"An Ayurvedic Approach to Losing Weight"
An Ayurvedic Approach to Losing Weight
Introduction
Ayurveda is a wellness system that
originated in India around 5,000 years ago. Though it’s one of the world’s
oldest healthcare traditions, millions of people all over the world practice it
today. In fact, the popularity of Ayurvedic medicine is growing. The word Ayurveda derived from AYU and VEDA. AYU means
life VEDA means science or knowledge. Ayurveda means the
science of life. Charaka defines "That science is designated as Ayurveda
which deals with advantage and disadvantage as well as happy and unhappy states
of life along with what is good and bad for life, its measurement and the life
itself (Charaka Sutra 1 - 4)".
Analysts expect that by 2022,
Ayurvedic medicine will have become a nearly $10 million industry. According to sources, up to 80 percent of people in
India use Ayurveda exclusively or combined with conventional Western medicine.
Are
you tired of trying one diet after another without achieving your ideal weight?
Perhaps you’re just ready for a more holistic approach to weight loss, or
you’re just looking to reset after a brief period of feeling out of sync with
your diet or lifestyle.
Eating according to your dosha
Practitioners of the Ayurvedic tradition teach that
human beings need to balance three forms of energy and each energy is linked to
natural elements:
- Vata. The energy of movement
associated with space and air.
- Pitta. The energy of metabolism
associated with fire and water.
- Kapha. The energy of your body’s structure associated with earth and water.
Although all people have vata, pitta, and kapha, a
person’s dosha is the form of energy most dominant in your constitution. In the
Ayurvedic tradition, the way you eat should correspond with your dosha.
Determining your dosha
Determining your dosha could prove
tricky to people who are new to Ayurveda. Although there are lists of characteristics
for each dosha online, the National Ayurvedic Medical Association recommends that you consult with
a trained Ayurvedic practitioner if you aren’t sure which dosha is dominant for
you.
Ayurvedic practitioners are licensed
and regulated in India. In the Ayurvedic tradition, your diet should correspond
with your dosha.
What Are The Doshas? - Ayurvedic Minute
Dietary recommendations for vata-dominant
people
- Eat
3 to 4 small meals daily, at least 2 hours apart.
- Incorporate
lots of cooked vegetables.
- Avoid nightshade
vegetable, such as eggplants, peppers,
tomatoes.
- Eat
juicy, sweet fruits and avoid astringent fruits like cranberries and raw
apples.
- Limit legumes.
- Eat
a wide variety of nuts and
seeds, especially in the form of nut milks.
- Avoid
addictive products like sugar, alcohol, and tobacco.
- Avoid
foods that are raw, frozen, or extremely cold.
Dietary recommendations for pitta-dominant
people
- Eat
lots of raw vegetables and salads, especially in spring and summer.
- Limit
your intake of animal foods like meat, seafood, and eggs.
- Avoid
spicy foods, coffee, and alcohol.
- Avoid
nuts and seeds.
- Eat
legumes and lentils in moderate amounts.
- Eat
and drink dairy products, especially those that have been sweetened.
Dietary recommendations for kapha-dominant
people
- Limit
the quantity of food you eat.
- Avoid
dairy and foods high in fat.
- Limit
protein.
- Eat
lots of leafy greens and vegetables grown above ground (as opposed to root
veggies).
- Eat
astringent fruits like apples, cranberries, mangoes and peaches.
- Limit animal foods, nuts and seeds.
Talk
to a doctor before making significant changes to your diet to be sure the steps
you plan to take are the right ones, given your overall health.
Ayurvedic weight loss remedies
Herbs and herbal remedies are an
important part of the Ayurvedic tradition. Many of these herbal treatments have
been in use for over 1000 years, but few have been researched in clinical
settings.
Ayurvedic
diet tips for weight loss
- Practice Fifteen
Minutes of Yoga Every Morning: Establishing a daily yoga practice may seem a surprising first step in a
comprehensive set of weight loss recommendations. But it is no coincidence that
this is the first suggestion, nor that you are being asked to practice yoga
first thing every morning.
Yoga is an incredibly powerful practice that benefits the entire
being—body, mind, and spirit. It awakens, lubricates and cleanses the body,
massages and stimulates the organs of digestion and elimination, tones the
joints and muscles, increases circulation, kindles healthy internal heat,
activates the digestive fire and facilitates detoxification.
But the practice of yoga also balances the mind and emotions, calms the
nervous system and activates prana—the vital life-force within each of us.
There is certainly no harm in doing more than fifteen minutes, but you
are much more likely to succeed if your commitments feel doable. And
truthfully, fifteen minutes of yoga is enough to be transformative.
So every day commit to do Yoga at least fifteen minutes.
If you are new to yoga, a simple series of Sun
Salutations (Surya Namaskar) is a great place to start. This practice is
dynamic, rhythmic and flowing. Sun Salutations balance the entire system and
can be modified to be more or less challenging—depending on the condition of
each individual.
Start with a series of four and slowly build up to ten or twelve, if that feels appropriate to you. If fifteen minutes is up after eight or ten sun salutations, it’s also fine to stop there. The important thing is to work with the breath and to cultivate presence throughout the mind and body as you flow through the asanas.
How To Do A Sun Salutation | The Right Way | Well+Good
Whatever practice is right for you, attending a yoga
class on occasion (or even regularly) can provide an important sense of
community, as well as the added depth of being guided by a qualified
instructor. Yoga classes can also inspire a more engaged home practice and
support you in maintaining this important commitment.
2. Eat Three Satisfying Meals Daily:
Eating three satisfying meals each day will support you in being able to maintain a healthy Ayurvedic diet for weight loss. But this recommendation also makes sense physiologically.
In the Ayurvedic tradition, the concepts of fire, transformation, and
digestion are intricately linked. There is an art to starting and tending a
fire and the same is true for the digestive fire.
Maintaining a healthy metabolism requires appropriate kindling, and a
regular and reliable source of fuel—with appropriate spacing in between. If we
stop eating entirely, the digestive fire will inevitably die down.
Avoid Snacking Between Meals
While this is often a challenging adjustment to make, eliminating snacks
is powerfully supportive of weight loss. The digestive fire is strongest and
most efficient when it can fully digest one meal before being asked to digest
anything else. Therefore, it is best to separate meals by at least four hours.
