The Hot Yoga Doctor – Free Bikram and Hot Yoga Resources › Hot Yoga Doctor Forum › General Hot Yoga Discussion › Diet, Clothing, Hydration and Drinking › Diet – flexibility connection?
The Hot Yoga Doctor – Free Bikram and Hot Yoga Resources › Hot Yoga Doctor Forum › General Hot Yoga Discussion › Diet, Clothing, Hydration and Drinking › Diet – flexibility connection?
-
AuthorPosts
-
Is it possible that there is a connection between diet and flexibility? I am of course aware that flexibility is improved only through practice, but there are people out there who claim that certain foods enhance and/or impede flexibility. I find it hard to make the connection. Nevertheless, I’d still like to know. Anyone made changes to their diet that enhanced their practice?
Ah, I just noticed yogabody is known to you! So there is a connection… Interesting.
Hi Cyberry
There is a connection. I can’t however boil it down to ‘this particular food causes you to be stiff and this one creates flexibility’.
There is compelling evidence that the less acidic we have our food in general and the less processed the more likely we are to create the right environment for optimal function in all our bodily systems.
It is said that disease primarily occurs in an acidic environment. On the way to disease (and even before one realizes that the condition is present) comes dysfunction. Dysfunction can be as simple as tight muscles! I guess it’s very complicated because if you have a regular frequent yoga practice then you will be more flexible. Many people don’t have optimum diets but are still flexible. The effects of a regular practice seems to encourage an unconscious and conscious choosing of a better diet… If you continue to have a crappy diet and still do loads of yoga then some of your dysfunction is hidden behind your otherwise good work.
I am wondering what foods you have been recommended to avoid and include in your diet!
Namaste
Gabrielle 🙂Hi Gabrielle,
Thank you for your prompt reply.
When I started yoga, I had not done regular exercise for erm, about ten years. Nevertheless, I was reasonably flexible but in certain postures very “tight and stiff”. After noticing a significant improvement in flexibility during the summer I have now hit a plateau which made me wonder whether it’s not time I took a good look at my diet. But info on diet and yoga is limited.
As alluded to in my second post, I came across the website of Lucas Rockwood (from yogabodynaturals) in which he claims coffee, alcohol, spicy and diary should be avoided. As you will be aware, he recommends cutting out all of these and praises the beneficial qualities of green juice and the supplements he sells.
Whilst my diet has always been generally very healthy – I have my “weaknesses” – coffee in moderation being at the top of the list!
I just wondered how much substance there is to his claims and whether anyone has any specific experiences to share.
Hi Cyberry
I was intrigued by the claim and so I researched it. I can’t find anything that supports it. I found that it is not the wild diuretic that most people believe it to be. In regular quantities coffee has the same diuretic effect as water!!! In high quantities it is a diuretic.
Coffee can upset your yoga practice with the effects of the caffeine. If your respiratory rate and your heart rate are elevated from the coffee then you can’t surrender as easily. So coffee affects your practice and perhaps because of that effect you may feel less flexible.
Do you drink coffee within an hour or 2 of a class? I guess I would check out the effects there (on breathing, ability to regulate your own breathing and therefore heart rate etc) comparing the results of coffee and no coffee before class.
Namaste
Gabrielle 🙂Hi Gabrielle,
Well, I normally don’t drink coffee after 12pm and I practice in the evening. But you’re right, one should test whether abstaining does indeed make a difference. But I think any change will only be noticeable over a longish period – and even then one would have no valid reason to ascribe increased flexibility or better breathing to cutting out the coffee. I have gone without it for longer periods in the past and I it did not really have a significant impact that I’m aware of. It’s probably healthier not to drink coffee, but I do rather like the taste!
What about those green juices? Do you think there’s any truth in it or is it a little hyped? Anyone else who has experience with beneficial impact of dietary changes? Or is a basic supplement enough? I take Solgar V75 every day, but that’s just for general health.
Hi Cyberry
If you’re only drinking 1 or 2 coffees then that is very moderate and the large break from midday til class is probably fine. If you are drinking more than that or if they are very strong then maybe there is an effect. So reduce or remove the coffee.
Having said all that I can tell you that in 1988 I gave up coffee! Yep I can remember because it was an imprint experience. I grew up on coffee. My mum’s French and somehow we had coffee while we were young (not infants OK, but probably from 10 years on – I’ll have to check with her and see if she can put a date on it!). I could drink coffee without effect for years. I could go out and drink a coffee at 2am and still get to sleep easily.
Then one day one of my friends came for dental treatment (for those who don’t know, I practiced as a dentist). We had time following his appointment and we went down to a great cafe and we had breakfast. We had 2 coffees each.
I resumed work. I had to cut a crown preparation for my next patient whose name I will always remember! The crown prep (which at that time this was work to the value of a couple of thousand dollars) thankfully was really great but we could both feel my hands were shaking. Luckily we had a great rapport and the work was good and we could laugh about it! It was a frightening experience though to feel my body react in such a severe way. I was shaking and my tummy felt quite sick.
Remember, I was used to drinking coffee practically all my life. What I am saying is that sensitivities can occur despite your longstanding habit. It is possible that your body is reacting differently to the caffeine. Ever since that time I have only ever been able to on very rare occasion have a coffee in the morning (so that the effect did not keep my up at night!). If I go somewhere and if I order a decaf and they accidentally give me the real thing, my speech rate increases and I can sometimes feel that ‘urgent’ feeling in my belly. Robert particularly notices. He will say, “did they give you caffeine?”
So my yogini friend, how about trying either or both experiment of giving up the caf or simply trying decaf for a while?
I am positive that there is real value in the green juices, just as there is value in eating whole green leafy vegetables. No one really markets whole vegetables so the marketing is going to be a whole lot more persuasive for a ‘product’. In other words there may be a hype component to the marketing. The green juices help promote dietary alkaline conditions. So as a starting point you may like to go and Google a list of alkaline to acidic foods.
OK, back to my brief holiday!
Namaste
Gabrielle 🙂Hi Gabrielle,
Thanks for sharing your experience – interesting to read that even someone whose system was used to the stuff could still have a strong reaction to the caffeine. And receiving confirmation on the green juice is also helpful.
What a coincidence you should mention giving up the caffeine since I just had my last cup of coffee whilst checking my emails! And: I intend to use the Christmas holidays (and sunny climate of the destination! Yay! – It’s snowing here as I write)to dust off my books on nutrition and do a bit of a cleanse!
Enjoy your holiday!
Kind regards,
FI did some research on iodine supplementation and took Iodoral (iodine tablets) for about a month. I noticed a huge increase in flexibility.
Hello,
Back from my holidays, so I thought I would quickly post an update on my experience with kicking the caffeine. It was hard and I suffered for a few days but I must say, even though I did not drink that much coffee and I thought it would not make a noticeable difference, it did. Not earth-shattering, but still. I am sleeping better and it’s actually wonderful to no longer have to contend with that ‘caffeine-high’ one sometimes gets when drinking two (strong) cups after another. I did tend to rely on it to get me going in the morning but I did not particularly like it. As for it’s impact on my flexibility – who can say whether it’s had an effect? My flexibility has improved slightly, but I think this is largely due to the (imposed) 9-day break (and resting my sore hamstrings) from Bikram yoga over the Christmas period than giving up coffee/caffeine. All in all I would recommend it since I feel more grounded and than before which is good enough for me!
I have two more diet and health challenges lying ahead but that will be addressed in a separate post…
-
AuthorPosts
- You must be logged in to reply to this topic.