Why do we eat ? On the most basic level, we eat to satiate hunger and get the nutrition we need to sustain our physiology. In the West we talk about recommended daily allowances in terms of caloric intake, minerals and nutrients. Reading nutrition labels is like a chemistry experiment gone awry . On the other hand , the Ayurvedic approach to food is so simple, pure and perfectly harmonious. In Ayurveda ,eating is a purification of the body and like Yoga, it is a communion with the divine.
The preparation of food, the offering of food , and the eating of the food that is offered to us is sacred. Food is a gift from Mother Earth and the Divine and it should be eaten as it was gifted to us without being irradiated, bleached, treated with chemicals. If we recognize food as a communion with the divine and as medicinal in nature, it changes our entire attitude of how we eat, when we eat , why we eat and what we eat . And it changes the energetics of the food.
In order to understand the energetics of food, we must first understand the gunas.
The Gunas
The three Gunas as described in Yoga & Ayruveda are Sattva, Rajas and Tamas. The gunas can be described as the qualities of energy in all things and describe the "tendencies" of the mind, body and consciousness and describe our behavior, thinking, health and diet as well.
Rajas is characterized by excitement, desire activity, restlessness, stress and anger.
Tamas is characterized by lethargy, dullness and laziness.
Sattva is characterized by balance happiness, contentment, virtue, patience & forgiveness
There is an interplay of all gunas within us. Without Tamas we would not sleep and without Rajas we would lack the drive to get things accomplished and without Sattva life would be uninspiring and without the higher human qualities. Yogis aim to increase sattva guna through a healthy body and a peaceful mind and diet plays a major role in creating harmony.
The preparation of food, the offering of food , and the eating of the food that is offered to us is sacred. Food is a gift from Mother Earth and the Divine and it should be eaten as it was gifted to us without being irradiated, bleached, treated with chemicals. If we recognize food as a communion with the divine and as medicinal in nature, it changes our entire attitude of how we eat, when we eat , why we eat and what we eat . And it changes the energetics of the food.
In order to understand the energetics of food, we must first understand the gunas.
The Gunas
The three Gunas as described in Yoga & Ayruveda are Sattva, Rajas and Tamas. The gunas can be described as the qualities of energy in all things and describe the "tendencies" of the mind, body and consciousness and describe our behavior, thinking, health and diet as well.
Rajas is characterized by excitement, desire activity, restlessness, stress and anger.
Tamas is characterized by lethargy, dullness and laziness.
Sattva is characterized by balance happiness, contentment, virtue, patience & forgiveness
There is an interplay of all gunas within us. Without Tamas we would not sleep and without Rajas we would lack the drive to get things accomplished and without Sattva life would be uninspiring and without the higher human qualities. Yogis aim to increase sattva guna through a healthy body and a peaceful mind and diet plays a major role in creating harmony.
"One man's food is another man's poison":
We can eat the most beautiful, nutritious organic food , but if it is not right for our dosha it can cause an imbalance and how we cook, eat and store our foods can affect the gunas of the food and our consciousness.
We can be more or less dominated by one of the three gunas and depending on what kind of energy we need more of in our lives we can regulate these gunas in body and mind through ayurvedic cooking.
If we eat or cook when angry, depressed, bored, or feeling emotionally unstable, or immediately after any physical exertion that energy will infuse the food. It is best not to eat or cook in this state of mind as it can give a rajasic or tamasic quality to the food. In general, it is best to cook for yourself or let only someone who loves you cook for you. With that being said, it is best to avoid eating out too much. Restaurants are in the business of making profits and not balancing your gunas. You do not know how the food was prepared nor what energy from the cook or server is pervading the food.
Sitting while eating in a clean area, facing the direction of the sun, the earth's source of heat and fire, engaging in pleasant conversation or eating in silence allows us to digest our food well rather than watching t.v., talking about politics or eating on the run or in the car. Eating alone or with people with good energy and engaging all the sense organs while eating or cooking colorful foods with pleasant music, fresh flowers has a sattvic quality.
Overeating is tamasic. How much is the right amount? In Ayurveda we divide the stomach into 3 parts : 1/3 is for food, 1/3 for liquid and 1/3 for air. The quantity of food is 1 Anjali which would equate to placing your hands in prayer and opening them up. So whatever fits into the palms of your two hands is how much we should eat. The liquid should be warm water as it aids with digestion (ice drinks and cold drinks put out your digestive fires) and the last space remains empty so that your stomach can churn.
We can eat the most beautiful, nutritious organic food , but if it is not right for our dosha it can cause an imbalance and how we cook, eat and store our foods can affect the gunas of the food and our consciousness.
We can be more or less dominated by one of the three gunas and depending on what kind of energy we need more of in our lives we can regulate these gunas in body and mind through ayurvedic cooking.
If we eat or cook when angry, depressed, bored, or feeling emotionally unstable, or immediately after any physical exertion that energy will infuse the food. It is best not to eat or cook in this state of mind as it can give a rajasic or tamasic quality to the food. In general, it is best to cook for yourself or let only someone who loves you cook for you. With that being said, it is best to avoid eating out too much. Restaurants are in the business of making profits and not balancing your gunas. You do not know how the food was prepared nor what energy from the cook or server is pervading the food.
Sitting while eating in a clean area, facing the direction of the sun, the earth's source of heat and fire, engaging in pleasant conversation or eating in silence allows us to digest our food well rather than watching t.v., talking about politics or eating on the run or in the car. Eating alone or with people with good energy and engaging all the sense organs while eating or cooking colorful foods with pleasant music, fresh flowers has a sattvic quality.