Interestingly, fat metabolism is kicked into high gear during this
natural break between meals; without it, the body does not tend to use
accumulated fat as energy. Therefore, avoiding snacks is a fantastic
way to invite your body to burn through the accumulated excess.
If the desire to snack arises, have a cup of hot water with 1 teaspoon
of honey and a squeeze of fresh lime juice instead. Or, if you must
have something to eat, try a few raisins or some carrot or celery sticks.
Make Lunch Your Main Meal
Digestive strength is strongest at mid-day, so eating your main meal at
lunchtime (ideally between 11 a.m. and 2 p.m.) capitalizes on your body’s
naturally increased digestive capacity at this time.
Make
Dinner as Light as Possible
Eating a light dinner (ideally eaten by 5 or 6 p.m.) allows your stomach
to empty itself before you go to sleep and supports the natural detoxification
processes that occur overnight. Even if it’s not possible to eat this early,
you will be more successful if you avoid eating anything after 7 p.m.
Offer
Your Full Presence to Each Meal
Eating is a sacred act, an act of love. It is therefore best to eat in a
calm, peaceful environment, free of emotional upset, intense conversation,
television or multi-tasking of any kind.
These practices allow your body to fully register the tastes and
textures of your food, reduce the likelihood of overeating, encourage an experience
of satisfaction and help prevent the occurrence of unhelpful cravings
between meals.
Optional:
Stoke the Digestive Fire Before Meals
If you feel inspired to go even further, you can stoke the digestive
fire about thirty minutes before lunch and dinner by chewing a slice of fresh
ginger (about the size of a nickel) with a pinch of sea salt, a few drops of
lime juice and about 1/4 teaspoon honey.
3. Eat a Kapha-Pacifying Diet:
As we have seen, excess kapha is inherently involved in being
overweight, but it can also cause attachment, greed, resistance to change,
lethargy, excessive sleep, heaviness in the mind and body, congestion, depression,
a sluggish metabolism and water retention.
Eating a kapha-pacifying diet helps clear excess kapha
from the system and can affect change in all of these areas—supporting the body
in achieving a more balanced weight while improving overall health.
In essence, a kapha-pacifying diet seeks to neutralize excess kapha by
emphasizing foods that are light, warm, dry, rough, and very digestible. In
general, choose whole foods that are freshly prepared and seasonally
appropriate over processed foods, or cold, stale foods.
Beyond that, there are a number of additional practices that can
effectively reduce excess kapha.
· Kapha-Pacifying Diet: a comprehensive overview.
We can incorporate kapha-pacifying foods into our diet. Kapha is balanced by a diet of freshly cooked, whole foods that are light, dry, warming, well-spiced, and relatively easy to digest—ideally served warm or hot. These foods calm kapha by balancing mucous production, regulating moisture levels, maintaining adequate heat and by supporting proper digestion and elimination. That said, finding a diet that is appropriately satisfying is crucial to your success; so it’s extremely important that you enjoy the foods that you do eat.
Embrace Slow, Steady and
Small Shifts
No one expects
you to wake up tomorrow morning and eat a perfectly kapha-pacifying diet for
the rest of your life! Even the most recognized Ayurvedic teachers have the
occasional difference of opinion, which can create some discrepancies between
different Ayurvedic diet and recipe resources.
We recommend
that you begin by noticing where you might be able to make small, incremental
changes in support of your healing journey—at a sustainable pace. From there,
notice the ways in which these small shifts are supporting you, and where
perhaps some of your current habits are costing you.
Qualities to Favor
Ok. Now that
we’re on the same page about how to approach this, we’d like to introduce the
qualities that you’ll want to favor in your diet and by contrast, the qualities
that will tend to be inherently kapha-aggravating. By nature, kapha is heavy,
cool, oily and smooth, so eating foods that neutralize these qualities—foods
that are light, warm, dry, and rough—can help to balance excess kapha. This
section offers a closer look at how you can begin to recognize the qualities of
different foods.
Favor Light and
Airy over Dense and Heavy
Fruits and
vegetables are typically wonderfully light, so a diet that is built around a
tremendous abundance of fresh fruits and vegetables—preferably cooked—is a
great start. A modest amount of raw fruit may be suitable and, in moderation,
kapha is also balanced by salads and other raw vegetables when seasonally
appropriate (usually in the warmer spring and summer months). Green or black
teas are quite light, especially when compared with coffee. In general, foods
that are a bit heavy for kapha include hard cheeses, puddings, nuts, cakes,
pies, wheat, most flours, breads, pastas, red meat, and deep fried foods, which
are also excessively oily. Eating too much in one sitting also leads to excess
heaviness, so it’s important to try not to overeat. A good rule of thumb is to
fill the stomach one-third full of food, one-third full of liquid and to leave
one-third empty for optimal digestion. Very heavy meals and highly processed
foods also tend to aggravate the heavy quality in kapha and are best reduced or
eliminated.
Favor Warm over
Cool or Cold
The warm
quality can be emphasized by eating foods that are warm in temperature or that
have a warming energetic—and by using heating spices generously. Cooked foods
tend to offer a warmer energetic and are typically easier to digest; so cooked
food is preferable to raw—especially in the colder months. Kapha does best to
drink room temperature, warm, or hot beverages and often benefits from sipping
hot water throughout the day as well. If you like that, you can also try
sipping warm water with a dab of raw honey in it; honey is both heating and
detoxifying.
On the other
hand, it is best to reduce or minimize foods with a cooling energetic, cold and
frozen foods or drinks, carbonated drinks and even leftovers that have been
kept in the refrigerator or freezer. The cold quality is inherently increased
in these foods, so freshly cooked is best. Consuming large quantities of raw
fruits and vegetables can also be quite cooling, so it is best to enjoy these
foods in moderation and when seasonally appropriate.
Favor Dry over
Moist or Oily
Kapha’s
oiliness is offset by exceptionally drying foods like beans, white potatoes,
dried fruits, rice cakes, popcorn and an occasional glass of dry red or white
wine. When cooking, it is important to use as little oil as possible. You can
even play with substituting water for oil to prevent sticking. Do your best to
minimize oily foods like avocado, coconut, olives, buttermilk, cheese, fried
eggs, cow’s milk, wheat, nuts, and seeds. It is also important not to
over-hydrate because kapha can and does retain water easily.
