10d • 🌿 Ayurveda
Food and your mood
The food you eat can affect your mood and your mood can affect what you choose to eat.
The Bhagavad Gita (Chapter 17, Verses 8-10) shares how food influences our consciousness, moods, and mental health. The qualities (Gunas) of the food is categorized as Sattvic (pure/calm), Rajasic (agitated/passionate), and Tamasic (lethargic/dull).
The core principle is “jaisa ann, waisa mann” (as is the food, so is the mind), emphasizing fresh, nutritious food to maintain a balanced, peaceful mind.
1. Sattvic Foods (Goodness & Peace):
These foods promote longevity, strength, health, happiness, and satisfaction. They are juicy, smooth, substantial, and pleasing to the heart.
- Examples: Fresh fruits, vegetables, whole grains, nuts, milk, and ghee.
- Mood: Calm, clear, and peaceful.
2. Rajasic Foods (Passion & Agitation):
These foods are excessively bitter, sour, salty, pungent, dry, and hot. They cause pain, grief, and disease.
- Examples: Excessive spices, caffeine, strong tea, coffee, and highly processed or salty snacks.
- Mood: Restless, agitated, and emotional.
3. Tamasic Foods (Ignorance & Lethargy):
These foods are stale, tasteless, putrid, decomposed, or impure. They cause dullness and laziness.
- Examples: Meat, fish, alcohol, leftovers, and heavily processed or fast food.
- Mood: Lethargic, depressed, and confused.
In addition to WHAT foods we eat, the HOW, WHERE, WHEN and WHY also affect our Food and Mind.
- Mindful Eating: Eating with gratitude and without being in a rush, treating it as a spiritual act.
- Offering Food (Prasadam): Offering gratitude and pray for the food, gifting it to the Divine first transforms it into prasadam, which purifies the consciousness.
- Moderation: Neither overeating nor starving supports a balanced mind, which is essential for meditation and productivity.
- Freshness: Eating freshly cooked food maintains prana (life force), while reheated, old food is considered to be dead or dumb.
For optimal mental health, the Gita suggests prioritizing fresh, nutritious foods (Sattvic) and avoiding foods that stimulate excessive passion (Rajasic) or lead to laziness (Tamasic).
How do you experience food and mood?
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Food and your mood
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