Overeating is tamasic. How much is the right amount? In Ayurveda we divide the stomach into 3 parts : 1/3 is for food, 1/3 for liquid and 1/3 for air. The quantity of food is 1 Anjali which would equate to placing your hands in prayer and opening them up. So whatever fits into the palms of your two hands is how much we should eat. The liquid should be warm water as it aids with digestion (ice drinks and cold drinks put out your digestive fires) and the last space remains empty so that your stomach can churn.
Cooking with a gas flame is most sattvic , pervading the food with a quality of Agni that is not there when cooked on an electric stove . While cooking on a gas stove is the best option, it may not always be possible and to save time and not cook in a hurry and infuse your meal with nervous energy, we can use a crockpot and rice cooker. Food that is cooked with love and care has a sattvic quality even if the ingredients or the cookware may not be as sattvic. When we do use this type of cookware, we can infuse the food with loving energy as we prepare it, increasing the prana of the food. Microwave cooking is void of agni, lacking prana as it scrambles the chemistry of the food and therefore is considered tamasic.
Food cooked with cookware or utensils of unnatural qualities make foods tamasic because things like non-stick pots/pans or plastic utensils seep toxins into our food without us even realizing it. “Non-stick” cookware is a MAJOR source of PFC’s, particularly perfluororooctanoic acid, known as PFOA Three to five minutes after heating a non-stick pot or pan at least six toxic gases are released into the air and in the food. These chemicals are easily absorbed by the body and the food in the pan, turning that healthy organic home-cooked meal toxic. PFC’s have been linked to a range of health dangers: elevated LDL, infertility, birth defects thyroid disease immunosuppression and cancer.
Certain metal cookware can leach tamasic toxins into food. Cooking in aluminum cookware produces hydroxide poison which neutralizes digestive juices, producing stomach and gastrointestinal trouble, such as stomach ulcers and colitis Stainless steels which is a widely used material in food preparation and in home cookware when it reacts to organic acids and salts in foods , allows chrome and nickel to bleed into the foods If one is going to use stainless steel cookware, it should only be high -grade surgical stainless steel. Nickel has been implicated in numerous health problems, notably allergic contact dermatitis. While women do not typically need to worry about iron leaching from cast –iron cookware as long as they are still menstruating and losing blood, and growing children require more blood and more iron, cast iron cookware can cause iron overload in adult males and menopausal women.
So the best thing is to think nature! To increase the sattvic quality of food, cook with cookware and utensils that are closest to nature : ceramic, clay, and wood utensils. Ceramic cookware is made of an earth mixture which is fired to create ceramic and clay is of the earth.
In the age of "convenience" instant foods that are eaten on the run, we have given up on our health for the sake of time and convenience. Making wholesome nutritious meals and tapping into the energetics of food can be done without taking too much time out of the day and without a strain on the wallet. Ultimately if we change our vision of food from one that is just fuel to realizing that food is divine, it will have a huge impact.
While there are many paths of yoga, a yogic life that leads to transformation includes making choices that honor ourselves, family, humanity, all living things and the planet; by eating ethically, seasonally, and gratefully. Ayurveda, the sister science of Yoga is all about balance: physical, emotional, mental and spiritual . Food according to Ayurveda is both medicine and is divine.
Our greatest wealth is health and the how, the what, the where, the when and the why of our food choices can have a huge impact on our physical and mental health, the health of our families and our planet.
Food cooked with cookware or utensils of unnatural qualities make foods tamasic because things like non-stick pots/pans or plastic utensils seep toxins into our food without us even realizing it. “Non-stick” cookware is a MAJOR source of PFC’s, particularly perfluororooctanoic acid, known as PFOA Three to five minutes after heating a non-stick pot or pan at least six toxic gases are released into the air and in the food. These chemicals are easily absorbed by the body and the food in the pan, turning that healthy organic home-cooked meal toxic. PFC’s have been linked to a range of health dangers: elevated LDL, infertility, birth defects thyroid disease immunosuppression and cancer.
Certain metal cookware can leach tamasic toxins into food. Cooking in aluminum cookware produces hydroxide poison which neutralizes digestive juices, producing stomach and gastrointestinal trouble, such as stomach ulcers and colitis Stainless steels which is a widely used material in food preparation and in home cookware when it reacts to organic acids and salts in foods , allows chrome and nickel to bleed into the foods If one is going to use stainless steel cookware, it should only be high -grade surgical stainless steel. Nickel has been implicated in numerous health problems, notably allergic contact dermatitis. While women do not typically need to worry about iron leaching from cast –iron cookware as long as they are still menstruating and losing blood, and growing children require more blood and more iron, cast iron cookware can cause iron overload in adult males and menopausal women.
So the best thing is to think nature! To increase the sattvic quality of food, cook with cookware and utensils that are closest to nature : ceramic, clay, and wood utensils. Ceramic cookware is made of an earth mixture which is fired to create ceramic and clay is of the earth.
In the age of "convenience" instant foods that are eaten on the run, we have given up on our health for the sake of time and convenience. Making wholesome nutritious meals and tapping into the energetics of food can be done without taking too much time out of the day and without a strain on the wallet. Ultimately if we change our vision of food from one that is just fuel to realizing that food is divine, it will have a huge impact.
While there are many paths of yoga, a yogic life that leads to transformation includes making choices that honor ourselves, family, humanity, all living things and the planet; by eating ethically, seasonally, and gratefully. Ayurveda, the sister science of Yoga is all about balance: physical, emotional, mental and spiritual . Food according to Ayurveda is both medicine and is divine.
Our greatest wealth is health and the how, the what, the where, the when and the why of our food choices can have a huge impact on our physical and mental health, the health of our families and our planet.
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