Archive for the ‘Food’ Category:
Which Wolf Do You Feed?
Science tells us that our bodies are 99.99999% empty space and energy. Within our cells are atoms and within those atoms is a whole lot of nothing. But that nothing holds the potential for heath or disease.
Our bodies are composed of energy. Now energy can have different qualities. Energy also vibrates at different speeds and densities. As energy vibrates at slower and slower speeds, it becomes more dense and more solid. Take water as an example. Energy and temperature are linked. As particles vibrate faster and faster, they build heat. As particles vibrate slower and slower, they become colder and lose heat. So when water vibrates at a slower speed and loses heat, the temperature decreases, and water eventually freezes to form ice. If we add heat or increase the vibration and speed of the particles of which the ice/water is made, then the ice will melt and once again turn into water. If we further increase the speed of the particles, increasing the heat, then the water will eventually evaporate and become a gas.
The same thing happens within our own bodies. Our bodies are 80% water and 20% matter. And even that 20% matter is not really solid, but it only appears to be solid because it is energy vibrating at a very slow speed.
Yoga scriptures tell us that energy is of three kinds: Sattvic, Rajasic, and Tamasic. Sattvic energy is very light energy. It moves at a very high vibration. It is pure and made up of Light. It has the quality of peace, joy, bliss, and has a calming effect on the human being. Rajasic energy moves at a slower vibration. Yet Rajasic energy is the energy of motion itself. It is activity and has the qualities of passion, materialism, and brings out in human beings the desire to succeed, to make money, to obtain power, and even can begin to produce greed. Tamasic energy is very heavy. It is dark, dense, dull, and stagnant. It holds the quality of inertia. It vibrates at a very low speed. It is a cold energy. It brings out all the negative qualities in the human being: anger, hatred, jealousy, possessiveness, darkness, and evil.
The Yoga scripture, the Bhagavad Gita, tells us that there are only two Lineages: the Lineage of Pure Light and Energy (Prana) and the Lineage of Mind/Ego. Mental energy is made up of mostly Rajas and Tamas. Mind is a very heavy. It is composed of mostly solid, dense, dark energy with just enough motion and passion to stir it up and keep it moving and active in our perception. Matter is just another term for Mind. Mind is that slow vibrating 20% solid energy which makes up our human bodies.
We have a choice. And this is what we have forgotten. We are 99.99999% empty space, which is energy. We choose a certain percentage of that energy to be solid to create this physical reality. But it is all an illusion created by Mind, created by us as individuals. Everything in the world is ruled by these three energies (Sattva, Rajas, and Tamas), called the Gunas. Even the elements fall into combinations of these three energies. And we are nothing but elements. Our bodies are broken down into elements, minerals. We survive on minerals and elemental compounds.
Just like a barbed wire fence is mostly empty space with just a little bit of solid form to hold it all together, we are mostly empty space with just a little bit of solid form holding us together. Yet that solid form is our own choice.
But please remember, with that choice, comes a price. Rajasic and Tamasic energies comprise this solidity. Yet, Rajasic and Tamasic energies will control you, bind you, manipulate you, and bring disease (dis-ease) into your system. Disease and sickness lead to old age and death.
Sattvic energy is light in weight and of a high vibration. It is the quality of pure Light. It moves at a very fast speed energetically. It builds a great amount of heat. By increasing the amount of Sattva within our systems, we increase the amount of life sustaining energy that the ancients called Prana, Chi, Qi, Mana, and Tao. This vital life energy is the very energy that our Soul is composed of. This is not religion. This is science. It is the science of nature, a science we have forgotten.
Food is meant to nourish and sustain our bodies. We SHOULD be eating for this vital life energy. Instead, most of us eat for pleasure and out of desire. We eat for our Minds and Egos. Food is meant to be consumed for replenishing the vital nutrients, the vitamins and minerals that our bodies need in order to maintain proper functioning of our organs and internal life systems.
Food is also energy. Everything is energy. What we consume also falls into the three energetic categories. There are foods that are light and of pure energy. There are foods that are of a more active and passion forming energy. And there are foods that are of a more dark, dense, and inert energy. When we consume foods that are of the passionate and darker energies, we become more passionate and darker/denser as a result. What we eat, we become.