Favor Rough over
Smooth
There’s a
reason that fruits and vegetables are sometimes called roughage; their fibrous
structure gives them a very rough quality. This is why kapha responds so well
to eating large quantities of fresh fruits and vegetables. That said, these
foods are often much easier to digest when cooked, so be careful not to overdo
raw foods and adapt your enjoyment of them according to the season. Some foods,
like broccoli, cabbage, cauliflower, dark leafy greens and many beans, are
exceptionally rough and are therefore wonderful for countering kapha’s smooth,
oily nature. Eating smooth foods and preparations like bananas, rice pudding,
hot cereal, milk, cheese and the like—can quickly aggravate kapha.
Tastes to
Favor
Kapha is
pacified by the pungent, bitter, and astringent tastes and aggravated by the
sweet, sour, and salty tastes.
Emphasize
Pungent
- Pungent
is a spicy, hot flavor like that found in chilies, radishes, turnips, raw
onions and most spices. In fact, most spices are tremendously kapha
pacifying.
- The
pungent taste is light, hot, rough, and dry—all beneficial for kapha. In
essence, if you like spicy or fiery hot, go for it. And even if you don’t,
favor a wide variety of milder spices in your dishes—things like cardamom, cloves, cinnamon, cumin, ginger, garlic, paprika and turmeric.
- The
pungent taste cleanses the mouth and clarifies the senses. It stimulates
digestion, liquefies secretions, clears the channels of the body,
encourages sweating and thins the blood.
Bitter
- The
bitter taste predominates bitter greens (like kale, dandelion greens,
collard greens, etc.) and is also found in bitter melon, Jerusalem
artichokes, burdock root, eggplant, dark chocolate and in kapha-pacifying
spices like cumin, neem leaves,
saffron, and turmeric.
- The
bitter taste is rough, drying, light and generally reducing—all qualities
that benefit kapha, but it is also cooling, so it’s important to add some
warming spices to bitter foods.
- Bitters
cleanse the pallet and improve the sense of taste. They tone the skin and
muscles, improve appetite, support digestion and help to absorb moisture,
lymph, muscle fat, adipose tissue and sweat.
Astringent
- The
astringent taste is basically a flavor of dryness—a chalky taste that
dries the mouth and may cause it to contract.
- Legumes
like adzuki beans, black-eyed peas, chickpeas, kidney beans, lentils,
pinto beans and soybeans are classically astringent in taste and very
kapha-pacifying. Some fruits, vegetables, grains, baked goods, and spices
are also astringent in taste—things like apples, cranberries, pomegranate,
artichokes, broccoli, cauliflower, lettuce, popcorn, rice cakes, crackers,
basil, coriander,
dill, fennel,
parsley, and turmeric.
- The
astringent taste is dry, rough, somewhat light and it reduces kapha. But
like the bitter taste, it is also cold, so it’s best to add warming herbs
and spices to astringent foods. For Pomegranate, simply enjoying these
foods in the warmer seasons makes a lot of sense.
- Kapha
benefits from the compressing, absorbing, nature of the astringent taste,
which also helps to tone bodily tissues and utilize excess fluid.
Minimize
Sweet
- The
sweet taste is cold, heavy, moist, oily and kapha-provoking, especially in
excess.
- Reduce
or eliminate the intake of refined sugar and sugary sweet foods as much as
possible.
- It
would be impossible eat a nutritious diet and avoid the sweet taste
altogether. But it is certainly reasonable to reduce the portions of
naturally sweet-tasting foods like fruits, grains, root vegetables, milk,
ghee, yogurt, eggs, nuts, seeds, oils and meats.
- Sweet
foods tend to aggravate kapha’s tendency toward heaviness, obesity, lethargy,
and excess sleep. They can also cause excessive mucus, aggravate colds and
coughs and depress the appetite in an unhealthy way.
Sour
- Minimize
sour foods like vinegar, cheese, sour cream, green grapes, oranges,
pineapple, and grapefruit.
- The
moistening and oily qualities of the sour taste aggravate kapha.
- The
sour taste can increase thirst, create heaviness in the eyes, cause laxity
in the body, and aggravate water retention or swelling.
- An
occasional squeeze of lemon or lime juice is the best way for kapha to
ingest the sour taste.
Salty
- The
salty taste is almost singularly derived from salt itself.
- Much
like the sour taste, it is salt’s moist and oily nature that aggravates
kapha.
- In
excess, the salty taste can cause water retention, high blood pressure,
intestinal inflammation, grey hair, wrinkles, excess thirst and it can
impede the sense organs. Further, it tends to spark a sharp desire for
stronger flavors and can similarly trigger insatiability and greed.
How to Eat
When it comes
to pacifying kapha, how we eat can have a profound impact on our degree of
success, so this is an especially useful place to focus, if the prospect of
radically changing your diet feels overwhelming right now.
As most people
with kapha digestion know, kapha’s love of food and tendency toward emotional
eating can easily lead to overindulgence. Eating at consistent times from one
day to the next also helps to strengthen the digestive fire while regulating
the appetite. You can further counteract sluggish digestion by chewing a slice
of fresh ginger (about the size of a nickel) with a pinch of sea salt, a few
drops of lime juice, and about 1/4 teaspoon honey about 30 minutes before both
lunch and dinner. This helps to prepare the digestive system to receive food
and to process it effectively.
During meals,
it is very important to eat in a peaceful environment and to give your full
attention to the act of being nourished so that your body registers
satisfaction. This will help reduce overeating and emotional eating. Fast
foods, sweets, and excessive amounts of bread and other comfort foods can be
especially kapha-provoking. While you will likely not succeed in avoiding all
kapha-aggravating foods, their detrimental potential can be minimized by making
sure that they are served warm, in small quantities and with the support of
heating herbs.Periodic fasts or cleanses can be very helpful—especially if you
tend to be able to sustain your energy over long breaks between meals. A short
fruit or juice fast (think apple or pomegranate) or a longer monodiet of
kitchari can be very supportive.
