Diet Advice from the Gods By Sandra Garson l Weight Loss Advice

Human beings have always viewed the physical body as the temple in which a soul or mind lives. It both anchors us to Earth and connects our spirit to the heavenly. So it shouldn’t be surprising that our religions are full of advice on how to keep our body strong, healthy and holy in order to achieve our spiritual goals. The essence of all the religious advice is how to fuel the body so it and the spirit run smoothly. There are actually specific diets prescribed to help the body make its spirit more divine. Here are a few of the best known.

Sandra Garson is the author of Veggiyana, the Dharma of Cooking and How to Fix a Leek and Other Food From Your Farmers’ Market. As a longtime student of Tibetan Buddhism and well-known cook for Dharma centers from Maine to Mongolia, she became the first food historian to explore the Buddha’s influence on how the world now eats. This led to exploration of more religious beliefs about food.

Hinduism

Ayurveda , the Hindu science of life, posits three food categories. Tamasic foods are leftover, stale, overripe or spoiled. They’re also heavy, animal based—the sort of food whose digestion slows you down and makes you sleepy. Red meat, cheese, alcohol, fried foods, white sugar should be avoided, for they require too much energy to be digested, and that leaves the spirit dull or confused. Rajasic foods are hot, spicy, sweet and salty. They unleash energy that can stimulate but also irritate. So moderation is crucial. Also if taken at noon and not at night, rajasic caffeine, chocolate, corn, potatoes, tomatoes, broccoli, pickles, fish and chicken can be useful. Bland Sattvic foods such as juicy fruits, watery vegetables and whole grains are so easily digested by the stomach, they don’t use up energy, giving you strength and focus to conquer your mind. They’re ideal for spiritual quest. In fact the word sattvic is the same as in bodhisattva. A sattvic diet prescribes mangos, peaches, figs, pears, rice, tapioca, honey, sweet potatoes, sprouts, summer squash, cucumbers, lettuce, mung/kidney and lima beans, yellow split peas, ground almonds and homemade yogurt.

Taoism

Taoists believe the body, heart and mind should stay in harmony with nature’s changes in order to be strong. Eating must follow its rhythmic cycles of yin and yang, day and night, summer and winter. Since our body is part of the natural world, it has evolved to eat foods that naturally grow, like vegetables, beans, fruits, berries, nuts and whole grains. The Taoist diet prescribes only eating this “real food” and nothing unnaturally manufactured (with chemicals added) or highly processed (white flour and sugar) because the body was not designed to digest or be nourished by them. Taoists believe eating junk food makes you junk. Taoism goes into great detail about how to use seasonal foods to achieve a perfectly balanced and varied diet at different times of the year and stages of life. Its favorite foods are green tea, plums, noodles, cabbage, soy, bokchoy, seaweeds, whole grains and short grain rice. It allows occasional honey, fish once a week. It recommends avoiding foods hard to digest like dairy and red meat, as well as acidic foods like citrus and coffee that can upset the natural balance of stomach juices.

Mormonism

Mormons consider the body to be a precious gift from God, his temple that they must keep clean, strong and healthy. They believe God gives physical and spiritual blessings to those who follow a diet that achieves this grace, as explained in the "Word of Wisdom." This diet prohibits all stimulants and depressants like coffee, tea, alcohol, tobacco and opiates. It promotes herbs, fruits, vegetables and wheat as vital for health. It allows apple cider and hot chocolate and Postum. It recommends eating meat only occasionally and then only in moderate portions. Actually the diet means eating everything in moderate portions to show God respect and appreciation by neither wasting nor overindulging in food.