Fighting Obesity - an ayurvedic way - Alternative Medicine Article

By:Dr.Savitha Suri

Fighting Obesity - an ayurvedic way

Definition of Obesity

Excess amount of body fat is Obesity.

Excess weight of muscles, bone, fat and water in the body (like body builders and athletes) is Overweight.

Over weighted persons are at increased health risk than normal persons. They are more prone to chronic diseases like heart diseases, type-2 diabetes, high blood pressure, stroke, and few types of cancers.

Is fat necessary to our body?

Certain amount of body fat does the following function

1. Heat insulation.

2. Absorption of shock.

3. Storage of energy. Etc.

Ayurveda describes the functions of body fat as

“Medaha sneha swedaudhrudatwam pushtim asthyancha”

This means in normal conditions the body fat keeps the body moisturized , causes sweating , gives energy to body (by storing energy) and nourishes bones. (By protecting them from shock)

Distribution of fat

Women have more body fat than men. In women usually the fat accumulates around hips giving them a pear shape. In men it accumulates around belly giving them an apple shape. The obesity related problems start when fat accumulates around waist.

In ayurveda the distribution of fat is described as follows.

Medastu sarvabhutaanamudarenvasthi thishtathi |

Ata evodare vriddhihi prayo medaswino bhavet ||

Fat gets deposited in and around belly in all living beings. It is also present in bone. Hence when a person becomes obese his stomach bulges out.

And also the characters of an obese person are described as

"Medo mamsa ativriddhatvaachalasphigudarastanaha"

Which means the hips, belly and breasts of an obese person sag and sagged parts flap as that person moves. An obese person will not be active.

Causes of Obesity

When a person consumes more calories than he burns then the excess calories get stored in the form of fat causing obesity.

1. Genetic factors–Obesity tends to run in families. If parents are fat then the offspring also show a tendency to accumulate fat. Even the diet and lifestyle habits which are practiced in family also contribute to obesity.

2. Environment. – A person’s eating habits and the level of physical activities a person has also contribute for excess deposition of fat. When a person eats food containing more calories and has a sedentary work then the calories consumed are more than calories burnt. The excess amount calories are stored as fat.

3. Psychological disturbances.- There is a tendency to over eat in response to negative emotions like boredom, sadness or anger. This leads to obesity.

4. Binge eating disorder.

5. Diseases and conditions like Hypothyroidism, Cushing's syndrome, Depression, and certain neurological problems lead to overeating which in turn leads to accumulation of fat.

6. Medicines such as steroids and some antidepressants may cause weight gain.

Causes of obesity according to Ayurveda

The causes of obesity are very clearly explained in ayurveda. The following reasons which are mentioned in ayurveda increase the deposition of fat.

Avayamadivaaswapnashleshmalaaaharasevinaha |

Madhuroannarasaha prayaha snehamedhovivardhati ||

According to ayurveda the causes of obesity are defined as :

1. Avyayama : Not exerting physically

2. Divaswapna: Sleeping in afternoon.

3. Shleshmala Ahara Vihara : The diet and life styles which increase Kapha

4. Madhura Annaha : Consuming sweetened foods .

Health risks due to Obesity

Obesity leads to the following problems.

1. Type-2 diabetes

2. Heart disease.

3. High Blood pressure.

4. Stroke

5. Few types of Cancers

6. Gall stones

7. Liver diseases

8. Osteo arthritis.

9. Gout

10. Infertility

11. Irregular menstruation in women.

According to Ayurveda the obese persons are more prone to the following diseases.

1. Diabetes.

2. Kidney related problems.

3. Hepatitis.

4. Low libido.

5. Low energy levels.

6. Skin problems.

7. Fistula

8. Piles.

9. Filariasis . etc

Tips to reduce Obesity

1. Determine with the help of your physician how much weight has to be reduced.

2. Set several short term realistic goals .

3. Reward yourself each time you make progress (Not food items)

4. Even small weight losses have shown to be beneficial.

5. Make gradual changes in eating habits.

6. You will lose weight when you burn more calories than you consume. Hence eating less and being more active help in losing weight.

7. Sound eating habits keep you out of putting on weight.

8. Stay motivated to lose weight.

9. Slow weight loss is the safest and most effective. ( one to one and half pound per week).

10. Gradual weight loss, promote long term loss of body fat.

11. A person who is moderately active needs daily, 33 calories per kg of body weight to maintain his weight .

12. Reducing calories intake by 300 per day and increasing the physical activity to burn 200 calories per day results in weight loss of 400 Gms per week.

