Weight Loss and Ayurveda
Most of my life I haven’t been concerned with my weight. If I felt a little overweight I would change what I ate and exercise more and the weight seemed to go off with no problem. There was even a time when I felt I was too thin and was able to eat most anything I wanted in hopes of gaining some weight. It is during this time that I pull a lot of the knowledge I have about weight and the human body for this article.
We all know that we are to eat healthy foods and drink lots of water and get lots of exercise to keep the weight at bay. But, in reality, for most, that is a hard and daunting task to maintain for more than 1 month. If you’ve made it to greater than 1 month then you are doing extremely well. But reality is that we are tempted back into our old habits and we “treat” ourselves after we’ve done good for an amount of time and before we know it we are back into our old habits and gaining more weight than we had just lost.
Ayurveda looks at weight from a very different perspective than western medicine. When one is overweight, according to Ayurveda, the fire within the bodies tissues are not burning at their capacity causing food to go undigested and ama to accumulate. Ama is a sticky, moist substance very similar to mucous, but even stickier, that clogs the channels of our bodies, making us feel heavy and lethargic and giving us colds, flu’s and any other ailment that comes our way. In order to rid the body of accumulated ama we need to heat up the tissue and cleanse. Pancha karma is Ayurveda’s way of aiding the body to lose weight, gain strength and heal any ailment. Pancha karma is traditionally done at the change of seasons especially Spring and Fall, but can be done at anytime to assist the body. Pancha karma is great if you have at least 1 week to cleanse, but will see excellent results if you are able to give 1 month. This isn’t always possible. So another remedy for losing weight through Ayurveda is to increase the fires of the tissues through herbs and treatments.
There are seven tissues of the body; rasa (plasma), rakta (blood), mamsa (fat), medas (muscle), asti (bones), majja (bone marrow) and shukra (reproductive fluids). When we eat our food the body feeds these seven tissues starting with the first (rasa) and ending with the seventh (shukra). The food has to be of good quality in order to feed the tissue all the way down to the shukra AND the fires within each of the tissues have to be working properly. If the fires (agni) are not working properly then you will see weight gain. The better quality of the fuel (food) the easier it is to maintain these fires within the body tissues.
In Ayurveda we would use heat to get the fires re-ignited. Heat would be given externally through steam therapy and internally through herbs. Some of the best herbs to use for weight lose are Triphala and Trikatu. Both of these are a combination of herbs and will help heat up and clean out the body. But, in order for the fires to stay lit one would need to know what foods work best for them (their unique constitution) by getting a consultation with an Ayurvedic Practitioner.
Once the body has it’s agni’s re-ignited there are additional factors that effect weight that include:
· Having a general contentment for life. It has been shown that people who are happy seem to keep the weight off and will maintain their good health. Whatever needs to happen for you to find contentment and happiness should not be put off, but you should be making the steps to change to the positive.
· Exercise routine. Yes, there is no way of getting around this one. You will need to be active in order to keep the weight off. Some are blessed with a fast burning metabolism while most of us need to physically be active to keep the metabolism high. The good news is if you are already an active person but just can’t seem to shed the extra weight then once the agni is going you shouldn’t need to add to your active schedule.
· Don’t eat unless hungry. No matter what, if you are hungry eat, if you are not hungry don’t eat. When your body is hungry it means it has burned off your last meal and is ready to take some more food in for energy. If you are eating when you are not hungry then you are again suppressing the agni (fires) within the body and will find yourself gaining weight. Once your fires are going again you should be feeling a genuine hunger pain to eat.
· Eat only healthy, fresh, preferably organic foods. Fresh food is easy fuel for your body to burn. Homemade foods are also easy to burn if all ingredients are natural and healthy. Meals should consist of 1 part whole grain, 1 part protein, 1 part vegetable. And each meal should have all 6 tastes (sweet, sour, salty, bitter, pungent, astringent). If both of these factors are met then the body will burn the food efficiently and you will not have cravings after meals keeping snacking down or none at all.
When I was at my thinnest was when I was living in an ashram in California, eating organic freshly prepared meals and making sure all six tastes were present in my meals. I had just had a baby and in my mid thirties, which is when most women claim they gain the most weight. I was doing very little exercises (yoga asana’s), but was so thin I was trying to eat to gain weight. The reason for this was that I had been eating a pure diet from when I was about 3 months pregnant and so after having the baby I was easily losing the baby weight and even losing the additional weight. There were no preservatives in the food and everything was made fresh that day. My internal fires were lit and stayed that way because of the pure food and I only ate when I was hungry.
Once I came out of the ashram and was pregnant with my second child I put on weight. This time I was in my late thirties and not eating as pure of a diet as the first time I was pregnant. I found myself overweight and trying to figure out what to do to change the uncomfortable feeling of it. I took the principles of Ayurveda, applied them to myself and used myself as a guinea pig. I now find myself at a comfortable weight and empowered with the knowledge of how to maintain it.
Through my experience I can help others get their weight under control in a natural, safe way. If you are interested in learning more about your body and how you can get healthy and find your comfortable weight then contact me through email at edie@ayurvedaireland.ie or phone: 353 0 87 6506513. I am based in Ireland in Co. Dublin.