The Solstice Diet

By Jot Singh Khalsa, of Millis, Massachusetts, USA, who has served as the Solstice kitchen manager for over three decades.

Yogi Bhajan was a man of great vision. He told us that everything would be taken care of if we would revolve our lives around attending Summer and Winter Solstice. He designed the Solstice experience to challenge us, for he was preparing participants to serve, be exemplary for, and lead the future. Yogi Bhajan came to teach and be with us year after year, until his health would no longer allow. He did not wish for Solstice to be vacation-like. He wanted us to vacate our routines, to cleanse our bodies, clear our minds, and elevate our Spirit.

When Yogi Bhajan came to the Solstice site, he would always request the food that we were making and serving for the camp dinner that day; our traditional beans and rice, hot sauce, beets, carrots, and lettuce. It was extra incentive for us in the kitchen that “we better get it just right” for the Master would be eating the food. Sometimes he would visit the kitchen, just checking to see that everything was clean and orderly. All of that helped to establish the highest standards in the kitchen.

Yogiji designed the Solstice diet to support the transformation that occurs there. A physical, mental, spiritual, and emotional shift happens from Solstice, and the diet allows for maximum balance and integration of these changes. The mung beans, rice, and vegetables and the potato-vegetable soup are easy-to-digest meals (for most) that quickly restore our energy. This diet is also alkaline, which enhances the functioning of our glands and soothes our nervous system.

After sharing with the Master that many solstice participants were seen at the local Subway sandwich outlet during lunchtime one Winter Solstice about ten years ago, we introduced a tasty and digestible lunch (in previous years there were just two meals per day!). Increased requests for raw food options inspired us to add a new salad at dinner in the summer of 2009 that had been introduced at Winter Solstice 2008.

The Solstice Menu

Breakfast
2 Oranges
2 Bananas
Solstice Potato Soup

Lunch
Hummus
Quinoa Tabouli

Dinner
Solstice Mung Beans and Rice
Beets and Carrots
Solstice Hot Sauce
Golden Milk
Yogi Tea

Food of the Yogis: An Ayurvedic Perspective on the Solstice Diet