How the 3 Gunas work (Part 2)

Did you know that India’s Ayurveda has figured out food psychology long before modern American science realized that our food decides our mood? Here’s the tea!

Like everything else in nature, even food has the 3 basic qualities or gunas called tamas, rajas & sattva.

While it’s not practical to have a 100% sattvic diet today, and it’s fine to indulge in cravings once a week or so, having more sattvic food just helps you feel better & more at peace.

Tamasic food includes packaged, reheated, processed, microwaved, chemically treated, and frozen food. Alcohol & tobacco are tamasic, too, which is after the initial hit, you end up feeling like crap.

Rajasic food includes coffee or tea, oily stuff, chocolate, eggs, meat & fish. All the bitter, salty, sour or hot foods like chilly, peppers & non-sprouted daals are also rajasic.

These can help you get some warmth & energy but if eaten too much, they may make you anxious.

Sattvic foods are always fresh & natural - this includes your green & leafy vegetables or just veggies in general, fresh fruits (not juices), almonds & other nuts, moong & sprouted pulses, coconut water, ginger, turmeric, and whole grains like whole wheat, brown rice & oats.

A sattvic diet in today’s modern context should as much as possible avoid dairy, too, because today’s milk products are filled with hormones & support factory farming which is animal abuse.