The Sattvic diet is misunderstood in the US. The foremost step in a sattvic diet is to exclude toxins from your diet before including the right diet plans or the right food.
Let’s begin with your groceries.
1. Stay Away from Dangerous Types of Food
When encountering the following nine words in a grocery store, it is advisable to avoid or be cautious of the food products associated with them. These words often indicate that the products contain chemical additives and may come in appealing packaging that can be tempting, especially when shopping on an empty stomach. These items are typically displayed in colorful boxes or cans designed to catch the attention of hungry shoppers.
It is important to educate both yourself and your children about these matters to cultivate awareness and make informed choices while grocery shopping.
Here are the 9 dangerous types of food:
Refined
Polished
Ready to eat
Precooked
Ready to cook
Ready to bake
With ingredients
Guarantees weight loss
Artificially flavored
2. Stay Away from FAD diets
It is also wise to steer clear of fad diets that are prevalent in the United States, such as low-carb, high-protein, low-calorie, or keto diets, among others. Many of these diets are simply modified marketing techniques used to sell packaged food products. Unfortunately, these products often contain a significant number of preservatives, additives, coloring agents, salt, and sugar.
It is important to note that even if these products do not taste salty or sugary, they can still contain hidden amounts of sugar and salt to mask the products added to them while packaging.
Therefore, it is crucial to be mindful of the ingredients and the nutritional content of these products before incorporating them into your diet. This is done in order to create a product that closely resembles the original authentic version in terms of appearance, texture, and flavor.
As an example, many commercially available kinds of milk have a slight sweetness, which is achieved by adding sugar to mask the taste of additives, preservatives, or coloring agents used during packaging.
It is important to be aware that these additional chemicals provide no nutritional value and have been linked to various metabolic diseases, from obesity, diabetes, pancreatitis, and including cancer.
3. Stay Away from Artificial Sweeteners
It is important to exercise caution when considering the use of artificial sweeteners or sugar substitutes. These chemically synthesized substances are used as alternatives to regular sugar in order to provide sweetness to foods and beverages. However, it is advised to avoid consumption due to potential health risks.
Artificial sweeteners often contain high doses of other potentially harmful ingredients, some of which have been associated with an increased risk of cancer. These substances may include potassium, alcohol & saccharin, which, in excessive amounts, can adversely affect the kidneys, liver & heart.
Furthermore, some individuals may experience digestive issues such as bloating, diarrhea, or irritable bowel syndrome (IBS) as a result of consuming artificial sweeteners. These sweeteners can also decrease thirst, leading to reduced water intake, and have even been linked to weight gain and obesity. Given these potential risks, it is advisable to choose natural sweeteners or limit overall sugar intake to promote optimal health and well-being.
One of the artificial sweeteners is called saccharin. Studies have linked saccharin at high doses with the development of bladder cancer in rats, and in 1981, saccharin was listed in the US National Toxicology Program’s Report on Carcinogens as a substance reasonably anticipated to be a human carcinogen. However, mechanistic studies (studies that examine how a substance works in the body) have shown that the ways in which saccharin causes cancer in rats do not apply in humans, and in 2000 it was removed from the list.
Choosing to consume artificial sweeteners is a personal choice. However, you must remember two important facts:
1. Complete avoidance of artificial sweeteners for a lifetime may be an incredibly difficult venture, especially if you’re living in the USA & Canada. This is because they are so abundant in commercial food products, supplements, medications, and hygiene items. They are well hidden in so many products that we may still consume them unknowingly, like toothpaste, yogurts, vitamin gummy bears, milk, ice cream, and so on.
2. It’s safe to avoid all the products on the left while consciously consuming the products on the right in small amounts because many are unavoidable. For decades now artificial sweeteners have been abundant in our food environment, some approved by FDA and some not. Hence the verdict is clear.
Want to learn more about the Sattvic Diet? Get the 15 Sattvic Diet Rules of Ayurveda.
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