Sattvic Way of Eating

What Is The Best Time To Eat?

—Ayurveda says that in our manipuraka region (navel region) we have what is known as digestive fire (jatara agni). This jatara agni is closely related to the sun. When the sun is out, it means your digestion is functioning at its optimum. Always aim to eat your meals between sunrise and sunset (not before or after). Eat light, sattvic and pure foods for breakfast – fresh squeezed juice, fresh fruit etc. —Our jatara agni is at is strongest when the sun is at its highest in the sky (at approximately 1pm). It is best to eat our largest meal during 12pm and 2pm. The evening meal should again be light and best eaten before the sun goes down for the day.

How To Eat?

Devote at least half and hour to eat and digest each meal. Remember that one fourth of your food is taken through the eye (sense of seeing) so serve your dish on a beautiful plate - you are worth your best cutlery! It is also a nice practice to set the table you are eating at decoratively. Play some beautiful, calming music while you eat your meals.

Gratitude:
—Say a small prayer before eating your food. It doesn’t have to be too elaborate, simply just say a small thank you for the food that you have and that is about to become part of your body.

Fragrance of the food:
—Bring your face toward the food and inhale the fragrance of the food. Enjoy the different aromas of the food. Allow this sense to be filled.

Touch the food:
—Touch the food with both hands and all fingers, feel the textures. All five fingers have minor chakras. Therefore, when we touch the food, we send a signal to our digestive system that you are about to ingest food.

Eating the food:
—Let the first morsel be a sacred act to yourself. —Chew the food 32 times – or until food is pulp in the mouth. We do this for two reasons. The first is, when you chew the food slowly, your system has time to understand that enough food has been eaten. You won't overeat when you chew the food slowly. The second reason is, when you chew the food well, the digestive process begins in the mouth itself where the enzymes in the saliva can start to breakdown the food. When the food reaches your stomach, it does not have to work so hard to breakdown all the food. Breaking down food in the stomach takes more energy than running around your street block. That is why we feel very tired after a meal. Have positivity when you are eating and digesting your food.

Leave some room:
—You should only fill three quarters of your stomach. Leave the final quarter for some water and air. Small sips of warm water can be taken during meal. Never drink cold drinks during a meal as they can weaken your digestive fire. Leave a complete half an hour after your meal, than you can drink a full glass of warm water if it is required. —One can sip water throughout the day. It greases the system and breaks down what is known as ama which is residue of your digestion.

Sit in vajrasana to help digestion:
—Sit in the vajrasana position (sitting on your heels, knees and feet together) for 3-5 minutes after a meal. This position can help the food to digest as a lot of blood will be bought to that area. It helps to remove gas and prevent bloating. The posture will help you to feel light and energized after the meal. Never lay down or sleep after a meal. Sleeping after a meal is a 100% guaranteed way to put on weight.

Foods to be avoided in sattvic eating:
processed and refined foods, —canned foods, frozen foods, food with preservatives, artifical flavors, aromas and colors added, anything packaged

Foods to be encouraged in sattvic eating:
Lots of fresh, organic fruits and vegetables and other organic products.

Full disclosure: Not my own words below, I copied this from another thread. I think it was well said...

"Wow this site is full of bad advice and misinformation. People running around spewing nonsense that has been outdated forever. Then 1 guy comes around trying to give some basic advice and everyone jumps down his throat. I wish the people in this thread going at the OP would take the time to sit around and correct every bad thread started per day, and there are tons along with the people who run around given horrific advice.

I would like to say people are smart enough to realize if someone is giving them bad advice (which I don't personally feel OP has) that they can easily do some research to figure things out. A lot of people need to concern themselves less with what others are doing and more with actually losing weight and getting healthy instead of just spewing off at the mouth.

If you don't like what the OP is saying then say your piece and keep it moving. There are tons of people online on this site right now given advice that need to be ripped apart. Go at them"

You think this advice is basic advice? You think people should only eat during daylight hours, should be told that sleeping after eating will 100% make then put on weight, should be told to avoid processed, frozen, canned, PACKAGED food?

I can post on any thread I like, and if I disagree with the advice given then I will say so, and I can come back and post again, there is not a one post per thread limit.

Feel free to comment or not on my post - that is how a forum works.

Oh and no, I don't think all people are smart enough to work out what advice is good or bad - if they were, we wouldn't have a million cleanse/fad diets/pills/diet not working threads every single day. :noway:

Personally I don't believe your whiny post contributes to this thread at all, at least the negative posts were on topic - don't you have a people are mean thread to author somewhere? :flowerforyou:

OP-i know what ur words meant and i know its 100%true.....but people will accept only when "its posted by some research in US"....i am follower of ayurveda and when every doctor gave up on my MIL's kidney problem ..she followed ayurveda a 100% along with yoga and just 4 years into this and all her reports are perfect...before she had to use catheter everywhere...so if people can be just warm it would be whole diff world...
saying that ..read the book by rujutha diwaker ..she is an indian nutritionist and celebrity trainer....she has written same things giving evidence ....

I don't know what the @!@!@## you are talking about. I live in Alaska and we don't even have sunlight for half of the year. When do we eat?

Sleeping after a meal is a 100% guaranteed way to put on weight.

:laugh:

The same thing was told by a family friend. She was an old lady but when she was young, she was a prima ballerina of Opera De Paris. After that she was one of the leading ballet teachers.

She always told me to stand up after a meal, it'd help to avoid putting on weight. If lay down it'd caused weight gain. And of course no food after 6 pm, not even tea.

She was a wonderful old lady of 90 something years old and her weight never was more than 50 kilos in her life.

Ballerinas are notorious for anorexia and having dangerous, unrealistic, and unsustainable eating habits and too-low body fat percentages. That's a nice anecdote and I'm sure she was a swell lady, but I don't think I ever want to take nutrition advice from someone deeply steeped in that sort of crowd.

I'm sorry but that comment just shows that you have no idea about ballet or ballerinas. And you dont know the definition of anorexia. As the matter of fact my mom also a ballerina and I was a dancer of modern dance for decades.

There is no anorexia in ballet. Period. Anorexia is a psychological problem when a person thinks he/she is fat. For ballerinas it is a REQUIREMENT to be less than 50 kilos otherwise they're not suitable for dancing with a partner and in some cases and movements might hurt his health. In ballet schools the requirement is 48 kilos maximum otherwise a student is not eligible for exams.

I've never in my life met an anorexic ballerina. Ever. They need a lot of energy and nutritious food to perform so they actually eat a lot. But at the same time they must maintain their appearance. It's their job requirement and duty.

That's the requirement of art that ballet is and I strongly recommend you to educate yourself and visit a theatre at least once in your life.