I am frequently asked what diet I follow and if I am vegetarian or not. Most of the times I feel I am expected to be a fanatic vegetarian… In answer I will share my experience in this field and I hope the answers I’ve reached may be helpful for you too. My views shared here may seem unorthodox for many vegetarians. I should admit that I prefer to keep my essential practice traditional (no new age, visualizations, wishful thinking, bla bla bla) while adapting totally to the needs of modern life, rather than hiphoping with new stylish practices while holding to ancient slogans on what to eat.
I have been experimenting with yogic diet and vegetarianism since 1997. At that period I thought it was essential for my spiritual evolution to follow the exact instructions of traditional yogic texts (Bhagavad Gita, Siva Samhita, etc) and the traditional Indian classification of food (sattvic, tamasic, rajasic) was the basis of my new diet. Though it is to note that simple vegetarianism is not what these texts recommend.
According to yogic texts food is divided into three categories. The first “sattvic” food (from sattva: light) is supposed to be the best for the body and mind. It consists of grains, vegetables, fruits, fresh nuts, fresh un-pasteurized milk, ghee. “Rajasic” food (from rajas: fire) is said to cause irritation, bad temper, “produce pain, grief, and disease”. This category contained bitter, sour, saline, excessively hot, pungent, dry, and burning food: cheese, yogurt, olives, sugar, chocolate, peanut, spices, potatoes, onion, tomato, garlic and eggs. Tamasic food, “stale, tasteless, putrid, rotten, and impure” is believed to cause dullness, drowsiness and lack of motivation. This category contains mushrooms, eggplant, avocado, meat, fried and frozen food. Yogis are supposed to ear only sattvic food. So, note that there is a big difference between a vegetarian diet and a sattvic diet. The dish pictured above is not what “traditional texts” recommend for yogis.
It was not hard to integrate sattvic food in my diet, nor was is hard to avoid tamasic components (meat, fish and fries) although i was a fan of all kinds of steaks, barbecues and fries before. Actually avoiding meat was the easiest part of the diet. At that time I was still a teenager and didn’t have to worry about being invited to dinners and lunches where it would be unsuitable to refuse the dishes offered by your host. But the rajasic part was the problem; our traditional Lebanese food: olives, cheese, labneh, tabbouleh (containing lemon, onion and tomato) seem to be un-yogic!! I decided to go for a compromise avoiding all what I can avoid (onion, garlic, spices) but keeping the main ingredients of our traditional food. This made sense for me.
A friend of mine, who was influenced by my yogic views earlier, refused the compromise. He ended up in the ER after few months suffering malnutrition.
I kept holding to my vegetarian, semi-sattvic diet till November 2000. By that time I had already been living in Russia for three months and winter was on doors. It was impossible to find natural greens, vegetables and fruits in the city bazaar. The imported green stuff sold there was more like waxworks; similar to fruits and vegetables in form and color but neither nutritious nor delicious. For two months my diet constituted only of milk, cabbages, potatoes, carrots and beetroot – the only natural product available in Russian winter. The nutrients provided by such a diet were less than what I needed for the tough life and the big mental effort exerted to keep up with my medical career. It was clear I was not to survive with such a diet. I had to switch.
To tell the truth it was not easy to take the decision. My adapted yogic diet was so dear to me and I was attached to my image as a vegetarian that it took me a while before I admitted that I need to switch.
There were objective reasons to eat meat: lack of proper food. What consoled me was that even Indian Brahmins had already switched to an omnivorous diet. In the cold of Russian winter I would imagine what an Eskimo yogi would have for lunch… of course fish and jerked meat, not a dish of spinach or coconut milk! Where shall an Eskimo get fresh pineapples and nuts from, even if he/she were a devoted yogi?
I believed and still do that Yoga is a universal discipline that is not confined to a certain nation or climate. At the same time I was already convinced that the traditionally recommended yogic diet is not a “one for all” recipe. It may work well for India; it may work with modifications for the Middle East, but not for Russia. If yoga is a universal discipline, yogic diet should not be partial. There should be a hidden knit behind the recommendations of yoga masters…
(read more in part II – to be published soon)
