Sattvic Food Recipes for Dinner Soups

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Sattvic Food Recipes for Dinner Soups

PUMPKIN SOUP

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This pumpkin soup ticks all the boxes! Its rich, creamy and ultimately satisfying. The rosemary & thyme combine to create a unique flavor, which you may have never experienced before.

INGREDIENTS
SERVES 2, MAKES 1200 ml
Soup Base

  • ½ kg red pumpkin, with peel
  • 3 cups coconut milk
  • 2 tablespoons fresh thyme or 2 teaspoons dry thyme
  • 1 stem fresh rosemary or ½ teaspoon dry rosemary
  • 2 teaspoons rock salt
  • ½ small green chili, chopped

Toppings

  • 2 tablespoons pumpkin seeds
  • ½ red bell pepper, cut into strips
  • ¼ small coconut, cut into strips

PRE-PREPARATION

PREPARATION METHOD

  • Chop the pumpkin into chunks. Do not take the peel off. Add it to a steamer and let it steam for about 20 minutes, until soft.
  • Once the pumpkin has cooled, place it in a blender, along with the coconut milk, thyme, rosemary, salt and chill. Blend until smooth.
  • Pour the soup into bowls, add the toppings from above and serve.

Tip Do not re-heat the soup because we should never cook coconut or coconut milk on the stove.

Tip Make sure you add rosemary and thyme to this soup, since they carry all the flavor. In case fresh is not available, use their dried versions.

PAPAYA CORN SOUP

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INGREDIENTS
SERVES 2, MAKES 1400 ml
Soup Base

  • 3 cups peeled & chopped green papaya (approximately 1 small green papaya)
  • ½ small green chili, chopped
  • 2 teaspoons coriander seeds
  • 1 teaspoon chopped ginger
  • 1½ tablespoons chopped lemongrass stalks
  • 2 ¼ cups water
  • 1½ tablespoon lemon juice
  • 2 teaspoons rock salt
  • 1 cup coconut milk

Topping

  • ¼ cup corn, boiled
  • ¼ cup chopped coriander

PRE-PREPARATION

PREPARATION METHOD

  • Steam the papaya until it is soft.
  • Meanwhile, take a shallow pan and dry roast the green chili, coriander seeds, ginger and lemongrass together. Add 14 cup water and let them cook together for 2-3 minutes, till the flavors are soaked in.
  • Place this spice mixture in a blender along with the steamed papaya, 2 cups water, lemon juice and salt. Blend until absolutely smooth.
  • Right before serving, add coconut milk to the soup. Stir well.
  • Top with corn and coriander and serve (Do not re-heat before serving).

Tip The papaya used is not the soft, ripe and orangey one, but the unripened green papaya, which is firm, green on the outside and white on the inside.

SPINACH SINGHARA SOUP

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This soup is a staple in my home. It’s hearty and comforting. The coconut milk gives it a subtle sweetness and also helps to thicken it.

INGREDIENTS
SERVES 2, MAKES 1400 ml
Soup Base

  • ½ kg spinach
  • 3 cups water
  • ¾ cup singhara (water chestnuts) peeled and thinly sliced
  • 2½ teaspoons rock salt
  • ½ teaspoon black pepper
  • ½ cup coconut milk

Garnish

  • microgreens (optional)
  • mary gold petals (optional)

Substitution In case singhara is not available, use potato.

PRE-PREPARATION

PREPARATION METHOD

  • Place the spinach and water in a pan. Heat on a low flame till the spinach is soft (about 15 minutes).
  • Puree this mixture using a hand blender, till smooth.
  • Pour this blended mixture through a sieve to get any stalks out.
  • Keep the blended mixture back on the stove, on a low flame. Add the thinly sliced singhara and keep on a low flame for about 3 minutes.
  • Turn off the heat and add salt and pepper.
  • Right before serving, add the coconut milk to your soup and stir well.
  • Garnish with microgreens (optional) and serve. Do not re-heat the soup after adding coconut milk.

PEA CARROT SOUP

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INGREDIENTS
SERVES 2, MAKES 900 ml
Soup Base

  • 1 cup fresh peas
  • 1 cup chopped carrot
  • ½ cup chopped potatoes
  • 2 small bay leaves
  • ½ inch coin of ginger, chopped
  • 3 cups of water
  • 2 teaspoons lemon juice
  • 2 teaspoons rock salt

Topping

  • ½ cup fresh peas
  • ½ cup chopped carrots, diced
  • ¼ cup chopped coriander

PREPARATION METHOD
Soup Base

  • Place the peas, carrots, potatoes, bay leaves, ginger, and water into a pan, cover and cook on a low flame for about 15 minutes, until all vegetables are soft.
  • Remove bay leaves from the pan.
  • Using a hand blender, puree the vegetables till smooth.
  • Add lemon juice and salt from the top.

Topping

  • Steam/boil the peas and carrots until soft.
  • Add the boiled peas, carrots and coriander into the soup base. Stir well and serve warm.

Note Use only fresh peas (not frozen peas) and red winter carrots to make this soup.

BROCCOLI POTATO SOUP

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This rustic broccoli & potato soup is the perfect winter warmer. It is so easy to make with just a few simple ingredients but it’s full of flavour and hearty goodness.

INGREDIENTS
SERVES 2-3, MAKES 1½ litres
Soup Base

  • 2½ cups fresh broccoli, roughly cut
  • 1 ½ cups potatoes, roughly cut
  • 3 cups water
  • 1 ½ teaspoons rock salt
  • 1 inch fresh ginger, grated
  • ¼ teaspoon black pepper powder
  • 1 cup coconut milk

Topping

  • 1 cup fresh broccoli, roughly cut
  • ½ carrot, cut into circles
  • ¼ cup fresh coriander, chopped
  • 1 tablespoon pumpkin seeds

PRE-PREPARATION

PREPARATION METHOD
Soup Base

  • Heat a saucepan over medium heat. Add the broccoli, potato and water. Cover the pot and let the vegetables cook for 20 minutes, or until the potatoes are fork tender.
  • Add the ginger to the saucepan and let it cook with the vegetables for another 3-4 minutes.
  • Remove the pot from the stove and use an immersion blender to puree the vegetables.
  • Add the salt and pepper and mix well.
  • Right before serving, add the coconut milk.

Topping

  • Steam the broccoli and carrot until soft. Add to your soup, along with coriander and pumpkin seeds. Serve the soup warm.

TOMATO SOUP

tomato soup recipe

In Satvic cuisine, we do not cook tomatoes. We always add them in the end, because tomatoes are rich in Vitamin C, which is a very delicate vitamin and gets destroyed easily when heated. Therefore, in this soup, we only blanch the tomatoes, to preserve their nutrition.

INGREDIENTS
SERVES 1-2. MAKES 700 ml

  • 8 medium tomatoes
  • ¼ cup chopped bottle gourd
  • ¼ cup chopped carrot
  • ¼ cup chopped potato
  • ¼ cup chopped red bell pepper
  • 1½ cups water
  • ½ teaspoon dry rosemary
  • ¾ teaspoon rock salt
  • ¼ teaspoon black pepper powder
  • ½ teaspoon dry oregano

PREPARATION METHOD

  • Dip the tomatoes in hot water for 15 minutes. Cover with a plate. After 15 minutes, peel off their skin and take out the seedy part from inside,
  • Heat a saucepan over medium heat. Add the bottle gourd, carrot, potato, bell pepper and 114 cups of water. Cover the pot and let the vegetables cook for 15 minutes,
  • Add these vegetables and water to a blender, along with the peeled and de-seeded tomatoes and rosemary. Blend until smooth.
  • Mix in the salt, pepper and oregano. Serve.

CARROT CUMIN SOUP

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INGREDIENTS
SERVES 2, MAKES 1 litre
Soup Base

  • 1 teaspoon cumin seeds
  • 1 inch coin of ginger, chopped
  • ½ teaspoon coriander powder
  • 2 cups chopped carrots
  • 1 cup cauliflower florets
  • 3 cups water
  • 1 bay leaf
  • 1 cups coconut milk
  • 2 teaspoons rock salt
  • ½ teaspoon black pepper

Topping

  • 2 tablespoons chopped coriander
  • 2 tablespoons chopped mint

PRE-PREPARATION

PREPARATION METHOD

  • Heat a saucepan over medium heat. Add cumin seeds, ginger and coriander powder. Stir well and cook for one minute, til! the spices become fragrant.
  • Add diced carrot & cauliflower to the saucepan & cook for 5 mins while stirring occasionally.
  • Pour in the water and add the bay leaf. Bring to a boil. Partially cover the pot with a lid, reduce the heat to medium and simmer for 20 minutes.
  • Blend the ingredients in the saucepan using a hand-blender.
  • Add salt and pepper. Stir well.
  • Right before serving, add coconut milk and stir.
  • Garnish with coriander and mint. Serve warm.

Sattvic Food Recipes for Special Occasions Drinks & Smoothie Bowls

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Sattvic Food Recipes for Special Occasions Drinks & Smoothie Bowls

The upcoming pages include exotic and delicious recipes that you can make at Satvic parties and festivals to inspire your friends and family to join you in this beautiful way of living and eating in sync with Mother Nature.

COCONUT CHAAS

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INGREDIENTS
SERVES 2, MAKES 750 ml

  • 2 cups coconut milk
  • 1 cup water
  • ¼ cup mint leaves
  • 2 ½ tablespoon lemon juice
  • 1 teaspoon rock salt
  • 1 teaspoon roasted cumin powder (bhuna jeera powder)

PREPARATION METHOD

  • Place everything except the roasted cumin powder into a blender and blend until smooth.
  • And the roasted cumin powder from the top. Stir well. Let it cool in the refrigerator for a while and serve.

THANDAI

INGREDIENTS
SERVES 3, MAKES 609 ml

  • 8 almonds, soaked in water & drained
  • 1 tablespoon fennel, soaked in water for 1 hour & drained
  • 1 tablespoon poppy seeds, soaked in water for 1 hour & drained
  • 1½ cups coconut milk
  • ½ cup water
  • 4 dates, seedless
  • 1 teaspoon powdered jaggery
  • 1/8 teaspoon rock salt
  • 1/8 teaspoon black pepper

Garnishing

  • chopped pistachio, saffron & dried rose petals

PREPARATION METHOD

  • Place everything except coconut milk into a blender and blend until smooth.
  • Add coconut milk and blend again.
  • Let the drink cool in the refrigerator for a while. Garnish & serve.

NO-COFFEE COLD-COFFEE

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We feel tired, gulp down a cup of coffee & become suddenly awake, but we have not suddenly become well rested & energetic. Coffee is a very strong stimulant. It brings us up and then suddenly dumps us down. Overtime, every cup of coffee makes our body weaker & weaker.

Here we have an unexpected substitute for coffee! It not just tastes like coffee, but even smells exactly like it. Even people from far away want to come and try it! Tell your friends that there’s no dairy, sugar or coffee powder in their mugs, and they’ll be busy guessing what’s inside.

Bear in mind – you should have this coffee only occasionally (not more than once a week). Although it matches coffee perfectly in taste and smell, it is still not a healing food.

