Diet and Nutrition

YOGIC MEDICINE

“We are constantly bombarded with stimuli, and these make up the diet of our lifestyle. From the food we eat, the air we breathe, the things we see, feel, hear and touch, our environment is formed and this in turn profoundly influences and shapes our internal environment. We are what we eat literally, for the mind is constructed out of the subtlest parts of our diet and the body from the rest. To achieve the goal of life, to find contentment and perfection requires a peaceful and focused mind. To control the mind is difficult since it is in reality very much under the control of our physical body. It is therefore suggested that we first discipline and control the physical body and the mind may be easily controlled. Diet plays an important part in this process.”
– Swami Vishnudevananda

Guidelines for a Healthy Diet

A diet which is not in accord with the principles of satisfactory nutrition leads to impaired physical development, ill-health and untimely death. A high standard of health, vigor and vitality can be achieved through a well-balanced diet. Such a diet will enable you to develop your inherited capacities to the full extent.

A well-balanced and adequate diet must yield enough calories, as well as supply the various food constituents in sufficient quantities. We need both an energy source for our day-to-day functioning, and vitamins and minerals to stimulate the production of particular hormones and to prevent debilitative diseases.

Water is also a necessary part of the diet. About 70 percent of body weight is water. There is daily loss of about 2.5 liters (4 pints) of water through the skin, lungs, kidneys and the alimentary canal. Water has a greater cleansing action on the tissues than other beverages. It dissolves and distributes food. It is necessary for digestion, and removes impurities from the body. It keeps the body temperature stable through evaporation from the skin in the form of sweat.

Make all changes to your diet gradually. If something disagrees with you, reduce the quantity or eliminate it completely. With practice, you will develop an inner voice to guide you in the selection of a diet suited to your temperament and constitution; one that will maintain your physical efficiency, good health and mental vigor.

Simple and natural food and drink, which is nonstimulating, tissue building, and energy producing, will keep the mind calm and pure and help the yoga practitioner attain the goal of life. A healthy diet means eating the proper foods, in proper proportion, under the proper circumstances, with the proper attitude.