5 Guidelines for What to Eat When Beginning a Yoga Practice

You can trust that your practice will inform your food choices, so if you are just starting, please do not worry about anything you have heard regarding what you can and can’t eat. Here are five simple guidelines to help guide you.

1. Listen to Your Body
Your body wants to support your practice, and she will offer guidance. Listening to her will help develop a strong feedback loop and relationship of trust. The more we follow the wisdom of the body, the more often she gives up her secrets.
2. Practice Light
We have found that practicing yoga on an emptier stomach is usually more comfortable, but do not let an erratic eating schedule keep you from practicing.
3. Eyeballs and Highballs are Okay
Many people practicing yoga are vegetarians or vegans. As many, and maybe more, are not. Sometimes people stop drinking, sometimes they don’t. Worrying in advance about what you might have to give up will make starting impossible. Let the practices begin to feed the deeper levels of hunger, and all will follow.

4. How You Eat
The yogis have long said that how we do something makes a stronger impact than what we do. So perhaps, more important than what you actually put in your mouth, is your quality of attention as you do it. Are you enjoying your food? Are you engaged in positive conversation or silence? Are you trying to get work done as you stuff the burrito into your face? Gratitude for the meal, offering before eating, and enjoyment of the food go a long way towards easy digestion.
5. When You Eat
If you stay within the practices of yoga you might eventually become interested in her sister science of health and wellness, Ayurveda. We have found a lot of digestive success with the suggestion of making an effort to eat lighter and earlier in the evenings, saving our biggest meal for the middle of the day. The belief is that just as the sun is at its peak, so too is our digestive fire. As food is so much about gathering with good friends and company, this practice really only becomes possible as your close tribe begins to adopt the same eating habits, so please don’t let the suggestion interrupt the deep nourishment of good friends.