INGREDIENTS
Coffee Powder

  • 100 gm chickpeas (chole)

Cold Coffee
SERVES 1

  • 1 cup coconut milk keep in freezer for 3 hours
  • 3 dates, seedless
  • 1 teaspoon coffee powder

PREPARATION METHOD
Method for making coffee powder

  • Take a pan & roast the chickpeas on a medium flame. Continuously stir for at least 20 minutes, until the chickpeas become dark brown all across. Keep stirring continuously, otherwise they may burn. Make sure they are dark chocolatey brown, otherwise you will not get the coffee flavour.
  • Let the chickpeas cool. Then, place them in a mixer and grind them till they become a powder.
  • Then sieve them and store the sieved powder in an air tight container in the fridge.

PREPARATION Method for making cold coffee

  • Place the coconut milk, dates & coffee powder in a blender & blend until smooth.
  • Pour in glasses and serve.

CHOCOLATE SMOOTHIE BOWL

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Bland cacao with some bananas, coconut milk and dates and you’ll have a delicious ice-cream like smoothie bowl ready. This is undoubtedly, one of my favourite recipes in the book!

INGREDIENTS
SERVES 2

  • 4 frozen bananas
  • ½ cup coconut milk
  • 2 tablespoons cacao powder
  • 4 dates, seedless « Pinch rock salt
  • Pinch cinnamon powder
  • 1 tablespoon peanut butter (optional)
  • Pinch vanilla powder (optional)

Topping

  • any seasonal fruits & nuts

PRE-PREPARATION

  • Take the bananas, peel, slice and put in the freezer for about 6 hours.

PREPARATION METHOD

  • Place all the smoothie ingredients into a blender and blend until smooth.
  • Pour into bowls and top with fresh seasonal fruits and nuts of your choice.

Tip Nuts and seeds are great to add texture to your bowl, but eat them minimally as they are water- poor in nature. Focus on fresh, water-rich fruits for your topping.

BLUSH SMOOTHIE BOWL

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I love the bright pink colour of this bowl. Get your kids involved in making it and they’ll love watching the fruits blend together to create a yummy vibrant breakfast!

INGREDIENTS
SERVES 2

  • 2 frozen bananas
  • 3 chopped soft pears*
  • ½ cup chopped beetroot

Topping

  • any seasonal fruits & nuts

Substitution
In case pear is not available, use soft apples.

PRE-PREPARATION

  • Take the bananas, peel, slice and put in the freezer for about 6 hours.

PREPARATION METHOD

  • Place the pears, beetroot and frozen bananas in a blender and blend until smooth.
  • Pour into bowls and top with fresh seasonal fruits and nuts of your choice.

Tip Nuts and seeds are great to add texture to your bowl, but eat them minimally as they are water-poor in nature. Focus on fresh, water-rich fruits for your topping.

Tip Make sure you use the soft variety of pears. They should sink in a little when pressed with your thumb.

SPINACH SMOOTHIE BOWL

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This smoothie bowl is delicious and simple, requiring just 10 minutes to make. It is raw and only made using fruits and vegetables.

INGREDIENTS
SERVES 2

  • 4 frozen bananas
  • ¾ cup shredded coconut
  • 2 cups of spinach
  • 4 dates, seedless
  • ½ teaspoon cinnamon powder
  • 2 teaspoons lemon juice

Topping

  • any seasonal fruits & nuts

PRE-PREPARATION

  • Take the bananas, peel, slice and put in the freezer for about 6 hours.

PREPARATION METHOD

  • Place the shredded coconut, spinach, dates, cinnamon, lemon juice and frozen bananas in a blender and blend until smooth.
  • Pour into bowls and top with fresh seasonal fruits and nuts of your choice.

Tip Nuts and seeds are great to add texture to your bowl, but eat them minimally as they are water-poor in nature. Focus on fresh, water-rich fruits for your topping.

MARIGOLD SMOOTHIE BOWL

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Who thought saffron could go well in a smoothie bowl? Well, pair with some papaya and you’ll have a delicious & unique smoothie base.

INGREDIENTS
SERVES 1

  • 1½ cup frozen papaya
  • 1 frozen banana
  • 3 dates, seedless
  • 6 strands saffron
  • ¼ cup coconut milk

Topping

  • any seasonal fruits & nuts

PRE-PREPARATION

  • Take papaya and banana. Peel, slice and put them in the freezer for about 6 hours.

PREPARATION METHOD

  • Place the frozen papaya, banana, dates, saffron and coconut milk in a blender and blend until smooth.
  • Pour this smoothie base into bowls, and top with any fresh seasonal fruits and nuts.

Tip Nuts and seeds are great to add texture to your bowl, but eat them minimally as they are water-poor in nature. Focus on fresh, water-rich fruits for your topping.

21 Satvic Food Laws

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21 Satvic Food Laws

21 Satvic Food Laws
Here are 21 food laws you must follow. All recipes given in this book have been carefully created to adhere to these laws. Please follow every single law religiously to receive the true benefit of the Satvic lifestyle.

Law 1

  • No Animal Based Foods: such as meat, fish, eggs, animal milk*, cheese, butter, ghee, paneer
  • Eat Plant Based Foods: such as fresh homemade coconut milk, almond milk

Law 2

  • No Dead Foods: Don’t eat anything that comes packaged, bottled, tinned or canned from a factory, such as chips, namkeens, snacks, vinegar, soya sauce, ready-made sauces or dressings
  • Eat Fresh Foods: Eat foods that come straight from the farm to the kitchen, such as fresh fruits, vegetables, grains, nuts and seeds.

Law 3

  • No Sugar: such as white sugar, brown sugar, sugar-syrups, khaand, maple syrup, agave
  • Use Natural Sweeteners: such as fresh fruits, dates, jaggery, figs, raisins

Law 4

  • No White Rice
  • Eat Brown Rice

Law 5

  • No oils: Olive oil, mustard oil, coconut oil, palm oil, refined oil, flaxseed oil, etc.
  • Use Whole Fats: Grated fresh coconut, soaked nuts and seeds

Law 6

  • No Refined Flours: such as white flour, maida, semolina (sooji), etc
  • Use Whole Flours: whole wheat flour (with chokar)

Law 7

  • No Red Chili or Red Chili Powder
  • Use Fresh Green Chili or Black Pepper in limited amounts

Law 8

  • No Strong Spices: such as garam masala, asafoetida (heeng), black salt (kala namak), too much ginger, too much salt
  • Use Fresh Herbs: such as tulsi, curry leaves, coriander, basil, lemongrass, oregano, rosemary, thyme, bay leaf.
    Some mild spices such as cardamom, cinnamon and cumin seeds can be used in moderation

Law 9

  • No Iodised Salt
  • Use Rock Salt (Sendha Namak) in limited amounts

Law 10

  • No Excessive Cooking: Nothing should be cooked too much or for too long, so as to destroy the natural composition of that food.
    Frying and over-cooking is strictly prohibited.
  • Minimal Cooking
    Eat most of your food raw. If needed, cook only minimally, for the shortest duration possible

    • Vegetables & grains can be cooked
    • Fruits should not be cooked (no cooking tomato, coconut or coconut milk)
    • Sprouts should not be cooked
    • Steaming is better than boiling. It preserves more nutrition

Law 11

  • No Metal Pots & Pans for cooking
  • Use only Clay Pots & Pans for cooking

Law 12

  • Don’t Eat Much Grain: Wheat, rice, lentils, quinoa, millets all come under the umbrella of grains. A satvic dish should not have too many grains, as they are difficult to digest.
  • Eat Less Grain, More Vegetables: Maintain a 70-30 ratio between vegetables & grains. If your dish has 30% grains, combine it with at least 70% vegetables.
    If eating one composite chapati (pg 73), eat with 2 bowls of Satvic sabzi. If eating 2 composite chapatis, eat with 4 bowls of Satvic sabzi. If eating 1 bowl of brown rice, eat with 3 bowls of vegetables.

Law 13

Do Not Mix Multiple Grains in the Same Dish
It is difficult enough for our body to digest one type of grain at a time. If we mix two or more grains together, it becomes even more difficult. So –

  • No rice with chapati
  • No daal with rice
  • No daal with chapati
  • No multi-grain flour

Eat Only One Type of Grain at a Time
If eating grains, eat with a sufficiency of vegetables, without mixing with another grain.

  • Brown Rice with sabzi
  • Composite chapati with sabzi
  • Quinoa with vegetables

Law 14

  • No Unseasonal or Exotic Foods: Do not use ingredients that are out of season or are not locally grown in your country, as they tend to contain more chemicals to extend their shelf life.
    Ingredients such as blueberries, kale, swiss chard, hazelnuts, macadamia nuts are not local to India, so don’t bother using them.
  • Eat Foods that are Seasonal & Local: Eat foods that are local to your country and are in season. Seasonal fruits and vegetables tend to be cheaper in price.

Law 15

  • Do Not Use Unsoaked Nuts: Don’t use or eat any nuts before soaking them in water.
  • Use Soaked Nuts: Always soak nuts for 6-8 hours before using. Before being soaked, nuts are in their dormant state Adding water brings them to life and makes them digestible.

Law 16

  • Do Not Eat Too Many Nuts & Seeds: Similar to grains, nuts & seeds and are difficult to digest and therefore, should be only consumed sparingly. If using nuts in a salad dressing, use only the minimum amount required, for the sake of texture.
  • Consume Nuts & Seeds Sparingly: If you are trying to cure a disease, it is best to avoid them altogether. Once you are cured, you may have them sparingly (about 5-7 a day). Bear in mind, we have already added them to our salads and salad dressing recipes. If you are eating those, no need to consume nuts/seeds separately.

Law 17

  • Coconut Milk is superior to almond milk, cashew milk & other nut milks, because coconut is easier to digest than other nuts. So, always prefer fresh homemade coconut milk over other nut milks.

Law 18

  • No Soy Milk, No Tofu: Soya is very difficult to digest. It is an inferior quality of grain.

Law 19

  • Coconut & Tomato Should Not Be Cooked Directly on Flame: If adding fresh coconut, coconut milk or tomato in a recipe, add it towards the end, AFTER switching off the stove. You can let the coconut and tomato warm from the steam inside the pot, but never cook them directly on flame.

This also means that after adding coconut, coconut milk or tomato to a dish, it should not be re-heated.

Law 20

  • In cooked recipes, add salt and lemon towards the end, not beginning. Salt and lemon should not be cooked on flame.

Law 21

  • Do not add grains (such as wheat, rice, millet, lentil) to a salad or soup. Salads and soups should be grain-free, unless they are being eaten as a grain meal.

Understanding Digestion

Essential to the maintenance of physical, mental and emotional health is the timely elimination of toxins that either enter the body or are created by it. Everything in nature follows a specific order & timing. For example, the moon and the sun have regular cycles twelve months of the year; the four seasons are constant & prompt; seeds must sprout before they become plants; fruit trees must blossom before they bear the immature and then the ripened fruit. Our body is a part of nature. Just like nature, our bodies too follow a specific order & timing. The correctness of this order & timing determines our health.

