Should You Eat Meat? An Ayurvedic Perspective

Plus: Perfect Balance Diet Yearly Membership and Eat Well, Be Well cookbook Giveaway ($155 value)

When I started doing yoga as a 12 year old and entertained myself with the idea of reaching enlightenment by the time I grow up, the idea of proper diet was starting to take a firm hold in my mind. Yogic texts that I read spoke about a pure sattvic diet that was mandatory for a true yogi. Meat, animal flesh, eggs were considered dull, heavy, impure. They were not supposed to be on a yogi’s menu.

Even years later, after I had the ability to step back and educate myself on modern nutrition, physiology, and holistic medicine, I still felt guilty craving salmon and occasional egg whites. The idea that these were not yogi’s foods were clashing with my personal intuition while living in a big busy city.

A few years ago I made peace and allowed controversial ideas about diet to simultaneously exist in my consciousness. I decided to take into consideration both external sources of wisdom and internal guidance, letting go of the guilt or shame even if my final approach don’t match perfectly to any book.

In my practice I see a lot of women feeling guilty about not being able to follow a regimen prescribed to them. Some feel guilty for breaking gluten rules, others for not being vegan, or drinking an occasional coffee.

While it is easy to judge yourself based on somebody else’s rules, what I learned is that you probably will keep breaking them until you decide internally that they do not serve you anymore and that you feel ready to move on. Internal commitment to the change, not struggle creates internal support to shift in the new direction. Prior to that there is no point to feel guilty.

Own and honor your choices

Make sure you have a variety of vegetables in your diet, experiment with well-coked grains and lentils and if necessary add good quality animal products.

Today’s interview is with a woman who courageously stepped up to the challenge and wrote an Ayurvedic cookbook that includes animal protein. Unusual to say the least but very useful for many of us at the current stage of life that we are at.

Lois had gluten and dairy sensitivity so a regular Ayurvedic diet did not not agree with her. She used wise Ayurvedic principles to make her diet digestion friendly even with occasional animal protein in it.

In the interview you will learn:

• How to cook meat
• Times of the day when it is best to eat it
• Ways to make sure that you don’t feel heavy after meals

In this weeks giveaway we have Lois’s book and a year long subscription to Lissa Coffey’s Perfect Balance club. This combination is perfect to ensure that you have both vegetable dishes and meat dishes covered next year. It will serve as support and inspiration to provide your body with the best quality nutrients while never getting bored.

Year-long Membership to Perfect Balance Club ($119.4 Value) and Eat Well, Be Well cookbook by Lois Leonhardi  ($36 Value)

The Perfect Balance Club is designed to keep you on track with your goals, and to inspire you all along the way. Perfect Balance is a lifestyle, and as a member of the club, you are provided with tools to help you both create and maintain balance in your life with effortless ease. Each week you will receive:

– Weekly Menu, Recipes, & Shopping List. Five main meals and one special treat to get you through the week. All of the recipes are “Flexitarian” so they’re easily adaptable whether you’re a vegan, vegetarian, gluten-free, or choose to eat meat.

-As a member, you have access to the 4 Week (28 Day!) Plan. This is the same plan that is in the book, but we’ve enhanced it with video, and more ideas to give you inspiration and motivation.

– “Food For Thought” – the Club’s weekly e-mail newsletter with links back to the site’s updated content

– mP3 meditations

– Monthly Teleseminars with Lissa Coffey

– Access to the 28 Day Plan with video, inspiration and activities for body, mind, spirit & space.

Eat Well, Be Well is a wellness cookbook – a holistic approach to cooking that integrates the energetics of your body and your emotions to bring about a balanced state of health. It is designed for westerners seeking to make a healthy change in their diet and lifestyle.

Not just for vegetarians, Eat Well, Be Well interprets the ancient system of ayurveda to meet the needs of mainstream society. It moves beyond curries and includes recipes designed for a discriminating western palate addressing dietary needs for: non-vegetarian, vegetarian, gluten-free, soy-free and dairy-free individuals. With recipes crafted to be balancing to everyone, implementing the ayurveda approach has never been easier – or tastier! You can preview the book here.

How to Win:

1. Subscribe to Spinach and Yoga newsletter
2. Like Perfect Balance Diet on Facebook
3. Like Eat Well, Be Well Cooking on Facebook
4. Like Spinach and Yoga on Facebook
5. Post a comment below sharing your opinion on eating animal protein: Yay or Nay and why.
   

The winner will be chosen randomly on Dec 15th and will be announced on facebook and in the newsletter. Make sure that you subscribe to the newsletter so you don’t miss the news!