Obesity is one of the most dreaded lifestyle ailments today and is spreading like an epidemic across the world. Owing to our slavery to the taste buds and lethargic living conditions, being obese and overweight is affecting all.
The main problem with weight gain is that not only does it affect the confidence and mental stability of the person (making him easy target to mockery) but also lays a foundation for many other serious diseases.
Analysing Weight Loss With Ayurveda
Obesity or atisthula or medoroga is considered one of the eight “nindya prakruties” (undesirable constitution) of the body. In an obese person, individual medas (fat) are excessively nourished and the other remaining dhatus (tissues) get malnourished.
According to Ayurvedic philosophy, the kapha type (water and earth) individuals are more likely to gain weight easily. The vata types (with more of air and ether) are generally skinny and devoid of much fat. The pitta (fire) dosha personalities, who are generally gifted with proportional body weight, could gain weight if they lose their balance.
[pullquote]Ayurveda believes that people who have more of kapha in their system generally have a low BMR and gain weight more easily compared to the other doshas.[/pullquote]
Accumulation of kapha slows down fat metabolism, which further leads to obesity. Thus, for weight loss, the kapha types need to be more strict both in the terms of diet intake and undertaking exercise routine.
Ayurvedic Tips For Weight Loss
- Exercise not just your body but your mind as well to bring down body weight, or the Medha dhatu.
- There are many specific Yoga exercises that can help. Deep breathing exercises, or Pranayama, can also be undertaken so as to accelerate weight loss.
- Do not sleep during the day.
- Dry massages and enemas prove helpful.
- The weight-loss dry massage technique, called Udvartana, encourages weight loss, tones the skin, removes cellulite, loosens fat molecules and eliminates them from the subcutaneous level, and removes Kapha toxins from the body.
- Drink a glass of lukewarm water with a few drops of lemon juice and 1/2 tsp honey on an empty stomach first thing in the morning.
Ayurvedic Diet for Weight loss
- Decrease sweet foods in the daily diet.
- Increase the intake of diet components containing pungent, astringent, and bitter tastes.
- Take foods such as oats; barley; honey; pulses like moong and arhar; and herbs like dried ginger, bitter gourd, aamla, soye, etc.
Yoga Therapy With An Ayurvedic Diet
Yoga therapy, when undertaken with an Ayurvedic diet and lifestyle, in the form of Yoga asanas, techniques, and pranayama helps considerably in weight loss. Some helpful asanas are
- Trikonasana
- Bhujangasana
- Surya Namaskara
- Deep breathing techniques like bastrika pranayama and kapala bhati
Yoga sessions, combined with the diet, works wonderfully for weight loss. They help you to eat only what is needed for the body, and the urge to eat more and frequently will disappear on its own. Once you are hooked to this lifestyle, you will stay with it, and the body will slowly return to its normal weight and retain it.
Mudra Therapy
Surya mudra is another effective therapy recommended in Yoga for weight loss. Touch the root of the thumb with the ring finger and exert a little pressure on the ring finger with the thumb. This alignment tends to increase warmth in the body systems and should ideally be practiced for 15–20 mins.
Which Medicines Can Help?
Some of the medicines usually prescribed for weight loss are given here:
- Triphala churna
- Mandoor bhasm
- Swarn makshik bhasm
- Guggulu
- Shilajit
- Medohar guggul
- Triushanaadi loha
NOTE: These should be taken strictly under a qualified Ayurvedic doctor’s supervision. These medicines will help in weight loss provided other diet and lifestyle measures for weight loss are followed.
