Food! Food! Food!
Sattwic, as a reference to food, means pure
. A Yogi likes to have a Sattwic diet as it helps alleviate the rising passions from taking hold, and with this one Sattwic aspect, his practice of Pratyahara, or withdrawing of the senses, becomes easier for him.
It is amazing that the food imbalance in the world is so striking between the poor and wealthy nations and yet in the West we have more illness, more aged being kept alive by tubes and devices, and more youth diseases than any other countries in the world.
Why should this be so? PROFIT! And acceptance! We just seem to accept without thinking that we can buy anything off the shelves in a grocery store and it will be okay to eat it. Many products, in themselves, have minor amounts of poisons such as food coloring and carcinogenics in them, but accumulatively it becomes a massive amount of pure unadulterated junk
that we put in to our bellies.
We do all this and expect health. Now here is a cute trick of nature. Although we have a huge youth population, and more are sick than ever before, yet those that have slipped by the various new illnesses, are healthy, no matter what they eat because of their youthful vital energies, and because of this they grow up into their thirties thinking they can in fact eat anything at all and still remain healthy. Nature allows youth, immortality and health and strength, hope and aspirations and should they eat nothing but nitrate filled wiener hot dogs and sugar coated cereals nothing would appear to be happening to them.
I have even heard adults defending their eating of the hamburger because they consider it balanced. Well? It has meat, onion, tomato and lettuce and the bread bun. Balanced? Not on your life.
Let's really discover what foods we need for optimum health and then in that context find out what is Sattwic and what is not.
In order to obtain optimum health we need fresh air, exercise, nourishment, clean and positive thinking, dietary nutrients, water and a loving environment.
For the moment we will deal only with the dietary aspect of this health giving well-rounded formula for health.
We need approximately, per day: 73 grams of protein, 110 grams of carbohydrate and 27 grams of fat.
We will go through most of the foods that give this to us so that you have an idea where they come from, then we can begin to purify.
Protein: Meat of all kinds, fish, fowl, soya bean, whey powder and a combinations of 2 complex starches in different food groups eg: rice and beans together.
Carbohydrate: Simple starches and complex starches such as the root vegetables, potatoes and rice and lentils and all the vegetables, grains and fruits that you can think of.
Mixed Proteis and Fats: Cheeses, yoghurts and cottage cheeses.
Fats: All the way from olive oil to butters to lards and various other oils and fats in animals products.
You should be eating the right amount of those three groups of foods for the amount of energy you burn up - and remember moderation is what is important. The sign of too much in your system is adipose fat. Not enough and you show too much of the rib cage. It's simple isn't it.
Well not quite that simple as we have forgotten one or two ingredients, greed, habit, cravings, sweet tooth, ignorance and sloth.
This lesson is only for those who wish to learn how to remain healthy right into their old age, and more than that, how to achieve a high Sattwic State of Consciousness in order to, by the same token, achieve higher states of meditation.
Starting from the top, the most gross form of eating for the Yogi is to eat beef, red meat, pork and meat fat.
Next refined is fish, fowl and eggs.
How do we get our full compliment of protein and amino acids? From soya bean products, and a combination of two complex starches from different food groups. We will go more into this later, and by the way, you can get a huge list of information on the internet when it comes to foods and food groups. You will notice that I have not mentioned Milk in any of these groups, because milk is one of the most harmful substances you can put in to your body.
Sidestepping for a moment, a Master Zen teacher may eat only one bowl of rice a day - nothing else. How can this be, when most people would die from the lack of life sustaining vittles?
It is so because that Master has practiced Pratyahara his entire lifetime and has raised his level of Consciousness to such a degree that the pituitary gland will manufacture from that simple bowl of rice, all the nutrients needed to sustain his simple life. Science does not know how this happens, but it does. Science does not know how a Yogi can live without all food for 3 months and longer. It is, in the usual sense of the word, impossible but it happens.
Do not try any of these things on your own. You have to know when you are ready to do it. You can harm yourself otherwise. Some have died from trying the one bowl of plain rice a day. Don't do it.
Starting out on the highest level of Sattwic, keep to the vegetable proteins. To get a complete compliment of amino acids make sure you mix 2 complex starches from different food groups.
There are many reasons for not eating meat, not just Yogic reasons. People refrain from it because they do not want to have on their conscience the fact that they took a life in order to sustain there own, when there is no need for it.
Another reason is that before the killing of the animal huge amounts of adrenalin is released into the animal's blood stream thus some think affecting the meat with a fear
poison which they will take into their own system.
Others feel that meat, even before being injected with hormones and other little nasties like antibodies, would not digest properly in the stomach, thus rotting before evacuation. This rotting creates small mucous pits of disease infected deposits along the crevices of the intestines. Infection is easily spread in mucous.
I think, if anyone would like to read the true reasons why we are vegetarian, you should read Sri Yukteswar's, The Holy Science.
There are others from a religious point of view feel that God gave us ...every herb and seed which would be as meat for ye...
If you are so inclined to restrain the eating of these heavy gross proteins, then begin slowly to alleviate them from your diet. On the occasion you feel tempted to have a roast beef dinner or some chicken, then feel no guilt - have it! It is what you do all the time that is important.
If you have reduced your diet to include fish and fowl, then enjoy until you can even drop those off.
As for your vegetables and starchy foods, eat them raw as often as possible, but not all the time, as steaming releases vitamins and minerals that you do not otherwise get from the raw ones. Use whole rice and lentils and all varieties of beans and soya products.
As for fats, there is really only one that is not only healthy but is tasty on nearly everything and that is olive oil. The more virgin the better. I defy anyone to place a large amount of leafy green vegetables in a skillet and put over it 3 tablespoons of olive oil and 2 cloves of crushed garlic and steam them in their own water, and not really like it. These leafy vegetables can be fresh spinach, Swiss chard, collard greens, broccoli, etc.
Make large salads with a variety of fresh vegetables - organic if possible - and make your dressing like this. 1 tablespoon of olive oil, 1 tablespoon of balsamic vinegar and 1 tablespoon of water. Shake together with whatever spices you like and pour over your salad. This dressing will keep you away from the hard fats and hydrogenation of other oils and dressings.
Some people eat nothing but fruit until midday - but fruit can be had for snacks. A small amount of low fat cheeses are not harmful like milk.
Make sure you get your grains and heavy breads from time to time - do not overdo the breads.
These are the no no's: white sugar, white flour products, the use of aluminum cook ware, soda pops and all sugar products. Do not use artificial sweeteners - I should have said all carbonated beverages. No beer, cigarettes, or alcohol or ice cream.
Keep your meals as free as possible from condiments and spices.
Sounds pretty dull doesn't it? Well there is no rush. Eat what you feel like, but keep in the back of the mind what is Sattwic and what is not, and soon you will come to increase your taste buds' discrimination to such a heightened level, that just a bowl of rice with a few vegetables will be delicious.
I do not advocate rigidness in anything and certainly not in the way you eat, but the way you eat will aid in your meditations and your health and your clarity of mind.
You know, years ago, it used to be advocated amongst medical students to leave off eating meat before they wrote their exams. It cleared the mind. I don't know whether this is still done.
I do know, amongst the famous bridge players and chess players, that during a tournament they will not eat certain foods as it dulls the mind. If you need total clarity do not eat chicken or turkey as they both contain tryptophan, a sleep enhancer.
So you see, all I am saying is get to know what you are putting into your belly to steal your brains away, and should you fall back from a high place, feel no guilt, enjoy it and try again another day.
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