Suggested Meals
Breakfast
Breakfast is
often somewhat optional when kapha is elevated. Kapha benefits tremendously
from the unforced, overnight fast between dinner and breakfast. If the appetite
has not returned upon waking, it’s likely that a light breakfast of fresh fruit
or tea will suffice. If breakfast does feel important to you, consider:
- A
substantive serving of fresh fruit: stewed apples, a fruit salad—choose
fruits like apples, apricots, berries, mangos, peaches and strawberries, a
fruit smoothie, or some freshly juiced fruit.
- A baked apple can also be
satisfying.
- Hot
cereals, like seasoned barley or rice porridge, are excellent
choices. You can even add a little dried fruit or a dab of honey if you
like.
- Another
option would be muesli with warm rice milk and a slice of rye toast.
- Add
herbal, green, or black tea to any of these breakfasts but be careful not
to over-decorate them; a dab of honey or rice milk is likely enough.
Lunch
Ideally, lunch
is the main meal of the day, meaning it’s the largest and the most nourishing.
Build your lunches around consuming lots of steamed and sautéed vegetables, and
complement them with beans, appropriate grains, non-yeasted breads, a suitable
meat, or an occasional egg. Try something like:
- Red lentil-lemongrass soup and a
side of steamed kale. The kale can be garnished with olive oil, lemon
juice and black pepper.
- A
simple vegetable soup made with vegetables like onions, garlic, broccoli,
celery, carrots, green beans, and asparagus and a slice of rye toast.
- Saffron asparagus kitchari and a
side of sautéed dandelion greens with lemon and mint.
- Green
chile soup with black bean tacos. Include black beans, sautéed onions and
bell peppers, shredded romaine lettuce, cilantro, salsa and a squeeze of
lime juice and serve over steamed corn tortillas.
Dinner
Dinner is
ideally significantly smaller and lighter than lunch. Soups and stews are often
a wonderful choice because they are warm and nourishing, even when light. A smaller
serving of lunch can often work, too. For some, especially when weight loss is
indicated, it’s best to forego dinner altogether in favor of a healthy
breakfast and lunch, or to eat a more substantial breakfast and make dinner the
ultra-light meal of the day. Try:
- Minted toor dal and a small
serving of quinoa.
- Red lentils with basil and a
small serving of basmati rice.
- Potato
leek soup with a small salad and a stimulating dressing, like
lemon-ginger.
Specific Kapha-Pacifying
Foods
Embrace eating
regular meals without snacking much in between, eat your main meal at lunch
with a lighter dinner, and make a concerted effort to be fully present with all
of your meals. That is as good a starting place as any.
·
Kapha
Pacifying Foods: a list of foods to favor and avoid.
Kapha can be
brought back into balance by eating the right foods.
Fruits
Fruits that
pacify kapha will generally be somewhat astringent and only mildly sweet. Dried
fruits are acceptable, on occasion, but should only be enjoyed in small quantities
because they are so dense and concentrated.
Fruits to
avoid are those that are exceptionally sweet or sour (like oranges or grapes) and
any that are especially heavy, dense, or watery—like bananas, coconut, dates,
melons, pineapple or plums.
And remember,
fruits and fruit juices are best enjoyed alone—30 minutes before and ideally at
least 1 hour after, any other food. This helps to ensure optimal digestion.
Favor |
Avoid |
|
|
Vegetables
Vegetables
that pacify kapha will generally be pungent, bitter, and astringent. Most
vegetables include some combination of these tastes, so vegetables are an
important centerpiece of any effective kapha-balancing diet.
Cooked
vegetables are generally easier to digest than raw ones, so it’s best to have
raw veggies, salads and kapha-aggravating vegetables in small quantities and at
mid-day when digestive strength is at its peak. Raw vegetables are often more
appropriate for kapha in the spring and summer seasons.
The only
vegetables for kapha to reduce or avoid are those that are particularly heavy,
dense, oily, or watery – like avocado, cucumber, olives and the other
vegetables listed in the reduce or avoid column below.
Favor |
Reduce or Avoid |
|
|
Grains
Grains that
pacify kapha are light, dry, and rough. In general, grains tend to be staples
in our diets because they are somewhat heavy and nourishing. But when it comes
to balancing kapha, these qualities are best minimized, so reducing grain
consumption overall can be a huge benefit.
Avoid grains
that are exceptionally heavy, moist, or dense (like wheat, flours, breads,
cooked oats, and pastas) as much as possible, and eat smaller quantities of
appropriate grains. It often works well to supplement meals with extra
vegetables or legumes, which are nutritionally rich, but also more balancing
for kapha.
Favor |
Avoid |
|
|
Legumes
Legumes are
generally astringent, which is one of the tastes that balances kapha. Kapha can
enjoy a wide variety of legumes, but they should generally be well-cooked and
well-spiced to make them more digestible. Even well-cooked tofu, tempeh and
warm, spiced soy milk are acceptable. The only beans that don’t work for kapha
are simply too heavy or oily to be balancing.
Favor |
Avoid |
|
|
Dairy
Dairy products
are best minimized when trying to reduce kapha because they tend to be heavy,
unctuous and can increase mucus production. As a rule, dairy milks should be
taken at least one hour before or after any other food.
Ideally, milk
is boiled and served hot with a pinch of turmeric or ginger—to make it more
digestible and less congesting. Goat’s milk and goat’s milk products are the
best options for kapha because they are lighter, but are best in moderation.
Almond and rice milks are good substitutes.
Favor |
Avoid |
|
|
Nuts & Seeds
Nuts and seeds
tend to be heavy, dense and oily and are generally not terrifically balancing
for kapha. But there are a few types of nuts and seeds that are acceptable in
small quantities. When trying to balance kapha, nuts and seeds are best enjoyed
only on occasion.
Favor |
Avoid |
|
|
Meat & Eggs
Kapha does
best with animal foods that are light and relatively dry (like chicken or
freshwater fish), as opposed to those that are heavy, oily, or especially dense
(such as beef, pork, or duck). Eating less meat all around is generally
beneficial. In fact, kapha can be easily pacified without any animal foods, if
your diet doesn’t already include them.