We are composed of atoms. Atoms are made up of electrons, protons, and neutrons. Most of the matter in our bodies is due to the density of the protons and neutrons in the atom. Electrons are of a very light and fast moving energy. Some atoms have more electrons than others. Some atoms have more protons than others. Generally the substances in life that have more electrons also have more oxygen, and the substances that have more protons contain more hydrogen.
Now, atoms converge to form molecules, and molecules converge to form compounds. Molecules can be simple, made up of a few atoms, such as water, or can be very complex combinations, such as our DNA. Yet, our very DNA is just energy. It is a certain combination of atoms that becomes a very map for everything from our physical characteristics to the genetic potential for diseases. From our biological lineages, we have a wonderful possibility and a great burdon all wrapped up into one. Our possibility comes from the fact that we are the only species on the entire planet that have the ability to transmute energy. We can change our physical form. We can change the combinations of atoms in our very body. We can affect our own cells and our own DNA. We do this through changing the combination of energy density within our bodies. We can change the amount of Sattva, Rajas, or Tamas of which we are composed in any given moment. We hold a great burdon because we carry within our DNA our parents energetic blueprints. Thus, we carry within us their energetic Sattva, Rajas, and Tamas combinations as well as atomic combinations and genetic potentials for certain diseases.
Food is just one of the ways we bring energy into our beings. And there are certain elements that our bodies do not naturally produce when our energies are so solid and of a low vibration. Thus, we need to consume elements like zinc, iron, and calcium. Our bodies run on minerals. Minerals feed our Light bodies. They are directly connected to the Sattva energy within us. The very elements that are within stars are within our own bodies. We are literally composed of star dust. So, the idea that we are star children really is not far fetched or inaccurate. Our entire planet is composed of the same elements that are within a star and were there during the formation of a star. We would die without sunlight, and yet the sun itself is one giant, burning star.
Our bodies run on a few specific minerals and elemental compounds: calcium, iron, potassium, magnesium, sodium, sodium bicarbonate, and manganese. Urinary and salivary pH tells us just how much of these minerals our bodies contain. If we are low in these minerals, our bodily fluids become acidic. When these minerals are in a proper balance in our bodies, our bodily fluids are alkaline. pH stands for the potency of hydrogen. The more hydrogen we have in our bodies, the more acidic our bodies become. The more oxygen we have in our bodies the more alkaline we become. If you connect the dots, you will begin to discover what I have discovered. That is, that hydrogen, acidity, lack of minerals, low pH, low/slow vibrational energy, Rajas and Tamas, and Mind/Ego are all interconnected. In the same manner, oxygen, alkalinity, abundance of minerals, normal to high pH, high vibrational energy, Sattva, and Light/Consciousness are all interconnected.
Yoga is the process of turning base matter into energy. Food is a critical component of this process. And alkaline food is a part (yet not the whole) of this topic of Food.
Simple deduction will lead you to discover that alkaline food is Sattvic in nature. Alkaline food has the ability to increase our positive, light, pure, life sustaining energy. It has the ability to also bring our minds into a calmer, more peaceful, more loving, positive state. We can literally become primitive animals or conscious energetic beings through what we eat alone.
Minerals increase our pH, making our bodies alkaline by nature. Yet, most of the minerals in our food and water have been stripped and removed due to farming, food processing, and water purification. We are 80% water, and so we need to replinish that water with highly alkaline mineral water. Yet most water in existance today is stripped of all minerals, rendering most water acidic. Pure water, straight from the ground, is alkaline. Yet, because we feel it is safer and necessary to cleanse and purify our water (and due to our low immunity and the acidity of our bodies, it probably is), we remove all the minerals and fail to replenish those minerals in adequate amounts when the purification process if finished. If minerals are added back into the water, usually, if you test the pH of the water, you will discover that not enough minerals have been added to bring the water back up to a pH of 7 which is considered netural (1-6 pH is acidic, 8-14 is alkaline, 7 is neutral). So we flush our bodies with acid water and that 80% of our bodies becomes acid. If we eat 20% acid as food, we all develop latent tissue acidosis, and the process of disease and decay and degeneration begins.
