Does Food Exert A Role More Than Just Satiating Your Hunger?

It is an ancient belief that our destiny or our future depends upon 3 factors our actions (present), our past deeds and god’s grace. To influence our destiny what is available to us is only our actions. A better future can be envisaged by improving our actions, by doing good deeds. As we all know it is not easy to do good things always, many a time the conscious mind is given a pass and impulsive outbursts happen. Here you are ruled by the subconscious mind. To rectify this not only your actions but your thoughts too should be pure. To have a mind that can be led to beautiful thoughts and purer existence the food we eat is very important. Some decades ago this would have made no sense in scientific terms. However now we know that the body is in fact capable of generating a complex network of chemicals that the brain uses to communicate emotions throughout the body.

Then if we agree that the food we eat is important, the next question arises what is good food? Ayurveda (Indian science of life) has delved on this decades back and has divided food into different types. Sattvic diet was determined to be the most apt food. A sattvic diet consists of food that can be turned into energy by the least effort.

It can generally be described as:

1. Strictly vegetarian
2. Soothing easily digestible food
3. Fresh food
4. Food where various tastes like sweet salty, bitter pungent sour and astringent should be present in balanced form.

Some examples:

Milk, rice, honey, clarified butter, fruits and fruit juices, vegetables

Your whole body is alert when you are eating therefore in addition to what food you eat it is equally necessary to be aware how you eat your food.

Some tips to get the most out of your diet:

1. Never eat your food when you are upset.
2. Take time to sit and have your meal.
3. Eat your food within 3 hours after it has been cooked.
4. Talking while eating should be avoided.
5. Food should be eaten neither too fast nor too slow.
6. Never fill your stomach fully.
7. Sit quietly after a meal for at least 5 minutes.

Food that are to be avoided/reduced:

1. Meat, poultry and fish
2. Heavy and oily foods
3. Cheese
4. Leftovers and processed foods
5. Excess of sour and salty foods

These food lead to negative deposits which appear as physical impurities in the cells and give rise to their equivalent in the mind like fear, anger, greed and other negative emotions.

If we could follow this regime the body will definitely bubble with energy. A happy body in turn sends happier signals to the mind. It is fascinating to see how perfect health dovetails into a broader intellectual movement. The mind sharpens, improves perception, and increases awareness, which leads one to a more blissful existence.