Yoga Diet - The Yogic Way of Changing Your Diet

A change to a complete vegetarian diet cannot happen overnight. You can't just say, "From now on I will stop eating meat," and expect the transition to go smoothly. It has to be done little by little and not instantaneously.

The main principle of the Yoga diet is increasing the intake of fruits and vegetables with the goal of eventually shifting to a pure vegetarian diet. And since such a diet is a healthy diet, it will lead to a stronger body and a better state of mind. Here are some tips on how to make the change much easier for you: 

• Include plenty of green, leafy vegetables in your diet while minimizing the intake of meat.
• If you have a certain favorite unhealthy food, don't immediately deny yourself of it. Instead, set a certain limit for yourself on when to eat it, like once a week. Then try to increase this limit every time until you can finally go on without eating that unhealthy food.
• Ensure that you have a regular intake of good protein food, such as nuts, legumes, whole grains, and cheese.
• Eat salad or raw vegetables every day. If you're cooking vegetables, do it as quickly as possible in order to preserve their goodness.
• Cut back on junk food. Although potato chips are technically vegetables, it's not the type of food we are looking for in a Yoga diet.
• Avoid "denatured" food such as flour, white bread, cakes, or refined cereals.
• Eat some fresh fruits every day.
• Make sure that the food you eat promotes health of the body.
• Learn to substitute more Sattvic food for Rajastic or Tamastic ones. Read more about these on our page about The Three Gunas.
• Cook only as much as you need and no more. Do not overeat. Overeating is also bad for the body.
• Be inventive and adventurous.
• Don't set goals that might be too big for you. Go for realistic ones. Just do things slowly. Try it out for a few weeks and see what happens.

In time, you will see the benefits of a Yoga diet. And as much as the food in a Yoga diet is nutritious, it is also rich in Prana or life force. When you feel the increase of life energy as brought about by this diet, you will understand the meaning of the saying, "You are what you eat."

As a good starting point, you can find healthy and delicious recipes from some Yoga books and websites about vegetarian diet. These can help you start your journey to both a healthier diet and a better way of life.