13. To satisfy basic nutritional needs eat a variety of foods every day. Choose from each of the five food groups milk, meat, fruit, vegetable and cereals. Balanced food plans encourage making wise choices about everyday food choices. This type of diet helps to stay at your proper weight for life.

14. Allow for an occasional treat.

15. Evaluate your eating pattern.

16. Try to cut down on foods high in fats and sugar.

17. Most successful weight – loss plans stress on reduction in both calories and the amount of fat eaten

Physical activity:

1. Determine the type of physical activity that suits your life style.

2. Regular aerobic exercise like brisk walking, jogging or swimming, is a key factor in achieving permanent weight loss and improving health

3. Health experts recommend exercising 30 minutes or more on all, days of the week for maximum benefits. The exercises should be moderately vigorous to be most effective but not exhausting.

4. Incorporate few simple measures to burn calories effectively. Like- taking an after dinner walk, using stairs instead of escalators or elevators, parking the car farther away to have a longer walk etc.

5. Exercises also improve sense of well being ,decreases stress and decreases appetite in some.

Ayurvedic tips to reduce Obesity

Numerous tips to reduce obesity have been mentioned in ayurveda. The following ayurvedic tips help you to reduce the obesity.

1. Very good exercises. Exercises like brisk walking, jogging, playing out door games etc help to reduce weight.

2. Physical and mental exertion. Exerting physically like doing house hold works, walking to distant places to bring groceries, vegetables etc, walking long distances to bring the child back from school, walking to working place, climbing stairs etc are types of physical exertion. Exerting physically as much as you can help to burn more calories. Mental exertion like worrying or involving in finding solutions to problems also restrict food consumption in some and there by reduces the intake of calories .

3. Having sex frequently is also a good physical exertion.

4. Consumption of honey. This is advisable for non diabetic patients. Consuming 2 tea spoon of honey with a glass of herbal tea which includes weight reducing herbs help a lot in weight reduction. Honey along with these herbs scrapes and dissolves the Kapha and medha (body fat).

5. Sleeping for less hours. Avoiding sleeping in afternoons help to increase the burning of calories. This avoids slowing of basal metabolic rate.

6. Avoiding the food and beverages which increase kapha and medha. The foods which increase kapha and medha are sweets, sweetened drinks , large quantities of carbohydrates and oily food.

7. Consuming wheat products than rice products help to reduce obesity.

8. Using Green gram and horse gram help in reduction of kapha and medha.

Digg del.icio.us Blink Stumble Spurl Reddit Netscape Furl

Article keywords: ayurveda, obesity, herbal remedies, herbal remedies for obesity, weight reduction, ayurveda remedy for weight reduction, ayurveda remedies, how to reduce weight, tips to reduce weight, obesity treat

Article Source: http://www.articles2k.com

Biography of Dr.SavithaSuri

Dr.SavithaSuri has been an Ayurvedic Practitioner since 1989. After getting a graduation degree in ayurveda (Bachelor of Ayurvedic Medicine and Surgery) in 1988 from University of Mysore, India, she started practising ayurveda . Her articles about ayurveda have been published in news papers and websites. She is a regular health columnist to a regional news paper.

Dr.SavithaSuri lives in Mysore , Karnataka, India. She gives consultations in Mysore and also in Bangalore the silicon valley of India.

