I believe, as far as my own experiences have told me, even though the great saints have already written about it ; Patanjali, Buddha, and many others, that one needs to keep a check on food in their spiritual journey, and here I’ll lay down some convincing arguments which would compel you to make some changes.
First, I would ask you to eat, whatever your current food habits are, and observe how it changes your mood, your mind, energy, behaviour , speech, bodily movement, etc. Do it for a month, this observation and then return to this post and read further.
By now, you must have observed how different food modifies your behaviour. It’s also scientific, different food, different chemical composition and hence different chemical results in the body. If we talk about the amount, you must have observed, that when you eat too much, you are not able to meditate because you’re trying to do, two things simultaneously ; one trying to raise the consciousness and on the other hand fuelling the mooladhara which doesn’t allow you to reach up. When you’re on a fast and you eat too little, observe how well the meditation goes, and how easy it is to concentrate, keep your peace of mind, etc. So, quantity matters for mediation. When it comes to the qualitative aspect, eating too spicy fuels the Rajas Guna, and the mind becomes restless. So, food as like in the gym, has to be monitored and tweaked.
The mind & the body, and the union of it which yoga tries to bring, also translates to yuja or yoke, gets desynchronized when you play checkers with the body. The mind, the moon which shines upon the reflection of someone else’s light. In this analogy, the type of food has been used as a metaphor for light.
Notice, if you’re a couple, or married, and do this as an experiment. Day 1, try to eat all sattwik food, and notice if you have any sexual thoughts, thoughts of greed, hate, & jealousy. Day 2, eat spicy food in all the three meals, and then again note for the feelings mentioned. Day 3, stay on fast, and again note the feelings. Just a 3 Day Sprint experiment, will give you the juice of what I’m trying to convey. And again, don’t take anyone’s word for it, unless you read and don’t try, it doesn’t internalize, the knowledge doesn’t cement inside.
VEDASTRAl 