Are you aware that food affects your thoughts and emotions? Read further to learn about the relationship between food and your mental and emotional health.
A recent study reviewed the link between nutrition and depression, and the findings are mindblowing.
The relationship between food and your mental and emotional health according to Ayurveda
The food you eat has a tremendous influence on your mood. It is essential for both your physical health as well as your mental and emotional health. Believe it or not, your meals shape your mind along with your ability to conceptualize; it affects your thoughts and emotions.
In Ayurveda, we do not believe there is a one-size-fits-all when it comes to food.
According to Ayurveda, no food is necessarily good or bad, for every person reacts differently to different kinds of food depending on their constitution. The same food that supports one person could damage another depending on their digestive system and the origin and preparation of the food.
When you eat food with a calm state of mind, your body radiates health and well-being. But when you stuff your face when you feel agitated, even if the food is healthy, it will become toxic.
Organic foods, mindfully cooked and consumed, can work magic. In Ayurveda, these are called sattvic foods. Sattvic food has a soothing and pleasant effect on the mind. Sattva, Rajas, and Tamas are the three qualities of consciousness inherent in all material objects, including food.
Ayurveda suggests eating sattvic food for vital health and a calm and peaceful state of mind. Food is sattvic when it is eaten fresh (recently cooked) and in the perfect quantity and quality. Click here to learn more about Ayurveda secrets to a perfect diet.
Sattvic Foods
Sattvic food is high in prana. Prana is the subtle life force energy. Sattvic food is light and easily digestible and provides the body with the strength it needs.
It is important to take the following into consideration when planning a sattvic diet:
- Always eat seasonal organic fruits and vegetables.
- You may sprinkle some spices to improve your digestion. Click here to learn more about the six tastes in Ayurveda.
- Pink Himalayan salt in moderation is considered sattvic.
- Nuts and seeds are an excellent source for a sattvic snack.
- Sweet fruits, raw honey, and organic grains are also very sattvic.
- Ayurveda believes cow’s milk from cows raised in a peaceful environment is more sattvic than goat, sheep, or buffalo milk. And so is yogurt, cheese, and butter derived from cow milk.
- As plant-based food is easier to digest than meat, poultry, and fish, its prana is also higher and considered more sattvic.
- Ayurveda suggests lightly cooking your foods with clarified butter (ghee). Steaming your vegetables is also a great option. Steamed or lightly sautéed organic food is more sattvic than overly processed food. Ayurveda prefers cooked meals over raw foods since raw vegetables and fruits are high in prana but less digestible.
If you are considering a more sattvic diet, it is essential to see food as energy. Was it grown with love and prepared with kindness in a sattvic environment? How does it feel when you eat it? Always pay attention to how your body and mind react to the food you eat. If you feel light and energetic after a meal, that is a definite sign that your meal was most likely a sattvic dish.
Rajasic Food
Rajasic foods aggravate the mind and irritate the body.
The following will add rajasic qualities to your food:
- Excessive hotness, sourness, and saltiness equals rajasic
- Adding garlic, hot chili sauce, and wine also invoke rajasic qualities.
- Overly processed foods, as well as junk and fast food, are considered very rajasic.
- And so are caffeine, alcohol, and drugs.
Even if it is vegetarian or vegan, any meal prepared with hot spices and is loaded with salt and gulped with a rum coke (or any caffeine, soda, or alcohol) in a hurry or a toxic environment screams for rajasic.
Tamasic Foods
Tamasic foods are low in prana and damaging to the body, mind, and spirit.
Foods that are considered tamasic are:
- Foods that lack freshness and are stale
- Rotten food
- Greasy food
Ayurveda is not against eating meat. Some Ayurveda practitioners recommend meat to improve physical strength. However, a diet that consists of only animal products, and mainly frozen, canned, or old, will increase tamasic qualities. Meat is best consumed in small amounts and cooked fresh. When eaten in excess, it will bring about dullness and heaviness in the body, mind, and spirit.
In Ayurveda, not because you are a vegetarian or vegan means you are sattvic, or because you love hot, spice and garlic means you are rajasic, and because your diet consist of only high protein animal products means you are tamasic. Instead, it is how the food is produced, prepared, and consumed which has the most impact.
When you follow a sattvic diet, you will develop a sattvic state of mind, and with a sattvic state of mind, you will choose sattvic food that is high in prana that will give you energy strength, and vitality rather than food that will deplete your energy.
The same is true for a rajasic diet, the more you eat a hot, spicy, salty, and sour diet that results in pain, bitterness, and an aggravated mind, the more you will crave it. And the more you love an old, stale, canned, or greasy diet, the more drawn you will be to such food.
Summary of the relationship between food and your mental and emotional health
Sattva, Rajas, and Tamas are the three qualities of consciousness inherent in all material objects, including food. By becoming aware of these three qualities of consciousness inherent in your food, you can better understand the different states of your mind. Next time when you feel a wave of sudden anger overtake you, perhaps it is the hot Mexican Enchilada you had for lunch.
It is so fascinating to learn the relationship between food and your mental and emotional health. And the better you understand how certain foods impact your thoughts and state of mind, the more conscious you become of the food you eat, and the better you will feel. This I promise you!
If you enjoyed this article, I highly recommend you read Ayurveda Meal Plan | what I eat in a day. And ofcourse, make sure to leave a comment below. We love to hear from you.