This article covers all there is about the sattvic diet. Is it good / bad for health. What all is included in this diet.
What is sattvic diet ?
- Sattvic diet has it’s roots in ayurveda and it originated in India over 5000 years ago
- Essentially meant for yogis, to provide energy, calmness, happiness and mental clarity
- It is built on the philosophy of the three gunas, sattva, rajas and tamas
Sattva (sattvic / pranic)
- Stands for purity, health, harmony and well being
- Sattva means that helps to fulfill aspirations in life
- Sattvic diet is a pure vegetarian diet which includes seasonal fruits, fresh veggies, whole grains, sprouts, dried nuts, honey, fresh herbs, milk and dairy products
- That these food products are free of any animal rennet
- These food are meant to raise sattva or consciousness levels
- These food are cooked and eaten with love, gratitude and awareness
Rajas (rajsic / zero pranic food)
- These food stand for stress, anger, activity and restlessness
- Consists of food which are rich in taste such as onion, garlic, deep fried food, tea, refined food, sugary food etc
- A dominantly rajasic quality diet disturbs the mind body equilibrium
Tamas (tamsic / negative pranic food)
- Stands for dullness, laziness and lethargy
- Guna regulates rest and sleep
- This diet mainly consists of reheated foods, leftover foods, chemically processed food such as eggs, meat, alcohol, cigarettes etc
- A tamasic person will be dull, umiaginative, careless, umaware and lethargic
- They will experience illness like diabetes, obesity etc
What are the benefits of satvic diet ?
- May help you lose weight with whole grains, more fibre and more nutrients, no refined food and processed food
- Helps boost immunity
- Improves digestion
- Reduces brain fog and enhances focus
- Reduces risk of chronic diseases
- Helps improve mood
- Helps boost metabolism
- Improves daily energy in the body
- Great for daily detoxification
- Great for mental health
- May help balance hormones
- Does talk about food composition, environment and mood of the person cooking
What are the downsides of this diet ?
- Hardcore diet meant for yogis
- You need very strong will to avoid all outside food
- Following it strictly in normal life may not be practically possible
- Diet gets generally twisted for personal use (vegan, zero cooked etc, cheat days etc)
- There are a lot of do’s and don’ts
- No tea, coffee, cocoa etc might not be suitable for some people
- No microwaved food or food kept in the fridge or reheated food may not be practically possible at all times
- Finding a balance in your diet is very important, completely excluding a particular food group form the diet may not be healthy
- Drinking tea, coffee or even alcohol is bad only if you’re under it’s abuse
- Taking a break from rajsic food occasionally is good to gain control over your food habits but for long term this diet may be too restrictive
- You can instead chose to cut off certain food from your diet for short durations if time. This will provide you with the best of both the worlds