YOU, YOUR WASHING MACHINE & CYCLES
Imagine you are a washing machine. And this washing machine has three mini-cycles, within each complete cycle:

Similarly, the following mini-cycles are a part of your body’s functioning:

  • Digestion
  • Assimilation
  • Elimination

Let’s take a look at what happens in a washing machine in regards to these mini-cycles:

  • If you allow the washing machine to complete three mini-cycles, your clothes will be bright, clean and fresh.
  • If you stop the washing machine just before the spin, the clothes remain soaking wet. When they dry, they remain somewhat dirty from the retained water.
  • If you stop the washing machine after it finishes the wash cycle, the clothes remain full of detergent and dirt.

Therefore:

  • If you skip one or more of the mini-cycles, your clothes will be less clean than you expect. You can blame this deficiency on your washing machine, but of course you are responsible.

What does this have to do with the cycles of digestion, absorption and elimination? Every time you eat a meal, a significant portion of your body’s energy shifts from whatever it was doing, to digesting the food that has entered your stomach. When your body finishes digesting the food, it shifts its energy to absorption. Having completed that, the body’s energy proceeds to eliminate waste. All of this works wonderfully unless you eat before the body has finished absorbing or eliminating your most recent meal. When you eat before the most recent meal has been “processed” completely, the body shifts its energy to address the new food. The residue of the most recent meal is then left at the mercy of bacteria, yeast, mold, etc., and the result is the unnecessary production of waste, or, toxins in the body.

Most of us constantly consume before it is time to nourish. Following are the most frequent responses to the question, “When do you decide to eat?”

  • “The clock indicates that it is time to eat.”
  • “I’m bored and have nothing else to do.”
  • “Every time I see or smell food.”

None of these rationalizations justify the eating of excessive food. One should eat when he/she feels true hunger, after the last meal has been digested, absorbed and eliminated.

When you eat a new meal while your body is still assimilating or eliminating the previous meal, you stress and compromise your body unduly, because it is aware that it has not finished its task from the last meal yet has another job requiring immediate commencement. So, the body deals with both meals incompletely, thus generating both excess stress and unnecessary waste.

Most people (in so-called “advanced societies”) have pounds of undigested waste stored in their bodies. If you would simply stop eating, the body would be able to finish the work that it began.

Fortunately, the body is very efficient and resilient. It has a powerful will to live. It has an incredible reserve of vital force to maintain relatively good health even when you impede it from fulfilling its natural functions. It usually takes years of abuse to render the human t body incapable of rectifying the unhealthy habits that have been imposed upon it.

USING THIS MODEL IN YOUR LIFE
You can apply the cited model to the emotional, mental and spiritual challenges you face. Many gifted people have recognized that healing occurs in a void (the absence of everything). You must leave enough space between events to prevent the second event from running into, over, around or through the first event. Finish processing the first before you commence the next – don’t leave unfinished responsibilities to commence new ones. This is a critical lesson that we must learn from life, and when we heed it, we reap bountiful rewards.

LESSONS TO BE LEARNED
What can you do to help your body follow the right eating pattern?

Follow Intermittent Fasting (also called 16 hour fasting) when you eat within a span of 8 hours, and fast for 16 hours every night. This would give your digestive system not only adequate time to finish the cycles, but also adequate time to heal thereafter.

For example, if you eat your dinner at 8pm, eat no solid food till 12 noon the next day. At 12 noon, have your first solid meal of food. If you eat dinner at 6pm, eat no solid food till 10 am the next morning. Water and juices (such as coconut water, ash gourd juice) is allowed in your fasting cycle.

When you do intermittent fasting, your body will digest & absorb food within 5-6 hours (depending on the quality of your food). Once digestion is complete, what does it start doing? It starts healing. In the healing state, it rebuilds old tissue, burns fat cells, fades away old scars and cures your disease.

Six Laws of Food Combining

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Six Laws of Food Combining

Food Combining

Pairing food in the right way can make all the difference to our digestion. Even fresh, wholesome food, if paired incorrectly, can overwhelm the digestive system and cause indigestion, fermentation, gas, bloating, and the creation of toxins. This is why proper food combining is so important.

Foods are natural chemicals. For the sake of understanding, imagine your body similar to a test tube in a laboratory. As in other chemical experiments, reactions ranging from sedative to explosive can be created in our bodies, depending upon the combination of elements. The more ingredients there are in a meal, the greater the chance for a digestive explosion.

ANALOGY
Imagine a highway. Three categories of vehicles can enter this highway –

Scooters are fast. They move quickly through the highway. Trucks are heavier and move very slowly. Cars fall somewhere in between – neither too slow, nor too fast.

This highway can be compared to our digestive tract. Scooters represent fruits – light and quick. Cars represent vegetables. Trucks represent grains – heavy and slow.

On an average, fruits take about of 3 hours to digest and eliminate. Vegetables take a little longer – about 6 hours. Grains (such as wheat, rice, lentils, millets) take about 18 hours to digest, absorb and eliminate from our body. This explains why we often feel lazy and sleepy after eating too many grains, because all our energy goes into digesting it and little remains to keep us awake.

Of course these timings are just estimates to give us an idea. They vary from person to person, age to age, but the point is – the more water in a food substance, the faster it passes through our digestive system. Grains, nuts, seeds, dried fruits are water-poor foods and hence take longer to digest. Fresh fruits, vegetables and juices are water-rich foods and digest and eliminate quickly. For optimum health, at least 70% of our diet should be composed of water-rich foods.

Note

  • Legumes, nuts and seeds also take about 18 hours to digest.
  • Neutral vegetables (such as lettuce, celery, spinach, coriander, cucumber) are quicker to digest than starchy vegetables (such as potato, peas, pumpkin, cauliflower).

Six Laws of Food Combining

Now that we have learnt about the digestibility levels of different foods, let’s understand the laws of food combining.

1. Restrict to eating grain only once a day

As stated before, grains (wheat, rice, lentils, legumes, millets, quinoa) take an average of 18 hours to digest, assimilate and eliminate from the body. If we eat grains twice, or thrice a day – a practice commonly observed amongst Indians- it means that even before our previous grain meal was digested, we give our body more to digest. Then, instead of finishing the digestion of the previous meal, our body shifts its energy to address the new food that has just entered the stomach. The residue of the previous meal is then left at the mercy of bacteria, yeast, mold, etc., and results in the accumulation of undigested food, or waste in the body.

DIFFICULT TO DIGEST COMBINATIONS

  • Lentil pancakes (cheela) for breakfast, rice for lunch, sabzi-roti for dinner
  • Poha (puffed rice) for breakfast, sabzi-roti for lunch, daal (lentils) for dinner

EASY TO DIGEST COMBINATIONS

  • Fruits for breakfast, Satvic sabzi-roti for lunch, salad for dinner
  • Fruits for breakfast, salad for lunch, Satvic cheela for dinner
  • Salad for breakfast, brown Rice and vegetables for lunch, fruits for dinner

Note Children, athletes, and people engaged in rigorous physical work can afford to eat grains more than once a day, because their digestive powers are stronger than others.

2. Eat only one grain at a time

In our modern day, sedentary (always-sitting) lifestyles, it is difficult enough for the body to digest one grain at a time. If we give it two grains at once, it becomes even more difficult, and many a times, even impossible. So, eat only one grain at a time. If eating chapati, eat only chapati, with a sufficiency of vegetables. Don’t eat rice and chapati in the same meal. If eating brown rice, eat only brown rice, mixed with a sufficiency of vegetables.

DIFFICULT TO DIGEST COMBINATIONS

  • Rice with chapati (wheat)
  • Rajma (kidney beans) with rice
  • Daal (lentils) with rice
  • Chana (chickpeas) with rice

EASY TO DIGEST COMBINATIONS

  • Brown Rice with Vegetables
  • Chapati with Vegetables
  • Sprouted daal (lentils) with salad

3. When eating grains, mix them with 3 times the vegetables

When making chapati, instead of using 100% wheat flour, use 50% wheat flour and 50% vegetable (such as spinach, carrot, cucumber, beetroot, fenugreek, etc). The method of making composite chapati has been clearly explained later in this book. If eating one chapati, eat 2 bowls of vegetable (sabzi). If eating 2 chapatis, eat 4 bowls of vegetable (sabzi). Adding a sufficiency of vegetables to grains makes the grains easy to digest.

DIFFICULT TO DIGEST COMBINATIONS

  • 3 chapatis with 1 bowl of vegetable

EASY TO DIGEST COMBINATIONS

  • 1 composite chapati with 2 bowls of vegetable
  • 1 bowl of brown rice with 3 bowls of vegetables
  • 1 bowl of quinoa with 3 bowls of vegetables

4. Do not eat fruits & cooked food in the same meal

Fruits require different types of enzymes and acid secretions to be released by the stomach than cooked vegetables and grains. Fruits digest best by themselves or with “neutral” green vegetables. The “neutral” vegetables (such as lettuce, cucumber, coriander, celery, and kale) are so called because their starch and fat content is low and, thus, their digestion will not interfere with the digestion of fruit.

DIFFICULT TO DIGEST COMBINATIONS

  • Fruits & cooked vegetables in the same meal
  • Fruits & grains in the same meal

EASY TO DIGEST COMBINATIONS

  • Fruits alone
  • Fruits with neutral green vegetables

5. Don’t mix sweet fruits with citric fruits

Sweet fruits (mangoes, bananas, chikoo, persimmons, etc.) should not be combined with citric fruits (oranges, mandarin, pineapple, lemons), since they require different digestive juices to be released by the stomach. It is best to eat similar kinds of fruits together.
Note Bulkier fruits like banana, coconut and avocado require more digestion time.

EASY TO DIGEST COMBINATIONS

  • Any one single fruit
  • Only Melons (Watermelons, Muskmelons, Honeydew Melons)
  • Apple, Pear and Peach
  • Berries (most)
  • Oranges and Mandarin

6. Don’t drink while you eat

If you’re eating solid foods, stick to solids; conversely, if you’re drinking liquids, stick to liquids. Drinking anything while eating dilutes the digestive juices, and causes indigestion. Let us explain how. As soon as we put food in our mouth, a digestive fire lights up inside the stomach to break it down. If we gulp down a glass of water immediately after eating, we extinguish that fire, which was necessary to digest the food. The undigested food rots and causes disease in the body. It is best to drink water at least 1 hour before or 2 hours after our solid meal. Once we start eating Satvic food, which is rich in water and low in spices & salt, we do not feel the need to drink water with or after meals. If drinking water becomes necessary while or after eating food, sip 2 sips of water & let it stay in the mouth for a while before swallowing it. You will not feel thirsty after that.

Setting up a Sattvic Kitchen: Ingredients Needed and Essential Tools

Organize your sattvic kitchen

Setting up a Sattvic Kitchen: Ingredients Needed and Essential Tools

Ingredients Needed for a perfect Satvic Kitchen

In order to make the Satvic recipes with ease, it’s important to have a well-stocked Satvic Kitchen. Below we have given a list of all ingredients used in this book. We recommend that you buy fruits, vegetables and fresh herbs as and when you make the recipes, but buy all the dry ingredients in advance, in one grocery trip. You will be able to find most ingredients at your common grocery store, or online, on Amazon.

