Spiritual Diets

Spiritual Diets

Discover how food can nourish your soul as well as your body

Before you tuck into a juicy burger or a sugary pudding, consider the effect your diet is having not only on your body but on your spiritual development. The saying 'you are what you eat' applies equally to spirituality as it does to health. Food feeds your body but it also nourishes your soul. So heavy, greasy, preservative-loaded foods will mean your body is weighed down with unhealthy substances and you will lack energy in body and in spirit. Stimulants such as coffee, black tea, alcohol and sugar can block spiritual and psychic ability. Being light in spirit, mind and body raises your vibration, enabling you to connect to higher energies and get more from your spiritual practice - as well as making you feel fantastic. Eating the right kinds of food and liquid will raise your vibration, enabling you to become a more spiritual person.

Healthy Diet

Everyone can benefit from eating well. You don't need to follow any special diet regimes to eat well: just put a little thought into what you put into your body. Eat fresh, local organic foods whenever possible. Grow your own vegetable and herbs. Choose whole foods, such as wholemeal bread and pasta rather than the white, refined types which have next to no nutritional benefit. Raw or lightly cooked foods are best because this preserves their vitamins and minerals. Avoid sugar, alcohol and fried foods because these have no benefit for your body and can cloud your connection to spirituality. Eating a healthy diet will infuse your body with energy and in turn this will raise your vibration, allowing you to be more open to spirituality and contact with higher powers.

Vegetarianism & Veganism

Vegetarians eat no meat or fish, while vegans avoid all animal products, including eggs and milk and wearing leather. Many religions, such as Buddhism and Hinduism, promote the benefits of vegetarianism. A vegetarian or vegan diet is considered spiritually cleansing and purifying. Being a spiritual person is about extending kindness and compassion to all living beings - but how can we be spiritual if animals are killed everyday to fill our plates? In the modern world, you are far removed from the act of ending a life that puts a beef burger between two slices of bread. If it makes you feel uncomfortable, perhaps this is a sign to go meat free. Start by having one meat-free day per week, then extend it to two days or more. Even such a small act will have a positive impact upon your spiritual development - and the environment.

Ayurvedic diet

Ayurveda is traditional medicine from India. It is part of a wider spiritual system that teaches health, wellbeing, diet and spirituality are all linked. It treats people holistically to create long-term good health rather than being quick fix diet. The focus of Ayurveda is healthy, seasonal eating according to your body type, which is called your dosha. The idea is that you have an abundance of one dosha within your body so you need to eat more of the other two doshas to balancing this out. Each dosha contains a mix of elements: Vata - ether and air; Pitta - fire and water; and Kapha - water and earth.

You take a quiz to find out what your body type is (there are plenty of free dosha quizes online), then you are given a list of foods to eat more of and other foods to avoid.

Raw foods diet

Eating only plant-based foods in their natural uncooked state. This diet is seen as spiritual because you are eating food exactly as nature intended so the food is clean without even the addition of heat, which can alter the structure of food. Eating raw is thought of as a body and soul purification. It is believed to help the body to detoxify, which then can lead to a clearing of the emotions, perhaps allowing a spiritual awakening.

Fasting

This is the oldest form of spiritual diet. Fasting is mentioned in many religious texts as a way to becoming closer to the higher power. Fasting from food (but not water)

allows you to concentrate on spiritual prayer and contemplation. Fasting is about detoxing mind, body and spirit. This abstinence reminds us that we do not need to constantly consume, instead it allows body and mind to pause and purify. Fasting should be done under professional guidance only.

Eat spiritual

Raising your vibration with these spirituality-promoting foods

*Organic, local fruit and vegetables

*Forage for edible plants and mushrooms

*Spring water from a local source

*Herbal tea

*Fresh fruit smoothies

*If you choose to eat meat, ensure it is high welfare, organically reared from a local source. Choose the most expensive, best quality you can afford and eat it much less frequently.