Favor |
Avoid |
|
|
Oils
Most oils are
a bit heavy and well, oily for kapha. However, in very small quantities, the
oils in the favor column are acceptable, if they are of good quality. Because
toxins tend to concentrate in fats, buying organic oils may be more important
than buying organic fruits and vegetables.
When trying to
balance kapha, you can minimize reliance on oil by sautéing foods in water
instead of oil or by simply steaming them. For those occasions when a tad of
oil is needed, the best oils for kapha are corn oil, sunflower oil, or ghee.
Favor |
Avoid |
|
|
|
Sweeteners
As the sweet
taste is not particularly supportive to kapha, most sweeteners are better
avoided. Honey on the other hand – which is dry, light, and heating—is the one
exception, when used in small quantities. Honey also scrapes toxins and fat
from the tissues, so it benefits kapha on multiple levels.
Raw and
unprocessed honey should be used. Foods and drinks that contain refined sugars
or corn syrup can be especially detrimental and should be avoided as much as
possible.
Favor |
Avoid |
|
|
Spices
Most spices
are wonderful for kapha, so feel free to experiment with a wide variety of new
and exotic spices. Kapha is the only dosha that can usually handle fiery hot
foods. Even if those don’t suit you, a variety of mild spices will help to
strengthen the digestive fire and can improve overall metabolism.
In particular,
the pungent and digestive qualities of onions, garlic, ginger, black pepper,
chili pepper, and cayenne pepper benefit kapha.
Favor
Avoid |
|
|
Proper food
combinations can also be tremendously helpful in supporting improved digestion.
In our fast-paced modern culture, this ancient understanding of which foods
should and should not be eaten together is quite foreign to many of us.
That being the
case, it is best to embrace proper food combining slowly, by first simply
becoming aware of improper combinations that occur regularly in your diet. As
you are ready, make slow, manageable changes—one at a time.
Proper Food Combining
Combining
Foods for Better Digestion
For many, the
concept of food combining—the idea that some foods digest well together while
others do not—is entirely new and somewhat foreign. But according to Ayurveda,
it is an essential part of understanding how to eat properly, just as discovering
one's constitution and state of imbalance is important for one's Ayurvedic
self-discovery.
Careful food
combining can dramatically improve the quality of digestion, support the body
in receiving a deeper level of nourishment and positively impact our overall
health. However, most people in the modern world are accustomed to eating a
number of foods that do not usually digest well together (like fruit with nuts,
or beans with cheese).
So why does it
matter? The Ayurvedic perspective on diet is that each food has a
distinct combination of tastes and energies—and a corresponding effect on both
the digestive system and on the body as a whole.
Combining
foods with radically different energetics can overwhelm the digestive
fire (Agni) and can cause indigestion, fermentation, gas, bloating,
and the creation of toxins. This is why proper food combining is so important.
Of course,
certain combinations disturb the digestive tract more than others—an important
consideration if this practice is entirely new to you. Regardless of your
particular habits or symptoms, paying attention to how you combine foods can
provide a valuable opportunity for insight, healing and improved health.
A Balanced Approach
to Food Combining
It is usually
best to embrace the idea of food combining slowly and gently, allowing plenty
of time to make the necessary adaptations. Some of the recommended adjustments
are relatively simple; others can require a major recalibration in our habits,
or be met with resistance.
Often, simply
developing an awareness of the improper food combinations that you eat somewhat
regularly is a great place to start. Notice which foods you combine that may be
difficult to digest together and how often you indulge in them. Become aware of
how you feel afterward. Do these choices affect your energy level, your
digestion, your elimination, the coating on your tongue? Are particular
combinations more noticeably influential than others?
These are all
important pieces of information. They can confirm the importance of proper food
combining and can help each of us to identify the food combinations that are
the most disruptive to our systems.
The most
important first step is to become aware of your needs and your habits; from
there, you can evolve an approach to food combining that works for you.
Food Combinations
to Avoid or Reduce
The following
list highlights incompatible foods and offers suggestions for more appropriate
combinations. It is meant to be a helpful guide, not an exhaustive list. In
fact, you may be aware of other combinations that do not work for your body.
Honor those instincts.
Because this
resource is meant to help you determine optimal combinations at a glance, there
is some repetition. Combinations listed in all caps are particularly
challenging.
Yes, some of these are staple combinations in many households. Pizza and a number of other beloved Italian dishes combine nightshades with cheese. And who among us hasn’t enjoyed beans with cheese at some time or another?
Then there’s the fruit and yogurt taboo… So much for about 80% of all available store-bought varieties of yogurt; next time you indulge in a fruit-flavored yogurt, pay attention to how your digestion feels afterward.
In addition, there are some specific preparations that are challenging when combined with particular foods.
All of these
rules can feel overwhelming, even irritatingly complicated. But, the rationale
behind proper food combining really does make sense. Ultimately, combining
mismatched foods generates ama, a toxic substance that is often at the root of imbalance
and disease.
For those of
you who would like to understand a little more about HOW and WHY these food
combinations tax our bodies, here are a few specific examples:
Bananas and Milk
Though
commonly eaten together, bananas and milk are challenging to digest together
because their qualities are so different. Bananas are heating while milk is
cooling. That alone is problematic. Further, bananas become sour as they break
down. So now our digestive fire has to process a sour substance and milk at the
same time.
Ever added a
squeeze of lemon to milk? Or maybe you’ve poured a little milk into a tangy,
fruity tea… only to watch it curdle instantly? What happens to these mismatched
foods in the digestive tract is not much different.
When bananas
and milk are eaten together, their opposing qualities tend to smother the
digestive fire and can disrupt the balance of intestinal flora, which results
in the creation of toxins. This combination also frequently causes
congestion, colds, coughs, allergies, hives and rashes. A similar situation
arises when we combine any sour fruit with milk.
Nightshades and Cheese
This
combination is simply too taxing for the digestive fire. A nightshade is a
common name for a member of the plant family Solanaceae, which includes potatoes, bell peppers, tomatoes,
eggplants, cayenne peppers, paprika, tobacco, henbane, belladonna, datura and
over 2500 other plants.
