You are what you eat. I’ve started this 12 rules article in one of previous posts to help readers correct their diet and start eating in a more healthy way. Any practice, including yoga, will be times more effective if supported by wholesome nutrition; and some Indian schools of yoga even start education with kriyas - special body cleaning practices - before studying postures or breath techniques.

I will briefly describe the first two rules I wrote about:

1. Eat to live; don’t live to eat

Do you often eat favorite cookies/sweets/chocolate blaming yourself and promising to stop “after this last one”? Do you eat much when you are stressed? Do you automatically eat in front of computer or TV? Do you eat before going to sleep? If you do, this article will help you slightly change the way you eat to become healthier and happier. Food is an instrument, a fuel for your body. Using this or that fuel, your body will feel better or worse. Everyone wants to live a longer, healthier, happier life, - and that is why we should choose good fuel that will not harm our body. It’s very simple in theory Try to treat the food in this way.

2. Hunger is truth, appetite is a lie

Whenever you want to eat and hold out your hand for something tasty, try to think and analyze - “Am I feeling hungry? Is it a real hunger? Or am I bored, stressed, used to eat more then I need?”. Be honest with yourself and try to become aware of every little thing you eat.

Next step is to experience a real hunger. Dedicate your day (why not Friday or weekend?) to explore a real feeling of hunger. Eat less for breakfast and take a long walk during lunch. Don’t eat anything before next meal. Watch how your hunger appears and grows, let it fill your thoughts and body. Remember this feeling. During next few days try to work out a new habit - to eat when you feel hungry, not when you see something tasty.

3. You live as you drink

Human body mostly consists of water. Our metabolism depends on quality and quantity of body liquids. You can influence inner rhymes and body condition by controlling amount of water you drink.

Many people think that drinking much water leads to gaining weight and thus try to drink as less as possible. Yoga teachers and some doctors claim that gaining weight is not related to the quantity of water, but instead to the quantity of salt we eat with food. This salt is said to keep water in the body. In addition to this, people gain weight as a result of imbalance in energies consumption and usage, - when amount of energy received with food is not used for physical or mental activity.

Water is a juice of life and we all know that plans die without needed amount of water and bloom otherwise. Human is not a plant, but nevertheless our health condition depends on water greatly.

In countries with moderate climate human needs around 1,5-2 liters of water in winter and 2-3 liters in summer. The hotter climate is, the more water body needs to consume.

You can influence your hunger with specific drinking regime: in order to get hungry faster, start drinking a half of glass of water every 15-20 minutes. You will feel a real hunger sooner. You can use this technique if you planned a meal for defined time frame, but don’t feel hungry yet. In the other case, if you are hungry already but have no possibility to eat, drink as little as possible. You can also prepare herbs tea, - it will calm down the feeling of hunger.

In any case, it is better to drink a half of glass of water 30 minutes before your meal. You should limit drinking after the meal to let digestion fire work better. This last advice is really important, - stop drinking after meal and you will soon notice that the state of body and mind is different.

4. Drink solid food and eat liquid food

During digestion, the interaction of food and saliva has great importance. Saliva is an active biochemical substance which is absolutely needed for effective digestion. In order to get more saliva (and as a result, - a healthier digestion), you should chew all the food eaten to get a liquid mix with saliva in your mouth. In addition to this, don’t immediately swallow up the liquid when drinking water, milk, soups or tea. To make your drink more regenerating and healthy, do several tasting movements with your tongue and jaws, mixing the drink with saliva.

5. Enjoy an empty stomach

Life gets so different when filled with awareness! When you eat, don’t try to take all at once or eat as fast as possible, even when your food is very special. Try to chew more and keep the food in your mouth until you stop feeling its taste. This technique lets you get most gustatory senses from very small amount of food. If you try using this technique, you will notice that you start feeling full with only a half of usual meal. Feeling of satiation is tightly connected with the amount of gustatory signals our receptors send to the brain. This method, when applied consciously, lets you avoid overeating and overweight.

Some time ago I tried to eat all my rice meals with chopsticks (did you know that it develops hands mobility?) and got very surprised. It appeared that I need much less rice to stop being hungry when eating slowly and chewing more. You should try it too : )

Another interesting thing is a feel of an empty stomach. If you are attentive to your feelings, you will notice that empty stomach (4-5 hours after the meal, you are not very hungry yet, but most food has already started to digest) means clear thoughts, lightness of body, easier physical and mental practices, healthier vision of food you need to eat next.

6. Don’t try to do two things at once

Doing things with full concentration appears to be much more effective then doing several things at once.

You shouldn’t mix food with something else what takes your attention away. Most of nowadays families watch TV, read newspapers or actively think about something while eating. When your switch your attention to something else, your brain doesn’t get enough signals about quality and quantity of food you eat. This leads to insatiability, improper chewing, bad products mix and overeating.

When you eat, try to think about food, its great qualities, the benefit and joy it brings. Turn off TV and put away the newspaper. Feel the taste of food and be happy eating your meal, adding some new healthy substance to your body. This will really change the effect!

Next 6 rules are coming soon

Many thanks to Andrey Lappa for his awesome book and Pancakejess for the picture.

More to read:

Eat to live, don’t live to eat

Hunger is truth, appetite is a lie

How to deal with overeating