Food for chakras

/ January 31, 2016/ Holistic Nutrition, Recipes, Yoga/ 1 comments

I married my holistic nutrition stuff with yoga again… and decided to write a post about an aspect that can influence your chakras. Food! Are you surprised?

In case you are not familiar with chakras, let me provide quick intro. For me, chakras are the primary energy centers in the body. They are like spinning wheels drawing prana (energy, life force) into the body and distributing it to all cells and vital organs to nourish and promote health.

I am going to use the classification of 7 chakras that are associated as well with the 7 stages of spiritual development. I use this classification because this is what I learned in energy medicine and yoga philosophy.

To get to the point, here is a table that summarizes food and particular organs and glands associated with each chakra:

Chakra	Associated body parts and glands	Element	Food
First – Muladara (Root)	Base of the spine, immune system, legs, feet, bones, blood, teeth, perineum, coccygeal plexus, pubic bone, and adrenal glands.	Earth	Protein (building foods)
Second – Svadhisthana (Sacral)	Sacrum, reproductive system, uterine heart, urinary system including bladder and kidneys, lower abdomen, pelvis, and ovaries or testicles.	Water	Liquids (water, juice)
Third – Manipura (Solar Plexus)	Gastrointestinal system ( from mouth to anus) and pancreas.	Fire	Starches (converted into energy)
Fourth – Anahata (Heart)	Heart, sternum, chest area above breasts, lungs, pericardium, circulatory systems, breasts, and thymus.	Air	Vegetables (balance nature)
Fifth – Vishuddha (Throat)	Throat, ears, mouth, neck, shoulders, thyroid and parathyroid.	Ether (Sound)	Fruits (clean and stimulate)
Six – Ajna (Third eye)	Brow (between the eyes and behind the root of the nose), eyes, base of skull, and pineal gland.	Light	Entheogens, apples and almonds (sattvic)
Seven – Sahaswara (Crown)	Top of the head, cerebral cortex, central nervous system, and pituitary	Thought	None (mind expands)

Do you see a relation between the associated organs, the element, and the food? For example, protein is essential for building bone, right? it makes sense that supports root chakra.

So, if you are having issues related to a specific chakra, you might want to ensure you eat the associated food to help you balance that chakra.

You see now how a well balanced diet with all the foods needed to maintain balanced chakras is essential to optimal health…

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Rainbow salad

Each chakra is also influence by a color. Visualizing the associated color is another way to help you balance your chakras. In this salad, I try to show most of the associated colors for chakras, fun eh?

Ingredients 1 cup of shredded carrot 1 cup of shredded chayote (summer squash from Mexico) 1 cup of shredded zucchini ! cup of chopped purple cabbage ¼ cup of diced red and yellow peppers 1 cup of cooked quinoa ¼ cup of sunflower oil 2 table spoons of apple cider vinegar 1 table spoon of lime juice ¼ teaspoon of Himalayan salt ¼ teaspoon of black pepper (optional)

Preparation Mix in a small container the oil, vinegar, lime juice, salt and black pepper. If your dosha is kapha, black pepper is very beneficial. Put the rest of the ingredients in a large bowl Pour the vinaigrette mixture and tossed Serve and dig in!

While writing this post, it dawned on me that adding a little yellow and red to the rainbow salad makes it closer to having all the colors associated to the chakra…