Obesity is a condition when a person's body weight exceeds the appropriate and proportionate height. Obesity is a disease that affects many people due to a variety of reasons. It is not healthy to have excessive thickness in the body. The body gets expanded in width due to unequal and excess growth of fats in the stomach or around the waist, back, and thigh areas.
Fat or obese people have been found breathing heavily and suffering from cholesterol and cardiac disorders. It is surely not a sign of good health. There may be weight-losing products in the market, but except for ayurvedic treatment for obesity, none of the products would produce a permanent solution.
Are You Obese?
A person is considered to be underweight when his or her body mass index is below 18.5. Underweight or overweight is determined by calculating the weight in kilograms by height in the form of squares in meters. And it is BMI = kg/m2. Ayurveda for obesity goes beyond BMI by managing weight with the measures of diet control, exercise, and panchakarma treatment. However, it is necessary to select a properly registered physician who specializes in ayurvedic treatment for obesity.
Health Risks of Being Overweight or Obese
You should know why it is important to control your obesity. Obesity is not a common disease, it can be very harmful for you and can cause many serious problems for your body. Here we have mentioned some of them
- High Blood pressure
- Gallstones
- Type 2 diabetes[1]
- Dyslipidemia
- Stroke
- Piles
- PCOS
- Coronary heart disease.
- And more….[2]
Causes of Obesity as per Ayurveda
Eating oily foods, sweets, and frozen matter in higher quantities often contributes to higher kapha and thus deposition of unhealthy fats in the body.
- It is the agni disrupting the digestion by combining and increasing along with pitta. It is known as theekshana. Or else by merging and increasing along with the kapha and that is what is called mandagni. It leads to poor metabolic conditions.
- Slowed-down digestive metabolism and imbalance of kapha leads to the deposition of unhealthy fats in the body.
- Surgery, chemical methods, or extreme forms of fasting may help you to lose some kilos. But it may be for the short term. Rather applying such methods can bring up complications in your health.
What is the Suitable Ayurvedic Treatment for Obesity?
It is not about giving up eating carbohydrates and practicing exercise vigorously to gain an appropriate body weight with height. Otherwise, your digestion system will get out of control, disrupt your sleep quality, and make you suffer from severe hair loss, hormonal imbalances, and cause skin problems. Improper ways of losing weight will cause loss of muscles and energy from your body.
Ayurvedic treatment for obesity can be initiated from home in the following ways
1. Setting Proper Meal Timings
It is necessary to have breakfast before 10 AM. Having warm, light, and freshly cooked oatmeal and buttermilk will load your body with fiber and protein and not let sugar levels go higher.
At lunchtime between 12 PM to 2 PM, you can go for sprouts and vegetable salad, multi-grain rotis, brown rice, and lentils. Digestion rate tends to go slower followed by the sunset and night.
It increases the level of kapha dosha. You can have hot soups made with carrots, ginger, and broccoli. Mixed vegetables or potato soya bean curry. You must finish your dinner by 8:00 PM to allow it to digest for the entire night.
2. Practicing exercise or yoga at the right time and within the time limits:
There are some easy exercises which anyone can do ranging between 15 to 30 minutes every day. Going for a walk, climbing down and up the stairs, and playing any outdoor game.
It will help in losing the fats and burning the calories. Virabhadrasana, trikonasana, and Sarvangasana are a few such yogic postures that can eliminate excess fats from the body.
You can get help from any certified yoga trainer to practice the asanas regularly.
a). Virabhadrasana
This yoga asana can be done by the elderly, pregnant, or person of any age as a part of ayurvedic treatment for obesity management.
Steps of performing this asana
- Keeping one leg from another at a distance of 3ft to 4ft.
- Bending one of the legs at a 90-degree angle and another one at 60 degrees.
- Raising your head and hands high up and folding the hands.
This asana will enable you to gain balance over your body and have a flattened stomach.
b). Trikonasana
This particular asana is also applicable for all ages including pregnant women. It helps in relieving stress and increases flexibility. It is another form of ayurvedic treatment for obesity control.
Methods of doing this Asana
- Stand straight.
- Set your legs apart from one another in a horizontal way.
- Extend your right leg farther apart from the left leg.
- Now, raise your hands straight in the horizontal direction.
- After that, lift one of your hands high up vertically. Let’s say the left one.
- And bend the right hand down to touch the ankle of the right leg.
