Every few years, a new diet trend is welcomed by millions of followers who stick to it very religiously. Sadhguru says that people make food their religion and “veganism” is one such latest trend. He believes we should not make food our religion and must rather eat sensibly. Remember, food is our fuel. For example, if you want to refuel your car, you will have to visit the gas station and choose an appropriate fuel for the car. You can get it filled with kerosene, and it might somehow drive the car, but it would produce excess smoke. Also, you might not be able to accelerate the car. This happens with most of us when we choose ineffective foods for consumption. To know which food is best for you, it is important to realize what kind of machine your body is (just like any other machine).
Eating mindfully and choosing foods sensibly is important aspect of being healthy. Sadhguru advises that if you want to keep yourself and your kids healthy, you must eat fresh. If we talk about an average American, he or she eats processed food that has been prepared around three to six months before consumption. If you eat food after one hour and a half after it has been prepared, inertia will set in the food. If you consume the food with inertia, Sadhguru warns you will lose your dynamism. There is also a relation between the kind of food you eat and the hours you should sleep. Usually, doctor recommends sleeping for around eight hours. Well, if you sleep for 8 hours each night, you will spend one-third of your life in sleeping.
Reducing Inertia
Sadhguru believes body only needs restfulness and not necessarily sleep. He says that he sleeps for four hours each day. But earlier, for twenty five years, he slept for less than three hours each day and is still healthy and fit. How much sleep you need depends on the food you eat. If you consume unhealthy or high calorific foods, your body will need more time to digest the same.
Sadhguru explains there are many aspects in this context and if one eats food with high level of inertia, he or she will be dull. He stresses that if you continue consuming food with inertia, it will be difficult to feel active or energized.
Try Different Foods to Know What Suits You Best
Your body is actually an accumulation of the food you have consumed, after it has been digested and assimilated into parts of your body. According to Sadhguru, our bodies have a certain level of intelligence, genetic code and memory that guides it to convert food into energy and eventually keep our body functioning. For instance, an apple gets converted into body parts of whoever eats it; be it a man, woman or a cow. As we evolve, the memory and information our body carries becomes even more complex. In yogic culture, it is advised to consume foods that are most genetically distant from human beings. In that case, plat is the furthest away from us in genetic relation. In case, you want to consume non-vegetarian food, it is advised to consume fish as it is one of the most genetically distant species from humans. The first life on our earth began in the water and fish was the first animal life on the planet, if we look at it from an evolutionary point of view.
After almost a century of saying that meat is best for health, the doctors from U.S are gradually shifting their view and consider meat (especially beef) as the cause of several health issues including most of cardiovascular diseases. And in the last few years, they have also figured out that meat consumption can also lead to cancer. Sadhuru explains that it is bad for humans to consume genetically complex foods. The body gives us signals when we consume these foods. A dog also knows what to eat and what not to eat, but humans are gullible and consume foods based on the knowledge they have or as advised by others.
Sadhguru advises not to make food your religion. If it is a question of your survival, you can eat whatever is easily available. But if your survival is sure, you must choose the best available food for your health. The ideal food for you is one that leaves you with lots of energy, activeness, and agility. Sadhguru encourages you to experiment with food. Try eating fruits one day, raw vegetables the next day, cooked vegetables on some other day, then try out fish and meat too. This way you will be able to identify the foods that leave you most agile, active, and attentive. Sadhguru stresses to eat whatever suits you.
Know When You Should Not Eat
When you eat too much, it is good to fast occasionally. Sadhguru does not advise to go forcefully without food. Fasting forcefully can harm your system. If you want to fast, you must prepare yourself physically and psychologically. Sadhguru explains that there are few days in a month when digestion is not as good as in other days. These days are called Ekadashi, i.e., the eleventh day after every new moon and full moon. They occur twice in a month. On these two days, it is better to eat less or to not eat at all.
Sadhguru advises that on an Ekadashi, you must fast. If it is not possible for you to fast, you can consume fruits. Few people go on consuming a variety of things even while fasting, but he recommends consuming just fruits and other easy digestible foods only. If you consume fruit, it will be completely digested within 3 to 6 hours of consumption. If you consume raw vegetables, it might take 12 to 15 hours to completely digest them. If you eat cooked cereals and various other foods, you might take anywhere between 24 hours to 30 hours to digest them. While, if you consume cooked meat, it can take anywhere between 48 to around 52 hours to digest it. Raw meat can take as long as 72 hours to digest. This is a long duration for which the food is stored in your body and eventually it rots and leads to bacterial growth. With these complex food choices, you are damaging your system. This makes you believe in medicines and not in leading a healthy life by consuming suitable foods. Sadhguru believes you need medications because you are poisoning your body.
What you eat makes a huge difference on your system. Sadhguru recalls that whenever he was in the U.S., he never got his car re-fueled with ethanol gasoline, as it may rust the engine. Now after twelve years of the introduction of ethanol gasoline, it has been found that it rusts the car engine. You just have to pay attention to how something goes with your system. Most of the people do not pay attention to anything and go by other’s prescription.
If you have been consuming wrong foods for long, your body tends to become so lethargic that you cannot notice anything. Fasting gives you a break to pay attention to what is going on in your system. Just ask yourself- is it going fine or not? This is the simplest way to know what foods suits you best.
