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A Healthy Diet
A proper diet is fundamental for sustaining good health and mental development. Yoga categorises three types of foods according to their qualities. These qualities correspond to the three Gunas – Gunas means characteristic or quality.
The three Gunas are:
Sattvic = pure, harmonious, clear, balanced, peaceful
Rajasic = aggressive, restless, fiery, passionate
Tamasic = lazy, lethargic, dark, ignorant
Tamasic food, such as meat, fish, eggs, alcohol, preserved food and old, reheated food, makes us sluggish and lethargic.
Rajasic food is excessively spicy food, which causes us to be restless and aggressive. Rajasic qualities also arise from excessive consumption of coffee or chocolate.
Sattvic food however, gives rise to a balanced and harmonious sense of wellbeing in both body and mind. Sattvic food is found in a lacto-vegetarian, whole food diet, which includes grains, vegetables, pulses, fruit, nuts, seeds, milk and milk products. Vegetarian food detoxifies, cleans and purifies the body and increases our resistance to illness.
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