Gunas of Food

The Gunas of Food (qualities) are Sattva, Rajas, and Tamas. In yogic philosophy, the word "Guna" means thread, merit, quality, or attribute, and relates to all matter and energy found in nature and states of consciousness, and is defined as:

Sattva: lightness, balance, harmony, purity, well-being, goodness, and peace.

Rajas: heat, activity, passion, restlessness, turbulence, stress, and anger or confusion.

Tamas: heaviness, lethargy, dullness, ignorance, delusion, darkness, or destructiveness.

Our inherent constitutions have a proportion of each Guna. For instance, without Tamas, we would not sleep; without Rajas, we would lack dynamism and focus; without Sattva, life would be uninspired and without higher consciousness. 

Ayurveda also utilizes these attributes to understand the individual energetics of foods, spices, herbs, and beverages. When balanced, these foods support all digestion, absorption, and elimination processes, helping prevent the formation of Ama (a byproduct) that can lead to disease.

Sattvic food is energy.

Rajasic food stimulates the body and mind into action, but in excess, it can cause restlessness, anger, irritability, and sleeplessness. These foods included overly spiced foods, onions, garlic, tea, coffee, fried foods, excessively sugary foods, chocolate, alcohol, and soft drinks. A Rajasic person might eat on the run, have poor digestion and health, and usually be a bit aggressive and overflowing with energy.

Tamasic foods. All of these substances do nothing to lift our energy and consciousness; in fact, they pull us down into a state of laziness and dullness. Living tamasically can lead to obesity, diabetes, heart and liver disease.