Sonal (name changed) gained 60 pounds during her pregnancy and reached 225 pounds the day she gave birth. Even with breast feeding, frequent trips to the gymnasium and healthy eating – she was only able to drop 20 pounds in 2 years!!
Finally, she visited us at my Ayurvedic and Griha chikitsa mentor’s clinic in India. We gave her trikatu, kanchanar guggulu, and triphala for her deep rooted kapha issues along with a Kapha Diet plan and an astrological ‘colored’ gem for her planetary affliction. She also suffered from sinus issues and had developed fibroids during pregnancy. Sonal’s blood pressure and cholersterol numbers were alarming.
(This is common for predominant Kapha moms during pregnancy. Uterine fibroids are much more common then you think. If you want to buy these products to lose weight or reduce the size of common harmless fibroids developed during pregnancy, you can get them at Henry’s, Whole foods or any health food store. But, buy organic. Banyan Botanicals has the BEST range at an affordable price. Himalaya usa are also good, but not organic. Remember organic herbs are far more potent!)
Following a dinacharya routine, of meditation, surya namaskar and yoga in the morning with all the herbs and eating at Pitta times – a kapha pacifying diet, Sonal lost a whopping 90 pounds within 10 months. She was even eating small amounts of ghee in her diet. Her fibroids reduced, blood pressure normalized and cholesterol level went down.
Ayurveda has a very holistic view on weight loss. Here are some views from Ayurvedic texts.
Causes of Weight Gain
Causes for obesity and weight gain finds mention in Ayurvedic texts. It can be classified as food and life style related, and other factors that generate the unwanted fat to accumulate. Tabular form is given below to differentiate the causes
| Food origin | Life style origin | Other factors |
| Ati sampoornat | Avyayamat | Beej swabhavat |
| Guru | Avyavayat | |
| Madhur | Divaswapnat | |
| Sheet | Achintanat | |
| Snigddha | Harsnityatvat | |
| Shleshmaahar sewino | Adhyayan sheela |
According to Ayurveda, Obesity is caused by over intake of food, intake of heavy (guru), sweet, cold, and unctuous food, lack of exercise, abstinence from sexual intercourse, day sleeping, uninterrupted cheerfulness, lack of mental exercise, and heredity.
Whatever the causes may be, all above causes leads to increase in kapha content of body, which is prime factor for the body tissue formation, it is the responsible dosha – like Kapha or Vata – which increases the ‘fat tissue’ Trend of consuming chocolates, pizza, eating junk on the run, late nights, alchohal drinking and bad sleeping habits all contribute towards increase of lipids. Especially when combined with lack of proper exercise.
Another cause given in Ayurveda is beeja swabhavat i.e. hereditary origin. It is an important factor which should be considered by the physician at the time of assuring the patient about the weight reduction.
Some other reasons which are not directly mentioned in ancient texts but carry a great deal of importance are constitution (prakritti), place of origin (desha) etc. kapha individuals are born stout, while kapha predominance is common in anupa desha. Such obesity is a bit difficult to deal with.
Ayurveda recommends Trikatu, Guggulu, Triphala amongst other herbs and a bitter, astringent pacifying diet for Kapha predominant people to reduce obesity. All these herbs combined with following a dinacharya (Daily routine of eating, exercising and ingesting herbs at the same time depending on the position of the sun) help in weight loss.
