Maintaining healthy body weight is crucial for your overall health. Excess weight or obesity can cause many health problems such as diabetes, high blood pressure, heart diseases, etc. Fortunately, Ayurveda offers a simple, holistic and effective approach to weight loss. With weight loss treatment in Ayurveda, you can easily restore your health and well-being.
Basics of Ayurveda for Weight Loss
According to Ayurveda, being overweight is a Kapha condition, meaning that excess Kapha Dosha increases body weight. Hence, the weight loss treatment in Ayurveda usually involves pacifying Kapha Dosha through diet, herbs and lifestyle changes.
Diet Tips for Weight Loss in Ayurveda
Eat a Kapha-Pacifying Diet:
As Kapha is a leading factor in increasing weight, it is important to eat a Kapha-pacifying diet to lose weight. The following tips will help you pacify Kapha through your diet.
- Eat warm, light, bitter, pungent and astringent foods.
- Limit heavy, oily, sweet, sour and salty foods.
- Avoid eating dairy products.
- Eat fruits that have an astringent taste, such as apples, cranberries, mangoes and peaches.
- Include leafy vegetables in your diet that are grown above ground.
- Reduce the consumption of nuts and seeds.
- Include warming spices such as black pepper, dried ginger, turmeric, cumin and cinnamon in your diet.
Eat Three Meals Each Day:
Adequate food and nutrition are necessary for weight loss as your body needs constant fuel to maintain a healthy metabolism. Therefore, Ayurveda recommends eating three healthy and satisfying meals each day without snacking in between. It will help stimulate the digestive fire and boost metabolism in the body.
Do Not Eat Snacks in Between the Meals:
Eliminating snacking from your dietary regime is essential for weight loss. According to Ayurveda, the digestive fire remains strong only when it can fully digest one meal before consuming another. Therefore, Ayurveda recommends separating meals by at least 4 hours and not munching snacks during this time.
Eat a Heavy Lunch and a Light Dinner:
The digestive strength of the body is the strongest from 11 am to 2 pm. Hence, Ayurveda recommends eating a heavy meal during lunchtime. It is also recommended to make your dinner as light as possible and ideally take it before 7 pm. The digestive strength of the body is weakest during this time, and a light dinner helps your stomach to empty itself before sleeping.
Drink Lukewarm Water with Lemon:
Begin your day with a glass of lukewarm water mixed with some lemon juice. It will help detoxify the body, stimulate the digestive system, enhance metabolism and break excess fat in the body. It will also make you feel more energised in the morning.
Stimulate Your Digestive Fire Before Meals:
You can also stroke the digestive fire before meals to boost digestion and metabolism. To do this, take a slice of fresh ginger and add a pinch of salt, a few drops of lime juice and ¼ teaspoon of honey to it. Chew this ginger slice before 30 minutes of eating your lunch and dinner.
Eat According to the Season and Region:
Ayurveda stresses on Ritucharya, which means seasonal regime. When you eat foods according to seasons and regions, your body naturally digests and assimilates nutrients, thereby improving metabolism and preventing weight gain.
Indulge in All the Six Tastes:
Ayurveda recognizes six tastes or Rasas, viz sweet, sour, salty, pungent, bitter and astringent. You must incorporate all these six tastes in your diet to improve digestion and metabolism and maintain the proper balance in the body.
Include Herbs in Your Diet:
Ayurveda also recommends taking certain herbs for weight loss, such as Triphala, Guggul, Kalonji, Punarnava and Aloe Vera. They are known to enhance metabolism and digestion and shed excess body weight. However, the usage and dosage of these herbs depend on many other factors. Therefore, you should take them only after consulting an Ayurvedic doctor.
Practice Mindful Eating:
Offer your complete presence to the food while eating. Understand your body’s signs when you are satisfied or full. It will help digest the food better, reduce the chances of overeating, encourage satisfaction and prevent unwanted cravings between meals.
More Tips for Weight Loss in Ayurveda
- Practice Yoga and Pranayama every day. It will help to develop muscle tone and boost metabolism in the body. Some of the best Yoga Asanas for weight loss in Ayurveda are Surya Namaskar (Sun Salutation), Virabhadrasana (Warrior Pose), Dhanurasana (Bow Pose), Konasana (Angle Pose), Utkatasana (Chair Pose), Setu Bandha Sarvangasana (Bridge Pose) and Bhujangasana (Cobra Pose).
- Meditate every day to reduce stress and calm your nervous system.
- Wake up and sleep on time. Go to bed by 10 pm and wake up before 6 am. It will help to align your body with the circadian rhythm and maintain the balance of the body, mind and spirit.,
- Get sufficient sleep. Good quality of seven to nine hours of sleep is essential to detoxify the body and maintain healthy levels of cortisol, a stress-response hormone that leads to weight gain.
Takeaway
Ayurveda provides a holistic approach to losing weight with the help of diet and lifestyle changes. It says that what to eat is as important as when and how to eat. Therefore, Ayurveda gives a few dietary guidelines to help you lose excess body weight and reclaim a lean and healthy figure.
