What is Prana-rich Food or High-prana Food?

 

Ayurveda- the ancient Indian science of life and healing, gives us the most trusted and correct way of eating food. Unlike modern sciences and western-influenced fad diets, which mainly cater to physical well-being, Ayurveda looks at health with a holistic approach- as a combination of physical, mental, emotional, and spiritual well-being. It is called High-prana food or Prana-rich food. 

Although not a direct contrast to modern medicine, there is a key difference between the Ayurvedic concept and modern science. 

Science says that to have good health, one should eat a balanced diet – a diet with all the important nutrients viz carbohydrates, fat, protein, vitamin, minerals with water and roughage in a balanced amount. 

Ayurveda says that until and unless our daily diet, with all the above nutrients, includes prana, it cannot be considered healthy.

What is meant by high prana food or prana-rich food?

Prana means life. After thousands of years of observation and practice, Indian monks have established Ayurveda – the science of life. One of the key principles of the Ayurvedic diet is to eat prana-rich food- food that contains vital energy, which manifests into a being as the various essentials (dhatu). Even the malas are also prana but of a different frequency. 

High prana foods are colorful, fresh, locally grown, in season, and minimally processed and prepared with love. Food with high prana is based on individual Prakriti or Dosha type too.

How to find prana-rich food

1. According to color: 

Science has studied nutrition from the chemical viewpoint: proteins, carbohydrates, sugars, minerals, fats, and vitamins. So far, science at the present moment is not aware of the existence of prana; therefore, has not studied nutrition from the pranic viewpoint: the quantity and types of color prana contained in foods, and how prana affects the human body.

      - Master Choa Kok Sui

Each plant food contains many phytochemicals and each phytochemical provides different health benefits. Therefore, it is recommended to EAT THE RAINBOW – which means eating a variety of colorful plant foods each day, to include color pranas in your food.

Eat The Rainbow

• Red & Pink Foods: chili, watermelon, tomatoes. 
    
Benefits: anti-inflammatory, immune booster, improves urinary tract health and vascular health.

• White Foods: Ash gourd (petha)
   
Benefits: anti-microbial, Lowers cholesterol and blood pressure, improves bone health and gastrointestinal health

• Yellow & Orange Foods: corn, lemon
    
Benefits: anti-inflammatory, immune booster, improves vision, reproductive health, skin health, Source of beta carotene.

• Green Foods: cucumber, green bell pepper, leafy greens.

Benefits: Keeps our bones, teeth, and nails strong and also prevents blood clots. anti-oxidant provides hormone balance, rich in minerals.

• Blue & Purple Foods: plums, beets, grapes
    
Benefits: improves cognitive health, Reduces blood pressure and lowers the risk of stroke and heart disease, helps fight cancers, especially those in the GI tract (mouth, oesophagus, colon)

2. According to dosha/Prakriti:

Just like yoga, food is personal and it must be in equilibrium with its unique body texture. According to Ayurveda, our diet should be adapted according to our dominant dosha(s). 

For example, a Vata dominant type should eat more warming and cooked foods, whilst a Pitta dominant type should eat more cooling and raw foods. A Kapha dominant person should avoid cold food and eat light food.
Tridosha has a close relation with seasons. 

Vata dosha accumulates in the Summer season, aggravates in the Monsoon season, and decreases in the Autumn season.

Pitta dosha accumulates in the Monsoon season, aggravates in the Autumn season, and decreases in the Early winter season.

Kapha dosha accumulates in the Late winter season, aggravates in the Spring season, and decreases in the Summer season.
So, the diet should be arranged accordingly.

3. According to seasons

Our body is a part of the natural world and so its dietary requirements should change according to the seasons. Ayurveda has provided a set of guidelines known as ritucharya - lifestyle according to seasons. 

Indian calendar divides a year into two periods:

A. Uttarayana (Northern Solstice), the cold months contains three seasons- 

(i) Sharad (autumn): Eat bitter, light, cold, astringent, and sweet foods, and avoid foods high in fat and salt. The ideal diet includes rice, honey, green leafy veggies, tomatoes, berries, ghee (clarified butter). 

(ii) Hemant (winter): The ideal diet includes cabbage, spinach, corn, rice, carrots, potatoes, onions, beets, apples, dates, and dairy products. 

(iii) Shishir (late winter): The ideal Shishira diet includes lots of dairy products, root vegetables, apples, grapes, rice, wheat, beans.

