In this year’s edition of Global Yoga Congress in Barcelona the latest trends in the world of Yoga have been presented, of interest both to those people that are introduced in this discipline, as for the practitioners of intermediate or advanced level who want to perfect the practice. In addition to sharing experiences with teachers and professors at an international level, the GYC is a training event that allows you to attend lectures on nutrition. In the congress we have learned more about the current that proposes to nourish ourselves with the life energy of food, maintaining the nature of the biochemical compounds of what we consume.

living food is conceived as an organic lifestyle where the human being is considered as an integrated being, capable of seeing life as a whole . Taking this vision into account, nutrition is approached from a holistic concept to achieve integral health: food comes to us to be used as nature offers us. In this way, vegetables and fruits are eaten raw, as are seeds, which naturally germinate and sprout. It is about incorporating a new way of understanding food, seeing and living, we are not talking about diet but about a lifestyle that links the physical, mental, emotional, spiritual, social and environmental level.

Everyone can put into practice some principles of living eating to cleanse our diet, whether we are yoga practitioners or not. Consol Rodríguez, teacher at YogaOne and author of the books “Raw Food Anti-Aging” and ” Cheesy bread and other 100% vegetable recipes for a conscious and vitalizing day to day ” , has participated as a speaker at the Global Yoga Congress giving a talk about living food. Today, Consol Rodríguez introduces us to the foundations of the traditional yogic diet and helps us understand what is behind the concept of living food.

First of all, the diet traditional yogic focuses on plants and is basically vegetable. Consol Rodríguez explains to us about it: “traditionally this diet included the consumption of some dairy products, but depending on the yoga school and the person who decides to follow this diet, dairy tends to disappear, since the idea is to eat as natural and physiological as possible, based solely on plants and on foods that have not been treated in any way or have been prepared in a conscious and respectful way, preserving their nutritional principles – for example, extra virgin olive oil, extracted in cold-“. Therefore, ideally it would be a question of consuming sprouted foods and raw foods. Perhaps occasionally and in very little quantity, some preparation at a low temperature.

In other words, physiological foods are those that nourish, vitalize and purify without generating waste in our body, that is why it is key to understand how our digestive system to understand what foods are good for us. Consol Rodríguez points out “our digestive system is adapted for the consumption of vegetables and seeds, but we must bear in mind that food that requires preparation is not a physiological food”.

Secondly, from an ethical-moral and also spiritual point of view, food plays an essential role. If we follow a code of ethical conduct and the principle of “Ahimsa”, which advocates non-violence and respect for life, we should feed ourselves without harming other living beings. In other words, we can eat responsibly, avoiding excesses and eating an austere diet without abusing the pleasure of the senses.

Under this same principle, in this case led to non-violence towards oneself, the practice of yoga goes through the purification and detoxification of the body, in order to bring us to a state of calm and prepare for the concentration and corresponding meditation. Let’s take a practical example: if in our salad today we add pepper, onion or garlic, irritant and inflammatory foods that are difficult to digest that usually cause us some restlessness and discomfort, we will probably not be prepared for our meditation.

Taking this into account, if we practice yoga and naturally already follow a healthy lifestyle in order to maintain a well-being of body and mind, the fact of introducing live foods in our diet will be easier and over time we will perceive the benefits they bring us:

• They improve the health of the physical, mental and emotional body.
• They detoxify and keep the body clean.
• They make the blood alkaline, which is essential to counteract or heal many diseases, including cancer.
• They do not contain preservatives, colorants, flavorings, aromatics and other chemical compounds that intoxicate and acidify the blood.
• They strengthen the immune system.
• Greater use and assimilation of nutrients from food.
• Lower energy consumption, by not using ovens for cooking.
• More energy available and less feeling of heaviness after each meal.
• Regulate body weight.
• They do not involve animal suffering.

We can conclude that the practice of yoga must come hand in hand with a healthy diet, ideally focused on uncooked plant foods, fruits and seeds, as refined as possible, based on austerity and discipline at the time to eat, which will allow us to obtain the cleanest and most intense energy from food, facilitating day-to-day meditation and spiritual purification.

In any case, the recommendation before starting a diet will always be to inform us in advance and seek the help of a professional to prevent us from making any mistakes in our diet that could affect our health.