How to Use Yoga and Nutrition to Nourish Your Body and Mind: Lessons from Nourish Your Namaste

Learn about how you can use yoga and nutrition to support your health and wellbeing with this book review of Nourish Your Namaste. 

Image courtesy of Kara Lydon

When Kara Lydon first told me she was writing Nourish Your Namaste, a book about how to use nutrition and yoga to support your health, I didn’t think I was her target audience. While I’m all about nutrition (clearly), yoga has never really been my thing.

I’ve done yoga on and off for years, but for most of that time (ok more like all of that time) it’s been “off”. Yoga has always been something I felt like I probably should do, but I could never stick with it for long. Intense weight training and HIIT workouts were more my thing, and yoga didn’t seem important enough to fit in.

This all changed for me a few months ago, as I started to experience more muscle and joint pain (ah the joys of getting older). My stretching routine was severely lacking and my body was finally reacting to the heavy weights I had been throwing around. I decided to sign up for three weeks of unlimited yoga, and within the first few days, yoga and I finally clicked. Now, for the first time since I tried yoga over a decade ago, I’ve continued to practice on a regular basis.

Image courtesy of Kara Lydon

Which brings us back to Nourish Your Namaste: How Nutrition and Yoga Can Support Digestion, Immunity, Energy, and Relaxation. This book offers an integrative approach to improving your overall health and wellness. It is for any of you yogis interested in how food and nutrition can enhance your yoga practice, as well as anyone who is curious about alternative therapies to becoming healthier and more balanced.

There are countless nutrition books out there, with so many mixed messages; it can be hard to know what to believe. The difference with Nourish Your Namaste: Kara Lydon is a licensed professional in both nutrition and yoga. As a registered dietitian nutritionist and a registered yoga teacher, all the information in this book is backed by scientific research studies, so you know what you are reading is the most up-to-date recommendations.

A Brief Summary

The book is broken down into five sections. It opens with Nutrition for Yoga 101, explaining what to eat, when to eat, and how to eat to optimize your yoga practice. What you eat and when you eat prior to a yoga class can have a huge impact on how you feel (anyone who has had an awkward rumbling stomach during savasana knows what I’m talking about…). Kara also shares pre and post-yoga meals and snacks to nourish your body and help with refueling and recovering.

The remaining four chapters cover nutrition and yoga for relaxation, digestion, energy, and immunity. Each chapter includes step-by-step yoga poses designed to help with relaxation, improve your digestion, boost your energy, and strengthen your immunity. Even a non-advanced yogi like me found the instructions simple to follow and the poses attainable.

Image courtesy of Kara Lydon

In addition to yoga poses, the book contains over 80 pages of illustrated recipes and detailed ingredient recommendations. Nutrition is a complex subject, but Kara breaks it down into manageable amounts of information, clearly articulating her food recommendations. I appreciated how she shares the “why” behind each food, giving you more incentive to add each to your diet.

Kara’s food photography skills shine, with dozens of gorgeous recipe photos that are sure to inspire you to action in the kitchen. Recipes range from a simple Sweet Potato Smoothie spiced with cinnamon and ginger (relaxation) to Pumpkin Lentil Quinoa Chili (energy) and a Buddha Bowl with Turmeric Tahini Dressing (immunity). Most recipes are plant-based and gluten-free.

Image courtesy of Kara Lydon

Why Should You Read This Book?

This book helped me to gain a new perspective on my yoga practice. I learned how certain poses help nourish my body, which led me to devote more time to restorative yoga. I now have a solid base of yoga poses that I can do on my own. Not only has my muscle pain started to resolve, but with the addition of restorative yoga I have a simple way of accessing calm and relaxation in my body.

While many of the nutrition recommendations weren’t exactly new to me, reading the book prompted me to take a closer look at my diet. I’ve since added in more calming and immunity boosting foods and added a few of Kara’s recipes to my weekly meal roster.

Whether you are a beginner yogi, advanced, or (like me) have been away from yoga for awhile, I highly recommend Nourish Your Namaste to help strengthen your yoga practice and learn how to better support your health and healing.

If you’re interested in getting a copy of Nourish Your Namaste, or just want to learn more: Click here to visit Kara Lydon, RD, LDN, RYT.

Disclaimer: I was given a free copy of this book in exchange for a review. As always, all opinions are my own and I only recommend brands and products that I love and use personally.

Do you practice yoga? If so, what benefits have you seen? I’d love to hear your stories in the comments below!

Are you interested in intuitive eating?

Check out my Unapologetic Eating 101 Course, an online, self-paced program to liberate yourself from dieting and make peace with food and your body.

My team and I also offer virtual one-on-one support – you can check out our virtual intuitive eating nutrition coaching packages.

My book, Unapologetic Eating: Make Peace with Food and Transform Your Life, is also a great resource that includes information, research, and reflection prompts to help you move away from dieting and come back home to your body, so you can live your most unapologetic, liberated life. 

Author Bio

This article was written and reviewed by Alissa Rumsey, MS, RD, CSCS, a registered dietitian and Certified Intuitive Eating Counselor. She specializes in weight-inclusive care, intuitive eating, body image healing, mindfulness, self-compassion, and healing from chronic dieting, disordered eating, and eating disorders. Alissa holds a Bachelor’s Degree in Nutrition and Exercise Science, and a Master’s Degree in Health Communications, and is also an NSCA Certified Strength and Conditioning Specialist.