Ayurveda for Natural Weight Loss, Part 1

Lokesh Rathuri

6 Feb 2015

Many people want to lose weight, but often we start an exercise routine (which in itself is great!) without fully considering the factors that cause obesity. In this first installment, we’ll look beyond standard explanations to analyze from an Ayurvedic understanding what causes weight gain and obesity. In turn, this will help us understand the process of natural weight loss with Ayurveda.

Accumulation of Toxins and Other Factors

One factor is the accumulation of toxins in the body, and this accumulation of toxins prevents you from being able to lose weight. You may not put on much weight, but neither do you lose weight.

What are the signs of toxins in the body? One sign is that the body feels puffy, especially when you wake up in the morning. Other indications are when the body feels dull, lethargic and there is low energy. It is so important to get rid of these toxins.

For that, it’s great to follow a 5-day Ayurveda gentle cleanse diet. This plan helps you to detox AND to lose weight. It involves just five days of eating a special preparation of a soup called kichadi, which is made of a superfood called mung bean along with rice and select spices.

There are also procedures you can add to your daily routine to help regularly cleanse the system. As just one example, it is a good practice to drink one cup of hot water at night.

Some key instances when people gain weight are

when there is an accumulation of toxins in the body
when there are metabolic imbalances
when there is a kapha (heavy) imbalance, which relates to the heavy, solid and watery elements of our constitution
when the digestive strength is weak
when our lifestyle is overly sedentary

As an example of number four, many people drink a lot of water with their food, which can both dull the digestive strength and disturb kapha. So not drinking for thirty minutes before eating or till one hour after finishing a meal will help the digestive system process nutrients more effectively and reduce kapha imbalance.

Examining the Connection Between Our Type and Our Weight

Another interesting observation is that obesity is related to our natural constitution.

Obesity is more common among people whose natural constitution is predominated by kapha or a mix of pitta and kapha. You are far less likely to find a person with a vata (light) or pitta (strong) constitution suffering a kapha imbalance and being overweight. However, kapha and pitta-kapha types both have a tendency to gain weight easily and lose it with difficulty. So obesity is very much connected to our natural constitution as well as to imbalances in our lifestyle.

SUPPORT YOUR NATURAL CONSTITUTION FOR NATURAL WEIGHT LOSS.

This is why Ayurveda recommends so strongly to stick to the diet plan that best supports your natural constitution as a foundation for good health. For kapha types especially, it is important to avoid oily, greasy and fatty foods. So you must come to know what constitution you are and what imbalance exactly you are experiencing. You can learn more about this during an Ayurvedic consultation or when you participate in a cleansing program like a week-long panchakarma detox.