Yoga diet plan for weight loss could be the key to good health and a slender waistline. The healthful practice of yoga is one of the best ways to lose weight and bring balance to your life. When you attend yoga classes, you’ll also find yourself living a healthier lifestyle as well as losing weight.
The yoga diet plan for weight loss is great for those that appreciate the ancient practice of Yoga and want to slim down at the same time. Even if you are just interested in losing weight, through eating healthier and exercise, this combination is a usually very successful one.
Yoga Diet Plan
The yoga diet means that you need to be mindful about what you eat.
Classic yoga texts such as the Bhagavad Gita and Patanjali’s Yoga Sutra don’t specifically list foods for a yoga diet plan. However, you can use mindfulness principles from these writings to formulate a way of nourishing your body that resonates with your yoga practice.
Tip
Eating a Yogic diet comes down to the basic principle of mindfulness. Follow these while creating your diet plan.
One of the basic yogic teachings is that “morality is the base, meditation is the means and liberation is the goal,” according to the State University of New York Geneseo (SUNY Geneseo). The 10 precepts of morality are divided into five Yama — meaning that which you are to control — and five Niyama, which are things you are to cultivate.
First, Do No Harm
The first and most basic Yama is Ahimsa, or the principle of not harming another living being unnecessarily. This allows for protecting your life, family, wealth and property, but only for doing so with the least amount of injury to other beings possible. When it comes to eating, this is often construed to be a mandate for a plant-based diet, according to SUNY Geneseo. The idea behind turning to plants for food relies on not killing creatures capable of feeling pain, and suffering, for food.
However, the traditional view of sentience and pain cognition has been increasingly challenged in the past half-decade. A landmark December 2015 study by the University of Queensland’s School of Biomedical Sciences showed that fish do not feel pain, or experience phenomenal consciousness, in the same way as humans and other animals.
Muddying the sentience waters even more, the level of pain cognition and response is a hotly-contested topic since the inception of the study of plant neurobiology in June 2006, according to the University of California Santa Cruz (UCSC). Scientists such as Monica Gagliano, Senior Research Fellow at the University of Western Australia, are bending traditional views of how we perceive plan consciousness.
An October 2019 study published in Plant Signaling and Behavior and Oxford Academic’s The Annals of Botany is just one example finding that plants can make very complex decisions to promote their survival, even without neurons or a traditional nervous system. However, UCSC posits that, like fish, plants don’t have the neurological structure to be consciously aware or to feel pain.
Nourish Yourself Properly
The Ahimsa Yama also means preventing harm to yourself. Avoid addictive substances, such as drugs and alcohol, caffeine, sugar and too much salt, says SUNY Geneseo. Acts of violence “toward the self” could also include not giving your body what it truly needs.
Although it might seem natural to eschew animal flesh on a yoga diet plan, each individual’s dietary needs are different. For example, people with certain metabolic disorders, renal disorders and gene mutations require l-carnitine found in meat, according to Oregon State University’s Linus Pauling Institute (LPI). Pregnant women, and individuals who don’t produce enough l-carnitine in their liver because of health anomalies, are also at risk.
Taking in extra l-carnitine is useful as an adjunct in treating diabetes, cardiac disease, end-stage renal disease, side effects of chemotherapy and more, according to the institute. Speak with your doctor before eliminating meat sources from your diet. Although supplements are available, they are still sourced from animals, and aren’t as absorbed as readily as when you are just eating meat, according to LPI.
The 2015-2020 Dietary Guidelines for Americans include a table for determining your caloric needs based on your gender, activity level and age. Review common deficiencies in the American diet, such as calcium, vitamin C and potassium, in the guidelines, and tweak your diet to up your intake. Recommendations include animal protein in the menu; however, vegetarian guidelines include only dairy and eggs.
Understand Yogic Food Groups
IYMS Rishikesh, a leading yoga school in India, teaches students that the human body consists of Agni, an internal fire that transforms whatever you eat into the Ojas that are the building blocks necessary for good health.
However, Amma — substances causing health issues — can also build up in the body, clogging it and blocking the flow of internal life force, or Prana according to IYMS. These are reflected in the buildup of toxins in fatty tissue, which, according to Western medicine, leads to disease.
Besides consuming a beneficial diet, paying attention to what’s going on in your life is a key to preventing Amma. Unresolved emotional issues and physical or emotional stress can cause the consumption of Amma-creating foods, according to IYMS. Paying attention to the three categories of foods recognized by the ancient yogis can help you reduce Amma.
- Sattvic foods are the only ideal foods for a yoga diet. The Sanskrit word Sattva means “purity,” so it’s natural that this group includes whole grains, fruits, nuts, honey and other natural sweeteners that are considered most harmonious to the body.
