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What Sattvic Food Is?
Ever wonder why some meals leave you energized for hours while others make you crash? Discover the ancient secret of sattvic foods that naturally level your energy and mental clarity throughout the day without the rollercoaster effects.
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How It Helps Remove Digestive and Hormone Symptoms
Tired of bloating, irregular cycles, or PMS? Learn how switching to sattvic eating eliminates these chronic symptoms by working with your body's natural rhythms instead of against them.
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Two Other Qualities to Limit For a Vibrant Health
Find out which common "healthy" foods might actually be draining your energy and creating accumulation of toxins and inflammation - and what to eat instead for sustained vitality and focus.
How Sattvic Food Transforms Your Energy and Mood
That sense of lightness and clarity after eating well-prepared, fresh food — combined with feeling deeply grounded and satisfied? That's sattva.
When people first discover Ayurveda, they're attracted by the peace surrounding this ancient wisdom. This peace feels different from how much of the world operates today. We tend to swing between extremes of being too busy with too little time and completely checking out in front of the television.
Ayurveda was originally grounded in the idea that we can experience freedom from suffering. This happens by coming into harmony with the four pillars of health.
- Ahar: Eating foods that nourish our bodies and minds
- Vihar: Living in alignment with nature's rhythms
- Nidra: Appropriate sleep
- Brahmacharya: Management of our energy, particularly sexual energy - both in our physical actions and in our minds.
We come into balance in these four areas by increasing sattva. This guide aims to provide information on ahar. When you mostly eat sattvic foods, your body's ability to digest (not only foods but also life experiences and emotions) improves. As a result, painful symptoms or diseases reduce or completely disappear.
Ayurveda isn't a one-size-fits-all, if you need personalized guidance on which foods will best support your unique self, schedule your 1:1 Ayurvedic Health Consultation with one of our counselors and receive your custom recommendations.
The Three Qualities That Shape How You Feel
You know how some foods leave you feeling clear and energized, while others make you feel sluggish or agitated? Ayurveda explains this through three qualities called sattva, rajas and tamas. They're present in everything - your food, your environment, and even your thoughts.

TAMAS
Tamas feels heavy and stuck. Think of those days when you can barely get out of bed, or when you're mindlessly scrolling your phone for hours. In food, it's leftovers, processed meals, overeating, and anything that makes you feel sluggish.
When tamas dominates your life, you find yourself sleeping too much, feeling unmotivated, lazy or reaching for “comfort” foods that leave you more tired than before.
When a seed is resting, inert in the darkness of the earth, it’s in a state of tamas.

RAJAS
Rajas is constant motion and stimulation. It's the feeling of being wired but tired, rushing through your day, or that jittery energy after too much caffeine.
When rajas takes over, you might experience anxiety, trouble sleeping, or find yourself always busy but never truly productive. You're moving, but not in a sustainable way.
When a seedling pushes through the earth to reach the sun, it’s in a state of rajas.

