Yoga diet dilemmas
om living
“Yoga has a vast history
and how to eat as a
yoga practitioner is as
vague and as open to
interpretation as how
to practice asana and
how to meditate.”Nutrition Zone:
Yoga lore and the world of nutrition: exploring a dietary culture clash. By Tracy Johnson
A
s a yoga teacher I am often
asked questions by my class
related to diet and nutrition:
should they be vegetarian or
vegan? What is best to eat
before they practice? Should they try
fasting or maybe eat according to their
ayurvedic dosha?
Yoga has a vast history and how to eat as
a yoga practitioner is as vague and as open
to interpretation as how to practice asana
and how to meditate. There are no clear cut
rules or guidelines for the yogi in the twenty
first century to follow. As James Mallinson
and Mark Singleton point out in their
introduction to Roots of Yoga, “Adaptation
and mutation have always been features of
yoga’s history, as competing and coexisting
theories and practices exert their influence
on one another...Modern, global forms
of yoga exist in a variety of complex and
recursive relationships with ‘traditional’ yoga.”
When it comes to diet especially, mymodern nutrition knowledge gained from
studying to be a health coach and a
personal trainer is often at odds with yogic
tradition on how to eat that has been
handed down over the years and remains
frequently repeated. Some teachers can
seem unwilling to question tradition or to
understand that a ‘one size fits all’ approach
to nutrition is not just unhelpful but also
potentially harmful to individual students
with varying dietary requirements who may
be easily influenced and willing to buy into
whatever makes them feel more ‘yogic.’Here are a few frequently repeated pieces
of yoga lore that are worth thinking about
in more depth as both practitioners and
teachers, before we unthinkingly espouse or
take advice that needs closer examination
and also perhaps some guidance from a
nutrition professional.Yogis don’t eat meat
The yoga value of ‘ahimsa’ or not harming
has been widely interpreted as not eating
animals but there is no real evidence to
support what has become one of yoga lore’s
most enduring precepts. Despite several
prolonged attempts at vegetarianism I still
eat meat and fish, as living a very active life
without animal protein leaves me personally
completely exhausted and drained. This
is a controversial issue in yoga but from a
nutritional point of view the answer is: eat
what makes you feel optimally healthy. I was
trained in the principle of ‘bio-individuality’
and to work with clients in terms of their