- Dairy was also on the ancient yogi’s Sattvic list; however, modern processing causes lactose intolerance and other digestive upset in many people.
- Easily digested Sattvic foods bring about a peaceful state of mind conducive to yoga practice, according to IYMS. Don’t prepare them with a lot of spice, however, or they will become Tamasic.* Tamasic food includes salty and spicy foods, as well as most non-vegetarian foods. This food group creates heat inside the human body, leading to anxiety, upset, quarrelsome behavior and other “hot” emotions that are counterproductive to a yogic lifestyle. Eliminate foods from this group entirely, recommends IYMS
- Rajasic foods derive their name from the royal banquets that contained 56 or more rich delicacies eaten at one meal. Fried food, rich desserts, sweetened beverages, dehydrated foods and foods with bitter, salty or spicy flavors fall into this group. Avoid anything heavy, rich or fatty.
Yogic Diet Tips
- Go for a Sativik diet with seasonal fresh fruits and organic green veggies
- Increase the fluid intake. Try to include butter milk with lunch. Natural Detox Daily- Once or twice daily drink little hot water with pinch of salt and lemon juice.
- Cut down on spices, junk and fast-foods. Extremely hot or cold meals should be avoided since it disturbs the equilibrium of the body.
- Be regular with your yoga practise to keep up your metabolism and energy levels
- Try to eat at fix time. Eat at regular intervals.
- Pay attention to portion size. Eat to satiate your hunger. Avoid over-eating
- While eating food be mindful and be a 100% with your foods. Switch off your phone. Do not watch TV while you are eating.
- Chew your food slowly. This will help to digest the food properly. Tendency to over-eat is reduced.
- Stick to healthy routines, eat home cooked fresh meals
- Regularly practise JalaNeti. This helps to calm the mind and keeps a whole host of infections at bay. Healthy body …healthy mind!
- On an empty stomach early in the morning drink atleast 2 glasses of luke warm water. It is a simple yet effective tool in weightloss.
- Excessive intake of coffee/tea, table salt or chocolates should be totally avoided if possible. These stimulants affect the CNS (Central Nervous System)
Mind is the Key…yes that’s right what you think you can achieve
All it takes is a sincere effort, determination and discipline to get there. Pranayama is a good way to control your breath and the mind. Pranayama yoga reduces stress and breathing yogic techniques helps in weight reduction. When mind in calm, emotions are in check. Many of us emotional eaters eat to fill the void. Simple yogic techniques helps and overeating can be easily controlled.
Below mentioned are 3 pranayama techniques that can easily done from the comfort of your own home. Benefits are tremendous try today…
Anulom Vilom Pranayama or Nadi Shodhana Pranayama– This paranayma balances out the pranic channels. When done regularly the Ida and Pingala nadis get balanced. This in turn stimulates the central channel called Sushumna Nadi. Thus, this pranayama helps to balance out two hemispheres of the brain. Healing and bringing about peace and tranquility. It removes toxins from the body. Check out beginner yoga pranayama video for details
Yogendra Pranayama IV– Breathing becomes long, deep, steady and continuous. The diaphragm is activated and freed. Lungs utilization becomes fuller. Abdominal organs are relaxed and revitalized. Balance is restored at emotional and mental levels. Get all the detail watch the video
Bhastrika involves brisk & forced deep inhalation & exhalation. The movements are just like an iron smith’s bellow. This should be done lying down on either side. Bhastrika Pranayama oxygenates the blood and helps to heal all the tissues & organs. It regulates the endocrine glands to function optimally. Individuals suffering from obesity due to malfunction of the thyroid gland will find Bhastrika to be a very useful technique.
7 Practical Steps to Lose Weight with a Yoga Diet
Struggling to lose weight, or looking for healthier ways to maintain your ideal weight? The science of yoga offers simple, natural solutions that help balance your body and reignite your metabolism—making it much easier to shed excess pounds in a healthy way.
Many people feel frustrated in their inability to lose unwanted fat, resulting in a dramatic increase in demand for the “magic bullet” to lose weight, such as diet pills or weight loss surgery. These methods may seem effective in the short term, but it’s not uncommon for people to gain back the weight they lose because they don’t know how to maintain a healthy weight. Dramatic weight loss methods also carry risks of serious side effects, whether from surgery, pills, or just rapid weight loss—all of which can be a tremendous strain on the body. It’s important to realize that no matter what method of weight loss you use, significant diet and lifestyle changes are necessary to successfully lose weight and keep it off. In fact, changing your diet and lifestyle habits is not only the most effective way to normalize your weight, but also the safest.
