The ancient sciences regard ‘sattva’ as what is pure and good. For the yogi who is on the path of self-realisation, sattvik food yields more that just proteins and carbohydrates but also subtle nourishment; it is what we eat that governs our life force—prana whose quality influences consciousness.
The Bhagavad Gita describes the sattvic diet as “promoting life, virtue, strength, health, happiness and satisfaction” that are “savoury, smooth, firm and pleasant to the stomach” and the rajasic diet as “excessively pungent, sour, salty, hot, harsh, astringent and burnt”, leading to “pain, misery and sickness”. Tamasic foods are as “stale, tasteless, smelly, left-over, rotten and foul” (Bhagwad Gita17:8-10).
“When sattva predominates, the light of wisdom shines through every gate of the body” (Gita 14: 11). Charak Samhita, the Bible of Ayurveda, says, “persons having the sattvic essence are endowed with memory, devotion, are grateful, learned, pure, courageous, skillful, resolute, free from anxiety, having well-directed and serious intellect and activities and are engaged in virtuous acts.” (III-8:110).
What is a sattvic diet? These are pure foods rich in prana like organic foods and freshly cooked food. Leftovers are tamasic. Sattvic foods are light, easy to digest, cools and refreshes the body and the mind. Cook with olive oil, sesame oil and flax oil. The state of mind of the cook is important—food made or eaten in anger will disturb the mind. Sattvic food should be consumed in modest potions and chewed carefully. Never overeat. All fresh, organic fruits—apples, apricots, bananas, berries, dates, grapes, melons, lemons, mangoes, oranges, peaches and plums—are sattvik.
Some yogis undertake fruit fasts, consuming only fruit and fruit juices. Triphala, a combination of three dry fruits aid in optimum digestion. Vegans note; yoga tradition extols food freely given by the symbol of motherhood, the cow—a combination of dairy products and fruit is considered the best sattvic food; so is milk, butter, ghee, cottage cheese, whey, fresh yogurt and buttermilk. Diluting warm milk with fresh ginger, cinnamon and cardamom mixed with raw honey cleans mucus. Nuts, mildly roasted seeds and fresh, salted nuts and soaked and peeled almonds, coconut, pine nuts, walnuts, sesame seeds, pumpkin seeds and flax seeds are best.
Hot peppers, garlic and onion are considered rajasic while mushrooms and potatoes are tamasic. Beetroots, carrots, celery, cucumbers, green leafy vegetables, sweet potatoes and squash are part of the sattvic menu. Drink freshly pressed vegetable juices to imbibe their prana and live enzymes. Whole grains —organic rice, whole wheat, spelt, oatmeal and barley—are recommended for a sattvic diet, but roast them lightly. Avoid yeast.
Recommended foods: khichdi, kheer, chapattis and porridge made very watery and cooked with herbs are excellent examples. As legumes go, split mung, yellow split peas, organic tofu, bean sprouts and lentils and aduki beans are sattvik.
Sattvic spices always mild and includes basil, cardamom, cinnamon, coriander, cumin, fennel, fenugreek, fresh ginger and turmeric. Small amounts of rajasic spices like black or red pepper and garlic are used counter tamas and keep channels open. Rajasic spices, combined with tamasic food, definitely gives you restless sleep.
Yogis avoid eating flesh because the fear and anger of the butchered animal is believed to affect the flesh eater. Fresh meat is rajasic, and old meat tamasic. However, many yogis recommend fresh fish, poultry and eggs; but only three days a week.
A vegetarian diet can be too cooling for Himalayan mystics, so some consume meat for warmth. An alternative is to include herbs like ashwagandha, astragalus or ginseng in the food. Bhasmas generate heat as well, especially made from deer antler—Sring Bhasma.
The sattvic eater, the Gita says, are the ones, “unmoved by the harmony of sattva, the activity of rajas, or the delusion of tamas. They feel no aversion when these forces are active, nor do they crave for them when these forces subside.” Thus they transcend even the gunas.