| In ayurveda, Charak Samhita describes eight 'nindya prakruties' (undesirable constitution) that are disease prone. Out of these, Obesity (Medoroga) is described as the one afflicted with the most diseases and troubles. Ayurveda considers underweight and overweight as signs of imbalance of the vata, pitta, and kapha systems. Overweight or obesity is mostly found in people with predominantly kapha-type constitutions .Obesity is a condition in which individual is significantly overweight due to excessive deposition of fat in the adipose tissue. This excess fat buildup is caused when a person consumes more calories in one day than that person is able to burn off
Body is made of 7- Dhatus {Rasa (Lymph), Rakta (Blood), Maans (Muscle), Meda( Fat), Asthi (Bones), Majja (Nervous System) Shukra (Reproductive System)}. In an Obese person Meda is excessively nourished and remaining other Dhatus gets undernourished and Kapha gets accumulated in between due to which fat metabolism gets hindered and a person puts on extra fat.
Extra fat puts a strain on the heart, kidneys, liver and the joints and thus, overweight people are susceptible to several diseases like coronary thrombosis, high blood pressure, diabetes, arthritis, etc.
From an Ayurvedic perspective weight problems are not just a matter of overeating and irregular eating habits. Being overweight, especially severe obesity is mainly a problem of the metabolism, which needs to be changed/ controlled in order to be effective. In most of the cases a person reduces weight mainly by reducing the food intake to achieve the weight loss target quickly. But just eating less alone does not solve the problem. No noteworthy weight reduction takes place and after having accomplished the fasting routine, weight is quickly gained again.
To decrease weight and get rid of obesity three things must be kept in mind:
- Controlling eating habits.
- Avoiding the causes of weight gain
- Regular exercise
Diet recommendations for weight loss |