When you achieve your ideal weight holistically, there are not only no harmful side effects but also many positive results, including increased energy, elevated mood, more beautiful skin, stronger and healthier hair and nails, improved digestion and elimination, and reduced risk for many diseases.
In our weight-obsessed society, one of the greatest benefits of losing weight with a holistic yoga lifestyle is that it brings us the inner happiness and peace we really need so that we feel more comfortable in our own skin and feel less pressured to meet society’s often unhealthy physical ideals. Losing weight with yoga really means caring for your body’s physical needs rather than putting yourself through punishing extremes to try to meet some external ideals. With that in mind, here are some practical steps you can take to rebalance your body and shed excess body weight:
1. Curb Emotional Eating
One of the most common causes of obesity is emotional eating, and this can be one of the most difficult habits to overcome for a person who wants to lose weight. It’s very important to spend at least a little time every day cultivating conscious relaxation. Conscious relaxation helps your brain go into an entirely different, more positive mode. It also lowers your blood pressure and reduces the amount of the stress hormone cortisol released into your body, and this can be helpful for losing weight, especially abdominal fat.
There are different ways to induce what is known as the “relaxation response.” You can use hatha yoga asanas, yoga breathing such as pranayama, tai chi, chi kung, meditation, and so on. Yoga Sound Meditation is particularly effective for inducing the relaxation response as it also eases the fears, worries, and concerns that drive us to emotional eating. You can try it for free here.
By regularly trying to achieve deep relaxation, you will find it easier to overcome the pattern of eating as a response to negative emotions.
2. Out of Sight, Out of Mind
Modern research has shown that we all have a limited amount of willpower. Willpower can be increased to a certain degree, but it is a finite resource. So it’s very important when embarking on a healthier lifestyle not to rely on willpower alone. One of the first steps in eliminating temptation is simply to clear out the pantry, fridge, and freezer of unhealthy items and replace them with more nutritious alternatives. We spend a lot of time at home, and so we are bound to have times of stress, exhaustion, or even boredom when it is much harder to make optimal choices. However, if you’ve already planned out your food supply in advance, then it’s much easier to choose the nourishing foods that will help you achieve your weight loss goals.
3. Control Cravings
As mentioned above, willpower is a limited resource, and that includes having the willpower to resist cravings. One of the best ways to control cravings is through prevention. Simply by making positive, appealing changes to our diet, we can actually change our tastes and cravings! It takes a bit of effort in the beginning to learn how to make better choices, but before long, cravings for pizza and chocolate cake will be transformed into cravings for a nutritious salad or fruity smoothie. Be aware of triggers for cravings for certain foods and have a plan to minimize or deal with these triggers. For example, if the morning coffee/donut cart is a trigger, plan ahead with an appealing choice that won’t derail your weight loss efforts. Better yet, bring your own stash of nutritious snacks to work or whenever you’re out so that you are never caught needing a pick-me-up with nothing but junk to choose from. Try keeping a bag of raw trail mix handy in your car or purse. Or bring a container of hummus and raw veggies, sliced apples and cheese, or almond butter and whole grain crackers. Exercise also helps with cravings as it puts you in better touch with your body’s real needs so that you are more likely to crave nourishing and replenishing foods.
4. Ignite Your Metabolic Fire
Unwanted weight gain and stubborn excess pounds mean your metabolism needs a boost. Oftentimes, if your diet has been less than optimal, your metabolism slows down and your liver gets sluggish. So the first step for lighting your metabolic fire is to try to make everything you put in your mouth wholesome and nutritious.
Eating primarily plant-based, whole, natural foods will help naturally reduce excess weight and will also help rejuvenate the liver. The liver is responsible for breaking down fats (among many other functions), so keeping the liver in tip-top shape is very helpful for weight loss. You can give your liver a boost with supportive supplements such as milk thistle, dandelion, or noni juice. Drinking warm water with a squeeze of fresh lemon juice first thing in the morning is another easy way to help gently cleanse the liver and stimulate good digestion.
You can also help boost your metabolism with heat-producing herbs, such as cayenne and ginger. Add these as seasonings to your food, or take as herbal supplements or tea. Fennel tea is also known to help the body break down unwanted fat more easily.
And last and most important, move your body! There are healthful ways to incorporate exercise and activity into your lifestyle. Yoga asanas are very helpful because they simultaneously induce relaxation and invigorate internal organs responsible for digestion, elimination, and metabolism. Walking is an easy way to bring aerobic exercise into your routine. Find a route around your neighborhood, place of work, or nearby park, and create a regular schedule of daily walking. Walking with a friend can help with motivation, but sometimes walking alone can be a peaceful respite from work and other stresses. Swimming, biking, dance, tai chi, and jogging are other ways to bring movement into your day and add variety to your exercise program. Whatever you choose, the most important thing is to try to be active every single day for 30 minutes to an hour.