We are composed of billions of cells. Those cells are like fish in a fish tank. If the fish is living in acidic, low pH water, the fish will become starved for oxygen. Bacteria, yeast, fungus, and mold (microforms) will develop in the waters. The fish will die. The same thing happens in our own bodies. Our cells are our fish. If our internal fluids are acidic, then we develop bacteria, yeast, fungus, and mold in our bodily fluids and in our blood. Live Blood Cell Analysis will show you just how acidic you are by showing you just how much of these microforms are in your blood. These microforms are the very agents of the Rajasic and Tamasic energies within our own bodies. These microforms crave the very foods that will prolong their existance: pasta, white flour, sugar, rice, yeast, beer, fermentation, meat, bread, cheese, mushrooms… anything made from or with bacteria, yeast, fungus, and mold. Try to cut these out of your diet and not eat any of these for a solid month and tell me that you do not crave any one of these things. It is not YOU that is craving these things. It is the microforms that are craving these things. Rajas and Tamas are not just on a physical elemental level. They are energies, so they are on a mental, emotional, and spiritual level as well. We are dimensional beings. Our very thoughts and emotions can make us acidic or alkaline.
Our billions of cells are all like individual fish. Each cell is an individual life form. We think we are this one main conscious entity. Yet within our bodies are billions of living, breathing (yes, cells breathe through cellular respiration), reproducing life forms. Each cell has an individual task it performs. And cells are grouped by their function. Our cells consume food and excrete waste just like we do. Our cells have little body parts. And according to function, cells are divided into little nations within us. There are cells that make up the blood. There are cells that make up the heart that pumps the blood. There are liver cells, lung cells, immune system cells, and skin cells, just to name a few. And all of these cells work individually and yet also in perfect harmony with eachother in order to create the universe of YOU. Your apparenly solid form is only due to the billions of individual life forms within you working diligently 24/7.
Take care of your body. Take care of not just the external body. It is more important to take care of the internal body. Take care of your cells and they will take care of you.
Cells live and die. But before they die, they make a 100% exact carbon copy of themselves to carry on their work when they die. Now, if a cell is attacked and damaged due to an acidic and low energy internal environment, that cell will become wounded and will not reproduce properly. Thus the celluar copy will be different, imperfect, and flawed. Ageing, diseases, and cancer are all caused due to cellular malfunction. This damages our DNA. It changes our DNA. And thus our genetic code changes over lifetimes and is passed down over lifetimes.
Can you imagine the genetic possibilities if we only change the way we eat? How it will affect our DNA? The future of our race and our children and their children? There is a DNA molecule within each cell.
Flawed, damaged cells within the heart cause corinary problems. Damaged cells within the endocrine system cause endocrine and hormonal imbalances and malfunctions. Flaws within the skin cells cause wrinkles. Liver cells become overworked due to having to filter out acidic and toxic fluids. Joint cells can become undernourished and overused leading to arthritis.
Diet can reverse disease, sickness, cancer, ageing, and even death.
Medicine needs to evolve in order for us to evolve. Nutrition and medicine needs to begin even before the cellular level. It needs to begin at an energetic level, for we are energetic beings. We are 99.9999% space and energy.
Choose well.
There is a Cherokee tale about two wolves. A grandfather is having a conversation with his grandson. It goes as follows:
“A fight is going on inside me,” he said to the boy. “It is a terrible fight and it is between two wolves. One is evil – he is anger, envy, sorrow, regret, greed, arrogance, self-pity, guilt, resentment, inferiority, lies, false pride, superiority, self-doubt, and ego. The other is good – he is joy, peace, love, hope, serenity, humility, kindness, benevolence, empathy, generosity, truth, compassion, and faith. This same fight is going on inside you – and inside every other person, too.”
The grandson thought about it for a minute and then asked his grandfather, “Which wolf will win?”
The old chief simply replied, “The one you feed.”
So, again, choose well. Which energy do you want that 99.99999% of your empty space to be composed of? Which direction do you want your life to take? What do you want your thoughts to be composed of? Your emotions? Your spirit? Which Lineage do you want to belong to? The choice is yours. We all have free will. Choose well.
