Guiding Light: Embracing Vegetarianism For A Healthier Life | Representational pic
A few decades back, one thing that was regarded by many in the West as little more than a fad is today considered by the same people as ‘The Way of Living’. Yes! It is vegetarianism that has today gained acceptance all over the world as a healthy alternative to meat-based diets. It has been rightly said that we are what we eat because the kind of food that we eat has a direct impact on how we think and, therefore, is crucial to what we become finally.
Recent studies made by modern medical science have suggested that the human body is not naturally designed to digest and assimilate non-vegetarian food. That is why, today, most medical practitioners recommend a healthy vegetarian diet to their patients, who are suffering from lifestyle disorders.
Along with scientific studies, individual research made all over the world has also clearly pointed out the positive effects of a vegetarian diet on health. These studies have found that in vegetarians, the body-mass index, cholesterol levels and blood pressure tend to be on the lower side, and they have lesser incidences of heart disease, hypertension, type 2 diabetes, renal disease, osteoporosis, dementia and other such disorders.
On the other hand, meat-based diets have been found to be directly associated with increased risk of cancers of the oesophagus, liver, colon, and lungs. Such a diet is, therefore, unhealthy both for the body and the mind. In many religions also, a non-vegetarian diet is strictly forbidden, not just because it causes pain and suffering to other living creatures but also because it is the source of vicious thoughts and attitudes to its consumers.
In other words, non-vegetarian food is a gateway to a non-vegetarian lifestyle, a way of living where vices dwell comfortably. The relationship between food and one’s state of mind has been known for centuries in Eastern cultures.
The Bhagavad Gita classifies foods into three types: sattvic or pure, rajasic or stimulating, and tamasic or impure. Pure foods, such as fresh fruits and vegetables, are said to bring calmness and clarity to the mind and promote a sweet disposition.
Stimulating foods, including meat, eggs, onions, garlic and spices, are said to lead to restlessness, animal passions and emotional outbreaks. Impure foods, which include putrefied, processed and preserved foods, dull the mind and contribute to chronic mental ailments. They are said to cause early ageing and death. To be continued…
By Rajyogi Brahma Kumar Nikunj Ji ([email protected] ; www.brahmakumaris.com) (Writer is a spiritual educator&popular columnist for publications across India,Nepal & UK. Till Date 8500+ Published Columns have been written by Him)