FRESH INGREDIENTS
Buy as & when you make recipes

1. FRUITS Make sure whatever you buy is seasonal & regional. Do not buy frozen fruits.

  • Lemon
  • Pear
  • Peach
  • Melons
  • Orange
  • Berries
  • Papaya
  • Mango
  • Grapes
  • Coconut
  • Banana
  • Sapota (chikoo)
  • Apple
  • Pomegranate
  • Pineapple

2. VEGETABLES Avoid precut, prepackaged vegetables that have been sitting in plastic bags containers for who knows how long.

  • Ash Gourd
  • Celery
  • Pumpkin
  • Bottle Gourd
  • Parsley
  • Cabbage
  • Ridge Gourd
  • Zucchini
  • Peas
  • Spinach
  • Tomatoes
  • Broccoli
  • Lettuce
  • Bell Peppers
  • Green Beans
  • Rocket leaves
  • Beetroot
  • Cauliflower
  • Cucumbers
  • Carrots
  • Potatoes

3. HERBS Growing your own herbs is easy and economical. If you have more than you can use, just dry them and store in jars for future use.

  • Coriander
  • Curry Leaves
  • Rosemary
  • Mint
  • Thyme
  • Lemongrass
  • Bay Leaf
  • Oregano
  • Basil

DRY INGREDIENTS
Buy in advance

1. NUTS AND SEEDS Buy what you’ll use within a month and store them in the refrigerator during the summer months. Always soak your nuts and seeds in water before using them.

  • Almonds
  • Walnuts
  • Cashews
  • Pistachios
  • Peanuts
  • Pumpkin Seeds
  • Sunflower Seeds
  • Poppy Seeds
  • Chia Seeds
  • Flax Seeds
  • Sesame Seeds

2. SEEDS FOR SPROUTING We recommend eating sprouts of vegetable seeds, instead of lentils, because vegetable sprouts are easier to digest. Seeds for sprouting are same as those used to grow the vegetable. You can find them online.

  • Alfalfa
  • Fenugreek
  • Clover
  • Radish

3. GRAINS AND LEGUMES

  • Whole Wheat Flour
  • Quinoa
  • Brown Rice
  • Moong Daal
  • Millets

4. SPICES AND CONDIMENTS

  • Rock salt (sendha namak)
  • Green chillies
  • Fresh ginger
  • Cinnamon
  • Green cardamom buds
  • Fennel seeds
  • Cumin
  • Black pepper
  • Saffron strands
  • Cacao Powder
  • Cacao Nibs
  • Galangal
  • Vanilla Powder

5. DRY HERBS You can easily find them at grocery stores.

  • Dried Basil
  • Dried Rosemary
  • Dried Oregano
  • Dried Thyme

6. SWEETENERS Remove all processed sugars from your kitchen & replace with natural ones.

  • Dates
  • Chemical Free Jaggery
  • Raisins

8 Essential Tools
for a perfect Satvic Kitchen

It is truly a joy to have good kitchen equipment. I recommend that you start with the equipment that you already have, and then every few weeks, purchase one tool that you need.

1. Blender

Setting up a Sattvic Kitchen Ingredients Needed and Essential Tools 1
A blender is needed for everything – soups, dressings, nut milks. The recipes in this book will work just fine with an average household blender. But, I recommend you to invest in a high-speed blender. It can ,make the silkiest sauces, smoothies, soups and creams in very little time. The two most popular high-speed blenders in the market are the Vita-Mix and the Blendtec. High-speed blenders are more expensive, but a great investment if you have any sort of culinary passion.

2. Juicer

Setting up a Sattvic Kitchen Ingredients Needed and Essential Tools 2
You will need to drink lots of juices in your journey of following a Satvic diet. There are two main types of juicers:

1. Centrifugal Juicers
These typically utilize a fast-spinning metal blade that separates the juice from flesh via centrifugal force. The problem with centrifugal juicers is that the fast-spinning metal blade generates heat, which destroys the enzymes in the fruits and vegetables you’re juicing, leading to a less nutritious juice.

2. Slow Juicers (also known as Cold press Juicers)
Slow Juicers extract juice by first crushing and then pressing fruit and vegetables for the highest juice yield. Because they don’t produce as much heat, they keep more of the nutrients intact, leading to a high quality juice.

If you want to pack the most nutrients in your body as possible, buy a slow press juicer. There is a variety of slow juicers available in the market.

3. Clay Pot

Setting up a Sattvic Kitchen Ingredients Needed and Essential Tools 3
Cooking vegetables, sabzis or rice in a clay pot is much better than cooking in any kind of a metal pot. Clay is porous in nature, it allows moisture and heat to circulate through your food, and thus, retain its nutrition. Food cooked in a clay pot even tastes better. Our ancestors all used clay pots to cook their food. Clay pots are inexpensive and are easily available in local Indian markets, or online. If clay pots are not available, use stainless steel vessels (without nickel plating). Do not use aluminum or non-stick cookware.

4. Clay Tawa

Setting up a Sattvic Kitchen Ingredients Needed and Essential Tools 4
A clay tawa is essential for those who want to cook chapatis. A chapati cooked on a clay tawa is much more digestible than that cooked on a metal tawa, as it retains the nutrients. On the contrary, an aluminum tawa leaches metal particles into your body and leads toxic accumulation over time. Clay tawas are inexpensive and can easily be found in local Indian markets, or online.

5. Measuring Cups and Spoons

Setting up a Sattvic Kitchen Ingredients Needed and Essential Tools 5
While recreating recipes in this book, make sure you use the exact amount of the ingredients mentioned so that you get the perfect taste of the recipes. These are available on Amazon.

6. Nut Milk Bag or Muslin Cloth

Setting up a Sattvic Kitchen Ingredients Needed and Essential Tools 6
A nut milk bag is basically a specially shaped fabric bag, that you strain your blended almond or coconut milk through, to remove any pulp that remains. A nut milk bag will help you achieve a smoother consistency of your coconut or almonds milks. This is available on Amazon. If you don’t have a nut milk bag, a muslin cloth will work just fine.

7. Julienne Vegetable Peeler

Setting up a Sattvic Kitchen Ingredients Needed and Essential Tools 7
This is one seemingly gimmicky tool that I absolutely adore and highly recommend. A julienne peeler is a type of vegetable peeler with a jagged edge that allows you to create thin strips of vegetables for salads. Try it with zucchini, carrots, radish, cucumbers, beets, apples and more. Using this tool saves a lot of time and prevents fatigue while cutting vegetables for salads. This is available on Amazon.

8. Spiraliser

Setting up a Sattvic Kitchen Ingredients Needed and Essential Tools 8
A spiraliser is an inexpensive tool that turns fresh vegetables into noodles. As long as it’s a hard fruit or veggie, you can spiralize it. Some great ones to spiralise are ridge gourd, bottle gourd, zucchini, beetroot, and cucumber. Spiralising is a sneaky way to eat more vegetables. “I’m eating spiralised noodles” is more exciting than saying “I’m eating a salad”. This is available on Amazon.

How to use the tools?
1. How to use a Julienne Vegetable Peeler

Setting up a Sattvic Kitchen Ingredients Needed and Essential Tools 9
A. First, peel the vegetable with a standard peeler. Then, firmly hold the vegetable at an angle. Press the julienne peeler against the vegetable.

Setting up a Sattvic Kitchen Ingredients Needed and Essential Tools 10

B. Peel the flesh, sliding the peeler away from you. Turn and repeat until you can no longer peel comfortably.

Setting up a Sattvic Kitchen Ingredients Needed and Essential Tools 11

C. Using the julienne peeler, you can effortlessly create vegetable ribbons, and use them in salads or wraps.

2. How to use a Spiraliser

Setting up a Sattvic Kitchen Ingredients Needed and Essential Tools 12

A. First, top and tail your vegetable and then insert it Into the spiraliser. With most vegetables, you do not need to use the cap at this stage.

Setting up a Sattvic Kitchen Ingredients Needed and Essential Tools 13

B. Twist the vegetable into the spiraliser (like a pencil sharpener). When you get near the bottom, use the cap (that comes with the spiraliser) so that you don’t injure yourself.

Setting up a Sattvic Kitchen Ingredients Needed and Essential Tools 14

C. A great dish to make with the resulting noodles is zucchini spaghetti.

Delicious Sattvic Food Recipes that can be Easily Made at Home

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Sattvic Recipes: Delicious, Healthy, Organic Veg Recipes

Sattvic Food Recipes

Sattvic Food Philosophy

Setting up a Sattvic Kitchen

What does Sattvic mean?

Lord Krishna, in the Bhagavad Gita states that all embodied souls are working under the control of 3 modes, or qualities of material nature –

The thoughts in our head, the activities we perform, the people we meet, the food we eat can all be classified as either Sattvic, Rajasik or Tamasik.

SATTVIC: Mode of Goodness:
Purity, Happiness, Compassion, Bliss, Love, Self Control, Satisfaction, Nonviolence, Fearlessness, Surrender. When Sattvic dominates, we feel happy, satisfied, & in control of our senses.

SATTVIC FOOD
Foods that are fresh, Wholesome (unprocessed, unrefined), juicy (water-rich), freshly cooked & lightly seasoned are Sattvic in nature. Sattvic Food is living food, with life energy inside it. It is food straight from Nature, with no or minimal human interference.

Examples of Sattvic Food

  • All Fresh Fruits: melons, oranges, papaya, apple, pear, berries, grapes,etc.
  • All Vegetables: bottle gourd, ridge-gourd, bell peppers, carrots, spinach, coriander, all leafy greens, etc.
  • Whole Fats: coconut, soaked nuts & seeds
  • Whole Grains: whole wheat (with chokar), brown rice

Sattvic Food Recipes for Special Occasions Main-course & Desserts

thai coconut curry tofu 1

Sattvic Food Recipes for Special Occasions Main-course & Desserts

THAI CURRY WITH BROWN RICE

thai coconut curry tofu 1
thai coconut curry tofu 1

INGREDIENTS
SERVES 3-4
Thai Curry Paste

  • 1 tablespoon coriander seeds
  • 2 cloves
  • 4 peppercorns
  • 1 inch galangal, peeled and chopped
  • 1.5 inch ginger, peeled and chopped
  • 2 small green chilis, chopped
  • 3 fresh kaffir lime leaves
  • ½ cup water
  • 2 lemongrass stems, pounded & chopped
  • ½ cup fresh basil leaves
  • ½ cup fresh coriander leaves

Vegetable Curry

  • 1 cup chopped broccoli
  • 1 cup chopped zucchini
  • 1½ cup bell peppers (red, yellow, green)
  • 3 chopped baby corns
  • ¼ cup chopped & steamed sweet potato
  • 2 cups thick coconut milk
  • ½ tablespoon rock salt
  • 1 tablespoon jaggery
  • 2 tablespoons chopped and roasted peanuts for topping

Brown rice, cooked

PRE-PREPARATION

  • Prepare thick coconut milk by blending 1 cup coconut with 1 cup water and then straining it.

