The Vedas classified the mind into three categories: Sattvic (pure), Rajasic (stimulating) and Tamasic (associated with inertia or ignorance).
In Ayurveda, food is traditionally classified according to the same categories: Sattvic, Rajasic and Tamasic. Sattvic food is traditionally preferred because it is associated with health, longevity, spirituality and joy.
Sattvic foods are traditionally considered foods of the highest quality. Fresh vegetables, fresh and dried fruit, salads, lentils, yoghurt, milk, fresh butter, wheat, rye, barley, hazelnuts, almonds, rice and honey belong to this category.
Sattvic foods are traditionally considered supportive of health, strength, vigour, vitality, physical balance and clarity of mind.
Rajasic foods are traditionally regarded as stimulating. This category includes sugar, sweets, meat, cheese, fish, fried foods, eggs, potatoes and other tubers. Rajasic foods are associated with physical energy, strength, passion and dynamism.
Tamasic foods are traditionally regarded as heavy or of lower quality and include foods described as dried, canned, heavily processed, spoiled, contaminated or otherwise unhealthy.
Meat, fish and alcohol are traditionally included in this category and are regarded as foods that can create heaviness and reduce mental clarity.
Yoga tradition teaches that violence and killing involved in obtaining meat have consequences for the person who consumes it. These ideas form part of the religious and philosophical basis of vegetarian traditions in India.
Balance, including balance in diet, is traditionally understood as helping to restore harmony with creation, purity of mind and a disposition towards contemplative prayer.
The Gunas are fundamental qualities expressed in the individual as well as in the forces that animate the cosmos. According to this tradition, health and quality of life are influenced by their dynamic balance.