www.ayurhelp.com
doctor@ayurhelp.com

Top Alternative Medicine Articles
1). Home Remedies for Common Problems By : Charles Kassotis Find out how you can cure common and annoying problems with what you probably already have in the house. Embarrassing, yet often minor problems like dandruff, acne, age spots, and bad breath can be cured or reduced with inexpensive home remedies.
2). Home Remedies For Wart Removal By : Barney Garcia There are many different home remedies for wart removable and here are some of the more imaginative ones that I have been able to find. Good old apple cider vinegar, which is used for a host of remedies, is also a reputed use for wart removal.
3). Award Winning Aromatic Plants By : James Kilkelly I recently was involved in the exhibition of a show garden at the 2006 “Garden Heaven” exhibition. I worked along with Terra Garden Ireland based in Claregalway on the bronze medal winning Malaysian themed garden “Neo Nusantara”. The garden combined wood, stone, earth and planting with two unique water features. The design aimed to appease and rejuvenate the five senses.
4). Foot Massage By : Caroline Colby Foot massage or foot reflexology has a Chinese origin. It dates back to more than 3,000 years ago and is used in the prevention and cure of many health ailments. Some in fact say, foot massage dates back to ancient Eygyptian times due to archaeological findings in cave drawings in Egypt. The principle of foot massage rests in the premise that the meridian network connects all tissues, organs and cells in our body.
5). Alternative Medicine is Holistic, Western Medicine is Reductionist By : Daryl Kulak The major difference between alternative medicine, or what I'll call holistic health, and Western medicine, is in approach. A Western doctor, or MD, sees his duty as searching out disease, diagnosing it, and treating it. If he does that correctly and effectively, he's done his job. Most often, this means the doctor prescribing a pharmaceutical drug or a surgical procedure to remedy the situation.
6). Aromatherapy Essential Oils – An Inheritance Well Acclaimed By : Bryan Josling The use of essential oils, which is derived from the pure essence of a plant, is not new. Though the term aromatherapy was coined only in the 1920s (by Gattefossé in 1928), people knew of aromatherapy essential oils from the prehistoric times. Starting from the Chinese to Egyptian, Greek, Roman, Persian and Indian civilizations, each have added to the science of essential oils and to aromatherapy as a whole.
7). How Lemon Juice Power Gives You Asthma Relief By : If you just found out you have asthma or are a long time asthma sufferer, here's step one to start off on your natural remedy lifestyle to reducing and controlling your asthma. Use of lemon juice has been found to have tremendous benefits in the body and of course for stopping and controlling asthma attacks. So, step one is to use lemon juice every morning.
8). Why Detox? By : Willie Jones For most of my life I considered myself fairly healthy. I was not overweight, very slim infact. I usually ate two to three meals per day, not a lot of junky type foods, so I thought. I was about to learn the hard way that my life style and eating habits were not healthy at all. My diet was like most of North Americas diet, a lot of processed food, soda, drinks, not real juice but man made sugary drinks, fast food and lots of fat! I also smoked 2 packs a day of menthol cigarettes.
9). Alternative Treatments For Headaches And Advice By : blueboy There are now many alternative and natural treatments to help people who suffer from headaches and migraines. In this article, I write about these type of remedies and also recommend the types of food people should avoid if they are always suffering from headaches and migraines. There are many causes of headaches including: Excessive amounts of alcohol Over eating An incorrect posture Too much stress Problems with teeth Problems with a person eyes It is important that we learn to deal with stress and to become more care-free.
10). How to get a lower blood pressure using medical treatment By : Groshan Fabiola The treatment for lowering the blood pressure is usually recommend by physicians for patients with a blood pressure of above 160/95mmHg. For those with a blood pressure immediately bellow these values it is taking into account age, sex or other individual factors of the patients before taking the treatment. The first kind of treatment recommended by all the doctors will be a change in the your lifestyle.

New Alternative Medicine Articles
1). Herbal And Alternative Treatments For Breast Cancer By : Mary Hanna Medical Doctors are finding that alternative treatments, such as herbs, help women with breast cancer during their chemotherapy and radiation. Research papers have shown that women with breast cancer find herbal remedies and alternative medicine helps in relief of fatigue, nausea and sleep disorders.
2). "Relaxation" Your Daily Allowance for Stress Relief By : Gaetane Ross Stress is the curse of living in modern times. Everyone suffers from stress. And the stress we suffer takes a heavy toll on our bodies, emotions and minds. Feeling stressed out, worn out by fatigue or just simply having a miserable day, the best thing to do is relax.
3). How Essential Oils are Extracted By : Alex Rider This brief article looks at the various processes of distillation, expression and solvent extraction used to produce scents in essential oils and absolutes.
4). Depression Relief Found With Regular Exercise By : Tracie Johanson Most of us recognize the benefits we can expect from exercise. One bonus that is often overlooked is how exercise can improve our mental health.
5). Is It Safe To Use Natural Health Medicine On Toddlers? By : Emmanuel Aubrey Most parents who have toddlers know how often they come home from kindergarten or day care with a runny nose.
6). Feng Shui Lighting - The Facts By : Christopher Byrnes A stydy of the science behind feng shui lighting
7). Natural Cure For Diabetes By : Anita Cherry Many natural herbs and vegetables help in the cure for diabetes. Learn what vitamins, minerals herbs and food help protect against diabetes.
8). Natural Heart Health Helps You Keep A Regular Heart Beat By : Emmanuel Aubrey Obesity is a common problem that causes heart attacks or heart problems. Yet is it not the only one. What makes obesity so life threatening is that the fat goes in and blocks the arteries, which are important for keeping the blood flowing to your heart
9). The Little-Known Old Fashioned Remedies By : Ben Tiew Despite progress we always have those among us who believe the "old fashioned" ways or products are better. It has to be said that in some instances they are correct. Sadly, with each passing generation, some of this old fashioned wisdom disappears.
10). Have You Considered a Natural Health Remedy? By : Jerry Cahill Are you suffering from symptoms that do not go away no matter how many times you visit your doctor? Perhaps investigating natural remedies might be an option for you to consider.