Sattvic Diet is based on the age-old saying, you are what you eat. Eating the right type of food enhances your mind and body to function optimally. The ancient text of Ayurveda and Yogic literature, define all humans to have three types of qualities – Rajas, Tamas and Sattva. Rajas are people who are agitated, emotional and passionate all the time.
Tamas defines people who are lethargic, destructive, unproductive, tired and ignorant of their surroundings. Sattvic people are ones who are considered to be wise, pure, compassionate, full of life, calm and serene. They achieve a relaxed lifestyle, spreading joy and happiness to others and practice non-violence to a great extent.
Despite all these qualities being an inherent part of a person’s character, the food they eat enhances these attributes. Of the three types of diets, Tamas is the one which makes you lazy and sleepy all the time. You lack the energy and the will to get work done.
People who consume a Rajas diet are energetic and lively but are also easily triggered by their ambient surroundings. They are always at an emotionally high state of happiness, sadness, or even anger. These include food that is extremely spicy or non-vegetarian food. It makes you fiery and aggressive towards the people around you.
Sattvic Diet strikes the right chord, by making you calmer, loving, relaxed, aware of your surroundings, energetic and more at peace with yourself. It basically avoids the usage of Onion, garkei can
Sattvic Diet is generally made up of dairy, fresh fruits, grains, vegetables, dry fruits, legumes, sweeteners, and certain spices and herbs. When it comes to vegetables, mild ones like tomatoes, potatoes, are sattvic, but pungent vegetables like onion, garlic or leek, are generally avoided in this diet.
Most whole grains like rice and wheat are considered healthy sattvic food. It also uses natural sweeteners like cane sugar, jaggery or honey to sweeten the food and avoids any other artificial flavoring additives.
Below is a list of fifteen sattvic foods, you can integrate into your daily life, for a more balanced diet and to ensure a serene way of living.
Lemongrass Tea
Lemon Grass Tea is a refreshing herb-based tea, known primarily for its nutritional value. It is made by boiling the leaves or stalks of lemongrass. This citrus flavored herb tea is not only a tasty hot beverage but is also extremely healthy for your body.
It regulates blood pressure level, rich in antioxidants and has is great for digestion and to maintain healthy hair and skin. It has a mild lemon taste in it and is sweeter and more aromatic than lemon tea.
The ingredients are lemongrass leaves, milk if needed, basil leaves, water, grated ginger, lemon and cinnamon. All ingredients are mixed and boiled in water. Add milk to the mixture of needed. Once you boiled out the extract, strain the tea and serve it while it’s hot. To integrate a little sweetness to the tea, honey is added. You can also use cane sugar if you prefer.
Basil and Ginger Tea
Basil and ginger tea is another nutritious herbal tea in our list. It cleanses your body of toxins and refreshes you for the day. Basil and Ginger tea increases your recovery rate from colds and other touches of flu and provides you relief from chest congestion.
It is an instant stress reliever, with its rich aroma and exceptional taste. It also reduces cardiovascular risks and reduces the risk of bone disorders due to the high micro-nutrient content in it. It has anti-oxidants responsible for dissolving lipids in your body, hence are the perfect drink to include in your diet for weight reduction.
The ingredients used to make the tea are basil, ginger and mint leaves. The method of preparation of basil and Ginger tea is very similar to lemongrass tea. Boil the mixture in water and then add honey to sweeten it.
Beetroot and Lemon Juice
Beets are naturally sweet and are a great addition to the traditional lemon juice. Not only is this drink delicious, but it is also essential for lowering your blood pressure levels and increasing oxygen flow in your bloodstream. Hence, the traditional energy drink is designed to increase your stamina.
Apart from giving you the required energy boost, they are a natural way to detox your body. It also helps keep your blood sugar levels in check. Mix the beets and squeezed lemon juice in a blender and serve when it’s cold.
If the consistency of the juice is thick, you can also mix apple juice with it, which makes it thinner in consistency.
Semolina Sweet Pudding
The traditional Indian version is a sweet called the kheer or payasam. This sweet dessert has a sweet taste, and smooth texture, and is a treat to your taste buds.
It is a milk-based sweet, made from semolina, milk and ghee, and is garnished with roasted bits of almonds and cashews and some dry raisins. It is healthy, nutritious and filling.
