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A satvik meal is all that is allowed during Navratri while onions and garlic are forbidden. Satvik foods are essentially vegetarian, prepared using only wholesome, organic, plant-based and dairy produce, strictly avoiding all animal meat and comprise fruits, nuts, vegetables, seeds, milk, legumes and various other naturally derived bounty.

Ayurveda experts believe that satvic food is healing food, it is easy to digest, so when we eat it, our body has to spend less time digesting and can spend more time healing. It is based on the traditional custom of cooking and eating food since time immemorial claiming its magnificent wellness incentives, from promoting digestion, increasing metabolism, improving immune functions, enriching skin, hair wellness and keeping a calm mind.

During Navratri, the Hindu devotees can eat nothing processed, tinned or bottled, which refers to every food that is packed, preserved or frozen as they are not living and fresh food items. Anything they make must not be fried or subtracted of its natural elements and prominently a portion must be rich with water concentrate, like fruits, vegetables and leaves.

Ayurveda categorizes food ingredients into three different attributes or gunas - namely sattva or satvik, rajas or raajasic and tamas or taamsic where satvik means something that is pure, natural, vital, clean, energetic and conscious while raajasic and taamsic are referred to things that are unripe, weak, resentful and destructive. Food items such as onions and garlic are a big no-no during Navratri since they are considered taamsic in nature i.e. considered to invoke carnal energy in the body.

Hindu devotees believe that onions and garlic make it difficult to differentiate between desires and priorities since garlic is known as Rajogini - a substance believed to make one lose grip over their instincts while onions produce heat in the body. The nine days of Navratri celebration is a time when devotees are supposed to denounce the worldly pleasures and adopt a pure and simple life but eating raajasic and taamsic foods during these festive days are believed to distract your focus hence onions and garlic are forbidden from consumption during Navratri meals.

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