How Does Food Affect Your Mind?
The quality of the food you eat affects your mind.
The quality of food we eat affects our minds. According to the scriptures, food is categorized into 3 different types/modes/natures-
- Saatvik- The Mode of Goodness- The vegetarian food we eat, the vegetables, fruits, cereals, grains, wheat, dairy products, etc. These types of food will calm down your mind, will bring your mind to peace from within, and divert your mind to healthy things which require focus or concentration.
- Raajasik- The Mode of Passion- The foods which contain, a good quantity of spices, chilies, sugar, etc., come into this category. These types of foods increase desires within us and take our minds and senses into the unknown desirable state.
- Taamsik- The Mode of Ignorance- The non-vegetarian food, fish, meat, eggs, etc, come into this category. These types of foods will increase anger, laziness, violent tendencies, sleep, etc.
You would have also seen the difference between the behavior of a tiger and the behavior of a cow. The lion/tiger, who hunts and eats other animals, is a carnivorous/meat-eating animal. His state of behavior is mostly in anger, laziness, sleep, violence, and desirousness. Whereas, the cow, which eats grass, grains, vegetables, and fruits, is an herbivorous animal. Her behavior is mostly quiet, peaceful, soft, calm, and friendly.
The quality of food is even affected in animals. The quality of the food we eat makes our minds the same as well.
We do not need to go for meat for nutrients such as proteins. The nutrients that a human being wants in his life is already put in vegetarian food by God himself.
Our human body, digestive system, and diet is made for vegetarianism. So that we may live our life on peace with more focus, discipline, and concentration. This will help us in remain in a peaceful state and do our work and service in a much better way.
Different animals have their own body, diet and digestive system to eat and maintain the ecosystem. Even if there are carnivorous animals, their body, diet, and digestive system is made and designed in such a way that they must eat meat to fulfill their stomach and body, and maintain ecosystem yet they also play a major role in balancing and maintaining our ecosystem. This is God’s system of design for wildlife.
But it is human beings that have the intellect to keep on doing work and maintain the society and world and this needs proper focus and control of the mind which is affected by food. Therefore, human beings should stay on vegetarianism always.
God has also given human beings a small responsibility to love, serve, and care for the animals, and not to harm, kill, cook, or eat them for pleasure and fun and commit sin as well. Therefore, all animals should be taken care of as well, who live close to human society.
Non-vegetarian food could be eaten on a very rare cause, like if you are stuck in the middle of a forest and got nothing to eat, only in that case, you could eat tamasic food like meat, otherwise stay Saatvik or vegetarian.
