By Milda Urban, Summersalt Yoga founder

The right nutrition is one of the key elements to keep your yoga exercise and experience complete and the most fulfilling. Learn more about yoga nutrition philosophy and principles.

The first and main principle of yoga is moderation. Secondly, it’s the right choice of your produce and food products. Yogis tell us that we are what we eat and that the food is important not to our physical, but also to our mental state and health.

A light body is a key to the demanding yoga poses and the mind that has gotten positive energy allows concentration for meditation.

When you eat the food full of energy, the food that is not polluted, you are able to positively impact your physical and mental state and reach the harmony.

The food of the yogis is quite simple – it includes a lot of legumes, fruit, vegetables, seeds, nuts, whole grains. All of the dishes are as natural and as less processed as possible (that means not tinned, not fermented, not fried etc.).

The yogis most often practice vegetarianism basing it not only on the ethical grounds but also stating that the meat is very often toxic, inflicts poisoning, doesn’t have enough important vitamins, minerals and has too much protein. Many yogis state that meat consumption is unnatural and our body (teeth, intestines) are not suited for humans to be carnivores.

The vegetarian diet, according to yogis, if balanced right, is healthy and vegetarians are less prone to get heart, blood-vessel, and kidney diseases as well as are less likely to get overweight. For those who worry that it’s impossible to get enough protein without meat, most of the yogis will suggest getting them in other products – nuts, legumes (including soya), and dairy. Other produce that often finds a way on the yogis’ table is sour bread, rice with legumes (beans, peas, lentils) as well as various seeds, soy products (e.g. tofu) or dairy.

Philosophy of yoga nutrition

According to the yoga philosophy, the food is divided into three categories based on the energy it gives (gunas): sattva, rajas and tamas.

Sattva symbolises purity, cleanliness and clarity. The foods that belong to this category are the most suitable for those practising yoga. It is said that sattva food feeds the body, gives it energy and at the same time calms the mind and helps to reach harmony.

This food group includes grains, fresh vegetables and legumes, fruit, whole-meal baked goods, dairy, nuts, honey, herbal tea.

Rajas symbolise passion, action and anxiety. This food group is the opposite of the sattva – it brings the body and mind out of the balance, it tires the mind even if it feeds the body.

This food group includes various hot spices, coffee, tea, salt, chocolate, onions, garlic, and the food that is to hot, too spicy, too salty or too bitter.

Tamas is the energy that symbolises laziness, fear and ignorance. Foods from this group suite neither the body nor the mind, they suppress the energy, mind and the ability to think, they encourage greed, jealousy and inflict various diseases and illness.

This food group includes meat, alcohol, fermented, fried in fat, chemically affected food, over-ripened fruit.

Find more great recipes in our FREE Vegetarian Cookbook. GET YOUR COPY HERE.

If you want to learn more about Ayurveda, these books are a great way to start!

The post Yoga nutrition: natural, easy, moderate appeared first on Summersalt Yoga Retreats.

An easy, delicious and simple recipe for a great breakfast or afternoon snack. Chia pudding can be very versatile by just changing up the toppings. Our recipe uses plant milk and yoghurt (e.g. almond, oat milk and coconut yoghurt), but if you prefer dairy – feel free to use that!

9 teaspoons for chia seeds
3 x ½ cup of plant milk
3 x ½ cup of plant yoghurt
2-3 tablespoons of maple or agave syrup
1 cup of blueberries and some for topping

Place all ingredients into a blender. Blend.

Transfer the mixture into a bowl. Stir well a couple of times every 5 minutes and let it sit for about an hour.

Transfer into individual cups. Place them into the fridge overnight. Eat as breakfast or dessert topped with blueberries, granola, other fruit.

The post Recipe: chia pudding with blueberries appeared first on Summersalt Yoga Retreats.

By Cynthia Mitchell

Why not choose a plant-based diet? My diet for the past 13 years has been plant-based, and over the years I have been faced with many comments from friends and family such as…. “I could never do that.” “What do you eat?” “How do you get enough protein?” “So you eat chicken right?” “Are you hungry all the time?”

To answer these mysteries…. I eat food, just like you, minus the animal. Chicken is not a plant, so No, I do not eat chicken. I get all the protein necessary for human existence from plants like spinach, lentils, edamame, quinoa, nuts, beans, avocado…. the list goes on and on.

No, I am not hungry all the time, I am fully satisfied and not lethargic. And you can do it if you WANT to. That last one is the real challenge. WANTING to is the real reason why so many people do not choose a plant-based diet. We have to WANT to. We have to WANT to take care of our bodies. We have to eat like we give a damn about ourselves. Most of us live our lives as if we have another body stored away in the back of our closet that we can just jump into when this body becomes unhealthy. But in reality, we do not. We have ONE body. ONE life. ONE opportunity to feel good in the body we live in.

Let’s face it, our health industry pays no attention to the food industry and the majority of our food industry pays no attention to health. Your health is in your hands.

So let’s briefly look at some of the benefits of choosing a plant-based diet.

Less cholesterol from meat = balanced blood pressure = less pressure in the arteries in your heart = less risk of heart attack.

More fiber from plants = better digestion = happy waistline and tummy. Less saturated fats from meat = less clogged pores = better complexion.

Hormones injected in mass-produced animals = a higher risk of hormone cancers like colon and breast cancer.

And those are only a few benefits of a plant-based diet. I encourage you to do your own research on those facts in more depth.

We have all been told before, read in a magazine, or seen on a billboard why we should eat less meat and more plants. In today’s society, it is impossible to claim negligence with media and technology. There is no excuse other than not WANTING to. So why don’t we WANT to? Have you ever asked yourself? Every time you put food in your mouth you get the opportunity to nourish your body or damage your body.

When your body is hungry it wants nutrients, not calories. Nutrients that can be found in plants. Plants that are grown in nutrient-rich soil from the earth.

Eating well is a form of self-respect. Respecting your body. You know – the only one you have for the next 40-60 years? So why not choose a plant-based diet?

The post Why I choose a plant based diet appeared first on Summersalt Yoga Retreats.