The basic principle of nutrition, from the yoga perspective, is to eat small quantities of high quality foods. The high quality foods are those which promote the life force of the body without producing toxins. The recommended foods are fruits, vegetables, whole grains and nuts.
Incredibly, yoga's principles of nutrition are very similar to what modern science has discovered in more recent times.
Vegetables
You should consider vegetables such as lettuce, cabbage, capsicums, broccoli, carrots, sweet potatoes, corn cucumber, beetroot, pumpkin, broccoli and so on. Spirulina and other high protein green foods , such as Organic wheatgrass, Organic barleygrass and Organic Chlorella are also an excellent choice and are now considered more value than vegetables as the have higher protein, vitamin & mineral concentrations
Fruit
Fruit is considered to possess a high life force. Fruit is also very nutritious but it does contain a certain kind of sugar, so be careful with to much. It can be eaten raw which is best as unprocessed is easily digested. It provides a quick and sustained source of energy with no toxins. It is no wonder the yogis favor fruit.
Meat
Meat
The yoga advises to be cautious of eating meat. Not all yogis are vegetarians, but they all recommend eating meat in strict moderation. According to yoga, the meat, being animal flesh, has a low vibration rate and will lower the life force of the person eating it. This will cause a reduction in vitality and slow down your progress from yoga. Meat also contains toxins, especially lactic acid, which is a waste product of muscle metabolism.
We now know that meat contain fat, cholesterol and other substances that are toxic to our bodies. Thus the advise to eat meat in moderation is certainly well taken.
Fresh Food
Yoga also stresses that food should be as fresh as possible. This means we should rely more on fresh fruits and vegetables than on frozen or canned foods. Frozen food is not so bad, since the enzymes are preserved, but canned food has been preheated, which destroys a lot of the vitamins and minerals and the enzymes.
Raw Food
The yogis also state that the greater proportion of our food should be eaten raw; for example, fruits, salad, raw nuts and sprouted grains. They consider that the cooking of food causes it to lose a lot of its life force, as well as its flavor. If you must lightly stem all vegetables. Go very easy on salt and sauces which often create more problems. Certain spices are a good choice and can aid digestion. Modern science is in complete agreement with this.
Food Temperature
The yogis state that food should neither be too hot nor too cold. They claim that very hot or very cold food or drinks can cause harm to the tissue of the throat. Modern science also agrees with this and considers that food and beverages which are too hot or cold may irritate the throat sufficiently to predispose it to cancer.
Danger Sugar - We can't emphiase enough to stay away from it, as it has no value in nutrition at all and creates toxic by products. ( Sugar is Poisonous )This can be very challenging in today's in the western world. As it is in so many things. Its sole claim for desirability is its taste. Challenge your self to eat no sugar at all for one week and you will see how addicted you are. This Includes all refined white sugars, brown sugar, raw sugar organic sugar any sugars contained in foods Read the label they may be called Fructose, Glucose, Galactose, Maltose, Sorbitol, Honey, Mannitol (421), Molasses, Corn syrup, Maple syrup, Date sugar, Maltodextrin, Lactose. Keep any dried fruit such as Sultanas, Dried Apricots etc. to a minimum as they convert to sugar and also contain alot of Sulpher Dioxide ( 220). Try to avoid the fruit with this listed on the label.
VERY IMPORTANT Stay away from artifact sweeteners such as Aspartame(951) , Acesulfame-k, Saccharine(954) and Cyclamic Acid (952) as there are studies coming to light that these products are actually worse than sugar and some are very poisonous. Click here for more info. If you are looking for sweetness use a natural herb like Stevia Rebaudiana which is said to be 100 times sweeter than sugar.
Alcohol
Yogis do not touch alcohol, since they consider it to lower the vibrations of their subtle body (astral body). This defeats the purpose of yoga, which is to increase the vibrational level so they can gradually unfold their Higher Self.
Yoga also considers alcohol to have an adverse effect on the central nervous system, and in particular the brain. The integrity of the central nervous system is considered very important by the yogis, since one of the goals of yoga is to improve the health of this system, and much of the progress of yoga is achieved via this vital communication system.
Modern science agrees with yoga on this point, since alcohol is known to first stimulate and then shortly afterwards depress the central nervous system.
Alcohol also causes poor sleep. Alcohol cannot compare with the effects of yoga. Yoga produces a natural stimulation without the depressing after-effect. Yoga also produces a general feeling of elation. The increase in life force produced by practicing yoga cannot be duplicated by drugs.
Eat Slowly
The yogis place great emphasis on eating slowly. To set the scene for a meal always chew your first mouthful intill it falls down your throat with out swallowing. This is more important than on the type of food eaten. This helps the food become more alkaline and easier digested. Even nutritious food is not properly digested if eaten quickly. This means that, as well as not extracting all the nutrients from the food, you are also creating toxins in the body.
Even if you eat food which is not very nutritious, if it is eaten slowly and your digestive system is in good health from yoga exercises, your body will extract every last nutrient from the food, as well as eliminating all the toxins. Of course the intelligent way is to eat nutritious food and chew it slowly.
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