support this” or “no, I don’t invest in this”. Each of us is free to make our own choice.

Being informed and aware when choosing gives us the opportunity to decide, so that we don’t regret our actions later and are not guided by the automatism of blind habits.

We learn to discern the influence of advertising, marketing and culture in order to see more clearly that not everything offered as a food product is good food for our body. Let’s think about how this perfectly packaged, advertised product is created, what industry is behind it and what is the price (what are the sacrifices, stakes and dangers) that we also agree to if we buy it.
It is a call to think, to choose consciously and to use common sense when choosing, neither extreme is good.

Let’s get into practice

If you want to deal with the awakening of digestion through dynamic yoga, I suggest that you do the four-day cycle “Fiery digestion – the cycle of awakening digestion and revitalization of organs” which is on my YouTube playlist.

I am holding a lecture on Yogic nutrition and yoga exercises to stimulate digestion based on this article on October 8, 2022. from 10-12:30 online, via the zoom application. In the lecture, the principles mentioned here will be discussed, the participants’ questions will be answered and a guided yoga class will be practiced.