Sattvic: the power of fresh food

[Ava]

Peace through a Sattvic Diet:
A Life Enhancing Diet to Balance the Mind

What is a Sattvic Diet?
In Ayurveda, the emphasis is on a Sattvic diet for healthy living, particularly for keeping our minds clear, happy and at peace. The original Sattvic diet was devised for the development of higher consciousness.

Sattvic foods are foods that are abundant in Prana - the universal life-force that gives life to all sentient beings in both plant and animal kingdoms. A Sattvic diet means not only vegetarian food but food rich in Prana - 'life-force' like organic fresh fruits and vegetables. It requires avoiding canned and processed food, and foods prepared with chemical fertilizers or sprays. It also means properly prepared fresh foods. Foods prepared with lots of love will add to their Sattvic quality.

The ancient Ayurvedic criteria for foods to be considered Sattvic were quite simple: foods were grown organically on good, rich, fertile soil; foods were to be attractive in appearance and harvested at the correct time of year. Foods were whole foods, full of life-force and enzymes, and as close as possible to their natural fresh state.

Today, we need to add to these criteria for a Sattvic diet several other modern concerns. Sattvic foods should be grown without pesticides, herbicides, chemical fertilizers, hormones, irradiation or anything unnatural. The modern use of refinement processes and chemical additives, besides actually adding substances to our foods, depletes foods of their Prana 'life-force' and hence renders them heavy, impotent and lifeless.

Sattvic foods are nutritive vegetarian foods like organic nuts, seeds, whole grains, and oily fruits and vegetables that help build the brain tissue and develop Ojas.

www.thelivingcentre.com/sevenfold-path-of-peace-articles/peace-through-a-sattvic-diet

[Ava]

There are three types of foods categorized by their primal essence or nature:

Tamasic Foods

Dark, and dull. A tamasic diet benefits neither the mind nor body. Prana, or energy, is withdrawn, powers of reasoning become clouded and a sense of inertia sets in. The body's resistance to disease is destroyed and the mind filled with dark emotions, such as anger, jealousy, and greed. Tamasic foods include meat, poultry, fish, eggs, alcohol and other intoxicants including drugs. Foods that are over-processed, no longer fresh, and/or difficult to digest are Tamasic. Foods that are prepared unconsciously or while the preparer is angry or in a negative mood are also considered Tamasic. If you are interested in vital health and spiritual growth it is best to avoid these foods. Tamasic items include meat, alcohol, tobacco, onions, garlic, fermented foods, such as vinegar, and stale leftover food, contaminated or overripe substances. Overeating is also regarded as Tamasic. Tamasic is the unhealthiest food of all.

Rajasic Foods

Rajas signify a "can do" kind of energy. It is this energy, which we need to accomplish, create, and achieve. It represents worldly power and the sex drive. A Rajasic diet is good for "householders" who aspire to maintain a meditative mind but need to live and work in the world as well. It has been recommended by the ancient Rishis teachers that a combination of Sattvic and Rajasic foods for those who practice demanding disciplines such as endurance athletics, martial arts, and Kundalini Yoga. They destroy the mind-body equilibrium, feeding the body at the expense of the mind. Foods that are very hot, bitter, sour, dry, or salty are rajasic. Too much rajasic food will over stimulate the body and excite strong emotional qualities and passions, making the mind restless and uncontrollable. Rajasic foods include hot substances, such as sharp spices or strong herbs, or stimulants, like coffee and tea, the meat of animals and fish, eggs, salt, and chocolate. Many of the ground foods are Rajasic. Eating in a hurry is also considered Rajasic.

Sattvic Foods

Sattvic means pure essence. This is the purest diet for a consciously spiritual and healthy life. It nourishes the body and maintains it in a peaceful state. According to Ayurveda, this is the best diet for physical strength, a good mind, good health, and longevity. And it calms and purifies the mind, enabling it to function at its maximum potential. A Sattvic diet thus leads to true health: a peaceful mind in control of a fit body, with a balanced flow of energy between them. A Sattvic diet is excellent for those individuals who desire to live a quiet, peaceful and meditative life. Sattvic foods comprise the diet of many sages, yogis, and spiritual teachers. These foods are supposed to produce calmness and nobility among men. Eating fruits and vegetables increases one's magnetism. From what we understand today about diets we are sure that ancient Essenes and Rishis masters had a very good idea about food in general and their effect on the body and thinking pattern of man. Expression of the soul is dependent on the body, and the body is dependant on food.

The Sattvic diet consists of light, soothing, easily digested food. Sattvic signifies the etheric qualities and includes foods such as fruits and vegetables, especially sun foods and ground foods. Sattvic foods that are sun foods are those that grow one meter or more above the ground. They have a quickening and lightening effect on the body's nervous and digestive systems. Ground foods are those foods that grow within one meter underground. They draw energy from the earth and are high in nutrients. Sattvic foods include sprouted whole grains, fresh fruit, land and sea vegetables, pure fruit juices, nut and seed milk and cheese, legumes, nuts, seeds, sprouted seeds, honey, and herb teas. Sattvic foods are those foods which do not agitate your stomach at all. According to the diet, the best foods are those that are fresh, have a balance of all the six tastes and are consumed in moderate portions.

www.thelivingcentre.com/sevenfold-path-of-peace-articles/peace-through-a-sattvic-diet

[Ava]

I have a lot of faith in this diet.

It gives me comfort and strength to know there is power in my own choices, to clean up my mind and mood. Then in the broader scale, I think humanity could move forward if more people adopted this philosophy. Some say, our food choices are ethical choices, we have a responsibility to eat right. I agree, but it's difficult, especially with children who don't want to eat what they're served all the time.

I did want to point something out which might be obvious to anyone who's into health food....eating all fresh food can feel quite disastrous at first, because of detox reactions. The emotional detox can be grueling. Also sometimes there's a lack of protein if this diet change isn't done right...and there are other guidelines to the Ayurvedic diet that can't be ignored, like the matching of food with body type (doshas).

I wanted to post a dosha test here but I'm finding too many require an email address, and I dislike that. But if anyone's curious, those tests are abundant online.

My body type is Vata-Kapha (vikruti, body type resulting from life habits). This means I am thin (Vata) and have some health issues related to thinness (dislike the cold). However I am also Kapha (emotionally heavy, slow, with thick wavy hair). Trying to balance out Vata by eating heavy foods like dairy will often backfire on me, because it aggravates my Kapha energy (makes me lazy and tired).

I was probably Pitta at birth (prakruti, natural constitution). I had blond hair, fast learner, fiery disposition, medium build. My friend who's deeply involved in Ayurveda believes I am still Pitta. I just shrug. Guess I'll have to meet more experts. For now I feel that I CRAVE Pitta-aggravating foods like tomatoes, spices, eggs. Eggs are rajasic (see above) but I need that kind of energy to spur me along, in this crazy rat race that I live in.

When that same friend gave me an Ayurvedic cookbook many years ago, it sat on my shelf for years before I started getting into it. The whole conceptual framework was just so foreign and almost unbelievable to me. Bit by bit these ideas became more and more important to me.

I think the energetic health of humanity ought to be a primary concern for all. But most people don't see it that way, not yet.