Hot yoga and fasting?
One healthy diet? Don't make me laugh!
Everyone has an idea of which diet is best. Personally, I think eating is a personal choice; you have to feel your way to what works for you. However, one point of agreement among experts, from Dr. Joseph Mercola (whom I have followed for years) to ancient yogis:
Health begins in your gut.
There are many yoga practices, internal cleansings and asanas for cleaning up the digestive system. Dr. Mercola says diet keeps the mitochordria of your cells vibrant; so much so that it can reverse and prevent cancer. NOT another diet fad, Dr. Mercola now discusses this new way of feeding your cells and going with your gut:
Ok, first there are some rules. #1: sugar is out.
- Too much protein - out.
- Fake sugar, also out.
- Meat is fine but only humanely treated, non-factory farmed meat (isn't that just logical and fair anyway?)
But this doesn't mean all the good stuff goes: for instance,
- Let's hear it for avocados (yay Guacaolmole)
- Olive oil (I make a great salad dressing from Olive Oil and Teriyaki sauce)
- Coconut oil (I recently discovered cooking with this oil - everything tastes better)
- Macademia nuts! Go ahead, you deserve it - and it's for a good cause!
- Butter. Not margarine, or that lame "I Can't Believe They Expect Me To Think This Is Butter" stuff
Healthy fats make smart cells. And smart cells make healthy choices; that is, they don't mutate into cancer cells.
Repeat after me: butter is GOOD for you! How good is that?
So yes, there are some guidelines on what to eat here; but the most interesting part of Mercola's healthy eating is called Intermittent Fasting. It's not about starving yourself; it's about creating a consistent pattern of confining your meals to the middle 6-8 hours in a day and "fasting" for the other 16 - 18 hours, giving your digestive system a chance to rest and regain its gut health.
This can be easier than it sounds:
just start earting at lunchtime, and stop eating by 6PM- 8PM, at least 3 hours before you go to bed.
By doing so, your digestive enzymes have a chance to "rally" during the day, and rest overnight.
Easier than ever to combine fasting with hot yoga.
Just skip breakfast and go straight to hot yoga. Yes, do morning hot yoga on an empty stomach. Now you're getting a double benefit: research also shows that exercising on an empty stomach is best for metabolizing fats!
When morning hot yoga ends, shower and look forward to lunch. Noon is the perfect time to start eating, and here's another bonus: many hot yoga poses jump-start your digestive system such as Wind Removing Pose, so when you do start eating, your system is already juiced.
Some students insist they must eat something before class and perhaps that's true for afternoon or evening class.
But you might want to try just drinking more water or water infused with mineral drops before morning hot yoga. That's what I do.
You've already been "fasting" through the night so it's easier to keep it going in the mornning. Honestly - I do it all the time. Morning hot yoga class is easy to slip into without breakfast - especially when I roll out of bed at 7AM and right to yoga (if you're diabetic you should probably check skipping meals with your doctor).
Read the full article about the ketogenic diet and intermittent fasting by Dr. Mercola on our membership site/Healthy Diet Tips section where I collect all the most interesting diet and health info.
It's easy to bring your healthy diet to your hot yoga practice - just don't break-the-fast in the morning.
Now - what's hot for lunch?
Rhonda Uretzky, E-RYT
Reader Comments (7)
Another plus for morning classes! I definitely feel different after a morning class vs. an evening class. For the 8am class, I eat/drink a little something natural sugar (yum, raw peanut butter!) and I'm good to go. I have a two course lunch afterwords, a salad and then something like a sandwich/burrito. However, for my evening classes, I usually have a medium dinner about an hour before class starts. But I'll only drink afterwards. I wonder what the evening diet does to my metabolism - I usually shower then go right to peaceful sleep. In the morning, I have fantastic energy after class.
Kristina, maybe the evening hot yoga class finishes off your "digesting for the day" - this article says to be done with food 3 hours before you go to sleep. Then the long fast from 6PM to morning gives your digestive system/internal organs a rest - along with your muscles and your external body - so your energy can focus elsewhere while you sleep...dreams perhaps? It seems natural that you would be filled with energy come morning.
I've often wondered about this... I'm a major major caffeine head. And I definitely notice how excellent I feel after hot yoga in the morning as opposed to an evening class. I don't even miss the morning Wawa run... I feel more balanced and focused and after class I'm like on A game =)
Rhonda, thank you for always introducing such interesting posts! My understanding is that a huge part (70%) of the immune system is in the digestive tract and keeping this system in good working order is essential to overall good health. Also, in ayurvedic science, body types (doshas) are assigned to the equivalent of ecotomorph (vata), mesomorph(pitta) and endomorph (kapha). There are specific dietary fine-tunings that can promote good digestion for each body type/dosha. I have made changes in my diet according to my body type and the results are impressive AND I feel so much better. The good diet and a lot of water combined with hot yoga is a beautiful thing :)
Yes, Ellen it's true: it's one thing to eat healthy food, but all those nutrients can only be absorbed into your body through a healthy digestive tract; if it's filled with sludge - ugh! I always take enzymes with all meals, since cooking food actually destroys the enzymes naturally present in raw foods - enzymes nature puts there to help you properly digest the food. Nature is amazing, ain't it? So - what changes did you make in your diet according to your Dosha that helped you?
I'm a kapha- (equivalent to an endomorph). I need to avoid anything sweet (sugar) , creamy (like dairy) or too oily (fired foods). The best choices for my body type are things that are dry, warm and light: most vegetables, grains like rye and what they call "light" fruit like apples and pears. It is not as restrictive as it sounds! After even a day of adhering to the basic principles, I felt a big differences. It is definitely worth checking out your dosha /diet suggestions if you are unhappy with the way you feel. There a lot of websites that can guide you through a checklist so you can what your body types is.
I have done the "eat right for your blood type" thing and found out that I should be eating meat (I was vegetarian then.) the Ayurvedic body typing makes sense too. The one thing I have always found that works for every body type: deep Darth Vader breaths