Monday motivation | What to Eat? Making the right food choice

The concept of?pranic foods?is likely based on the ancient Indian yogic?diet?culture of consuming?foods?to nurture your mind, body, and soul.?Pranic foods?comprise the?pranic diet, an?eating?pattern that categorizes?foods?based on how they supposedly affect your vital energy, or?prana

The first thing to remember is that essentially, food is fuel. If you want to refuel your car, you go to the gas station and choose the appropriate fuel for this particular machine, in order to achieve optimal performance. You could put kerosene into your car and it would actually drive, but it may smoke and cough, and you may not be able to accelerate as you want. This is the situation with most people when it comes to their food choices. To choose the appropriate fuel, you need to know what type of machine you are.

If it is a question of survival, eat what is available. But when survival is taken care of, there is a choice. When you have a choice, you must eat sensibly, what is best for your system. The ideal fuel for your body is what leaves you alert, agile, and active.

You could experiment. One day, just eat fruits; another day, just eat raw vegetables; yet another day, you cook the vegetables; then you eat spicy Indian food – try out everything. With what kind of food you are experiencing maximum levels of energy and alertness, please eat that, and you will be healthy.

·????????If you eat a fruit, within 1.5 to three hours’ time, it will be fully digested.

·????????If you eat cooked vegetables, it will take twelve to fifteen hours to digest them.

·????????If you eat cooked cereals and other foods, it will take twenty-four to thirty hours.

·????????If you eat cooked meat, it will take forty-eight to fifty-two hours.

·????????If you eat raw meat, it will take seventy-two hours to digest it.

When food remains in the system for such long periods of time, it will rot and cause unnecessary levels of bacteria. With such food choices, you are causing damage to the system. And then you believe you need medicines, rather than living healthy. You need pharmaceutical products because you are generating poison within yourself.

While the majority of us have a reasonably good idea of what constitutes a healthy eating plan, sometimes life gets in the way of it. Knowing the best quick and easy food options for busy people is the difference between eating well and not.

So what would a day of perfect eating look like for a busy professional?

7-8 am

To optimize your metabolism, you should ideally eat?breakfast?before 8am. Rushing out the door with little more than a coffee starts the day off on the wrong foot. The best breakfast options that you can quickly prepare at home include low-GI oats or muesli with thick yogurt and fruit or baked beans on toast or even a liquid meal drink that you can grab on the way out the door.

If you have to purchase something on the way to work, a coffee and toasted sandwich on grainy bread fares pretty well nutritionally. Banana bread, Turkish toast and large, syrup-based coffees are high in processed carbohydrates and sugars and are not good choices.

10am

If you have had a good breakfast, you should feel slightly hungry a few hours later. A cup of green tea is ideal. Drinking three cups of green tea a day has been shown to slightly increase metabolic rate.

1-2 pm

Lunch?is when things can start to go wrong. If you have not eaten enough food throughout the morning, you may notice that now is when you start to crave sugar. To help manage these cravings, and to avoid snacking on fatty, sweet foods, ensure your lunch contains a good amount of vegetables and protein.

7 to 8 pm

Eating dinner late?is one of the biggest mistakes we make, but it is sometimes inevitable, with long working hours and commutes.?Keep your dinner lighter, the later you find yourself eating it, with light grills, vegetables and salads. If you often eat after 8pm, have a light dinner of soup or salad and a heavier, main meal at lunchtime.

????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????Excerpt | Sadhguru’s article