PREPARATION METHOD

  • Dry roast coriander seeds, cloves and black peppercorns together until coriander seeds turn dark brown.
  • Blend the dry roasted mixture till it turns into a fine powder. In the same blender, add all the remaining ingredients of the thai curry paste (as given in the column on the left), and blend until you get a fine paste.
  • Keep a pot on medium flame and add broccoli, zucchini, bell peppers, baby corn and Vz cup water to it. Let vegetables cook for 15-20 minutes, till they turn soft. After sweet potato is steamed, add it to the pot.
  • Reduce the flame to low and pour the Thai green curry paste and jaggery also to the pot and mix well. Cover the lid for 5 minutes so all flavours come together.
  • Turn off the stove and add coconut milk and salt. Mix well. Close the pot for another 10 minutes. Thai curry is ready,
  • Top it with roasted and chopped peanuts. Serve it with brown rice.

MILLET UPMA

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INGREDIENTS
SERVES 3-4

  • 1 cup millet (barnyard, proso or foxtail)
  • 3 cups water
  • 1 cup green beans, finely chopped
  • 1 cup carrot, finely chopped
  • 1 cup peas
  • ¼ cup coriander, finely chopped

Flavoring

  • 2 teaspoons black mustard seeds
  • 1 teaspoon cumin seeds
  • 2 teaspoons grated fresh ginger
  • 2 tablespoons peanuts, chopped
  • 15-20 curry leaves
  • 2 small green chilis, finely chopped
  • ½ teaspoon asafoetida powder
  • 2 tablespoons lemon juice
  • 2 ½ teaspoon rock salt

Garnish

  • ½ tablespoon peanuts, crushed

Coconut Chutney

PRE-PREPARATION

  • Soak the millets In water for 2-3 hours.

PREPARATION METHOD

  • Dry roast the mustard seeds, cumin seeds, green chillies, ginger and peanuts in a pot for about 5-8 minutes.
  • Then add curry leaves and roast for another minute.
  • Add beans, carrots & peas to the pot & saute with roasted spices for 2 minutes.
  • Add 2 cups of water to the pot and cover the lid to let the vegetables cook.
  • After 15 minutes, add the soaked millets and asafoetida with one cup of water to the vegetables and stir. Cover the lid and let the millets cook with vegetables for the flavors to come together. Add more water if needed. Let it cook till there’s no more water left in the pot and the millets are cooked with vegetables.
  • Switch off the stove and add lemon, salt & coriander. Stir well. Cover lid for another 2 mins to let the flavors come together.
  • Garnish with roasted peanuts and coriander and serve with coconut chutney.

CHIA PUDDING

Sattvic Food Recipes for Special Occasions Main-course & Desserts 3

This pudding is super easy to prepare. Be sure to make this in advance so it has time to thicken up. Chia seeds were the food of the ancient Aztecs. They are great for post-workout. Also, this pudding is fully raw!

INGREDIENTS
SERVES 2-3, MAKES 500 ml

  • 1 cup coconut milk
  • 1 ½ tablespoon powdered jaggery
  • ½ ripe banana
  • 1/8 teaspoon rock salt
  • 2 tablespoons chia seeds
  • 1 cup chopped mixed fruits (such as banana, mango, grapes, pear, kiwi, orange, pomegranate, berries)

Garnish

  • edible flowers (optional)
  • fresh seasonal fruits

PRE-PREPARATION

PREPARATION METHOD

  • Place coconut milk, jaggery, banana and salt into a blender and blend until smooth.
  • Pour this mixture over chia seeds and let them soak for about 2 hours on the kitchen counter. The chia seeds will swell up and thicken the mixture.
  • Add the chopped fruits to the chia seed mixture. Place the pudding in the refrigerator for 30 minutes before serving, to make it cold.

SATVIC KHEER

6n7i40g8 sharad purnima 2018 kheer recipe and benefits 625x300 23 October 18 1
6n7i40g8 sharad purnima 2018 kheer recipe and benefits 625×300 23 October 18 1

Can you imagine eating kheer that is healthy? No sugar, no milk, no ghee, just wholesome ingredients, straight from nature. Instead of fat laden pastries and cookies, serve your guests this healthy dessert. Tell them to guess what it’s made of & I promise, they’ll be surprised!

INGREDIENTS
SERVES 4-5, MAKES 1 litre

  • 1 cup soaked almonds
  • ½ cup quinoa
  • 3½ cups water
  • 6 tablespoons powdered jaggery
  • ¼ teaspoon cardamom powder
  • 20 strands of saffron (approx.)
  • 1/8 teaspoon rock salt

Topping

  • 1 tablespoon chopped almonds
  • 1 tablespoon chopped pistachios
  • 1 tablespoon raisins

PRE-PREPARATION

  • Soak the almonds in water for about 6 hours. After soaking peel the almonds.

PREPARATION METHOD

  • Place the quinoa in a saucepan with 2 cups of water and bring to a boil. Then, iet it simmer for about 45 minutes until the quinoa is fully cooked.
  • Meanwhile, add the peeled almonds and 11/2 cups water to a blender and blend until smooth.
  • Add jaggery, cardamom, saffron and salt and blend again.
  • Pour this mixture in a bowl, add the boiled quinoa and stir well. This is your kheer.
  • Place it in a refrigerator for at least 30 minutes. The quinoa will swell up & the kheer will get thick.
  • Top it with almonds, pistachios & raisins and serve.

SATVIC GAJAR HALWA

6n7i40g8 sharad purnima 2018 kheer recipe and benefits 625x300 23 October 18 1 1
6n7i40g8 sharad purnima 2018 kheer recipe and benefits 625×300 23 October 18 1 1

INGREDIENTS
SERVES 6

  • 4 cups finely shredded red carrots
  • 20 strands of saffron
  • 1/3 cup powdered jaggery
  • 1 teaspoon green cardamom powder
  • ¼ teaspoon rock salt
  • 1 teaspoon lemon juice

Thick Coconut Milk

  • ½ cup dessicated coconut
  • ½ cup water

Date Paste

  • ½ cup chopped dates, seedless
  • ¼ cup warm water

Topping

  • ¼ cup chopped almonds (soaked)
  • ¼ cup chopped cashews (soaked)
  • 2 tablespoons chopped pistachios

PREPARATION METHOD

  • Place the grated carrots and saffron into a pan and cook on a medium flame for 30 minutes, fill the water is absorbed and carrots are soft.
  • Meanwhile, prepare date paste by blending dates and warm water together until smooth.
  • Prepare the thick coconut milk by blending coconut & water together. Sieve the mixture through a nut milk bag / muslin cloth & keep the liquid to be used later.
  • Once carrots have cooked, reduce flame to low. Add jaggery and date paste to the pan and stir together for 30 seconds.
  • Switch off the stove. Add the thick coconut milk, stir & immediately close the lid. Let the coconut milk cook from the heat inside the pan, not directly on flame.
  • Add cardamom, lemon and salt, Stir.
  • Add almonds, cashews and pistachios, Stir.
  • Keep the halwa in the fridge for 30 minutes before serving, so that the flavors can bloom!

Tip Use red carrots to make this halwa. These carrots are available only in winter.

KULFI

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Kulfi is a delicious Indian dessert. Many of us think that preparing ice cream at home is a difficult thing to do, but this recipe can be prepared within a few minutes, and you don’t even need an ice cream maker for it. The base of this kulfi is made of cashew and coconut.

INGREDIENTS
SERVES 2-3, MAKES 1/2 CUPS

Kulfi Ice Cream

  • ½ cup soaked cashews
  • 1 cup coconut malai
  • ¼ cup jaggery, powdered
  • 4 dates, seedless
  • 1/3 cup coconut water
  • 10 strands of saffron
  • 1/8 teaspoon green cardamom powder
  • 1/8 teaspoon rock salt

Topping

  • 1 tablespoon chopped pistachios

PRE-PREPARATION

  • Soak the cashews in water for about 6 hours.

PREPARATION METHOD

  • Place all the ice cream ingredients in a blender and blend until smooth.
  • Pour the mixture into a shallow glass dish or a steel container, and let it freeze for about 6 hours in the freezer.
  • Before serving, let the ice cream thaw on a counter for 15-30 minutes, until it becomes soft enough to scoop.
  • Top with chopped pistachios and serve.

PEANUT BUTTER ICE CREAM

Peanut Butter Ice Cream BFK 2 1 of 1
Peanut Butter Ice Cream

This dessert is ultra creamy, nutty, sweet, and just the right amount of savory. Ask your friends to guess the ingredients and they’ll be surprised to know how it’s made!

INGREDIENTS
SERVES 3, MAKES 1 Vi cups

For Making Peanut Butter

For Making the ice Cream

  • 6 dates, seedless
  • ¼ cup water
  • 4 frozen bananas
  • 1 tablespoon peanut butter
  • ½ tablespoon powdered jaggery
  • 1/8 teaspoon rock salt

Topping

  • 1 tablespoon almonds, chopped
  • 1 tablespoon peanut butter

PRE-PREPARATION

  • Take the bananas, peel, slice and put in the freezer for about 6 hours.

PREPARATION METHOD

For making peanut butter

  • Heat a pan, add the peanuts and reduce flame to low. Roast peanuts while continuously stirring for 4-5 minutes.
  • Transfer peanuts to a blender and blend for 2-3 minutes, till you get a creamy butter. You will feel it’ll never blend, but be patient! The peanuts will first convert into powder and then turn creamy. Do not add any water.

For making peanut butter ice cream

  • Place the dates and water in a blender and blend till a paste is formed.
  • Add the frozen bananas, peanut butter, jaggery and salt to the date paste & blend again until smooth.
  • Scoop out the ice cream into bowls. Top with almonds and peanut butter and serve immediately.

SATVIC LADOO

INGREDIENTS
MAKES 12 LADOOS

  • 1 dry coconut (gola)
  • 2 tablespoon almond butter
  • 2 tablespoons powdered jaggery
  • 2 tablespoons soaked almonds, chopped
  • 2 tablespoons dry rose petals

*How to make almond butter?

  • Dry roast almonds in a saucepan over medium flame for 5-7 minutes, stirring in between. Let the almonds cool.
  • Transfer them to a high-speed blender. Blend until creamy, pausing to scrape down the sides as necessary. You will feel it’ll never blend, but be patient! The almonds will first convert into powder and then turn creamy. If the mixture gets too hot along the way, stop and let it cool for a few minutes.
  • Transfer it to a jar. Store in the refrigerator for up to 1 week.

PREPARATION METHOD

  • Break the dry coconut into pieces and then shred it finely.
  • Transfer the shredded coconut to a high-speed blender. Blend until creamy, pausing to scrape down the sides as necessary. You will feel it’ll never blend, but be patient! The coconut will first convert into powder and then turn soft and buttery. It usually takes 5-7 minutes of blending. If the mixture gets too hot along the way, stop and let it cool for a few minutes.
  • Add this coconut butter to a bowl, along with the almond butter, jaggery, chopped almonds & rose petals. Mix it well using your hands.
  • Shape this batter into small ladoos. Garnish with dry rose petals and serve.

LEMON CHEESECAKE

One hit of this dessert and you’ll never look at cheesecake the same way again. This cheesecake has no dairy, cheese or sugar! But be mindful that it does contain lots of cashews, so must he eaten sparingly.

