Yogi Eating

Recently after a sweaty class of Yoga-laties, one of the participants asked me "how many calories do we burn?". I would guess around 400 calories, maybe more. It is usually different for each individual because you take into consideration the weight of the individual and duration/type of exercise. A nice site I found for calorie counting is on health status. com. While many body builders count calories for meals (increasing calories to make sure they get enough for mass building), and dieters do the same (decreasing calories) for losing weight, I am not a fan of calorie counting. If your goal is to lose weight and you are an avid yoga lover, embrace the yogi diet, cutting out the meats and following ahimsa. The truth of the matter is, Yoga is from India and it is ancient 8 limb process, one of which is AHIMSA (non-violence to all living creatures) and the reason why many yogis embrace a vegetarian diet. A second truth is that the meats we eat are literally tortured and toxic to eat, we are better off taking it out of our diet. Then the question of protein comes into play. I am a yoga practitioner for a long time, along with my personal practice I teach up to five classes in one day, eating no meat, I have energy, and then some. There are many sources of protein for the veggie lovers (moon beans, chick peas, kale, quinoa, black beans, lentils etc). The only thing that challenges my energy is the current heat and humidity.

If it is hard to make the transition even after knowing how tortured our animals are in factory farms.....then at least....Cut out the sugar, processed foods (anything in a package), decrease your salt intake, replace your breads with better whole grain sources (sprouted bread, millet, spelt, rice, quinoa) and any veggie or fruit is a good addition to the diet. I know that it is a challenge especially since the fast food way is a quick fix for food on the go, but sacrificing your health is not good long term. High sugar/carb diets spike our insulin and affect our energy. The high sugar diet of many North Americans is giving rise to diabetes. Once you start eating the right foods you will have more energy, better hair and skin, youthful appearance, and better internal health. Remember your food is fuel for your body, if it has no nutritional value, your body will not perform at its best. Eat Healthy, Live Healthy, Love your Body, and your Body will LOVE you.