First, the semolina is fried on a pan till it turns light golden brown. Then the milk is added to it and is cooked till the milk starts to boil.
As the mixture is boiling, any natural sweeteners like jaggery, or ghee are added to the boiling milk and kept on the flame till the semolina absorbs the milk to become smooth and creamy.
Semolina Vegetable Porridge
Semolina Vegetable Porridge or Upma is a traditional south Indian breakfast dish, made from roasted semolina flour. The reason it is quite famous is for its great taste and ease of cooking.
It is a rich source of proteins, fiber, carbohydrates and micro-nutrients like vitamin B and iron. It also has low fat and low-calorie content. It also takes time to digest, so a meal of semolina vegetable porridge, is going to keep you fuller for longer, and prevents you from overeating or binging on snacks in between your meals.
There are multiple ways to make the semolina vegetable porridge. The different ways to make them using semolina flour, or even rice noodles. The flour is roasted in a low flame, and once it’s hot, water, vegetables, salt and oil is added to it and continuously mixed while the flour absorbs the entire moisture. It can be served with some chutney or any pickle on the side.
Panchamrita
Panchamrita in Sanskrit means the dish made from five heavenly nectars. This delicious sweet dessert is usually made during festivals and religious ceremonies. Its five main ingredients are Milk, honey, cane sugar or liquid jaggery, curd and ghee. Although some versions add certain fruits like banana, chopped apple slices, pomegranate seeds, coconut trimmings, seedless dates or even grapes, the five main ingredients remain the same.
The variant changes with the region in India from which the recipe originates. It improves the energy levels in an individual and improves potency. It also improves the immunity of the body, and also stimulates brain activity, due to which, it is highly recommended for pregnant women. It accelerates the physical and mental growth of the child in the womb.
It is very easy to prepare this dish. Whisk together the five ingredients and add tiny slices of fruits like apple or banana if needed. And it is ready to serve immediately, but it lasts only for about a day. So, prepare it only when needed and consume it immediately.
Coconut Chutney
Coconut Chutney is a native Indian sauce, made as a side to other dishes. The Coconut chutney is made from the pulp of the coconut, which is grounded into a paste, with certain spices and a few green chilies. They are extremely easy to make, can be preserved for a while, and require much fewer ingredients and time to prepare.
This simple yet delicious sauce is brimming with nutrients like vitamins, and minerals like copper, calcium, iron, manganese, potassium, magnesium and zinc. This fiber rich sauce also has cardiovascular benefits and promotes weight loss. This chutney is served with various rice or lentil dishes as well as rice-based pancakes.
Tamarind Chutney
Tamarind Chutney is another classic Indian sauce, made from the sweet and tangy tamarind pods. Unlike the somewhat spicy coconut chutney, this sauce tastes sweet and sour. It is generally served with any hot crispy snack, complements its taste with its intense flavor.
Many health benefits of this much-relished sauce include boosting the immune system, reducing cardiovascular risks, helps in losing fat in your body and further inhibiting the growth of microbial and fungal infections. It is served as a sauce for main course meals as well as snacks. It is a multi-purpose chutney that can be stored frozen for long periods.
Whole-Wheat Flatbread
Roti, also known as Indian Flat Bread, is a variant of bread made from whole wheat flour. Unlike regular bread, the roughage or fibre is not removed in Rotis. They are rich in nutrients, similar to the whole grain bread you can buy at your store.
Additionally, during its preparation, Rotis are pan cooked with little to no oil, without adding any yeast to bake it. Another advantage is it takes about 20 to 30 minutes to knead the dough and cook the rotis as opposed to hours of your time and using much more ingredients and steps needed to bake a loaf of bread.
Traditionally, Rotis can be served along with a variety of sauces and curries and goes perfectly with sides of many cuisines.
Sweet Flat Bread
The sweet flatbread is a sweet dish made during festive times all over India for nearly seven centuries. Made from plain wheat flour, chickpeas, jaggery, cardamom powder and ghee, this sweet delicacy goes by multiple names- Holige, poli, puran poli, bakshyam, obbattu, etc, in several regional languages.
It is rich in carbohydrates, fibers and proteins, and has essential micro-nutrients like Zinc, calcium and vitamin B9. Golden yellow, and shaped like a roti, this delicacy is served as a lunch dish or even as an evening snack. It is generally prepared during celebrations and festivals.
