Changing Eating Habits

While living in Costa Rica this past year, I made several changes to the food and drink that I consume.  I stopped drinking sodas, and began drinking only water and fresh juices.  I drank coffee there as a convenience, but I have returned to herbal teas and no longer am interested in drinking alcohol.  I have reduced my refined sugar intake significantly and no longer crave sweets like I used to.  Finally, I am in the process of reducing my intake of dairy products.

I have been vegetarian for many years now, but these additional changes have taken my body to another level of conscious clarity.  After reflecting on the changes that I was experiencing I decided to do some additional research in the area of spiritual qualities of foods.  According to Gabriel Cousens M.D. in Conscious Eating, particular energies exist within each food that affects our physical functioning, the nature of our thoughts, and even the expansion of our consciousness.  Cousins references many spiritual traditions that have acknowledged the importance in eating specific foods to increase spiritual awareness.  Ayurvedic physicians and yogis have been aware of how a persons dietary pattern affects a person's state of mind for thousands of years.   One of the Ayurvedic states of mind, sattvic, is a mind that is clear, peaceful, harmonious and interested in spiritual life.  The Ayurvedic foods that are satvic are easy to digest and result in a minimal accumulation of toxins in the system.  These foods include all fruits, vegetables, edible greens, grasses, beans, raw milk, honey, and small quantities of rice and grains.  It is pretty similar to my diet, except that I don't drink raw milk. 

I was happy to come across Cousen's book and confirm some of the experiences that I have had in refining my eating habits.  There is a lot of information to be sorted through, but it has been very motivating to me in considering how my diet is an important part of my own spiritual development.   

Comments

[William King]

Drinking sodas is really dangerous to health, it is more destructive than the other intoxicants we normally use. This is the report which was published by California Scientist. And do follow Chinese they use very handful eating things.