Colors Of Food: A Spiritual Perspective
(This is an excerpt from a University Of Metaphysical Sciences course at www.umsonline.org, please feel free to visit the school website)
To get an understanding of how the color of food affects us, it is helpful to first imagine food as condensed, colored sunlight. In this sense, food holds a colored vibrational energy that is transmitted to us when we look at it and when we eat it. From a spiritual perspective, the color of food has an effect on our subtle body, as well as our physical body. According to research done by Gabriel Cousens, a pioneer in the relationship between nutrition and spirituality, the outer color of food has a direct relationship with the chakra of the same color. For example, red apples have a relationship with the first chakra, oranges with the second chakra, yellow peppers with the third chakra, green leafy vegetables with the fourth chakra, blueberries with the fifth chakra, purple grapes with the sixth chakra, and white onions with the seventh chakra. From this perspective we will see how the color of food can influence our consciousness.
In the yogic tradition, one of the major practices is to encourage the Kundalini energy to rise up the spine through the chakras. As it passes upward it stimulates the chakras as well as all the organs in the associated chakra region. When the Kundalini reaches the crown chakra the awakening of enlightenment is said to take place, which takes us beyond identification with the body-mind complex. There is a way to eat in which this flow of Kundalini can be mimicked and therefore encouraged. Gabriel Cousens calls this type of eating the “rainbow diet.”
The basic idea is that the first meal of the day should include food with the colors red, orange, and yellow, which correspond to the lower three chakras. The midday meal should include mainly green foods, with some yellow or blue as well, if desired. The last meal of the day should be foods with blue, purple, white, and gold, if desired, which is also related to the sixth chakra.
By following this pattern throughout the day you are stimulating the flow of Kundalini through the chakras, by first stimulating the base chakra, which is where Kundalini resides, and then working your way up. As well as simply eating in this way it is recommended to try and actually feel the energy of the colored food within the body. At the end of the night notice how you feel in the top chakras. Gabriel further states that it can be very powerful to meditate at this time, as the Kundalini may be nearing the crown chakra.
Another application of the rainbow diet is to heal a specific chakra or organ. For instance, if you were feeling like you wanted to expand the energy of your physical heart or heart chakra, you might want to eat lots of green salads. This will allow the green colored vibrational frequency to resonate and expand the heart chakra, which will then have a direct affect on the physical heart.
The rainbow diet is not meant to be followed to the point where you are not eating a food you are drawn to if it does not match the specific time of day. It is simply a way to play with the energies of the colors of food and use the basic idea as a suggestion to be worked on through your own process.