B. Dakshinayana (winter solstice), the warm months contains three seasons- 

(i) Vasanta (spring): This is one of the more sensitive times for our body, so focus on eating easily-digestible food. The ideal diet includes barley and spices like coriander, cumin, turmeric, and fennel. 

(ii) Grishma (summer): Eat lots of herbs and drink lots of fruit juices. Keep hydrated with lots of water. The ideal diet includes lots of fresh fruit and vegetables like cucumber.

(iii) Varsha (monsoon): The ideal diet avoids uncooked foods and favors warm, freshly-cooked meals.

4. According to place and Your Genes:

Local food- grains, fruits & vegetables grown locally- have a lot of life because they are brought only after they ripe on the plants/trees and they contain digestive elements of the same environment in which we all live. At the same time, one should not forget his roots and must consume the food of the place where he hails from.

For example, A Marwari (from Rajasthan) person living in South India must include south Indian dishes, such as sambhar, dosa, appam, rice in his/her diet because these are local food and are conducive to the environment of the place. At the same time, he must include Rajasthani food, such as dal-baati-choorma, bajra, ghee in his/her diet because his genes require nourishment from the root place.

How to eat food? The correct way of eating food

(i)  Place, the food itself, atmosphere, should be clean and uncontaminated while eating because the surrounding atoms are also attracted and absorbed from all the pores of the body. 

(ii)  The feelings and thoughts of the cook or chef should also be uncorrupted and chaste ( sattvic ). 

There is a saying – “like food, like mind". The subtle essence part of the food makes the Mind, the second part the Semen, the third part Blood, and the fourth part is excreted, which gets out.

(iii)  Keep your mind calm, relaxed, and cheerful while eating. Do not let sorrowful desires, anger, etc. occur in your mind.

(iv)  "Annadata Sukhi Bhava" - remember that our Annadata( the provider of our rations) are three – The God, a farmer, and a Cook/ Chef who feeds us – we must always be grateful to them & they must be thanked & blessed before and after every meal.

(v)  To digest the food easily, after eating sit in Vajrasana posture and whisper the below-written versus rotating the middle finger slowly on the navel –

"Aham vaishvanaro bhutva prananam dehmashrita,      
pranapanasamayukta: Pachamanyam chaturvidham"
(Gita - 14th verse, 15th chapter-Lord  Krishna to Arjuna )

Meaning: It is I who take the form of the fire of digestion in the stomachs of all living beings, and combine with the incoming and outgoing breaths, to digest and assimilate the four kinds of foods.

(vi)  Our cupped hands reflect the size of your stomach. One should eat as much food that can fill an Anjali ( cupped palms)

(vii)  Chewing is the prime job of teeth only, it should not be left on the intestines. "Drink the bread/roti and eat the milk." This theory symbolizes that one should Chew so much that the bread starts to taste sweet. When that goes into the stomach and mixes with saliva, it becomes digestible and gives excellent vigor & energy.

(viii)  Drinking water during or immediately after the meal extinguishes the digestive fire in the stomach. Water should be drunk at least one hour after eating. In case of urgency, you can drink one or two sips of water in between. Doctors also warn that drinking water after eating fruits is an invitation to diseases. 

(ix)  Must go for urination before & after meals to avoid diabetes and to improve kidney health. 

(x)  Switch off the TV, mobile, etc. strictly while eating.

(xi)  Always admire & give regards to your food/ meal. Never denounce or criticize the food, rejoice at seeing it and praise well while eating. Meals taken with such an approach produce ample oj/Oja/ojas.

(xii)  Before eating, food should be offered to God when it becomes Prasad. the person who gets that Prasad would be blessed with bliss, contentment, and a healthy body.

Food that lacks prana/ Low-prana food

1.  Canned, old, packaged, and processed food.

2.  Meat is a low prana food because it is dead, and contains the negative emotional energies of the animals from when they were killed.

3.  Overripe fruits and vegetables

4.  Food prepared with a lot of stress, anger, grief, or any negative emotions.

God has given us this beautiful body as a blessing, providing many types of systems within it - respiratory, digestive, nervous, skeletal system, etc. - all these systems work in harmony with each other. Our only job is to eat the right food so that the body functions with full capacity. It would indeed be the finest return gift to our grand creator.

Web-Story