- Come back to the normal position and breathe in and out.
- Repeat the yoga with the other side.
It will help in reducing unhealthy fats from the waist and belly and may also increase your balance and concentration.
c). Sarvangasana
Women in the stage of menstruation and pregnancy should not practice this asana. It will pose a physical challenge for such women to lie down and lift their bodies with their legs upward.
It would be risk-taking in both the cases of menstruation and pregnancy. But again it may not be an easy ayurveda asana for obesity management for other people with the problem of arthritis. It is required to consult the doctor.
Let’s take a look at the not-so-easy yoga asana step for obesity control
- Lie down straight.
- Keep your two legs together and lift them high up.
- With the support of your hands on both sides, raise your shoulders and back high up.
- Extend your shoulders and back further up with the support of your hands
- And bend your head toward the floor and keep it down for a while.
It is a shoulder stand posture which will reduce belly fat and reduce your thyroid problems if any.
4. Drinking Herbal kadha or Hot Water:
You can have cinnamon or honey mixed with hot water daily in the morning instead of tea or any caffeine product. The presence of natural compounds in the ayurvedic combination stimulates the elimination of toxins from the body. It will act in the process of the Ayurvedic treatment for obesity.
If you are looking for obesity treatment with easy ayurveda then you can drink hot water daily. You can either have it on an empty stomach to clear the bowels or after any meal. It will break down the unhealthy fats deposited in the stomach or the belly. Also water is one of the drinks that help with period cramps.
5. Panchakarma
It is a body detox method that has been practiced since the ancient period. Non-invasive Virechana and invasive basti serve the purpose of reducing the deposited fats from the body and thus giving relief from stress and obesity.
A triphala medication is used in the Virechana and it happens to be the best ayurvedic medicine for obesity. It is enriched with herbs like haritaki, amalaki and vibhitaki will be orally applied to the patient.
Basti is another form of ayurvedic treatment that can be done in an invasive way by applying herbal oil and later herbal solution through the anal route.
You need to visit a specific Ayurvedic clinic that practices this form of Ayurvedic treatment for obesity. It may not be affordable for everyone but the healing effects will be long-lasting. It will improve your gut health and not let you fall sick for a long time. In these ways, you can overcome the problem of obesity.
Conclusion
Obesity is known to be an accumulation of unwanted and toxic fats in the body not in a proportionate way. If your body expands in width that may not match well with your height. A person with short stature and an expanded belly is a sign of obesity. Even taller people have the problem of obesity.
Obesity is not good for health as it causes different chronic disorders in the body. Diabetes and cardiac disorders are common. And women who are obese, eat too much sugar and lead a sedentary lifestyle may be more likely to suffer from gestational diabetes.
Ayurvedic treatment for obesity will have long-term relieving effects on people fighting obesity. With healthy eating habits, regular exercise, and panchakarma, one can get relief from toxic fats accumulated in the body and stress.
FAQs
Which Ayurvedic medicine is best for obesity?,
As a part of ayurvedic treatment for obesity, it is necessary to cleanse the stomach and have a regular bowel movement.
Drinking hot water will clear the toxins from the stomach, reduce the body fats and keep your body free from infections and obesity.
It is also necessary to stop relying on food prepared outside. You can prepare food at home with low fat oils and eat less carbohydrates.
How to reduce body fat through Ayurveda?
- Control intake of carbohydrates and yet increase the amount of fiber in your diet with juicy fruits and green vegetables.
- Keep away from consuming dairy products.
- Drink a lot of water. It will help in cleansing the toxins. Further, hot water will do wonders for your body by clearing the bowels smoothly and never letting you suffer from constipation.
- Practicing yoga asanas like virbhadrasana and sarvangasana will reduce the unwanted fats from the belly and other parts of the body.
Which Ayurvedic herb is used in the treatment of obesity?
People have gained control over obesity by taking Triphala every day. It reduces unwanted and toxic fats, aids in digestion and improves energy levels.
Further, you can get in touch with an Ayurvedic physician for medication for weight loss as per your metabolic conditions.
Can obesity be cured by Ayurveda?
It is possible with diet control, exercise and also drinking herbal decoction.
How to reduce body fat through Ayurveda?
- By having a low-carb diet.
- Having a lot of vitamin C-enriched fruits and vegetables.
- Drinking juice and having fiber in your diet.
- By exercising regularly for half an hour.
