The principle of “ahimsa,” or doing no harm to living things, is considered by some to be so central to yoga that it requires serious practitioners to be vegetarians. However, Shiva Rea, one of the best-known and busiest yoga teachers in America, takes an inclusive approach to food for herself and her 12-year-old son, Jai, with whom she lives in Malibu, Calif.“Enjoyment and celebration of life have such a positive effect on us,” says the longtime yogini, 44. “If we get too rigid about food, we lose out.”Rea will be in Washington on May 15 to participate in DC Yoga Week’s Yoga on the Mall event. I spoke with her by phone to get her take on eating healthfully as a yoga practitioner. Here are edited excerpts from the interview.
What should a regular person taking part in Yoga on the Mall eat before and after the event?
Leave yourself an hour and a half or two hours’ digestion time beforehand. When going for a whole day of yoga, you need to eat. And bring snacks: raw walnuts, raw almonds, fruit.I would make breakfast and lunch. In California, we worship avocados. It tends to be dry here, and they’re a great source of healthy fats. I use them in wraps. I also make a pesto with walnuts, basil and olive oil. I don’t even use garlic. It’s so good.You could make a fantastic omelet with lots of vegetables. Whatever feels healthy and wholesome is always going to give you good energy, especially if it has healthy carbs, fats and protein.I’m into food. Food is our fuel. Everybody’s ancestry plays a role. Whole foods always taste the best, as opposed to packaged, processed.
You don’t seem to be at all militant about not eating meat.
I was vegan for like 16 years. I became a vegetarian when I was 15, for animal activist purposes. But my family is Swedish, Irish — that whole part of the world where dairy was important. I figured out my body loves goat cheese and sheep cheese. I rely on that for protein, as well as all kinds of beans. And definitely I’ll have fish when I feel my body needs it. I don’t call myself a vegetarian.
What did you have for breakfast today?
Well, I’m doing a “clean program,” detoxing for spring, so I just had water. But I just made a shake, with blueberries, almond milk, dates, bee pollen and a rice-protein-based thing, and some digestive enzymes. It’s a three-week detox program, not eating after the sun goes down, and smoothies in the morning and evening. It’s giving your body a rest.
What about when you’re not doing detox?
I’ll make a shake with almond milk, almond butter, cacao powder, throw a banana in there, dates and bee pollen. You’re set to go — as long as your digestion can handle it.
In past interviews, you’ve mentioned eating french fries and Fritos as a child. Are those foods still part of your life?
They are for my son! He’s really pretty healthy, so when we’re traveling, he can have any kind of chips he wants. On the plane, he can have a soft drink. It keeps him satisfied. If I try to restrict his diet in this extreme way it would create a backlash. Every child has to have some french fries occasionally. I bake fries for him here. He’s not a vegetarian.
Courtesy: Jennifer LaRue Huget for The Washington Post
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