Until next time.
In Love and Highest Light,
Jennifer Jacobsen (Urja)
How Yoga Can Assist In Cancer Treatment
by Jennifer E. Jacobsen, LMT, RM
Owner, Lakulish School of Yoga
Saint Augustine, FL
YOGA is becoming more and more recognized as an accompaniment to cancer treatment. Mostly viewed and experienced as a way to relax the mind and to tone and shape the body, Yoga is a very ancient science that is misunderstood in today’s society. While the benefits of Yoga surely can include a calm mind and fit body, Yoga is a way of building and maintaining healing energy while removing the more damaging patterns and behaviors that otherwise drain this precious, healing resource. To be a Yogi, one must master one’s mind.
Mental, emotional, and physical stress stem from a mind that has become destructive rather than constructive. While most people live their lives in search of creativity, success, abundance, and a sense of accomplishment, they often do so at the expense of their own well-being. Most of the time, this is unconscious. Some people live very successful and creative lives, and then there are people who intend to live very successful and creative lives yet do not know how to. At the end of the day these individuals feel mentally, emotionally, and physically drained and exhausted.
Exhaustion, stress, and lack of energy all stem from behaviors and patterns of living that are in disharmony with the first two laws of Yoga: Yamas and Niyamas. The Sanksrit word Yama means “death”. The Sanskrit word Niyama means “death inside”. We must ask ourselves, what is it that needs to die in our external environments and in our internal environments? Of what can we let go? What is no longer needed? In which ways are we damaging ourselves, allowing our minds to drain our energy, and leading destructive rather than constructive lives?
Patanjali, a great Master of Yoga, has shone his light on a path we all must follow. In his legendary Yoga Sutras, he tells us that the reason our minds, bodies, and spirits are not at rest is because our minds are violent. It is the mind that seeks to hurt its own system and the systems of others. We are not truthful with ourselves. It is the mind that deceives its own self and attempts to be deceptive with others. The mind is a thief. It steals, covets, hoards, and eventually drains our energy in patterns of which most of us are unaware. Yet, for the Master of Yoga who has reclaimed his or her own energy through Yamas and Niyamas and the practices of Yoga, the mind is no longer an enemy, but it is a great friend.
The question that then forms in the mind is, what does Yoga have to do with cancer? Cancer appears in a body that is destructive rather than constructive. The internal cells are in a state of attack, and the body is a battlefield.
Science has been able to prove that cancer cannot exist in an oxygenated environment. Dr. Robert O. Young, head of the pH Miracle Center in Valley Center, CA, has demonstrated that when the pH of urine drops below 5, on the scale of 1-14, the chances of an individual developing cancer increase dramatically. A low internal body pH deprives the body of oxygen, and the blood becomes dirty. Our internal cells are like fish in a fish tank. If the cells are not bathed in pH balanced water, and if our “fish tank” is not kept clean, the body begins to lose more energy than it gains because it is forced to clean up a dirty internal environment. In a dirty fish tank, bacteria grow. The bacteria morph into yeast. The yeast morph into fungus. The fungus morph into mold. These toxins deprive the body of oxygen. The internal pH of the blood begins to drop, and the body goes into survival mode. The pH of the blood will only drop when the tissues in the body have become so toxic that they have entered a state of latent tissue acidosis. The degree of latent tissue acidosis is most commonly measured by urinary pH. A urinary pH of 5 or below signals severe latent tissue acidosis and a body that is severely deprived of oxygen. The state of the blood can clearly be seen in a Live Blood Cell Analysis.
How does a body end up in a state of latent tissue acidosis, and how can Yoga return a body to health? The world of Yoga practices spans every bodily system. A Yogic diet is an alkaline diet centered around pure, fresh, organic fruits, vegetables, seeds, nuts, and low-acid grains. Making the body more alkaline is the key to eliminating latent tissue acidosis. Cleansing the body and bringing fresh oxygen into the system also makes the body more alkaline. Pranayama (building healing energy in the body through breath) brings fresh oxygen into the lungs, the blood, and the cells. Both Pranayama and Yoga Asanas (postures) cleanse the body’s internal organs, remove acidic toxins from the body, and cleanse and heal energy pathways in the body (refered to as Nadis in the Sanskrit language). The practices of Yoga are designed to clean the blood.
