We Are What We Eat
A vegetarian diet is an essential component of spiritual lifestyle and plays a major role in maintaining the inner tranquility and calmness. It is beneficial at physical, emotional, spiritual and ecological levels. Spirituality and root of all religions believe in Non-violence, and following a vegetarian diet is part of a non-violent lifestyle. So, it can be aptly said: “we are what we eat.”
At Emotional and Spiritual Level, eating non-vegetarian food that is obtained through acts of killing and violence to animals has a very negative impact. Various negative emotions of fear, anger, and anxiety are inherently carried through such food to human beings. Unless we refrain from eating such food we cannot achieve complete freedom from such negative emotions/tendencies. When we follow a well-balanced vegetarian diet we are able to easily regain and maintain our inner peace and happiness. Saatvik vegetarian diet is recommended and is one of the main pillars of a Yogic lifestyle as taught by Brahma Kumaris. It increases clarity, concentration and subtle planning.
At Physical Level, plant-based diet has been proven in multiple studies to be healthier for human beings. It has been shown to be beneficial in many digestive disorders and plays a major role in preventing and treating many chronic conditions such as hypertension, diabetes, heart disease, obesity. A Saatvik vegetarian diet is encouraged for those who are sick as a part of treatment in (holistic healing systems) or alternative medicinal practices such as Ayurveda, Hatha Yoga and Naturopathy. A vegetarian diet is easily digestible and is more suitable for human beings as humans have a long digestive tract. Many people are now realizing the health benefits of the vegetarian diet and are adopting such a lifestyle for achieving holistic health. Moreover, there is a wide variety of foods that you can create with different combinations of vegetarian choices to meet the protein, carbohydrate, fat and essential minerals requirements in one’s diet.
At the Ecological level, the burden of producing meat/ non-vegetarian food is much higher in terms of energy and resources consumed and also result in the production of greener house gases. Production of meat has been shown to have a 10-fold adverse effect on global warming and such a negative impact on environmental preservation. In contrast, if same resources are utilized in production of vegetarian diet, much wider population will have access to food and starvation deaths can be reduced. ~ Sister B.K. Sri Divya, Prajapita Brahmakumaris