INGREDIENTS
SERVES 5

Cheesecake

  • 1 cup cashews, soaked
  • 3 tablespoons powdered jaggery
  • ¼ cup water
  • 3 tablespoons lemon juice

Lime Gel

  • ¼ cup cashews, soaked
  • ¼ cup powdered jaggery’
  • 4 medium leaves of spinach
  • ½ tablespoon lemon juice
  • ½ tablespoon lemon zest (zest is prepared by finely grating the peel of a fresh lemon)

Ginger Crumble

  • ½ cup almonds
  • ½ tablespoon jaggery powder
  • ¼ teaspoon ginger, grated
  • pinch rock salt

Garnish (optional)

  • microgreens
  • edible flowers

PRE-PREPARATION

  • Soak the cashews in water for 5-6 hrs.

PREPARATION METHOD

  • To prepare the cheesecake, blend all ingredients in a blender. Pour in a pan, Chill in freezer for 5-6 hours. Once frozen, remove from the pan and cut into squares, circles or triangles. Store in refrigerator until ready to serve.
  • To prepare the lime gel. blend all ingredients until perfectly smooth. Pour in a squeeze bottle and refrigerate.
  • To prepare the ginger crumble, quickly pulse the almonds in a blender. Mix the rest of the ingredients by hand.
  • To assemble all components together, sprinkle 3 piles of ginger crumble on a plate. Place a piece of cheesecake on top of each pile. Garnish with lime gel, microgreens and edible flowers.

ROSE CLEANSER FOR FACE & BODY

Sattvic Food Recipes for Special Occasions Main course Desserts 10
Sattvic Food Recipes for Special Occasions Main course Desserts 10

Most conventional soaps contain heavy fragrances, nasty parabens, dyes and other chemicals that don’t belong on our skin. Our skin is our biggest detox organ so we don’t want to coat or clog it with artificial chemicals. This 3-ingredient rose face cleanser is made using 100% natural, and edible ingredients, it takas under 5 minutes to make. It is good for ail skin types – dry, oily and sensitive.

INGREDIENTS
MAKES 1 BATCH

METHOD

  • Blend all the ingredients together until you have a powder. This is your cleanser. Store it in an airtight container for up till 2 weeks.
  • When applying, take a spoonful of the cleanser in a small cup and combine it with some water to form a paste.
  • Rinse your skin with running water. Apply a sufficient amount of the paste to your face or body, massaging in a circular motion for 3-5 minutes to allow the granules to remove dead skin cells.
  • Finally, rinse off well. This makes your skin look and feels refreshed and healthy.

Tip Make sure that the powder in your container does not come in contact with water, or otherwise, it may grow mold.

Good to know some things: Do Chia Seeds Go Bad If Not Refrigerated?

What does Satvic mean? and Satvic Food Principles

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What does Satvic mean? and 4 Satvic Food Principles

What does Satvic mean?
Lord Krishna, in the Bhagavad Gita states that all embodied souls are working under the control of 3 modes, or qualities of material nature –

The thoughts in our head, the activities we perform, the people we meet, the food we eat can all be classified as either Satvic, Rajasik or Tamasik.

Each mode has different characteristics

SATVIC
Mode of Goodness

  • Purity, Happiness, Compassion, Bliss, Love, Self Control, Satisfaction, Nonviolence, Fearlessness, Surrender

RAJASIK
Mode of Passion

  • Arrogance, Ego, Restlessness, Anxiety, Anger, Impatience, Fear, Uncontrollable desires, Distress

TAMASIK
Mode of Ignorance

  • Laziness, Tiredness, Depression, Lethargy, Ignorance, Apathy, Inertia, Illusion

One person can have multiple modes

  • When Satvic dominates, we feel happy, satisfied, & in control of our senses.
  • When Rajasik dominates, we feel restless, anxious and angry.
  • When Tamasik dominates, we feel lazy, tired, depressed and lethargic.

Our modern lifestyle, with its high levels of stress and toxins, leads to a life that fluctuates between Rajasik and Tamasik modes. To achieve happiness, we have to transcend from Tamasik and Rajasik to Satvic.

Our food can also be either Satvic, Rajasik or Tamasik
In the 17th chapter of Bhagavad Gita, Lord Krishna explains what Satvic, Rajasik and Tamasik foods are.

Verse 8
Foods in the mode of goodness increase the duration of life, purify one’s existence and give strength, health, happiness and satisfaction. Such foods are juicy, fatty, wholesome, and pleasing to the heart.

Verse 9
Foods that are too bitter, too sour, salty pungent, dry and hot, are liked by people in the modes of passion. Such foods cause pain, distress, and disease.

Verse 10
Food cooked more than three hours before being eaten, which is tasteless, stale, putrid, decomposed and unclean, is food liked by people in the mode of ignorance.

SATVIC FOOD

Foods that are fresh, Wholesome (unprocessed, unrefined), juicy (water-rich), freshly cooked & lightly seasoned are Satvic in nature

Satvic Food is living food, with life energy inside it.

It is food straight from Nature, with no or minimal human interference.

Examples of Satvic Food

  • All Fresh Fruits: melons, oranges, papaya, apple, pear, berries, grapes,etc.
  • All Vegetables: bottle gourd, ridge-gourd, bell peppers, carrots, spinach, coriander, all leafy greens, etc.
  • Whole Fats: coconut, soaked nuts & seeds
  • Whole Grains: whole wheat (with chokar), brown rice

RAJASIK FOOD

Foods that are too bitter, too sour, salty, pungent, dry and hot are Rajasik in Nature. Rajasik food includes foods with the excess flavoring of salt and spices

Examples of Rajasik Food

  • Sharp Flavors: excess of salt, red chili, garam masala, asafoetida (heeng), vinegars, etc
  • Hot Drinks: very hot water, very hot herbal tea

TAMASIK FOOD

Foods that are stale (eaten after 3 hours of being cooked), rotten (meat and fish) and foul (bad-smelling) are Tamasik in Nature. Tamasik Food is dead. When we eat dead food, the same death is transferred to our body in the form of disease

Examples of Tamasik Food

  • Stale Food: everything packaged, bottled, tinned, or canned Meat, Fish & Eggs
  • Stimulants: onion, garlic, tea, coffee, alcohol, cigarettes, betel nut (supaari), betel leaf

EFFECTS OF SATVIC FOOD

1. Satvic food is healing food. It is easy to digest, so when we eat it, our body has to spend less time digesting, and can spend more time healing.

2. By switching to a Satvic diet and lifestyle, we can fully cure any chronic disease, without any medicines.

3. But the benefits of Satvic food go far beyond the physical body. Gradually as we keep eating Satvic food, even our thoughts change. It brings mental clarity, calmess and humility We elevate to a higher consclousness of fearlessness. We become closer to Mother Nature and God.

EFFECTS OF RAJASIK & TAMASIK FOOD

1. Eating Rajasik and Tamasik food does not only ruin our bodily health, but also our mental health.

2. If we eat predominantly Rajasik and Tamasik foods, in due course of time, we become a victim of many diseases, such as diabetes, obesity, high blood pressure, PCOD, high cholesterol, joint pains, etc.

3. On a more subtle level, they have a huge impact on our thoughts. We become arrogant, restless, anxious and impatient. Our concentration levels are decreased and we become dull and lazy. We eat dead foods and hence, our body, emotions and confidence slowly begins to die.

To follow the Satvic diet, we need Satvic recipes and hence we have created this book. Satvic recipes are different from other so-called ‘healthy recipes’. They follow strict Satvic food laws and are made especially for healing and achieving the maximum potential of this human body.

4 Sattvic Food Principles

According to the Bhagavad Gita, our food should have four qualities, which can be represented by the abbreviation LWPW.

1. LIVING
Our food should come straight from the farm to our kitchen, not go to a factory in between. Nothing processed, tinned, packaged, bottled or canned.

2. WHOLESOME
Our food should be unprocessed & unrefined. It should not have been subtracted of it’s natural elements. Whole grains, dates and brown rice are a few examples.

3. PLANT-BASED
Our food should be derived from plants \& trees, not from animals. No meat, fish or eggs.

4. WATER-RICH
Our food should be juicy, containing high amount of water, for example – fruits, vegetables, leafy greens. Nuts, seeds, grains are
water-poor foods.

1. Our food should be LIVING

Living foods are foods that come straight from Nature, without cooking or processing. Eating living foods means eating foods in their pristine, raw state. To understand this concept better, let’s take an example of a wheat plant. If we take a wheat seed, bury it in the soil and water it for a few days, it will grow into a sapling. But if we take wheat noodles and plant them in the ground, will they ever grow into a wheat plant? NO! Because unlike the wheat seed, the noodles do not contain any life energy, or prana. Therefore, they cannot produce more life. They’re dead. How can something that is dead bring life to our own body? On the other hand, fruits, vegetables, sprouts, coconut, grains, nuts & seeds (if soaked) are all living foods. When these living foods enter our body, they transfer their life energy inside us, flush out the toxins sitting inside and cure disease.

According to the Bhagavad Gita, chapter 17, verse 10, food should be eaten within 3 hours of being cooked. After 3 hours, it starts to lose the life energy inside it and becomes Tamasik. That explains why in the Yogic Culture, yogis do not eat sabzi, rice or chapati if it has been kept for more than 3 hours. Our forefathers and grandparents also obeyed this law. They used to eat everything fresh – straight from the stove to the plate. However, these days, people store cooked food in the refrigerator for several days, take a little out every day, eat it and store it back. They’re eating stale, rotten food. They’re inviting cancer into their bodies.

If something is cooked on fire, we must eat it within 3 hours, maximum 5 hours.
But, why only apply this 3-hour-rule to sabzi and chapati? What about all the processed biscuits, chips, candies, snacks and namkeens? Forget 3 hours or even 3 days. Most of them were cooked even 3 years in advance and have been stored in bottles, tins, cans and boxes after being lathered with synthetic chemicals and preservatives. These chemicals might increase the shelf life of these products, but they decrease the shelf life of our own bodies. If you think about it, the processed and packaged stuff we get from factories is not even food. They’re products made by a company who wants to make a profit, like any other business. They’re dead! They have no life energy left inside.

IT’S NOT UNCOOKED, IT’S SUNCOOKED
At least 70% of our daily diet should consist of raw foods (such as fruits, vegetables, salads, smoothies, juices, sprouts that have not been heated or cooked on fire).

Actually, “sun-cooked” is a more appropriate term than “raw”. The term “raw” implies that it is not a finished product, that something is yet to be done. However, a fruit ripening on the tree is certainly not raw food. It may not have been cooked over fire, but it has been cooked by Mother Nature under the sun. It is sun- cooked food. By cooking a fruit or vegetable on the stove, we’re actually re-heating it.

Sun is the greatest source of energy on this planet. Sun-cooked, or raw foods carry with them this vibrant sun energy that nourishes all life on Earth. Every whole plant food is a symphony. It is the result of the absorption and accumulation of sun energy.

Capture 1When we eat these raw sun foods, their life energy is directly transferred to us, undiminished. This sun energy is used to heal us, rebuild tissues and cells, replace old, damaged or dead cells in our skin and remove cysts, mucus, or stones from our organs. The sun’s energy is used to flush out toxins from the body. By eating a diet primarily of raw food, one can overcome any health challenge.