Nightshades
contain alkaloids, primarily as a means of defense against being damaged by
insects. The alkaloids can be anywhere from mildly to fatally toxic to
humans. As a result, diverse cultures around the world have long held an
intriguing relationship with the nightshade family. Some have been used to make
poisons, some contain incredibly addictive compounds such as nicotine, some are
mind-altering and others create an incredible sensation of heat in the
mouth.
The bottom
line is that nightshades contain a complex array of compounds that, once
ingested, lead to a potentially dramatic cascade of chemical reactions in the
body. Ayurvedically speaking, all nightshades are believed to be somewhat
difficult to digest and to have the capacity to disturb the doshas.
When we mix
these inherently challenging nightshades with cheese—which is heavy, oily and
also difficult to digest—we can quickly overtax the digestive fire.
Beans and Cheese
Beans and
cheese are similar in that they both tend to be heavy and are often difficult
to digest. In order to break down properly, they both require a good deal of
digestive strength. But, the similarities end there. Beans tend to taste mostly
astringent and sweet, can be either heating or cooling and usually have a
pungent post-digestive effect. Cheese, on the other hand, tastes predominantly sour,
is almost always heating and usually has a sour post-digestive effect.
The
post-digestive effect of different foods occurs once that food has moved into
the colon; it affects the urine, feces, sweat, and tissues—sometimes even at
the cellular level. Two foods with distinct post-digestive effects are
typically quite different from one another.
This is the
case with beans and cheese; when they are eaten together, they tend to
overwhelm and confuse the digestive fire. Meanwhile, their combined heaviness
makes them even more difficult to process, often resulting in poor digestion
and the accumulation of ama.
Best Foods for
Digestion
If you're not
sure where to begin, it's a good idea to start simply by selecting foods that
aid digestion and either combining those foods with like items that are
energetically similar or eating them alone and waiting half an hour or so
before introducing other foods to the body.
Eating Fruits Alone
The reason
fruits are best enjoyed on their own is that fruit is usually somewhat acidic,
fairly simple to digest and often digests quite quickly. When fruits are eaten
with other foods, there is usually a significant discrepancy between the amount
of time required to properly digest the fruit versus the more complex food.
In addition,
the combination typically introduces a number of conflicting qualities into the
digestive tract all at once, which has the potential to overwhelm or stifle the
digestive fire.
Grains and Vegetables
You'll notice
that grains are recommended with just about everything but fruit. Since grains
go well with other grains, vegetables, beans and more, they can make for a
great starting place for many meals.
Combining rice
with dal results in kitchari, which Ayurveda considers one of the top easy to
digest foods and recommends as the meal of choice to eat throughout a
traditional Ayurvedic cleanse. Kitchari also contains ghee, digestive spices and
can be paired with several varieties of vegetables.
Easing Into Easy-to-Digest
Food Combinations
Embracing the
wisdom of food combining slowly helps
us to cultivate a refined awareness around how our dietary choices affect us. It
is also important to remember that following an Ayurvedic diet for
weight loss does not require us to give up everything we’ve come to love.
Simply finding moderation in our choices can be a great first step in restoring
balance.
Because
cravings for detrimental foods will subside as our health improves, our bodies
become better and better able to recognize wholesome, life-affirming foods, and
increasingly reject dietary choices that compromise our well-being. This
process takes time, but it’s important to be both patient and persistent.
Ultimately
each step along the way will support our overall progress.
4. Exercise at Least Three Days Each Week
Aerobic
exercise is an important component of any weight loss strategy. This commitment
is in addition to your daily yoga practice. Focus on activities that are invigorating,
doable and fun for you.
For those of
us with busy schedules, committing to a shorter exercise program can
significantly reduce our sense of overwhelm and encourage success.
The great news
is that workouts as short as fifteen to twenty minutes can be tremendously
beneficial. Of course, if your preferred exercise routine is longer, that’s
fine too.
Aerobic Exercise At Home To Lose Weight
Ayurveda teaches
us that certain times of day are more conducive to exercise than others. These
are the kapha times of day (approximately 6–10 a.m./p.m.), when atmospheric
conditions lend a little extra strength and stamina to the system.
For the best
results, plan your activities within this window in either the morning or the
evening. Obviously, if those times will not work for you, find one that will;
exercise at any time will be better than none at all.
Ayurveda also
recommends that we exercise at fifty to seventy percent of our
capacity—ideally, breathing through our nostrils the entire time. This prevents
physiological stress and allows the body to benefit more deeply from our
efforts.
You can apply
this approach to walking, hiking, running, cycling, yoga, swimming, as well as
cardio workouts at the gym.
In recent
years, a method of exercise known as High-Intensity Interval Training (HIIT)
has emerged around this concept. Because workouts typically range from eight to
thirty minutes, HIIT may be particularly useful for those of us with less time
to devote to exercise.
A HIIT routine
usually involves a short warm-up period, a series of three to ten short sprints
(twenty to sixty seconds each) interspersed with short recovery periods in
between (ten to sixty seconds each) and a cool-down period.
Interestingly,
there is a growing body of evidence suggesting that HIIT may actually boost
metabolic function, reduce insulin resistance, burn fat, and support weight
loss more effectively than traditional cardio workouts.
15 Minute HIIT Workout | High Intensity Interval Training For Everyone
Regardless of
your preferred activity, the most important thing is to make your exercise
regimen an inspiring and energizing part of your week so that you are motivated
to keep at it. Please check with your doctor before starting a new exercise
program.
5. Establish a Daily Routine:
In the context
of our busy modern lives, establishing a daily routine can actually be the key
to success with this approach.
Not only does
it ensure that our commitments become a natural part of each day and that we
develop helpful, supportive new habits; a sense of routine also has a soothing
effect on the nervous system, supports a calmer, more centered state of being and
helps reduce stress.
On an
intuitive level, it makes sense that reducing stress would support weight loss,
but there are compelling physiological reasons that this holds true.
The take-home message is that where stress is
concerned, establishing a daily routine may be the single most important
commitment you make.
A daily
routine is a central element of an Ayurvedic lifestyle—one that is recommended
for everyone—and there are a wide variety of traditional practices to choose
from.
