Hi, namaskar!
Yoga masters often encourage us to avoid canned, frozen, packed and so on foods, deeming them as tamasic.
What’s your regard for oat, rice and soy packed milks (those which last for one whole year)?
Does anyone here consume them?
Thank you
I drink Rice Milk regularly.
It is best to avoid processed foods but not necessarily because they are “tamasic”.
Diets should not be balanced but balancing and some students may actually need to eat tamasic foods in order to be balanced human beings.
I like this one, thank you!
Panoramix,
It is true that canned and packaged foods leaves a person more tamasic than sattvic. Depending on that person, and their personal doshic and gunic state of being, this can be an significant issue of concern, while for others it will be barely noticeable. Over time, a diet out of balance will likely lead to a gunic imbalance, which is why choosing sattvic foods as often as possible keeps us healthier in all ways.
I wanted to speak to this same line of IA’s: [quote=InnerAthlete;17110]Diets should not be balanced but balancing and some students may actually need to eat tamasic foods in order to be balanced human beings.[/quote]
From my experience, it is unlikely that intentionally eating tamasic foods will bring any person into balance on the first kosha, or the any of the subtler bodies; this is true even for a person who is current in state of high rajas. True balance (not just symptom care) can only be approached through increasing sattvic, tridoshic and high-pranic foods, not by introducing or increasing an imbalanced diet on the opposite end of the gunic spectrum.
[I]In response to your question, we are speaking about foods and the gunic qualities they are likely to impart on the eater[/I], but in also working with foods and the doshas, we again look to choose foods that move the person to balance. Depending on what is needed for that person, foods and practices will ideally bring imbalances toward balance–again, this is done by dosha-pacifying choices, not by trying to increase the opposite dosha. It is inadvisable, under any circumstances, to try to[I] increase[/I] a particular dosha or to increase rajas or tamas as an Ayurvedic treatment or care protocol. This is because all 3 doshas, and the 3 gunas, are always present in our constitutions, it is only the ratios and states of being that change. Bringing one dosha toward balance is balancing to the other 2 as well—balance moving toward balance, moving toward balance. Focusing on sattva elevates tamas and rajas into sattva.
I personally do not drink the dairy-alternatives that you listed, because I enjoy and do well with limited dairy, but I do use canned veggies in conjunction with fresh veggies when I cook at home. I limit the canned things because my relationship to them is different. It is such a pleasure, a real pleasure, to pick out the red pepper that I [B]want [/B]to eat at the store. It is pleasure to wash it and cut it up—these things are balancing and nourishing to me too, not just the eating of them. Opening a can just doesn’t “spin my wheels” 
in the same way and that is because they lack the prana that the fresh foods hold and impart to the consumer.
Since you are conscious of foods and their imparting qualities, here is something that you may find interesting. From August until about mid-January, I had been traveling in India, Nepal and Tibet. In five months, there was only [B]one[/B] place that had a refrigerator, so our meals where always cooked fresh from local items, never stored or reheated for later meals. It is now being back home, going on 2 months, that I am seeing clearly for myself just how tamasic- and kapha-increasing left-overs are to my koshas, gross to subtle. As a therapist, I know these things, yes, because of my studies and work, but it was difficult to be really clear on their personal impact because the very aspects of tamas or kapha imbalance make it difficult to be highly discerning–getting that break for these many months, allowed me enough space to clear up those imbalances and to therefore feel the impact of them now upon my return.
I love questions like this one because it elevates our forum and fosters awareness and thoughtfulness. Thank you for starting this thread and hopefully more members will add to it
All happiness,
Nichole
You can also make nut and seed milk easily.
A half cup of seeds or nuts makes about 2 cups milk, which will last in the refrigerator 2-3 days.
Use sunflower seeds, pumpkin seeds, pine nuts, filberts and/or almonds.
Soak overnight in water to cover them.
Drain the soaking water and put into blender with enough water to cover, blend into cream. Add water to the blender until the milk is a texture you like. If you like ultra-smooth consistency, strain the seeds a second time, add more fresh water and blend again.
This recipe is from a Julia Ross book.
I’m sort of scared of boxed milk. :o
I do drink rice milk and soy milk occasionally, and I use dairy in cooking.
Namaste,
I do not drink any milks that are dirived from plant material as they tend to drain me of all my energy. They are also not good for my immune system and I tend to get ill after drinking such milks. So inherently there is something wrong for me with those types of milks and I avoid it.
I am in the very fortunate position to have access to fresh organic cow milk even though I live in a city. We have a wonderful farmers market and I buy my food from that market. I do well on cow milk, in fact extremely well, one glass can sustain me for a very long time. Interestingly is that my organic milk has a rich light yellow colour and it smells different as well, compare this to the white and translucent shop milk, then it is no wonder people has such allergies and reactions against milk these days.
Nicole impart such great wisdom that anything added to that would detract from her advice. I would like to concur with her on the aspect of eating freshly produced and prepared food while in India. I had the same experience on both occassions that I have been to India now and I try very hard to follow those same principles in my cooking and preparation of food. Yes it takes some time to go to the market every third or second day to buy my food, but every bite of it is worthwhile.
wendy:
Thanks for the recipe, i’m pitta typed so i would try with grains in place of nuts.
Nichole:
Thank you for such a detailed reply.
Yes, scriptures speak about gaining sattva, but also about once achieved this, going even beyond sattva, a yogi should become gunatita (= beyond gunas).
I also stayed in India and consumed fresh, organic stuff but noticed no change. Perhaps the foods i’m actually having in my homeland are adequate.
Pandara:
I envy you, although i live in land of cows and sheeps, it’s really difficult to get fresh,organic milk. I also benefit from milk, it’s a true nectar to me.
Some tricks for storing bought green vegetables at home, and keeping them alive:
Broccoli: Soak it in water for some few hours and put it in a mug with water as it was some flowers (perhaps adding a little piece of coal into water would sustain the plant for longer).
Spinach, chard, lettuce: Soak them in water for some few hours. Then, still drenched, put them inside a plastic bag (do not totally close it, let the plants breath) and keep the bag inside the fridge. You will see how they will stand alive for long as they were just cut.
Sweet, thanks! I love to keep a nice bouquet of celery on counter, I have never tried with Broccoli! I will do this right away!
Yep, I do that with asparagus, but am looking forward to when my own asparagus will shoot. That might happen this year!
Ooooh I wish I had a garden! If only I had a home. haha.
[QUOTE=suryadaya;17213]Ooooh I wish I had a garden! If only I had a home. haha.[/QUOTE]
do what I did and make a compost pile. I made one in my backyard and right now I have cabbage, garlic, sweet potatoes, and an avacodo tree growing, all by just tossing vegtables into a pile and mixing with leaves
Haha. I have no backyard. I live out of a suitcase. I’ll stick to farmer’s markets until the time comes when I settle somewhere.
You know whats awesome though? Those compost bins with a crank - so you turn whats inside, and when its broken down enough the compost comes out of a grill on the bottom and falls to a pile on the ground. You can put anything in it - egg shells, vegis, soil, leaves, worms. My friends made one. It’s neat!