Sattvic food is significantly different from eating organic food or produce. It is not the same as ayurvedic food. Understanding sattvic food encourages more in-depth thinking and grounding with the core #energy that connects all #life. The goal of sattvic diet is not to eat and fill up. The process of picking sattvic food will ensure that we pay attention to thoughts, emotions, thirst, and hunger. It is about developing good habits that support one’s digestive system.
More than that, sattvic food cycles are traditionally tied to the Hindu calendar. By following the #calendar, we also connect with the celestial events without ignoring our daily chores or chosen #dharma. This awareness ensures our personal vision grows broader and our concerns embrace bigger concerns than our immediate short-term needs. It teaches us to trust our body when we fast. The sattvic diet helps you practice control and delayed gratification by choosing the right food that supports your #conscious growth.
For example, if you decide to eat salt-free food every month on #Shivaratri day, you drop #chips or other fried foods that are loaded with #salt from your #diet. Most prepared, packaged, frozen, and instant foods are high in salt or #sugar, and you will avoid that. You will make your own yogurt because it will have no additives such as sugar, salt, artificial coloring. Choosing this salt-free food once a month will make you pick foods such as #fresh foods or whole grains. You will avoid cans or partially cooked meals because they all have salt. And just because you cannot eat salt for a day, you will not binge on #sweet treats. In many recipes, a pinch of salt (or more) is added to enhance the sweetness of the dish. In the end, you might settle for fresh fruits, fresh home-made yogurt, home-cooked rice, or other similar, straightforward recipes to support your decision to eat salt-less for one day in a month. You can do this weekly or bi-monthly. The most important thing to do is to stay connected to the traditional calendar. That will serve as an automatic reminder for your Sankalpa.
Here are some pointers and benefits of sattvic diet—
- maintain a routine that synchronizes with the sun and stars
- rise early and hydrate with warm water, lemon juice, and honey. Don’t eat any solid food after sunset. Instead you can also drink #smoothies, juices, and clear soup.
- wake up every morning without feeling bloated
- drink warm water with haritaki every night. This keeps the bloating away. When you wake up in the morning, your body is ready to move actively.
- eat well without developing heartburn
- eat raw uncooked salads, fresh yogurt, and vegetables that digest quickly. If cooking food, make it without oil or inflaming spices. Eat only until you feel half full.
- reflect on food choices and choose fresh, local, organic produce
- serve foods in a plate in separate heaps without touching each other. Reflect on the color, texture, fragrance, and other aspects of the food.
- cook your own food, choose your own spices
- chop your #vegetables to steam, fry, or sauté with as little fat as possible. Add spices like #turmeric, #ginger, cumin, or coriander seeds that help you detox. Sprinkle nuts on your food. Also checkout our blog post on sacred foods.
- take time to enjoy the meal
- if you choose to eat solid foods, make sure you can chew food well. As the saying goes, the more you chew the food, the less it will sit on your belly or hips.
- feel light and smile more
- stop eating when you feel full. That will teach the body to completely digest food. Having a clean, empty stomach makes you smile more.
- connect with everything on our plate
- be curious, and know where the food on your plate came from. Take a moment to observe the color, smell, and taste.
- be aware of the impact of food on your consciousness
- food ingested must not make you feel sleepy or tired. It should not give leave you bloated or stay undigested for more than three hours.
- fill up with spices and flavors, and feel satisfied
- gentle spices, warm the body, stimulate digestion, add flavor to your food. Spices also keep you satisfied.
A sattvic diet grounds you in your body. Following the sattvic calendar or eating a complete sattvic diet includes feasting, fasting, and intermittent fasting. Although you eat less, you feel energized when you eat sattvic food. You can eat small, frequent meals to adjust to your metabolism. Sattvic diet not only connects you to the body, by virtue of its calendar, it also connects you to the larger purpose of life- to keep the body toxin-free to support the expansion of your consciousness.
Eating a sattvic diet supports increased awareness of your body and thoughts. It helps you understand how to stay away from obvious stereotypes and discover your unique signature. For example, everybody does not have to eat breakfast. If you choose to have breakfast, it need not be cooked. You could fast. You could live on a clear #liquiddiet or chunky #soups. On any given day, we may not be 100% Sattvic in our practice. For example, we could eat something solid after sunset on some days. The goal is not perfection but to build awareness and grounding into the habit. As long as you remain committed to achieving the total sattvic diet through mindful, gradual transitions and make the necessary adjustments everyday, you can consider yourself as sattvic. It is always the intention that informs the core of any practice.
#Subscribe to our #blog to read future posts about how to put together a sattvic #mealplan, cook simple #sattvicmeals, and to create a #sattviccalendar that supports your expansion. Have a question? Write them below. We will answer the questions in future blog posts. In the meantime, eat sattvic and grow consciously!