How cooking kills our food?
When we cook our food on fire, the first thing to go is the vital sun-energy. The second thing to go are valuable enzymes in that food. Enzymes are present in all raw foods. Enzymes are what make digestion possible. At 118 degrees Fahrenheit (47.8 degrees Celsius), the enzymes in our food begin to die and the food starts losing it’s nutritional value. Food enzyme shortages, sooner or later, result in physical degeneration and disease.

In the Essene Gospel of Peace, Lord Jesus clearly and beautifully explains the impact of dead foods on our body, thoughts and soul.

“Kill neither men, nor beasts, nor yet the food which goes into your mouth. For if you eat living food, the same will quicken you, but if you kill your food, the dead food will kill you also. For life comes only from life, and from death comes always death. For everything which kills your foods, kills your bodies also. And everything which kills your bodies kills your souls also. And your bodies become what your foods are, even as your spirits, likewise, become what your thoughts are. Therefore, eat not anything which fire, or frost, or water has destroyed. For burned, frozen and rotted foods will burn, freeze and rot your body also.” – Jesus, Essene Gospel of Peace

When food is cooked it always becomes less than it was before, never more. Fire is destroyer, it never creates anything. If you light this book on fire, would it become more or less than it was before? Cooking only takes away. It destroys many important nutrients & vitamins in our food.

The assumption behind cooking food is that the original form of Nature, as it exists, must be altered in order that it may be reformed to a new artificial form. The truth is that the original state is always superior. Nothing can compare to the aristocratic taste of a ripe mango, nothing can compare to the taste of fresh watermelons in the summer, nothing even resembles the energy derived from a meal of jack-fruit.

Hence, eat things in nature, the way you find them in nature. Man thinks he is better than nature and that he can improve upon nature. But nature has already perfected it. Anything that we do is only going to lessen the perfection that it’s already got.

We understand if you cannot eat a 100% raw diet (although that would be most ideal), but at least strive for 70% of your diet as being fully raw. If you have to cook your food, cook it at the lowest temperatures, for the shortest duration. Steaming is better than boiling. Remove all processed, packaged, tinned, bottled and canned foods from your kitchen. They are the worst, as they have been cooked to death at very high temperatures for long hours. They are dead foods and only transfer death and disease to our own bodies.

2. Our food should be WHOLESOME

Mother nature knows best. There’s a reason why She hung dates on trees, and not sugar. There’s a reason why She gives us coconut, and not coconut oil, potatoes, but not potato chips.

All foods that come directly from plants and trees are wholesome – raw fruits and vegetables for example. They have not been subtracted of anything. Nature has given each food item a specific ratio of protein, fats, nutrients – so that we humans can easily digest and eliminate it.

However, if we fragment it by consuming only a part of it, by stripping away its outer layer, or by squeezing the oil out of it, we are spoiling Nature’s original design.

Mother Nature has made each food item a ‘whole-package deal’. If she gives us rice, she gives us the mechanism of digesting that rice in the bran that covers it. If we fragment food by throwing out the bran or the roughage, we also throw away the digestive mechanism of that food. White rice, sugar, oils, refined flours, refined wheat – are all highly fragmented foods. They have been highly altered from the way Nature gave them to us. When we eat such unnatural foods, they do not get properly digested in our body, leave undigested residue inside our intestines, leading to disease.

To understand the difference between wholesome and fragmented food clearly, let’s take the example of corn. Corn on the cob is obviously whole. Cornmeal is just ground up whole corn – still whole. Dextrose – a sugar that can be made from corn – not whole. And high fructose corn syrup – the king of not being whole.

Eat brown rice instead of white rice. Brown rice is wholesome. When we remove the bran, it becomes white rice. The digestive mechanism of that rice lies in the outer bran that we conveniently decide to throw out, so the rice can have a longer shelf life.

Eat dates or jaggery instead of sugar. Dates are wholesome. Sugar is fragmented.

Eat whole coconut instead of coconut oil. Eat the whole almond instead of almond oil.

When eating wheat, eat only whole wheat, along with the outer layer, or chokar. Do not sieve it before making your chapatis.

3. Our food should be PLANT-BASED

NATURE HAS NOT DESIGNED THE HUMAN BODY TO EAT MEAT
Nature has constructed every organism either a carnivore (an organism that feeds on other organisms) or a herbivore (an organism that feeds on plants). By looking at our own physical features, we can judge whether we are designed carnivores or herbivores.

CARNIVORE

  • Teeth: Have sharp, pointed teeth to prey and tear apart meat
  • Nails: Have sharp, pointed claws to snatch and rip apart flesh
  • Intestine Length: Have a very short intestinal tract – only 3-6 times it’s body’s length. Meat, as a Intestine substance is very quick to rot Length and decompose. A carnivore’s digestive tract is short, so the meat exits the body before it becomes toxic
  • Stomach Acidity: Have very strong hydrochloric acid in the stomach, to be able to break down meat
  • Vision: Have eyes that enable them to see even in the dark so they can hunt their prey. Owls, eagles, cats and dogs – they have eyes that shine at night

HERBIVORE

  • Teeth: Have flat teeth, incapable of tearing apart flesh
  • Nails: Have flat, dull nails, incapable of tearing flesh
  • Intestine Length: Have a very long intestinal tract – about 12 times it’s body’s length.
  • Stomach Acidity: Have hydrochloric acid that is almost 20 times weaker than carnivores
  • Vision: Do not have night vision, because they are not designed to hunt and prey at night

HUMAN

  • Teeth: Have flat teeth, incapable of tearing apart flesh
  • Nails: Have flat, dull nails. Have fingers perfectly designed to forge, grab and peel
  • Intestine Length: Have a very long intestinal tract. If we eat meat, it does not digest, sits, rots and creates toxicity in the intestines. It grows fungus, mucus and constipation in the intestines.
  • Stomach Acidity: Have hydrochloric acid that is almost 20 times weaker than carnivores
  • Vision: Do not have night vision, because we are not designed to hunt and prey at night

If Nature had designed meat as our natural food, wouldn’t she have given us sharp nails and teeth to tear it apart, shorter intestines, strong hydrochloric acid and night vision eyes? Nature does not make mistakes. Meat is not our natural food.

TOXICITY IN ANIMAL SWEAT
Have you ever had to speak in front of a large audience? Or been in a situation which made you extremely scared or nervous? What was your first reaction to fear? It is to sweat.

Imagine that chicken or pig placed in a row to be slaughtered a moment later. Their fear of death causes a rush of adrenaline through their body, which makes them sweat profusely. Large amounts of toxins are released from the animals cells when it sweats. Regrettably, these toxins remain in the layers between the animal’s skin and are served to people in the name of food. If we’re eating meat, we’re not only eating the flesh of dead animals, but all the toxins that exist in its body. Over the years, these toxins are retained in the blood stream and tissues vitiating the blood, giving rise to inflammation, pain, functional disturbances and degenerative ailments.

OUR STOMACH IS NOT A GRAVEYARD
When a someone dies, we take their body to a cemetery or graveyard to be burnt or buried. But when we consume the dead body of an animal or bird, aren’t we making your own stomach a graveyard? Think about it. Our body should be a garden, not a graveyard.

All religions of this world have favored vegetarianism. An innumerable number of people of world wide fame have been vegetarians, such as Plato, Plutarch, Pythogoras, Socrates, Seneca, Zoroaster, Buddha, Jesus, Hippocrates, Voltaire, Leonardo Da Vinci, Alexander Pope, Tolstoy, Sir Isaac Newton, Thomas Edison, Gandhi, Bernard Shaw and many others. The world’s greatest masterpieces, such as the Bhagavad Gita, Zend Avesta of Zoroaster and the Essene Gospel of Peace have advocated a vegetarian diet for man.

‘Thou shalt not kill,’ for life is given to all by God, and that which God has given, let not man take away. For I tell you truly, from one Mother proceeds all that lives upon the earth. Therefore, he who kills, kills his brother. And from him will the Earthly Mother turn away, and will pluck from him her quickening breasts. And he will be shunned by her angels, and Satan will have his dwelling in his body. And the flesh of slain beasts in his body will become his own tomb. For I tell you truly, he who kills, kills himself, and whoso eats the flesh of slain beasts, eats of the body of death. For in his blood every drop of their blood turns to poison; in his breath their breath to stink; in his flesh their flesh to boils; in his bones their bones to chalk; in his bowels their bowels t o decay; in his eyes their eyes to scales; in his ears their ears to waxy issue. And their death will become his death. – Jesus, Essene Gospel of Peace

ANIMALS HAVE A REVENGE ON US
What we do always comes back to us. It’s called the law of Karma. Even when we kill or eat an animal, the animal has a revenge on us. The revenge is that they slowly begin to kill us, by giving us heart disease, cancer, strokes, etc. It’s instant karma.

Dr. William C. Roberts, MD, remarked “When we kill animals to eat them, they end up killing us because their flesh, which contains cholesterol and fat was never intended for human beings, who are natural herbivores.” Nowadays, several documentaries are coming up presenting scientific research showing how meat is the leading cause of heart disease, diabetes, obesity and cancer.

Watch the documentaries Forks Over Knives, Food Choices and What The Health.

EFFECTS OF MEAT ON THE MIND
What we eat dramatically affects the way we think. Food has consciousness. We cannot remain positive by ingesting a consciousness of poison, pain and death.

Factory-farmed animals are kept in darkness and squeezed together in inhospitable cages. If we eat the flesh of tortured animals, their energy and consciousness at that time is transferred to us. Not only do we ingest the animal, but also the pain, exhaustion and sorrow of those beings. Our body begins to accumulate that death energy, which manifests within us in the form of anger, violence, depression and illness.

On the other hand, if we take living food and positive, living thoughts, we also become positive and living!

If I don’t eat meat, where will I get my protein from?
It is surprising for people to learn that the overconsumption of protein presents a far greater threat to our health than not getting enough. In fact, a major culprit in many diseases is a protein overdose. In order to really be convinced, it is important to know the role of protein in the body.

Protein is a ‘building block’ for our body. It is needed for the ‘growth’ of our body. When growth rate is rapid and vast amounts of new cells are being formed, the demand for protein is high. This is during childhood, adolescence, athletes and pregnant women.

When our body reaches adulthood and our height is no longer growing, or if we’re living a sedentary lifestyle, our need for protein is minimal, which is easily fulfilled by eating leafy greens, vegetables, fruits, coconut, sprouts, nuts and grains. It’s almost impossible to design a protein deficient diet surrounding a variety of whole plant foods.

Any excess than that makes us prone to cancer, formation of cysts, stones and fibroids, unwanted growth hormones and disturbed blood chemistry, amongst many other diseases.

Athletes and children can add soaked nuts and seeds, lentil sprouts, leafy sprouts, coconut, grains, lentils to their diet. Every plant food contains protein. They do not need meat, whatsoever.

Think about it – all the animals that we chose to eat for protein, are vegetarian animals. Where’s the logic in that? Do you know that a gorilla can lift something 2,000kg (as heavy as 30 humans), over 10 times it’s body weight. Their diet consists of stems, fruits and bamboo shoots. They do not eat meat. Where do they get their protein from? If there was no protein in grass and leaves, how would these animals have been so strong? It makes no sense to go through an animal to get the nutrient that the animal gets, because the animal ate plants.

