Obesity

• Obesity is the accumulation of excessive fat in the body.

• Ayurveda cells it ‘sthoulyam’.

• Agni mandhya increase makes one eat more, which become fat and stays in the body leading to obesity.

Ayurveda gives the following causes

1. Lack of physical exercises, laziness

2. Sleeping in the afternoon

3. The diet and lifestyle which increases kapha

4. Consuming sweets, too much of fatty foods

• A man needs per day 2800 calories of food and a woman, 2500 calories. When this limit is exceeded, body weight increases.

Risk factors

Obesity may lead to serious and chronic diseases like

1. Diabetes mellitus

2. High Blood Pressure

3. Ischemic heart diseases

4. Stroke

5. Varicose veins

6. Impotency

7. Back ache, Joint pains

8. Breathing problems

9. Depression

   • To distinguish between over-weight and obesity, the body mass index (BMI) is used.

   • BMI – It is weight in kilograms multiplied by 10,000 divided by height, in centimeters squared.

   • For example, let us assume that your weight is 50 kilos; and height is 160 cm. Your BMI is 50x10000 divided by 160x160 = 19.53

   • If your BMI is less than 18.5 – Under weight

     18.5 to 24.9 – Normal weight

     25 to 29.9 – Over weight

     30 to 34.9 – A little obese

     35 to 39.9 – Medium obese

     Above 40 – Obesity.

     • Hip measurement: Use a tape to measure your hip an inch above navel. Normal Girth is 40 inches for men and 35 inches for women. Any thing above these is indication of over weight / obesity. “Tyre” around hip/stomach is not healthy and must be attended to.

     • Healthy weight: Chart given below

Management of obesity

• Burn the excess calories you eat, by physical activities. Best exercise for obesity is walking.

• Resort to swimming

• Oil massages, dry massage using weight reducing medicinal powder are to be undertaken.

• A combination of oil massage, Followed by wet fomentation and culminated with dry massage is a good ayurvedic remedy for obesity. It helps the skin also

• Horse gram, Barley, Honey with water etc are good

• Mix 2 spoonful honey with 1 tsp lime juice and drink it on empty stomach in the morning.

• Drink plenty of water

• Do not sleep in the after noon.

• Foods prepared with digestive spices like cumin, caraway, ginger, mustard seed, cloves, basil, turmeric, fenugreek, cinnamon and garlic help reduction of fat. Avoid meat.

• Do not altogether give up ghee. Take a small amount, preferably melted ghee.

• Of course, exercises, yoga are must.

• Drink water sometime after meals. Best is to drink water when you are not eating.