Aren’t we familiar with the age old complaint of not losing weight or in fact gaining weight even when we are not eating junk food or eating very little. Most of us are envious of the people who eat pretty much everything and not gain a pound. Then there are few who can eat and digest anything without any side effect….
The answer to all the above can be explained via Ayurveda in a comprehensive way.
According to Ayurveda, we all have 3 functional energies that govern our body and mind. These 3 energies are made of 5 elements, earth, water, fire, air, space.
For more detail on the different energies or doshas or body types, Check link
When we eat food which is not suitable for our body constitution then following things can happen
1) increase in one or all doshas.
2) digestion gets imapired, food is not fully digested. The undigested food remains in the gut forming toxin or ama.
3) other tissues get affected
4) fat (medda) increases
5) ama travels to other parts of the body, eventually leading to chronic diseases.
Taking each dosha type….
Kapha body types generally have a slow metabolism and have a tendency to gain weight. Foods that are heavy, cold, oily which are qualities of the water and earth which comprise kapha will cause them to gain weight. Eating food with opposite qualities to those of kapha elements, that is, light, dry, warm will help in reducing weight. So foods like green leafy vegetables, warm spices are good while cheese, fried food is bad for kapha bodytpe.
Pitta body type have a strong digestion and can tolerate mostly all kind of food except spicy food. Foods that are hot, light and sharp like too much spices or sour food will cause problems in digestion while foods with opposite qualities, that is cooling, , etc are good for their digestion. Which in turn helps them to not gain weight.
Vata body type can eat anything and not gain weight. Having said that, vata body type cannot eat cold raw foods which are the qualities of space and air as they cause problems in digestion. So foods which are warm, heavy, dense are good for their digestion while raw green leafy vegetables are bad.
But will take up that topic in my next blog…