Establish Routine Sleep
and Wake Times
Ayurveda has
some valuable insights to offer about the timing of our sleep. The evening time
(from about 6–10 p.m.) is a kapha time of day and is especially heavy, slow,
and dull—an ideal time to let our systems settle down and prepare for sleep.
Many people
actually feel a natural lull in energy during these evening hours. However,
pitta’s fiery influence takes the reins after about 10 p.m., so if we are not
already headed to bed (or asleep) by 10 p.m., we may feel reinvigorated and it
can be extremely difficult to wind down and go to sleep until much later.
In the
interest of aligning with the cycles of nature and getting good rest, an
earlier bedtime is undoubtedly more supportive.
Kapha time
reoccurs in the early morning, from about 6–10 a.m. This time of day lends
extra strength and stamina to morning workouts, but if we are not fully awake
ahead of its arrival, it has the potential to leave us feeling sluggish and
groggy.
Therefore, we
recommend that you wake up by 6 a.m. Not only will you feel more alert and
awake, but your body’s metabolic capacity will also be better supported as
well.
For example,
if 5:30 a.m. is your ideal wake time and you know that you need at least seven
hours of sleep in order to feel your best, then you should be in bed no later
than 10:30 p.m. If on the other hand, you need eight hours of sleep in
order to thrive, then your bedtime should be 9:30 p.m.
If any of this
will require you to significantly change your current sleep habits, consider
adjusting your sleep and wake times by about fifteen minutes at a time, working
with each new time for several days before adjusting by another fifteen
minutes.
There are
three important things to consider when establishing your sleep and wake times.
- You
need to get enough rest.
- It
is best to wake by (or even well before) 6 a.m.
- You
are likely to rest better if you retire by or before 10 p.m.
Many people
find that the success of their daily routine depends largely on when they go to
bed. This is because our bedtimes can either support the flow of the next day,
or sabotage our ability to follow through on good intentions. Consistency and
discipline around sleep and wake times can truly be an invaluable catalyst for
positive change.
Set Aside a Time to
Practice Your Fifteen Minutes of Morning Yoga
It’s only
fifteen minutes, but it’s incredibly important to carve out a specific time
each day for your yoga practice; otherwise, it may fall by the wayside. It is
best to practice in the early morning before breakfast, but if that simply
won’t work for you, find another time of day when you can practice on an empty
stomach.
Eat Breakfast, Lunch, and
Dinner at About the Same Time Each Day
Eating your
meals at consistent times from one day to the next ensures that there is
adequate space between meals and reinforces the predictability of a
routine—both for your metabolism and for your nervous system.
Classic
Ayurvedic meal times are roughly 8 a.m. for breakfast, 12 p.m. for lunch and 6
p.m. for dinner. This exact timing may not work with your schedule and it’s
important that your meal times are compatible with your daily routine.
That said,
your body will benefit from eating lunch (your biggest meal) between 11 a.m.
and 2 p.m., when the digestive fire is strongest. Similarly, eating a light,
early dinner will be the most supportive of your weight loss efforts.
Create an Exercise
Schedule
The primary
objective behind creating a schedule here is to make sure that your three days
of exercise happen, but creating predictability with your new habits will have
its own benefits.
It may require
some experimentation to determine what works best for you, but once you find a
rhythm, stick with it and be persistent. Being consistently active will help
you immensely.
Optional: Quiet Time for
Pranayama, Meditation, or Prayer
Ayurveda
recognizes the power of a number of subtle therapies. In many cases,
attributing excess weight to improper diet and inadequate exercise alone is a
gross oversimplification—ignoring important emotional, psychological, and even
physical patterns underlying the imbalance.
Emotional
unrest is often a significant factor in poor eating habits, lethargy,
depression, and anxious feelings. Undigested, unprocessed emotions quickly
interfere with our physical health and our mental ability to authentically care
for ourselves each day.
A mindfulness
practice can begin to neutralize the powerful hold that these patterns often
have on our behavior.
We also know
that long-term stress can lead to weight gain by overtaxing the endocrine
system, and ultimately, by compromising our metabolism (think adrenals,
thyroid, and pancreas).
Spiritual
practice can help reset the nervous and endocrine systems—supporting
improved metabolic function and beginning to unwind the cycle of chronic stress
that is frequently behind excess weight.
In short, if
stress, anxiousness, and feeling overextended have become an integral part of
your life, consider making a sixth commitment to some sort of daily mindfulness
practice. Even ten to fifteen minutes can have a profound impact on your state
of mind. If you don’t have an existing practice, consider one of the following:
Pranayama. Working with the breath through
the practice of Pranayama is a powerful way to access and reset longstanding
patterns in the energetic body.
There are
several pranayamas suitable in Ayurveda for weight loss, such as Kapalabhati (Skull
Shining Breath) and Bhastrika (Bellows Breath).
Those that are
soothing, slow, grounding and calming, like Nadi Shodhana (Alternate
Nostril Breathing) will be best for clearing stress, anxious feelings and other
unresolved emotions.
Meditation. Meditation can help us to
re-pattern the brain on a very profound level—supporting our health in a myriad
of ways.
6. Practice mindfulness, even while you eat:
Adding
meditation to your daily life can reduce the amount of cortisol (the stress hormone associated with weight gain)
in your body. Another way to increase mindfulness is to eat slowly and quietly.
Listen to your body’s signals about how much to eat and when to stop.
7. Sip
warm lemon water to start your day:
Doctors
at Cleveland Clinic agree
lemon water aids digestion.
Ayurvedic Herbs for Weight
Management
In addition to
the above commitments, consider supplementing with Ayurvedic herbs for
weight management, kapha-balancing products, and other formulas that will
support your efforts. The following herbs are particularly supportive of a
robust digestive system and proper metabolic function overall.
Triphala is an herbal preparation that combines three superfruits, all of
which grow in India:
- amalaki
(Indian gooseberry)
- bibhitaki
(Terminalia bellirica)
- haritaki
(Terminalia chebula)
Triphala is a traditional Ayurvedic
formula comprised of three fruits that is balancing for Vata, Pitta and Kapha. It
is revered for its unique ability to gently cleanse and detoxify the digestive
tract while replenishing, nourishing, and rejuvenating the tissues.
