There are many fringe benefits of being a yoga teacher. That includes the occasional gift from a student. The other day, one of the students at Iyengar Yoga Honolulu brought me two bags of mangos from her tree. It is a bumper crop season here in Hawai’i as we have had a rain-filled winter.
The catch is that these particular mangos have a shelf life of about 3 days before they start to go bad. You can see the black forming around some of them. So I have been giving as many away as I can eat.
After reflecting on my windfall of fruit, I realized that mangos have been a staple food for yogis for thousands of years. I remember going to the Honolulu Academy of Art and seeing a statue of Buddha with a mango similar to the one seen above.
I don’t usually like to talk about food or diet because to each his/her own. BKS Iyengar says that one should gauge his/her diet by how it effects one’s yoga practice and vice versa. But it may be safe to say that mangos are an ideal food for yoga practitioners for several reasons.
First, they are loaded with fructose. Although not so good for those prone to diabetes, it is great for teachers who need a sugar rush before they teach a class. I have noticed that when I sub a lot, my eating clock becomes critical especially for morning classes. I don’t like to eat a whole lot before I teach, but I don’t want to not eat and lose all my energy. I find that mangos are a good solution to pre teaching breakfast.
Secondly, they have lots of fiber. So much that you just about need to see a dental hygienist after eating one because of all the fiber stuck in your teeth. That fiber really moves things along if you know what I mean.
Thirdly, they are delicious. Imagine eating sorbet in fruit form.
Other interesting facts are that mangos are actually in the cashew nut family and more mangos are eaten world wide than apples.
So thank you to the student who brought the treasure trove of mangos. They have made many people happy!
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