A guest blog post for you today readers from Lucas Rockwood of YOGABODY Naturals LLC
Busy, busy! Things afoot. You lovely lot will be the first to know when I am at liberty to divulge. In the meantime, enjoy!!
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The breath and body awareness you cultivate in yoga class quickly spills over into everything you do. Through yoga, most students notice and work through imbalances in their bodies; while at the same time, many begin to notice and work through imbalances in their diet and lifestyle too.
True balance is impossible, of course, but moving toward that middle path is a huge part of what this yoga thing is all about.
So let’s talk about food, yoga, and the bendy-bodied reality of the age-old saying, “You are what you eat!”
When it comes to food, there are so many different opinions about what to eat and what to avoid that it’s easy to get overwhelmed. One teacher tells you that you must be a vegetarian; another suggests that a diet high in lean animal protein is best.
So what’s a yoga student to do? And what about coffee? And ghee? And does this mean I can never have chocolate again?
There’s no “one size fits all” answer to diet questions, as everybody is different and everybody changes over time, but there are some general rules and a handful of powerful “food experiments” that can make your yoga life easier.
Let’s take a look:
- Whole Foods Rule – let the experts and dieticians argue about protein-to-carb ratios and ideal fat intake all they want. Meanwhile, you focus on the one thing that everyone agrees on: whole foods rule!
Whole foods are foods that look like things found in nature. An apple, for example, is a whole food. Applesauce is not. An egg is a whole food. A jar of mayonnaise is not. The healthiest people in the world eat very different diets—some are strict vegetarians, others eat almost exclusively animal products—but across the board, the one thing they all have in common is their propensity for whole foods. - Fresh is Best – Brazilian acai berries might be a goldmine for anti-oxidants, but if you had to choose between a processed acai berry drink or a handful of fresh blueberries, go for the blueberries every time. When we’re looking at micro-nutrient density in foods, fresh is best. The fresher the foods, the more bio-available nutrients. Period.
- Ugly, Bumpy, Army Green – the most commercially used foods like corn, soy, and wheat tend to be the most calorie-dense and the least nutrient-dense. Centuries of selective breeding and decades of genetic engineering have left many of the most prevalent foods limp and lame, nutritionally speaking.So, yoga students do well to avoid the white, overly pretty foods on offer, and instead should aim for the ugly, bumpy, and army green produce that’s often ignored. The more wild the plant, the more micro nutrients it contains—almost without exception. Go for the dinosaur kale, the army green cabbages, bitter herbs and lumpy squashes. These neglected plants are the real nutritional treasures in the grocery store.
- Conduct Food Experiments – every yoga student should indulge in at least a month of food experiments at some point in their practice. It’s a ton of fun and is the best way to learn more about your unique body and its preferences. Food experiments usually involve a single food elimination diet for a period of 7 days.Elimination? But that sounds hard!
Keep in mind, we’re just talking about one food for one week. It’s really not that difficult at all. For example, if you’re considering becoming a vegetarian, try it out for 10 days first. Give it your 100% best effort, keep a food journal and see what happens.
If you feel terrible the entire week, well, maybe it’s not for you. If you feel light and energized and your bowels are more regular than usual, then perhaps it’s an experiment you might try for a month? A year? More?
I suggest everyone do an elimination food experiment with dairy, wheat, meat, and sugar (at separate times) for at least 7 days each. Completely eliminate the food in question from your diet for the week; and then, when you break the experiment, eat LOTS of that food right away and see what happens.
Food experiments will give you huge insight into your internal chemistry—more so than any amount of theory or medical testing could. Once you “feel” how particular foods affect you, it’s so easy to start making food choices that nurture your unique body.
As a yoga teacher and nutritional coach, I’m constantly amazed at the power of foods. The tiniest changes in diet compound over time and can result in dramatic physical and mental shifts.
Some students who cut back on dairy, for example, find their pranayama practice is so much easier with less mucous in their sinuses. Other students discover the power of magnesium-rich green juice for relieving soreness and tension in their post-practice bodies.
With food, you never know until you try; and since most people eat the same foods they were fed as a child, they are moving through life like a horse with blinders, completely unaware of the fun, bio-diverse, and nutrient-dense world that is all around them. Take off your blinders, conduct experiments, focus on whole foods, and make your food choices an integral part of your yoga practice today!
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LUCAS ROCKWOOD is a yoga teacher trainer, an author, and the founder of YOGABODY Naturals, an education and food supplement company that creates powerful yoga tools for real people. LEARN MORE HERE.
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