Can Green Juice Help Your Yoga Practice? -------------------------------------- Whenever I talk about food, flexibility, recovery and strength in yoga, there are always people who roll their eyes. The general consensus is, yoga is not a sport, so food doesnt matter. But in every other movement practice, diet is a huge area of focus. And while some people are mostly meditating, in my studios and my classes, people are really working their bodies (and their minds) hard. Sadly, the traditional yoga diet is wheat, rice and dairy-based. None of those foods are very interesting, and from an optimal health perspective, if you simply avoided those foods full stop, youd actually fare better. Yoga is a subtle practice, and the nervous system and metabolic impact of the foods you eat play a major role in your progress as a student, and just generally, how you feel each day. This is a huge area of discussion and study, much more than we can go into here, but if youre new to experimenting with food, flexibility, brain wave states, and yoga, Id encourage you to do a simple experiment with green juice. Its an easy place to start - and most people can feel it straight away. Heres what you do... 1-3 hrs before you practice, have a green juice made with kale, spinach, or any other bitter green (listed below). You can cut it with a little bit of fruit but if youre ok with just lemon, do just lemon. Juice-friendly vegetables high in nitrates include: rhubarb, arugula, spinach, celery, cress, chervil, lettuce, beets, chinese cabbage, endive, fennel, kohlrabi, and parsley (ok some of those are going to taste really nasty juiced;) There are 3 reasons I know of that this is really helpful. First, many of these greens contain substantial magnesium which is very important for muscle relaxation (read: good for stretching). Next, they are high in nitrates which have been shown to increase strength and endurance in some very compelling studies, and 3rd, they are alkalizing which can help prep your body for a hard practice. --------------------------------------------------------------- Photos courtesy of Jessica In The Kitchen. Cool site worth checking out with some green smoothies and juices recipes here: bit.ly/1ApiRFq
Posted on: Wed, 24 Dec 2014 12:00:00 +0000