5. Eat a Yoga Diet
A yoga diet, based on whole grains, fresh fruits and vegetables, nuts and seeds, beans and legumes, and a moderate amount of dairy, is a time-tested way to reach your ideal body weight and stay there. These foods naturally nourish and balance the body, help to eliminate toxins, support the immune system, increase longevity, and overall produce optimal health.
There are many ways to eat a plant-based yoga diet and lose weight depending on your activity level, body type, climate and season, availability of different foods, and so on. For example, in the hot summer you may feel best on a lower fat diet with lots of raw vegetables, while in a cold climate you may need more hearty, warm, cooked foods with plenty of healthy fats, like olive oil, coconut oil, ghee (clarified butter), cheese, and nuts and seeds. By sticking with foods in their whole, natural form, you will naturally come to know which balance of nutrients is best for you. It’s also much easier to regulate your appetite because healthy foods increase satiety, whereas processed foods stimulate overeating.
6. Track Your Progress
As with any goal, breaking your weight loss goal into manageable steps will make it much easier for you to achieve success. Weight loss of no more than one to two pounds a week is considered ideal by most health experts—losing weight too slowly can cause you to lose motivation, while losing weight too quickly is stressful on the body and may leave you nutritionally deficient, setting you up for health problems and a strong likelihood of regaining what you lost. A digital scale is helpful for accurate weigh-ins. Weighing yourself regularly is linked with greater weight loss and also helps you gauge how tuned in you are to your body’s caloric needs.
Or perhaps instead of picking a weight-loss goal in terms of pounds, you might choose to track your progress by the successful implementation of healthy habits that will lead to weight loss—such as getting into a regular exercise routine, making gradual dietary changes, learning to relax and meditate every day, and so on. In either case, tracking your progress will help you stay motivated and keep you on track to reach your ideal weight—permanently.
7. Have Fun and Celebrate Your Healthier Choices
Remember that losing weight with a yoga diet and lifestyle is all about nurturing, balancing, and rejuvenating the body so that weight loss is invigorating and almost effortless. The goal is actually to feel better and be healthier—not just lose weight. Going to punishing extremes to try to lose weight has been proven over and over again to achieve just the opposite. While these types of efforts may result in temporary weight loss (with a lot of suffering), the weight is quickly regained and your body is more nutritionally deficient than ever. Think of weight loss through yoga as a healthy adventure, full of fun and learning, and celebrate every little success. Don’t worry if you don’t lose all the weight you want right away—be patient and remember that you are making positive, healthy changes that will last a lifetime. When you realize that your real goal is to become healthier, the weight loss will happen naturally, and you will be following a diet and lifestyle that will not only maintain your healthy weight but will also support your overall health for the rest of your life.
oga regularly is the best way to avoid such thoughts.
Foods to Eat When You Are on Yoga Diet
The following are foods that should be eaten while on a yoga diet.
- All types of fruits which have ripened naturally.
- Every green and leafy vegetable; however, there should be no use of onion and garlic.
- Whole grain products like rice, oats and wheat.
- Dairy products like milk, ghee, curd, paneer, cheese, cream preferably made from the milk of those cows, goats and buffaloes that are given organic fodder.
- Sesame, coconut, olive and sunflower oil
- Unsalted nuts and seeds
- Herbal teas, honey, lemon juice without artificial sweetener and preferably with rock salt.
- Cinnamon, cardamom, mint, basil, fennel, turmeric, ginger and cumin to make food appetising.
- Legumes
- Sprouted seeds
- Alkaline foods
- Mostly uncooked food or foods which have been cooked less to retain the nutrition, and foods that have less oil and spices.
Foods to Avoid When Following Yoga Diet Plan
The foods that you should abstain from while on a yogic diet are the following:
- All types of non-vegetarian food like animal protein, fish and eggs.
- Processed food like white sugar, maida etc.
- Junk, oily and fried food
- Onion, garlic, or food which is spicy
- Artificial sweeteners
- Soda or fizzy drinks
- Alcohol
- Caffeinated beverages like tea, coffee, etc.
- Foods made or heated in a microwave
- Stale food
- Refrigerated items
- Tobacco
The sattvic or yoga diet is the best type of diet to follow if you wish to have a healthy body along with a peaceful mind. Combine this type of diet with yoga and meditation to enhance the powers of a yogic diet. For people wanting to lose fat, a good yoga diet chart for weight loss will make a difference. Practice a sattvic lifestyle, and you will never look back!