SATTVA
Sattva is the sweet spot of feeling balanced. It's waking up refreshed, having steady energy throughout the day, and feeling both calm and alert after meals.
When sattva is present, you feel grounded yet light, peaceful yet energized. This is what we're aiming for - it's where true health lives.
When a seedling has turned into a full bloom flower, it’s in a state of sattva.
Easy-To-Digest Sattvic Foods: Nourish Without the Crash
Fresh fruits and vegetables, whole grains, legumes, and nuts form the foundation of sattvic eating. But here's what makes the difference: how you prepare and eat them matters just as much as what you choose.
Raw kale salad might seem healthy, but it could leave you feeling scattered or bloated. The same kale, gently cooked with warming spices, becomes deeply nourishing and easy-to-digest.
→ For cooking and recipe inspiration, visit our blog ←
The list below is only partial and to have you think about the qualities and how they make you feel.
↓ Here's the list of sattvic foods ↓
- Think fresh, seasonal, and prepared with care. When possible, choose organic foods free from chemicals and genetic modification. The closer your food is to its natural state - and the more mindfully it's grown - the more it supports your body's natural balance.
- Fruits - apples, apricots, berries, dates (fresh), dragonfruit, feijjoa, figs, grapefruit, grapes with seeds, longons, lychee, kiwifruit, mangoes, melons, nectarine, oranges, peaches, pears, persimmon, pineapple, plums, pomegranates, prunes, starfruit, tangerines (sweet), raisins
- Legumes - adzuki beans, anasazi beans, black beans, black eyed peas, broad beans, brown lentils, cannellini beans, edamame beans, fava beans, green lentils, lima beans, mung beans, fresh snap peas, split mung beans, split peas
- Nuts - almonds, brazil nuts, cashew nuts cooked, chestnuts, coconut, filberts, gingko, hazelnuts, macadamia nuts, pine nuts, walnuts, pecans, pistachio, tahini, tiger nuts
- Oils - almond oil, coconut oil, flaxseed oil, ghee, macadamia nut oil, mustard seed oil, sesame oil, olive oil
- Other - honey, maple syrup, raw milk, raw sugar cane, watercress, fresh wasabi, rose petals, lavender flowers, fresh almond milk, fresh rice milk, fresh coconut water
- Spices - anise, basil, black pepper, brown mustard seeds, cardamom, carob, cilantro, cinnamon, cumin, coriander, dill, fennel, ginger, mint, lemon grass, sesame seeds, sorrel, turmeric, vanilla bean
- Vegetables - artichokes, asparagus, bamboo shoots, beets, bitter gourd, bok choy, broccoli, brussel sprouts, burdock, cabbage, carrots, cauliflower, celeriac, celery, corn, courgette (zucchini), cucumbers, daikon, fennel bulb, flowers (edible), green beans, dark leafy greens, jerusalem artichoke, kohlrabi, lotus root, okra, parsnips, snow peas, spinach, summer squash, sweet potatoes, turnips (sweet), yacon, yams
- Whole grains - amaranth, barley, rice (high quality, basmati, jasmine…), buckwheat, cornmeal, farro, kamut, millet, oats, quinoa, rye, spelt, teff, wheat, wild rice, fresh pasta, fresh noodles
Inflammated and Overstimulated: Rajasic Foods May Be The Cause
These are called rajasic: they're stimulating and contribute to physical and mental stress. They create energy that doesn't last. Eaten in moderation, they won't hurt but having a diet mostly composed of rajasic foods leads to anxiety, fatigue, constant up and downs, inflammation, extreme emotions and other symptoms and diseases...
↓ Here's the list of rajasic foods ↓
- Fruits - dates (dried), bottled juices, guava, lime, lemon, passion fruit, papaya, soursop
- Legumes - kidney beans, navy beans, pinto beans, red lentils
- Nuts and seeds - hemp seeds, peanuts, sprouts, sunflower seeds
- Oils - avocado oil, hemp oil, peanut oil, sunflower oil
- Other - fresh cheeses, avocado, cottage cheese, egg, all fermented foods, ice cream, miso, molasses, sucanat, olives, salt, vinegar, yogurt, commercial almond, hemp or rice milk, all caffeine (including cacao, chocolate, coffee, caffeinated teas, decaf tea and coffee)
- Spices - asafoetida/hing, cayenne, chili pepper, fenugreek, garlic, excess of any spice
- Vegetables - eggplant, onions, capsicum (bell peppers), leeks, hot peppers (chilis), potatoes, radishes, sea vegetables, sprouts, tomatoes
- Whole grains - Commercial rolled oats, parboiled grains
Hard-To-Digest Tamasic Foods That Make You Feel Sluggish
These are called tamasic: they're heavy, processed, or past their prime and create sluggishness phisically, mentally, emotionally and spiritually. These drain your energy rather than nourish you. Eating mostly tamasic foods leads to feeling negative, stuck, unmotivated, brain fog, and that heavy feeling that makes you want to just lie on the couch.
↓ Here's the list of tamasic foods ↓
- Fruits - all over-ripe fruits, bananas
- Grains - all exposed to light or more than one year old, extensively refined grains, dried and packaged pasta
- Legumes - all canned, older than 2 years, garbanzo beans (chickpeas)
- Nuts and Seeds - all old or exposed to light, chia seeds
- Oils - all older than 1 year or rancid, canola oil, vegetable oil, rapeseed oil, safflower oil
- Other - alcohol, all animal flesh (beef, chicken, fish, fowl, goat, lamb, pork, rabbit, shellfish, turkey, venison), artificial sweeteners, barbecued or blackened foods, food with preservatives or synthetic ingredients, deep fried foods, frozen foods, leftovers, margarine, condiments, all refined sugar, old tea bags, smoked food, microwaved food
- Spices - all old or stored in the light
- Vegetables - all mushrooms, pumpkin, winter squash
Cooking with sattvic foods isn't as difficult as you think! Visit our Hale Pule Balance Bowl Guide to incorporate these free-symptoms nourishing meals into your daily life.