Proper diet is fundamental for sustaining good health and mental development. Yoga categorizes three types of foods according to their qualities. These qualities correspond to the three Gunas - Sattvic, Rajasic and Tamasic.
Tamasic Foods such as meat, fish, eggs, alcohol, preserved food and old, reheated food, makes us sluggish and lethargic. Rajasic food is excessively spicy food, which causes us to be restless and agressive. Rajasic qualities also arise from an excessive consumption of coffee or chocolate. Sattvic foods however, give rise to a balanced and harmonious sense of wellbeing in both body and mind. sattvic food is found in a lacto-vegetarian, whole food diet which includes grains, vegetables, pulses, fruit, nuts, seeds, milk, and organic milk products.
Vegetarian food detoxifies, cleans and purifies the body and increases our resistance to illness.