I came across this term in the first book I read about yoga at the age of 10? 11? Dr. Phulgenda Sinha’s Yogic Cure for Common Diseases
And I really didn’t understand it much .
My mother is a wonderful cook. She doesn’t believe that, even after more than 50 years of her two daughters, her loving husband, and the whole family and friends telling her so. Each dish she made, was tasty. It wasn’t heavy, one could eat to one’s fill at her dinner parties and still eat more. We never got tired of eating her home cooked food.
In those days eating out was a treat, maybe once every couple of weeks we would go to the Indian Coffee House for masala dosa and idli sambhar. Or a veggie hotdog (made with fried potatoes-yummy) and coke, with a movie in the theater.
When we went to our aunt’s place we got a bottle of coke and a bar of five star chocolate for the weekend, but there were more goodies to be had, like fresh sugarcane pieces, mangoes, falsey- blueberry like fruit sold covered with chaat masala- tangy! The world famous Bansal sweets had just opened up and we would get heavy, sugary, fatty sweets- laddus and pinnis.
And I ate these with no problem. It was later around the time I was in college, after the 100th reading of the yogic principles that I really started looking into what I was eating. And then it started, my desire to eat healthy food with less fat and sugar and salt.
But try as I might, I could not do it a 100%. I wasn’t perfect at it. I blame my mom’s cooking, the veggie noodles and the dahi bhallas she made. I tried to decrease the portions, but if there is one thing you cannot do in India, even in your own family, is to be the first one to put the plate away.
But now I am the one cooking in this house. So I try to cook simple and healthy. It’s a different story that I do NOT like to cook, so the food then has to be simple. But ‘simple’ does not always mean ‘healthy.’
- Why do I want to cook the Sattvik way?
Because I can feel a few twinges of acidity when I eat food cooked with a lot of spices. Because there is a hint of pre-diabetes and hypertension looming up. Because those two predispose me to Metabolic syndrome. Because sometimes after a late dinner, the next day I end up with a headache. Because I am reading more about the beneficial effects of herbs and spices.
- What is the Sattvik way?
In yoga, food preparation is divided into three categories. These are:
Rajasi: which is food fit for the kings. This includes food prepared with heavy spices, lots of oil or ghee, fried, a variety of foods in the same meal. The kind of meal after which one feels heavy and lethargic.
Tamasi: This kind of food preparation involves hot spices, lots of salt and chilly pepper. It is said to make one feel hot and bothered. I think it just leads to acidity in the stomach causing one to feel uncomfortable and that leads to a rough, irritable, manner.
Sattvik: This is the way of cooking and eating recommended in the yogic way. The food is cooked with a minimum of spices, its very fresh and light. Simple. Easy to digest. This does not cause heaviness or lethargy, one feels alert and ready to live their life.
According to yogic principles, you become, as you eat. Think about it, the food we eat goes into our bodies, is broken down into nutrients, which are used by the body to give us energy to do our daily functions. So the type of food we put in our bodies, directs our being and our behavior. Food cooked the sattvik way, calms both the mind and the body
No food, vegetarian or non-vegetarian, belongs to any of the above three categories. The key is in food preparation. So, one can cook lentils with minimal spices, the sattvik way, or with heavy cream and red chillies, the tamasi way.
On a side note, the emotions of the cook affect the dish being made. If the cook is angry, the people who eat the dish will feel bad too. That’s an incentive for me to bury the hatchet and learn to tolerate cooking, if not like it. Better late than never.
And it’s not that sattvik means bland. Fresh green chili peppers can be used to spice the food: ginger, garlic, other herbs, all can be used. As long as they are used in moderation. Just enough to add flavor to the dish and not burn the stomach lining.
- How to eat the sattvik way
According to the yogic principles of eating, food is to be enjoyed, savored and used to honor the body. The principles are well known:
- Eat to 80 % of your capacity.
- Eat slowly, chew your food.
- Drink water before but not with/right after your eat.
- Drink 8 glasses of water a day.
- Eat 3 hours before going to bed.
- Walk 10 min after each meal.
- Eat fresh food, made with fresh ingredients.
- Breakfast like a king, lunch like a prince, dine like a pauper.
We all know about these points. But the point is to do them regularly. I eat fast, I eat more than 100% of my capacity, I eat in between meals, I actually dine like a king and have a tiny breakfast, and I do fall back on fast food a few times a week when I am in a rush.
I am going to commit to make the necessary changes in my daily diet routine. I believe these are simple changes which can give me a better chance to avoid some chronic medical conditions.
More than that, I feel these habits help in the present. For e.g., a simple habit of walking 10 min after each meal, helps digest the food better, so I feel light and energetic.
Or drinking water before a meal and not with, or directly after, helps suppress the appetite a tiny bit. Eating 80% of my capacity, helps me feel comfortable after a meal and not lethargic.
“You’ll never change your life until you change something you do daily. The secret of your success is found in your daily routine.”–John C. Maxwell
So which habit will you pick to change? Share with me, please. Or do you already eat this way?
The question however remains, how to cook the sattvik way? And that, will be another blog post.