MILK – to drink or not to drink?
Milk is a complicated subject, so we must deal with it in an orderly way.

According to our scriptures, pure cow milk is not wrong. In fact, producing milk and drinking milk has been sanctioned by God in our scriptures. The problem in not in milk itself, but in what we’re getting today in the name of milk today and in our inability to digest it.

There are three problems with animal milk. Let’s discuss each one in a logical manner.

1) Commercial milk is highly adulterated
The commercial milk that we’re getting today is hardly even milk. It is a white-liquid heavily treated with contaminants such as urea, starch, caustic soda, detergents, white paint and refined oil. These contaminants are deliberately added to milk as they provide thickness, preserve milk and increase the volume of milk to make more milk, fast.

While the immediate effect of drinking such milk range from thyroid disfunctioning, diabetes, gastritis, PCOD, weight gain and high blood pressure, the long-term effects are far more serious.

Can milk adulteration result in cancer?
The World Health Organization (WHO) had recently issued an advisory to the Government of India stating that if adulteration of milk and milk products is not checked immediately, 87 per cent of citizens would be suffering from serious diseases like cancer by the year 2025.

2) Cows are often mistreated & tortured
The importance of milk, as described in our scriptures, is fully dependent on cow service. However, today the production of milk has emerged as an industry – one of the most brutal, heartless industries.

For cows to be healthy, they need to be out in fresh air and graze on open fields. However, nowadays, cows are tied to one corner all the time or sometimes even packed in wooden crates. As a result, they fall ill – both physically and emotionally. In hopes of curing them, they are injected with chemical medicines, leading to a downward spiral of disease and depression. If the cows themselves aren’t healthy, how can we stay healthy by drinking their milk?

Like any other mother, a cow produces milk for the purpose of feeding its baby calf. However, as soon as the mother gives birth to the calf, they are separated from each other and tied apart. Everyday, the farmer deceives the cow so that she produces milk. He opens the calf and the cow produces milk in its udder for feeding its baby. While the calf is still drinking his mother’s milk, the farmer brutally snatches it and ties it away from his mother. Then, the cruel hands of the farmer tie the cows legs and forcefully extract all the remaining milk that was meant for its baby.

For several days, the same process is repeated. When the cow starts understanding that she is being tricked, she becomes restless and starts fighting the farmer so as to say- “Dear farmer, Please let me go. Please don’t take away my right to feed my child.” The shameless human does not understand. He ties the cow’s legs with a rope and continues milking it. After few months, the cow stops producing any milk at all and then, she is injected with a poisonous vaccine that forces her to keep producing milk. This way, the cow is subjected to relentless cycles of exploitation and depression.

Till when will we humans continue to be so brutal towards these innocent, helpless animals? As we discussed earlier, food carries consciousness. Milk that has been obtained by such a devious consciousness, cannot possibly do good to our body.

3) Milk is difficult to digest for those trying to cure a disease or living a sedentary lifestyle
A cow’s milk is a very heavy food by nature, designed to create a huge, big boned animal. It contains fast growing steroids and hormones. It is designed to feed an infant calf weighing 90 pounds at the time of birth and 2000 pounds at the age of two. In contrast, a human infant weighs about 6-8 pounds at the time of birth and attains a weight of only 100-200 pounds by the age of 18. Cows milk contains excessive growth promoting hormones.

If we have reached adulthood (we are no longer growing) and if we’re not athletes, our body cannot utilize these excessive growth hormones, so it just sits logging our intestines, blood vessels and interrupting blood circulation and absorption, causing many chronic diseases.

If I have access to pure cow milk, can I drink it?
To be qualified to drink milk, there are 8 conditions that must be met –

  • The milk should be obtained from your own farm, or from the farm of a known friend or relative, where you are sure that the cow is loved and cared for.
  • The calf has the first right over that milk. If any milk remains after, only then shall you have it.
  • The cow should be fed good quality grass.
  • The cow should not be injected with any vaccines or chemicals.
  • Even if all 4 laws above prevail, you cannot drink milk if you are trying to heal a disease or living a sedentary lifestyle. You may only drink it if you are an athlete (exercising for more than 3 hours a day) or child whose height is growing.
  • The milk should be preferably raw or at most, boiled lightly only once.
  • The milk should come from cow alone, and no other animal. No buffalo milk. No goat milk.
  • Treat one glassful as milk as a complete meal. Do not combine it with anything.

Milk that complies to all 8 conditions is called Vedic Milk and can be consumed only by those doing heavy physical exercise and children. Unfortunately, it is nearly impossible to find such milk in today’s day and age. Hence we suggest to abstain from animal milk altogether and switch to another, more digestible replacement.

Is there a replacement for milk?
Indeed, there is. It’s coconut milk. Traditionally, coconut has been viewed as India’s most sacred fruit. It is the only fruit that has been called ’Shree’ Phal in our Vedic scriptures. It’s the only fruit that has been attributed with ‘Shree’ before it.

In India, every auspicious occasion begins with the breaking of a coconut – marriage, birth, the launch of a house or any other new work. There is a deep significance behind this ritual. Let’s understand. Our ancestors were much smarter than us. They knew how nutritious coconut is. However, it was only grown on the coasts of India, but they wanted it to reach every house in India. So they made a ritual stating that no marriage, no birth and no auspicious occasion can begin without the breaking of a coconut. By making it a prerequisite for almost every occasion, it would automatically become a necessity and people found their own ways to transport & spread it throughout the country.

A coconut contains every nutrient that our body needs. Unlike other proteins, coconut is easy to digest. It is superior to all nuts and seeds. It helps underweight people put on healthy weight. There’s no cholesterol in raw coconut, unless it is cooked on fire (this is why we never cook coconut directly on stove in Satvic cuisine). Hence, incorporate more coconut in your diet. It is one of Nature’s most precious gifts to humanity.

The hard kernel in a mature coconut can be used to make coconut milk. It is very easy and the method of making coconut milk is illustrated on page 49. You can use coconut milk in smoothies, soups, salad dressings.

Make sure to always make coconut milk fresh at home. Do not use the store-bought packaged coconut milk. If you are living in a country where fresh coconuts are not available, you may use homemade almond milk instead (but bear in mind that coconut is more easily digestible than almonds or other nuts).

Almost every animal-based food can be replaced with a more digestible, plant-based food. Let’s look at a few replacements.

4. Our food should be WATER-RICH

According to the Bhagavad Gita, our food should be juicy, meaning water-rich. Let’s understand what water-rich means.

Food can be classified in two categories – water-rich and water-poor.

Sattvic Food 1
Sattvic Food 1

Water-rich foods have high-water content. Fruits such as melons, berries, apples, grapes, oranges, tomatoes, cucumbers and vegetables such as bottle gourd, ash gourd, celery and all leafy greens fall in this category. Water-rich foods are light and easy to digest, and are also like laxatives.

Water-poor foods consist of low-water content. Examples include all grains (such as rice, wheat), millets, lentils, beans, and starchy vegetables such as potatoes, yam and all nuts and seeds. These foods are relatively more difficult to digest and can be constipating, unless taken in limited quantities, for those living a sedentary lifestyle.

To identify whether a food is water-rich or water-poor, put it in the juicer. If a lot of juice comes out of it, we know it’s water-rich. Can we juice a chapati or rice? No, because there is no juice in it.

The more water a food contains, the easier it is to break down and the quicker it passes through your digestive system. Once the food gets digested, the healing power (praanshakti) resumes healing the body and curing disease. On the other hand, water- poor foods are dense. The healing power (praanshakti) has to put great effort to break them down. The time that could have been used for healing is diverted to digesting and eliminating these water-poor foods.

In the Bhagavad Gita, chapter 17, verse 8, Lord Krishna describes the qualities of Satvic foods. The first quality of Satvic food, he describes, is to be rasyah – meaning juicy in Sanskrit. Such foods increase the duration of life, purify one’s existence and give strength, health, happiness and satisfaction, says Lord Krishna.

In the next verse, He also says that foods that are ruksha (meaning dry (water-poor) in Sanskrit) are Rajasikand are liked by those in the mode of passion. Such foods cause pain, distress, and disease, says Lord Krishna.

Hence we can conclude that water-poor foods eaten in the slightest excess are health destroying and disease promoting, especially for those living a sedentary lifestyle.

Water-poor foods such as beans, lentils, too much grain, may be harmless to bulls, horses, athletes and laborers who work extremely hard, but not to sedentary people or those trying to cure a disease.

What percentage of my diet should be water-rich?
About 70% of our body is water and so, about 70% of our diet should consist of water-rich foods and the remaining 30% can consist of water-poor foods. This is how our daily diet ratio should look like –

Capture 2

Funnily enough, most of us eat in the exact opposite ratio –

We have a heavy grain-rich meal 3-4 times a day and as a result, we’re drying up!

Let’s take the example of a plant. In order to grow optimally, a plant needs both soil and water. Without enough water, the plant dries up, the stems lose their flexibility and branches harden to a point where they can no longer bend and begin to easily break. The human body is made of the same 5 elements as the plant. Just like the plant, when our body doesn’t get enough water, it starts losing it’s flexibility, our bones degenerate, lose their strength, and here come bone related disorders such as arthritis, rheumatism, cervical, spondylitis, knee pain and back pain.

Just like the plant needs a combination of earth and soil to grow, so does our body.

Mother Nature has generously filled fruits and vegetables with the perfect proportion of soil and water, that can be easily digested by the body.

The meal plans given in this book are designed such that about 70% of your diet is automatically water-rich, starting with juice in the morning, juicy fruits for breakfast, composite chapati (made of 50% vegetable) and satvic sabzi for lunch and a soup / salad for dinner.

In recipes containing rice, wheat or any other grain, the grain has been mixed with double or triple the amount of vegetables (such as in Satvic Daliya, Satvic Khichdi, Coco Quinoa Bowl). Adding a sufficiency of vegetables to grains makes the grain easier to digest.

Lentils and legumes such as kidney beans (rajma), chickpeas (chole) and lentils (daal) have deliberately been avoided in the recipes. It’s not that they are wrong foods. It’s just that in our modern day sedentary lifestyles, we may not be able to digest them. Our grandparents and forefathers, who spent 8 hours a day in a field doing heavy physical work were able to digest them. But many of us today live a sedentary lifestyle, sitting on an office desk for 8 hours a day, not exercising for more than 1 hour a day. In this situation, it’s very difficult to digest kidney beans (rajma), chickpeas (chole) and too much lentil (daal).

FREQUENTLY ASKED QUESTIONS

How much water should I drink in a day?
The answer is simple. Drink water only when you feel thirsty. Nowadays, people are advised to drink 8-10 glasses of water everyday, or 2 glasses immediately after waking up. This is not right because excessive drinking of water puts undue pressure on the kidneys. Instead of digesting the previously eaten meal, the body’s energy redirects itself to process all that unnecessary water. When you start following the Satvic food system, you will be eating lots of fruits and salads (with minimal spices and salt) so your need for plain water will reduce substantially, yet there will still be more water going inside you.

I drink coffee, soda and beer. They contain water, don’t they?
No. These kinds of drinks act as diuretics— they cause increased passing of urine and actually cause us to lose water and become dangerously dehydrated.

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