Aligning oneself with the Yamas and Niyamas destroys the damaging patterns and behaviors that make an individual more extrovert, stressed, and capable of draining the healing energy built through the Yogic practices of Pranayama and Asana. In fact, there is a Yama in Pranayama. It is therefore necessary to be mindful of one’s attitude towards oneself and others before the practices of Yoga can begin to heal the body. This is the reason Yamas and Niyamas are the first two steps in the eightfold path of Yoga.
It is exciting that Yoga has been recognized as a useful and helpful addition to cancer treatment. Yoga is currently being taught in conjunction to cancer treatment in Dana-Farber Cancer Institute, Memorial Sloan-Kettering, MC Anderson, and many other major cancer treatment centers. As a patient learns the ways his or her mind has become destructive rather than constructive, the practices of Yoga will naturally heal the body. The human body is remarkable by design. It contains everything it needs to heal itself, and the body is constantly amazing practitioners in the medical field. Unexplained miracles happen every day.
The practices of Yoga can bring a person who is out of balance into a state of balance. It can help an individual live a very long, happy, creative, and abundant life. It can assist a person to live free of sickness and disease, to move from a dark place into a place of love and healing light. This is my prayer for all of those who suffer with cancer or any dis-ease.
If you would like more information on how Yoga can help you with your internal battle for health, please contact Jennifer at the Saint Augustine Lakulish School of Yoga online at http://lakulishyogaschool.com or by phone at (904) 392-6588.
Peace Through A Sattvic Diet
Author: JustSayOn
“Food is a dynamic force which interacts with the human on the physical body level, the mind emotional level, and also the energetic and spiritual level. The study of nutrition is the study of the interaction with and assimilation of the dynamic forces of food by the dynamic forces of our total being.” ~ Gabriel Cousens, M.D., Spiritual Nutrition and The Rainbow Diet
WHAT IS A SATTVIC DIET?
In Ayurveda the emphasize 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 of attractive appearance, and be harvested at the correct time of year. Foods should be whole foods full of life-force and enzymes and be as close as possible as they are in their natural fresh state.
Today, we need to add to these criteria for Sattva several other modern concerns. Sattvi foods should be grown without pesticides, herbicides, chemical fertilizers, hormones, irradiation or anything unnatural. 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.
Sattic 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.
The Three Gunas
In the unmanifested Universe, energy has three qualities, known as Gunas, that exist together in equilibrium: Sattva (purity); Rajas (activity, passion, the process of change); and Tamas (darkness, inertia). Once energy takes form, one quality of the three predominates. Thus on an apple tree, some of the fruit is ripe (Sattvic), some ripening (rajasic) and some overripe (tamasic). But no matter which quality prevails, an Element of each of the other two will always be present as well. Most of an individual apple will be ripe, but part will be rotten, even if the naked eye cannot see it, and part will be in the process of changing from one state to the other. The three Gunas encompass all existence, all actions. If a man commits a robbery, the action is basically rajasic but the decision to rob and the motive may be predominantly tamasic, rajasic or Sattvic, according to the situation. In all people one of the three Gunas has superior strength and is reflected in all they do and think. Only in enlightenment are the Gunas completely transcended.
Ancient Rishis have said you take on the karma of the animal you eat.
When you eat meat you are ingesting all the stress hormones released when that animal was killed. The hormones released at death are present in the flesh when you eat it. At a cellular level, your body is getting the message that you are dying.
One goal and effect of Ayurveda and following a spiritual path is to raise our vibrational levels
Meat has a very low vibration. On a continuum of lower vibrations, fish, chicken, lamb, beef, and finally pork have increasingly lower vibrations and their energy is very dark, dense and congested. Through the centuries it has been observed that vegetarians have a more refined etheric body and brighter aura. A vegetarian whose etheric body is brighter and healthier will generally heal at much faster rate than those who are not vegetarian.
Ayurvedic Principles
Everything on Earth has a primary quality (Guna). Anything we hear, smell, see, taste or touch may be classified into the categories of Sattvic, Rajasic or Tamasic.
