• Aware Yoga schools advise about the effects of consuming onion and garlic. Many people think that by eating more of these foods it will help to fight off colds and flus.

 
• Besides making you stink! Garlic is an anti-biotic which also destroys beneficial bacteria, anti-biotic (anti-life) which are essential to the proper functioning of the digestive system.

 

• The five pungent plants – garlic, onion, leeks, chives and spring onions affect our physical body by dulling the senses and depleting energy levels, producing offensive breath and body odour, slows reaction and response times.

 

• Emotions – creates anger, confusion and fear, amplifies negative emotions within the body.

 

• Mind – nightmares and disturbing dreams, dull headaches and migraines, difficult to remain clear and focused.

 

• Spiritual – difficulty in meditating, stilling the mind, attracting lower energies and negative thoughts. Disperses clairvoyance and intuition, these pungent plants can shut out the finer energies and higher frequencies of Light.

• Homeopathic medicine comes to the same conclusion when it recognises that red onion produces a dry cough, watery eyes, sneezing, runny nose and other familiar cold-related symptoms when consumed.

 

FOOD AND DIET
• It is said, with good reason, that we are what we eat. Our bodies are made from proteins, minerals, and other nutrients in our food, which also supplies the energy that fuels them. The quality of the food we ingest has a direct bearing on our physical and mental well-being and, according to yogic tradition, on the quality and quantity of our energy.

• Most people live in a toxic world, in which our water is recycled, the air we breathe is polluted, and many of our foodstuffi have chemical additives or contain residues of pesticides, herbicides, and fertilizers. 
But we need food and water to survive, so unless you live on a mountain top, drinking fresh spring water, eating organically grown foods, and hunting for fresh, uncontaminated meat or fish, you need choose your food carefully if you want to become and remain truly healthy.

• Changing your diet in accordance a yogic principles can bring a great improvement in the quality of your life, but always be conscious of where your food comes from and how it affects you physically, mentally, and emotionally.

ENERGY AND HARMONY
• Each of us is biochemically different and balance in your diet is the key, and naturally affected by his or her environment and lifestyle, so it is impossible to in Oriental medicine to make hard and fast rules about diet, as each person has individual needs and goals. However, you can help yourself by eating fresh, natural, wholesome foods and liquids that nourish your body and mind, and by having an awareness of how and where they were produced. In a way, by eating for good health you are reversing the gourmet philosophy of "living to eat rather than eating to live," but even if health is the main aim, that does not mean that your diet should be boring. A proper balance in your diet is the key, and will bring harmony and vitality to your life.
In Oriental medicine and yogic texts food and diet are as important as externaland internal exercise. 
Just as we categorize foods by their different tastes - sweet - sour - bitter - salty - the ancient Chinese catagorized foods as Yin or Yang.

 
• And according to the yogic texts, food, like any matter, has vibrational qualities; these reflect the quality of the energy into which food is transformed when eaten. There are said to be three qualities or types of energy, and thus of foods, and these are known as the three Gunas.
THE GUNAS - SATTVA, RAJAS, and TAMAS
Are three qualities in the unmanifested universe, and like Yin and Yang in the Taoist tradition, they exist together in balance and harmony. Sattva represents purity,
Rajas passion, and Tamas inertia. 

• When energy manifests - takes form - one of the three Gunas becomes dominant over the others. 
It is said, in every person, one of the Gunas dominates and its nature is clearely reflected in his or her thoughts, actions and feelings.

• Become aware and develop an awareness of the vibrational quality of the food you eat and the liquids you drink. Then you will be able to sense its effects on you physically and emotionally and to judge what you need.
Remember - balance is the key: not just a proper balance of nutrients, but also the balance of the Gunas, and of Yin and Yang vibrating in harmony.
When you achieve this balance and harmony, your physical and spiritual bodies will be able to function at their best.