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Diet

If I had to consolidate my idea of a healthy diet, it is to eat like a peasant. Recognizing that diet must be individualized and that no diet is good for everyone, there are general concepts that apply to everyone. If you look at the diet of healthy people cross-culturally and throughout history, a consistent pattern of healthy eating can be seen. It is a simple plant-based diet that consists of primarily beans, grains, fruits, vegetables, nuts and seeds. Animal products and sweets are used sparingly with the exception of special occasions. For example, a Mediterranean peasant’s meal might include pasta, lentils, and salads. An Indian peasant might eat curried vegetables, rice, and dahl (lentils). A mainstay in the diet of the Chinese people is tofu, rice, and vegetables. Each cultural group has a tradition of beans and grains that they build their meals around using locally grown fruits and vegetables as well as unique flavorings and spices.

In our culture, affluence allows us to indulge in special occasion food on a daily basis. As we overindulge ourselves by eating too much food and food that is too rich, we tax our bodies and the planet. Remember that part of the moral and ethical codes taught in yoga are about nonviolence and freedom from greed. Dietary principles taught in yoga begin with embracing these principles. The peasants of the world have no choice but to eat simply. For us it must be a conscious choice. Yoga teaches you to refrain from eating more than you need. Be conscious of where your food comes from and what affect it has on you. Minimize the suffering of other living beings in the process of sustaining your own life. We all kill things in order to survive. As we breathe we kill microorganisms. But we can eat in such a way that we minimize waste and suffering. It’s no mistake that the simple foods that promote individual health allow us to live lightly on the earth. The philosophy of yoga asks us to see nutrition in this global sense and connect our individual self with our universal self.

Without preaching, I tell my patients to think about eating low on the food chain.

The food chain is a term used by biologists to describe how energy is transferred from sunlight which strikes the earth, to the food nourishing our bodies. Sunlight is transformed into plant starches by the process of photosynthesis. These plant starches feed animals and humans. Energy is lost at each stage in the food chain. For example, plants only use 30% of the sunlight that reaches the earth. Furthermore, it takes 16-20 pounds of grain to make one pound of meat. The production of one pound of meat also requires 2,500-6,000 gallons of water, while one pound of wheat requires only about 60 gallons. Vegetables will feed about 10-20 times more people than meat. Therefore, when we eat low on the food chain, eating mostly plants, we are conserving energy. We also protect ourselves from environmental pollutants through this discretion.

Concentration of pollutants and toxins increases at each step on the food chain as energy decreases. For example, if it takes 16-20 pounds of grain to produce one pound of meat, and the grain that was fed to the cow was sprayed with pesticides, the body ingests a concentrated residue from the entire 21 pounds of grain when one pound of meat is consumed. One pound of wheat contains far less residue.

Benefits

Benefits of eating low on the food chain include global and individual:

• Food that is environmentally cleaner and more efficient ecologically
• Optimal transit time
• Maintains stable blood sugar
• Good for the heart
• Low in saturated fats and cholesterol

PRINCIPLES OF WELLNESS: Overview | Posture | Breathing | Diet | Supporting Research