Loosing Weight with Auryveda

Permanent weight loss can only occur when the body's fat ideal is lowered.
Auryveda believes that speeding up the body's organism in healthy ways to lose weight. It controls the Vata while relieving the system of excess Kapha. By using excercise, natural supplements, and non-Kapha-producing foods in a process that is slower than most dieters prefer. They definitely believe the idea of haste makes waste.

If you are morbidly obese you weight loss needs to be under the guidance of a competent professional.

Symptoms of being overweight:
Pendulous belly, breasts, and buttocks
Panting for breath after mild exertion
Profuse perspiration when it is not hot
Excess thirst, especially at night
Intense food cravings
Prolonged but unsatisfying sleep
Unpleasant body odor
Inflammation where skin folds rub against each other
Generalized body ache
Loss of sexual appetite
Lack of enthusiasm for living

If you do not suffer from many of these symptoms then you should not attempt "heroic attempts to loose weight."
Focus instead on bringing your body into balance.

Affluence of the mind causes obesity. Once the mind overcomes boredom and eating out of boredom then transformation can begin.
Transformation needs to be your goal, not loosing weight. Reducing weight happens naturally with transformation of mind and habits.

Spring is the best time to begin but any time is a good time, even if it is beginning again.
Every attempt will benefit you, if it is sincere.
Eventually, you are bound to succeed.

Exercise is important for permanent weight-loss. Continual, moderate exercise is better than vigorous exertion. However it suits you, you must get your body moving.

Oversleeping is a significant cause of being overweight. To reduce weight, go to bed and wake up at the same time every day. After a month of a regularized sleep patter, reduce your sleep by half an hour.
Except when ill, no one should sleep longer than eight hours a night. Some people can go with six hours, others need seven or eight.

Eat foods according to your Prakriti or constitution. These can be found on auryvedic websites or in books like Prakriti by Dr. Robert E. Svoboda.
Auryvedics recommend fasting once a week according to your constitution. Some recommend fasting or Juice fasting at the beginning of your diet. You can find an article on juice fasting in my list of websites.

Slow down while eating. think about the food n our plate. Let all five senses prepare for what you're about to consume. Some people count to three after each bite. Make sure the previous bite is consumed before taking another.
Stop eating when full.

Keep a journal of what you eat to help be conscious of the foods you digest. Make a menu of your meals before you eat. All too often we eat without thinking, this allows awareness of our eating habits.

Lusting after food can actually add fat to your body. Instead of fantasizing about food, take a walk, chew sugar-free gum, or drink herbal tea.
Turn off the Food Network and other shows about food!

Reward yourself!
When you've done one of the above for a week, reward yourself by the intake f Sweet through another sense. Get a strenuous massage (deep tissue massages aid in ridding yourself of Kapha). Listen to sweet sounding music.
Never punish yourself for backsliding!
Punishment for failure reduces hope, reinforces guilt, and ruins self-image.

Most importantly, whenever and whatever you eat, enjoy yourself. Think about your food and enjoy it.

avoid the following Kapha-producing foods:
Beef, pork, butter, cheese, ice cream, sour cream, wheat products, white sugar and products containing it, alcohol, fried foods, junk food, fast food, and all excessively sour or salty foods like pickles and chips.

It is most important to focus on your constitution. All Doshas and dhatus, including Fat, must be healthy to loose weight.
Change your diet gradually; speed and extremes will only cause failure and unhealthy lifestyles.
Do not salt your foods. If you crave salt, us light salt or kelp powder.
Avoid sweeteners but allow yourself regular use of honey (do not cook it). Honey has a fat-reducing effect.
Take fiber when you crave sweets. Fiber helps the body balance itself in response to sweet cravings.
Do not reduce carbohydrates. The body needs them to reduce fat.

Try not to eat after sunset.
Eliminate all cold drink and food. Cold creates Kapha, this is why we get colds in the winter.

Reduce the amount that you eat. Kapha constitutions should wait 6 hours between meals, 2 at the least.
Drink water when thirsty but 6-8 glasses is not mandatory like most physicians and nutritionists would insist. Warm to hot water or herbal tea melts fat.

Some auryvedics recommend vitamin supplements. Talk to your physician before taking a regular supplement!

Many auryvedics recommend flushing the system with castor oil before you begin your diet and follow this with fasting. Again, talk to your physician before doing this.

Beauty deeper than skin

I used to focus on my weight constantly. Having never been skinny or slender, I would look at everyone around me in a sort of the vs. me mentality. I would see other women and point out how pretty this feature or that is and when I looked in the mirror I saw only faults.
Not only is this thought process not healthy and negative thinking only keeping me from looking and feeling happy, but I now know that this is also blasphemy.

All women and men are created by God, a microcosmic reflection of the macrocosmic divine. To say someone is ugly is to say that the Creator is in turn ugly. Everyone is beautiful, don’t think otherwise.

So, in saying all of this, why diet or watch my weight?
HEALTH!
I am now the largest I have ever been. This wouldn’t be a problem, but in gaining weight, I have put a large amount of pressure on my small bone structure (I’m 5ft tall with the bone structure that my art teacher says never really moved out of pre-puberty). Also, I now have blood pressure problems and with my family’s history of heart disease, I don’t need to push my luck.

So that leaves the question of how?

There are so many diets and lifestyles and so on out in the world and all can be easily learned about with a little online research. I will post my decisions on this blog but I recommend that everyone find something that works best for them. What I do will not be the wa for everyone and I don’t expect it to be.

I have tried being a vegetarian and I would love to live organic but really can’t afford to.
I love pasta and cereals so Atkins didn’t make sense, and I wasn’t about to starve myself.
In the end, the chosen path sort of fell in my lap.

I found out about the Auryvedic diet from a friend of mine when we were discussing Indian religion and lifestyles. The next day I saw a show on the Travel channel about a town in Iowa that all lived on the Auryvedic lifestyle. The day after that, I visited the local used book store and found Prakriti by Dr. Svoboda...well, nothing happens as a coincidence...

After reading Prakriti (which means constitution) I learned a lot about Auryvedic medicine and lifestyle, but, most importantly, I learned a lot about myself. I learned that my doshas are Pitta-Kapha, that a lot of my constitution is based on my food and lifestyle choices and on my genetics (my mother is also Pitta-Kapha), and that by eating and living right, I can not only change my weight but my mood, the way I view life, and the way I interact with people!

The best part of Auryvedic dieting? I don’t have to drastically change my life. I can introduce and change foods and I can change the way I eat.
Svoboda says the best way to eat is slowly without focusing on tv or internet. Kaphas, like myself, should wait at least 2 hours (6 hours is best) between meals.

I will post more about my Auryvedic diet and the like in other posts, but anyone who is interested in it, especially those iving in the US and Western World, should read the following books.

Prakriti: Your Auryvedic Constitution by Dr. Robert E. Svoboda
What’s Your Dosha, Baby? by Lisa Coffey
Lisa Coffey also runs a blog and website WhatsYourDosha