BALANCING THE EMOTIONAL BODY WITH FOOD
In Ayurveda a dietary system was developed by the ancient Masters and Sages thousands of years in working with the mind to help support an individual on a spiritual path that perfected the ancient forms of Yoga and Meditation. It is also the foundation of many healing arts. It has a rich tradition that has been taught, practiced and passed onto many cultures over the world.
Ayurveda or Sattvic foods all have one thing in common: they are high in Prana (the universal life force). More specifically, Sattvic foods are natural, organically grown, and as unrefined as possible. Modern food processing takes the Prana out of many foods and makes them heavy, impotent, and lifeless- or simply “dead food.”
Mind balance in Ayurveda means modifying the mind from Tamasic or Rajasic to Sattvic state. Choosing those foods and activities that are Sattvic in nature in preference to those that are Rajasic or Tamasic does that. With consistent and dedicated attention to diet, environment and sensory experiences, total mind balance can be achieved.
It often takes discipline and effort to become Sattvic, but the peace of mind, health, strength and immunity that is obtained from this state of mind makes it worthwhile. However, some rajas and tamas qualities are still required for action and motivation to achieve our goals and inaction, sleep or relaxation (tamas).
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 the 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 left over food, contaminated or overripe substances. Overeating is also regarded as tamasic. Tamasic is the unhealthiest food of all.
Rajasic Foods
Rajas signifies the “can do” kind of energy. It is the 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, stimulants, like coffee and tea, 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. They are known to have a very cleansing effect on the body. 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 saints 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. Many Sattvic foods 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 of the ground. 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, which have a balance of all the six tastes and are consumed in moderate portions.
Becoming Sattvic
One should focus on work, self-improvement and intellectual or spiritual pursuits. Maintaining a positive nature, demonstrating generosity, kindness, openness, fairness (equality) and forgiveness also increases Sattva Guna. In addition spiritual inclination, faith and belief in the Great Spirit or God, engaging in selfless service or charitable activities help to become Sattvic.
Nature’s Sattvic Foods
Fruits
Apples, Kiwi, Prunes, Apricots, Loquat, Tangerines, Bananas, Lychee, Pomegranate, Cantaloupe, Mango, Papaya, Cherries, Melons, Nectarines, Cranberry, Honeydew, Oranges, Grapefruits, Watermelon, Pineapples, Grapes, Peaches, Plums, Guava, Pears, Persimmon
Vegetables
Artichokes, Eggplant, Lettuce, Beets, Mustard, Greens, Asparagus, Daikon, Onions, Endive, Fennel, Maitake, Parsnips, Bok Choy, Peas, Broccoli, Green Beans, Potatoes, Brussels Sprouts, Kale, Radishes, Cabbage, Leeks, Lima Beans, Shallots, Carrots, Celery, Spinach, Cauliflower, Chard, Chanterelles, Sprouts, Corn, Squash, Shitake, Mushrooms, Watercress, Turnips, Yams
Sprouted Whole Grains
Amaranth, Barley, Buckwheat, Bulgur, Millet, Quinoa, Rice: Basmati, Brown and Wild Rice.
Oils
Olive, Safflower, Sesame, Sunflower, Garbanzo, Lentils, Mung.
Spices
Asafoetida (hing), Coriander, Basil, Cumin, Nutmeg, Black Pepper, Fennel seed, Parsley, Cardamom, Fenugreek, Turmeric, Cinnamon, Cloves, Ginger
Nut/Seed
Brazil nuts, Pumpkin seeds, Sunflower seeds, Walnuts
Milks & Cheese
Seed milk, Hemp milk, Almond or other nut milk
Sweetners
Cane juice, Raw honey, Stevia, Fruit Juices, Maple Syrup
It takes time for the effects of dietary changes to manifest on the mind. Changing our diet may not impact our psychology overnight, but in a period of months can affect it significantly.
Shantree is an Ayurvedic Live-Food Nutritionist, Therapeutic & Shamanic Herbalist, and Constitutional Iridology Educator with 35 years experience in the Natural Healing Arts. He is the founder and co-director of The Living Centre (1983), and Living Arts Institute.
