I wonder how many of you are considering a diet change post-holidays in favour of healthier eating.
We mostly let ourselves off the diet leash at the beginning of the Silly Season, and then ended up having to let out our belts after the holidays. Perhaps now that we’ve turned over a new year, it’s timely to turn over a new leaf.
Personally, while I don’t need to diet to lose weight, I’m of an age where I need to eat smarter so my sugar levels don’t go awry with my energy bouncing all over the place – always a bad look for a yoga teacher.
Really, as yogis, don’t we really want to establish a healthy eating lifestyle, rather than be dieting sporadically and forever?
If you would like a diet morale boost, explore your habits, and learn some invaluable tips at the same time, you might like to read Mindful Eating – A Guide to Rediscovering a Healthy and Joyful Relationship with Food.
One suggestion from the author, Jan Chozen Bays, M.D., is something I do when I’m being ‘good’. She calls it ‘mindful substitution’. Dr. Bays says that we first need to be aware of our habitual ways of eating and secondly, make some wholesome substitutions. Some of these she advises might be substituting…

…chewing gum for candy, a chocolate hard candy for a chocolate truffle, the slow ritual of a hot tea for gulping a soft drink. [You could substitute] frozen mango slices or strawberries for ice cream…. or little pieces of cinnamon toast eaten slowly in place of a piece of cake and frosting.

Once the healthy dieter has some momentum going in a more wholesome direction, feeling good creates its own impetus. And, we feel better about ourselves because it’s what we really want to be doing – taking care of ourselves in the best way possible.
Tatah tadvipaka anugunanam eva abhivyaktih vasananam
Consequences surely follow these inappropriate tendencies.*
*The Essence of Yoga: Reflections on the Yoga Sutras of Patanjali, translation and commentary by Bernard Bouanchaud.