Treating Obesity Naturally With Ayurveda

Vedic teacher Acharya Shunya explains the approach of ayurveda for weight loss.

Ayurveda For Weight Loss Become More And More Popular

Ayurvedic Medicine is becoming increasingly popular worldwide with people struggling from chronic obesity. Numerous wonder diets and diet gurus have populated the media and captured audiences’ attention. The public is starting to recognize that these diets lack underlying scientific logic and that the yo-yo effect of weight gain-weight loss-weight gain has detrimental side effects that add up over time, both physically and mentally.

In the meantime, Ayurveda’s traditional wisdom is gaining strength because its gentle, natural, and entirely scientific principles have matured over thousands of years and withstood the test of time. Ayurveda delivers weight loss, be it in acute mode over a short period of time or in steady maintenance mode, through the path of preventative care. Whichever mode is active, the results are accomplished without side effects or the need to resort to harsh diets, questionable formulas, or excessively demanding exercise regimens.

Treating The Whole Person For Sustained Weight Loss

In treating weight issues, Ayurveda adopts a truly holistic approach and does not reduce the whole human multi-dimensional equation to merely counting calories, burning them or substituting them. Instead, Ayurveda heals the entire person – body, mind, senses and soul.

Ayurveda contends that the human being has:

1. A physical body made up of food
2. An energy body composed of bio forces called doshas that regulate everything
3. An emotional-mental body
4. An intellectual body
5. And even a body composed of wisdom which pertains to the information coded deep within each cell

Any of these bodies can suffer imbalance and spawn disease, such as obesity. Ayurveda addresses each of these bodies for sustained weight loss.

Ayurveda’s Focus On The Root Cause Of Disease

Fortunately, Ayurveda is focused on the question of why we manifest excessive weight (sthulata) in the first place; it then gets to work on removing these exact causes.

Ayurveda declares that unless and until the seed is removed, there is no point in just pruning off the fruit repeatedly (as in burning calories or getting liposuction). We all know that fat returns with a vengeance, often along with other diseases that follow chronic dieting. Hence, Ayurveda’s wise counsel to remove the cause of fat imbalance is much needed advice for today’s health-conscious, spiritually-awakening consumers.

Listen to Acharya Shunya‘s insightful talks on Insight Timer to learn even more about Ayurveda:

Customized Foods, Recipes, Lifestyle & Exercises

Ayurveda believes that disease, such as obesity, is a consequence of disharmony between the person and nature.

Ayurveda lays out in exquisite detail the nature of the human body and makes the connection between qualities in the foods we eat and how they affect our physical, emotional, and mental constitution. With Ayurveda, each person gets their own customized diet and lifestyle plan along with recommendations of herbs that balance fat metabolism to facilitate sustained weight loss surely and steadily. Balance, in the form of “perfect weight, health and joy,” awaits us. When we mindfully reclaim the quality of our life and live consciously and positively from one moment to the next as per the guidance of master wisdom for all humanity – the science of Ayurveda.

What Can I Do To Begin Using Ayurveda For Weight Loss?

• Make an appointment with an Ayurveda healer. Like any other system of medicine, the knowledge of Ayurveda must be employed under an Ayurveda practitioner’s care. No book or magazine article can replace the thorough investigation and customized recommendations that an experienced and knowledgeable Ayurveda healer can provide.
• Take classes on Ayurveda to begin to understand the foundational knowledge. It is important to be an informed consumer of Ayurveda so we can evaluate whether the authors we are reading are grounded in the science, or not.

• Unless you are thirsty, don’t drink water. In today’s society, the excessive recommendation of drinking water to lose weight deserves a cautionary note. From Ayurveda’s perspective, all liquids, if taken in excess, aggravate kapha dosha (the dosha responsible for weight gain), and also dilute our digestive power (agni). Hence, those who wish to lose weight must drink warm water (never cold or with ice) and only when they are thirsty. Never just to meet a random number of ounces a day.
• Say no to yogurt. Popular weight loss items such as yogurt and cheese are fermented and hence they aggravate kapha and, in fact, all three doshas. Yogurt in particular increases watery secretions in the body adding to kapha overload. Until such time as desired weight is lost, say no to yogurt.
• Say yes to spices. Spices, specifically fresh garlic in food (no capsules), fresh ginger, dry ginger powder, cumin, turmeric, black pepper, rock salt – these spices are your friends.
• Say yes to Yoga and Pranayama – specifically, Dwichakrikasana, Padvritasanaand Ardha Halasana and Kapal Bhati and Anulom Vilom Pranayamas.

There is so much more and if it seems overwhelming, it may be worth your while to seek out an experienced Ayurveda teacher or Ayurveda course that can initiate you into an entire lifestyle and way of life, along with wisdom on foods and spices; so that you not only shed the weight but keep it off! Don’t just be happy hearing about the miraculous tales of the healing benefits of Ayurveda for other souls – it may be time to activate your own miracle. Like any responsible system of knowledge, there are no quick fixes in Ayurveda. But this I can promise you, once you learn the fundamentals, you will always have the body you want!

To choose Ayurveda may be the best choice you make –– a choice that may well transform your life for the better and truly free you of unnecessary weight and related health issues forever.