YOGA LIFESTYLE

Becoming a vegan is very popular these days and this is very good for your mental and physical health and of course for our planet. But you have to know how to do this in a responsible way with the right diet and supplements.

Everybody is unique and thus needs a different feeding style according to the Sattvic yoga diet. It is difficult to say ‘this is what you need’ but there are definitely some important food supplements you need to take when you are a vegan or vegetarian. Not many people know this, but to prevent health problems in the future, I can recommend to take some basic healthy and organic additional vitamins and minerals.

The Sattvic lifestyle is vegetarian with dairy so you will take in enough B12 with your food, but many people have lactose intolerance these days, so this is not always possible. And we need animal products to keep our B12 levels healthy. We need enough B12 to survive, we cannot live without, so if you don’t eat animal products you definitely need some important substitutes.

If you eat according to the Sattvic guideline (vegetarian with diary) you need less supplements: but still you always need to eat enough protein (like in beans) and green leaves (like spinach, endive and lettuce). Green food is very important when you are vegan and vegetarian, it contains a lot of iron and chlorofyl.

Here are some tips for basic supplements, but only if you eat a good variable diet with enough protein, fresh fruits & veggies, nuts, legumes and green food:

For Vegans:

• 1 teaspoon of Organic Moringa Oleifera every day (for example in your smoothie). This contains everything you need in a day, except for D3 and B12.
• 1 supplement of B12 every other day or ones a week (an organic active form with methylcobalamine and adenosylcobalamine 500-1000 mcg). When you take lozenges for under the tongue, the B12 will be taken into the bloodstream immediately.
• When you are over 40 you can best take 1-3 drops of oil based D3 each day (more during wintertime when there is less sunshine). Below 40 years old you can take the 1-3 drops ones a week.
• As vegan you should definitely eat some extra protein on a daily base, like mixing pealed hemp seeds, oats or almonds through your daily smoothie or add extra seeds to your salad.

For vegetarians:

If you eat enough cheese, butter, milk and yoghurt during the week, I recommend to take the B12 ones a week instead of every other day:

• 1 teaspoon of Organic Moringa Oleifera every day or every other day (depends on how ‘green’ you are eating).
• 1 supplement of B12 ones a week (an organic active form with methylcobalamine and adenosylcobalamine).
• When you are over 40 it is best to take 1-3 drops of oil based D3 (more during wintertime when there is less sunshine). Below 40 years old you can take the 1-3 drops ones a week.

Regular blood check up

For both vegetarians and vegans I strongly recommend to do a regular overall blood check up, like every half year or every year to see if you are on the right track with your food supplements. This way you know which supplement you should take more or maybe even less. It is better to prevent health problems like a lack of iron and B12, because afterwards it can have irreversible consequences. Always check the level of acid folic when you have a short of B12, because these two are strongly connected. The Moringa contains enough of that, but if you lack, you might consider an additional supplement.

For new starting vegans and vegetarians:

For starters I recommend 1 tablespoon of Moringa with each meal, so 3 times a day. When you just became a vegan or vegetarian it is important to do this wisely. Of course: Congrats! This is the best choice you could make on a diet-level, but you have to understand that your body system is changing big time when you suddenly stop eating meat, fish and dairy. Therefor it needs extra supplements, especially to take away the feeling of lack of energy which some of us feel after not eating meat anymore. Some stop being a vegetarian and think they need to eat flesh to feel energetic, but this is not true. This weak feeling is perfectly normal (because take-in changes): after a while it completely disappears and you will feel more energetic, lighter, healthier and happier than ever before! It’s like getting used to a new computer program: in the beginning it is hard, but once you understand it and you know how to use it, you never want to go back.

Advanced Sattvic yoga-dieters

When you are living the Sattvic lifestyle for a longer period of time, you can definitely stop doing the blood check ups: you will be able to feel intuitively what your body needs every day. Myself I take the Moringa only when I feel like taking it or when I eat not much green leaves that day (and of course during my period I take it every day and sometimes twice a day, because of the need of iron, this concerns all female vegs). It is possible to perfectly feel what you need each day with your instincts: this is how we did it thousands of years ago and it still works today, we just have to train it, and the Sattvic yoga diet is a perfect instrument to reach that point of lightness and connectedness.