About half an hour before bed, take
two Triphala tablets with a glass of warm water. If you prefer, steep
1/2 teaspoon Triphala powder in a cup of freshly boiled water for ten
minutes; cool and drink. Or try 30 drops of Triphala liquid extract in
warm water before bed instead. A 2017 review Trusted
Source of
scientific literature found that triphala was effective at reducing blood
glucose levels in people with type 2 diabetes. It also led to greater weight
loss for participants in one study.
Trim Support Tablets
Trim Support Tablets gently detoxify the body, supporting proper nutrition and
metabolic function. Improperly digested food can create toxins that coat the
digestive tract, inhibiting absorption and leading to the accumulation of fat
in the tissues.
Trim Support
gently scrapes these toxins from the system while kindling the digestive fire,
allowing for proper digestion, absorption and assimilation.
Lastly,
consider one of Banyan Botanicals’ digestive formulas—Vata Digest, Pitta
Digest, or Kapha Digest tablets. Each one helps support optimal
functioning throughout the digestive tract by balancing a specific set of
digestive tendencies.
Kapha
Digest. This
is the tablet form of a classical Ayurvedic formula known as Trikatu. It
contains the herbs pippali, ginger, and black pepper. This powerful
combination is traditionally used to enkindle the digestive fire and to burn
fat and natural toxins.
Kapha Digest
tablets support a healthy metabolism, allowing nutrients to be properly
digested and assimilated, aid in weight management and
rejuvenate kapha, supporting healthy lungs and clear breathing.
If you prefer
a powder, consider using the powdered form of Trikatu for weight loss. In either
form, this formula is quite heating and is therefore not the best choice for
those who have excess heat in the digestive tract or high pitta in general.
Pitta Digest. This formula is a dynamic
combination of herbs formulated to strengthen digestion without aggravating
pitta. Excess pitta causes increased heat, sharpness, and oiliness in the
digestive tract, which can aggravate and inflame the digestive fire, and cause
discomfort.
Pitta Digest tablets cool
and soothe the digestive fire and the tissues of the GI tract,
help maintain healthy digestive acid levels and a healthy stomach lining,
support a comfortable post-meal experience, and simultaneously support healthy,
balanced digestion overall.
If you prefer
a powdered formula, Avipattikar powder is a classical Ayurvedic
formula with similar indications and benefits.
Vata
Digest. This
is the tablet form of the classical Ayurvedic formula known as Hingvastak.
The vata-pacifying combination of herbs supports the entire digestive process,
from appetite to elimination. In excess, vata’s cold, light, and dry qualities
tend to inhibit proper digestive functioning and can cause gas, bloating or
constipation.
Vata Digest tablets contain herbs that are heating, grounding and oily, effectively
countering excess vata. This formula also kindles the digestive fire,
stimulates a healthy appetite, calms excess movement of air, lubricates the
intestines, helps ensure that nutrients are properly absorbed and
assimilated and supports regular, thorough and healthy elimination.
Guggul
Guggul is the dried resin of the Mukul
myrrh tree. Although it’s been used as a weight loss aid in Ayurvedic medicine,
clinical research on its effectiveness has produced inconsistent results.
One 2008 lab study Trusted Source found that the active ingredient in Guggul
preparations did cause fat cells to break down. However, another lab study in 2017 concluded that it had no
effect on the hormone that causes fat metabolism.
Kalonji
Kalonji,
also known as black seed or black cumin (Nigella sativa), has been studied extensively for a
wide range of uses. In human studies Trusted
Source, Nigella sativa seeds and oils
have both improved weight loss for women and men living with obesity.
Vijayasar or Kino tree
Extracts from the vijayasar tree (Pterocarpus marsupium),
also known as the Kino tree, may help you lose weight. Although there are no
published studies showing its effectiveness in humans, studies have shown that the extract
caused fat reduction in rats.
Other weight loss remedies
Some Ayurveda advocates recommend
these botanical or herbal remedies to aid with weight loss, but there’s not
enough research to support their use for this purpose:
- punarnava
- aloe vera
- ajwain
- lemon-honey
- pepper (piperine)
- cabbage
horse gram
- ginger-garlic
lemon
A number of Ayurvedic weight loss
supplements can be found on the market in tablet, capsule, and powder forms.
While some of these products may help you lose weight, there’s little research
to support their use.
Is Ayurvedic medicine safe?
The principles of Ayurvedic medicine
have been in use for a long time. An Ayurvedic diet is rich in whole foods, and
an abundance and variety of vegetables, whole grains, and lean proteins.
Ayurvedic diets emphasize moderation
and mindful eating. In addition, an Ayurvedic approach to healthcare emphasizes
prevention, physical movement, stress reduction, and balanced living. All of
those principles and practices are safe and healthy.
Talk to your doctor about any
recommendations you receive to be sure they’re appropriate given your overall
health.
Conclusion
Ayurvedic medicine is a holistic,
prevention-oriented healthcare approach that originated in India about 5,000
years ago. Ayurvedic diets are generally designed to support health in each of
three constitutions or doshas: vata, pitta, and kapha.
Certain foods and exercise practices
are recommended for each dosha. There hasn’t been much research into diets
based on Ayurvedic doshas, so it isn’t clear whether they’ll help you lose
weight.
More research is also needed for
Ayurvedic weight loss supplements. While some of them are promising, many of
the herbal preparations haven’t been studied adequately.
On the plus side, Ayurveda focuses on
whole foods, exercise, stress reduction, and healthy sleep. There’s a
substantial body of evidence to support these practices and their role in
healthful living and weight loss.
Choosing to practice the Ayurvedic
lifestyle will improve your health and make you more attentive to your intake,
activity, and current state of being.
Reducing calories, increasing physical
activity and finding support for your weight loss goals are all the best ways
to lose weight.
Easy Weight Loss Tips & Tricks
Dr. Mayank Chandrakar is a writer also. My first book "Ayurveda Self Healing: How to Achieve Health and Happiness" is available on Kobo and Instamojo. You can buy and read.
For Kobo-
https://www.kobo.com/search?query=Ayurveda+Self+Healing
The second Book "Think Positive Live Positive: How Optimism and Gratitude can change your life" is available on Kobo and Instamojo.
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