The sweet bread is stuffed with cooked and mashed chickpea and rolled out like a flatbread. It is roasted and cooked on both sides with oil or clarified butter.
Vegetable Stuffed Bread
Vegetable Stuffed Bread or Paratha is another version of whole wheat bread, but it is stuffed with mashed vegetables which are stuffed inside the bread. You can have various permutations and combinations of this beard in terms of stuffing. You could stuff it with potatoes, peas, carrots, radishes, onions, or any vegetables or combination of your choice.
Depending on which of these vegetables you relish, you can make the stuffing as per your preference. Apart from the wholeness of flatbread, they have additional nutritional benefits and an enhanced taste due to the added vegetables.
Generally, the vegetable stuffed bread is served with some yogurt or some pickle on the side, and occasionally with a vegetable curry.
Green Gram Rice
The green gram rice or traditionally called a kichdi is a mung bean and rice dish, known for its nutrition and nourishment. This semi-liquid dish is protein-packed and delicious to taste. It is also a great wholesale meal to have when suffering from the cold or any other flu.
It terms of consistency, the texture is very similar to oatmeal. It is extremely easy to prepare. With steps being as simple as boiling the lentil (mung bean) along with the rice and adding some chopped vegetables, and some spices into the mix.
It is served with a basic vegetable salad or yogurt. Not only is it delicious, but also protein packed.
Mixed Vegetable Rice
Mixed Vegetable Rice or Vegetable Pulao is a tasty pot rice meal made by boiling rice with an assortment of vegetables and certain spices. A delicious meal on its own, it also goes exceptionally well with a side of raitha (yogurt garnished with finely chopped tomato, onions and some coriander leaves) or vegetable curry.
It is an aromatic, flavorful wholesome meal filled with proteins and essential carbohydrates, and it keeps your hunger at bay for several hours. The vegetable mixture is prepared with some flavoring agents and the plain white cooked rice is mixed with the prepared vegetable mixture. It is wholesome and nutritious.
Mixed vegetable rice is generally served with a yoghurt-based salad known as raita.
Mixed Vegetable Curry
Mixed Vegetable Curry is a great side dish for your Indian bread or your mixed vegetable rice. Being the most widely prepared vegetarian curry, it an amalgam of flavor, aroma and spice.
Although there are multiple ways to make the mixed vegetable curry, in the Sattvic version, garlic and onion are skipped while adding the ingredients. Usually, there are no fixed vegetables to be used to make the curry, but the most widely used ingredients are- potatoes, tomatoes, peas, carrots, beans, capsicum and even bell peppers.
Some people also use corn kernels, tofu or cauliflower along with the aforementioned veggies. All the vegetables are boiled until cooked well.
All these vegetables taste great together or even if they are used alone. But the spices and other ingredients used predominantly remain the same.
Sometimes Coconut cream is added to the gravy to make the consistency thicker. It can even be garnished with some butter, coriander leaves and some roasted cashews on top.
Sprouts Curry
Sprouts curry are a delectable way to integrate healthy sprouts into your daily diet. Sprouts are essential for maintaining the PH levels in our body. They are also heart-friendly, thanks to the Omega 3 fatty acids which boost the levels of good cholesterol in the body. They also help in reducing your weight significantly.
They are extremely beneficial for improving your eyesight and overall immunity of your body. It is very easy to make and be prepared from the sprouts of your preference.
Boil the sprouts or stir fry until cooked. Add in cooked and pureed tomato and cook well. Add in the spices and mixed vegetables together, you can make a tasty curry to go with roti, Indian bread, or even with plain boiled rice.
If you are wondering how a Sattvic diet can help you, here is everything that you need to know. Sattvic cooking and diet promote nutrient-rich foods such as nuts, fruits, vegetables, lentils and beans. It also limits the usage of cholesterol causing fats which is great for cardiac health in the long run.
The plant sources used are rich in proteins, minerals, micro-nutrients and macro-nutrients, healthy fats, fibers, antioxidants, etc., that are good for our health, body and mind.
If you are looking to try out a sattvic diet, you can get started with the above recipes before you try out more complex ones. Sattvic food is said to help the body maintain its equilibrium to help us perform our activities optimally. This diet promotes productivity, positivity and health.