If you want to live a spiritual life balanced with meditation and introspection, then what you put inside your body plays an essential role in your physical and mental wellbeing. When you eat dead or toxic food, it pushes you into a tamasic state, where you will not be able to wake up early, stay alert during ‘dhyan’ (meditation) or focus your thoughts.
You get Prana from various sources: Prana from Air is what you take in with every breath. Make it a point to walk in greenery early in the morning when the air is loaded with oxygen and free of impurities. You get prana from water that you drink. Avoid drinking water from plastic pet bottles and use steel/copper jugs instead. At home, drink water from an earthen pot (Matka) which infuses the water with oxygen and makes it tasteful and invigorating. The sun is also a vital source of life-force energy and early morning sunrays before 10:00 am are considered the best.
The other vital source of prana that nourishes the body is the food we consume. Do you know that most of the fast or junk food you eat every day is almost dead and lifeless? Instead of giving energy, it is taking away vital energy from you. Do you feel like dozing off after a meal? That shows that your food is dead. Chappati, the most staple diet for most Indians, is dead food when the wheat has been ground several days before and loses all ‘prana’ (vital energy). Know that after grinding, it survives for only up to 4-5 days. That goes for all ground or baked cereals and grains, including your favorite cornflakes, muesli etc. Even spices that are purchased in ground form by working women have lost all nutrition value. Frozen foods like meats have nothing to offer you in terms of nutrients. Vegetables / dal / rice that have been cooked more than seven hours ago have no prana to offer your body.
Only wholegrain and freshly cooked food, fresh vegetables and fruits give you energy in the body. I suggest buying a grinding machine (which costs around Rs 12,000) and making Atta, Besan and mixed grain flour at home. Also, spices need to be purchased in whole and ground at home using a mixer. Eat all cereals and grains that are whole and not split. If you wish to eat daliya, suji etc, prepare it at home instead of purchasing the ground variety. Avoid eating split grains like split moong, broken rice etc. Eat fruits and salads which are freshly cut. Nuts are excellent when you bake or fry them at home instead of buying roasted and salted ones from store.
You may have to let go of many foods in the process, but in the long run, it is completely worth it.
