You might have heard people say that food is very important in life as it acts as fuel for the body. But unfortunately today, the attention and importance that food gets today are due to its quality of appealing to your taste buds and sometimes, even attracting the eye.
Many people (not all) say on the top that they consider food as a necessary fuel for the sustenance of the body. But deep down inside they eat food for taste. So why this shift in the thought process and what to do to avoid it?
The Tasty Obsession
All of us like tasty food. It is normal. But some people today have made tasty food their fundamental dietary basis. That means, we choose the food that is delicious over the food items that will enhance our body, mind, spirit, and life quality.
Hence, we have not realized today the role that food plays in making up our bodies. We might logically know it, but we haven’t paid attention to the things that happen inside the body after eating a certain item.
The Observation
You must have noticed that after you eat something, you feel tired for a certain period. It usually happens when people eat more than required or eat some heavy recipes like spicy or non-vegetarian foods. Even if you do not feel tired, you at least do not feel energized after eating the food, which should’ve been the case.
Why this happens is because non-vegetarian items and highly spicy dishes take quite some time for the body to digest properly. Not that it is bad, but it stays in your body for a longer time than fruits and veggies.
This drains your body’s energy for the process of digestion, and the energy that you needed then comes after 1-2 hrs or so.
While if you eat fruit or veggies, especially raw, then you see it gets digested quicker than the standard meals that you have. You feel light instead of getting tired.
Why Does This Happen?
The reason this happens is that the raw items are uninfluenced by man-made factors, like burning and roasting them in the name of cooking. They have their own compounds in them which assists their digestion in the body along with the body’s own compounds.
Hence, people on the spiritual path tend to go for a fruit diet at some point, or maybe even a leaf and root diet in some advanced cases.
What to Do?
Now it is obvious that you cannot straight away change your diet the next day. Even if you manage to do something like that, your body won’t be able to accept the change. Hence, no matter if you are on the spiritual path or not, it is always advised to experiment with the below-mentioned guidelines and see the results for yourself:
- Reduce the amount of unhealthy, non-vegetarian, spicy, and junk food that you consume. Start slowly and gradually bring it down to half.
- Chew the food properly. You don’t need to care about any predefined numbers. Just chew it till everything either becomes a paste or is reduced to very small sizes.
- Eat a well-balanced meal and have a gap of at least 4 hours before the next meal. People doing sadhana or any yogic practice can easily manage the ideal gap of 6 hours.
- Eat the last meal at least 3 hours before you sleep. This gives the body time to digest the food properly and isn’t burdened in sleep.
You will notice a natural decrease in your food intake and your sleeping period too. You will feel at least a little more active than before. When it comes to food, don’t listen to any outside person or even this article for that matter. Listen to your body. Forget the tongue.