When you want to loose weight, you must first work with your body’s internal clock or circadian rythms. Circadian rhythms can influence sleep-wake cycles, hormone release, eating habits and digestion, body temperature, and other important bodily functions. Biological clocks can run fast or slow resulting in disrupted or abnormal circadian rhythms. Irregular rhythms have been linked to various chronic health conditions, such as sleep disorders, obesity, diabetes, depression, bipolar disorder, and seasonal affective disorder.
It’s not just what you eat but when you eat and how you digest. The expression, “when the fire is in the sky, the fire is in the belly” translates to your digestion peaks when the sun is the hottest, around noon. Taking in food when your body can best process it and avoiding food when your body is powering down is key. The timing of your meals and the nutritional value of the content of your food are sustainable ways to take care of your body instead of just counting calories or carbohydrates.
Every body does not have the same relationship with food and may have different eating challenges. When the doctor advises you that you need to loose weight and eat better, what does that mean for you and how do you do it?
The first step is to determine your constitution and metabolic type preferably by an Ayurvedic practitioner. Then a specific strategy can be designed for you to promote weight loss.
Ayurveda divides digestion or metabolism into 3 categories that relate to the 3 doshas.
Variable metabolism (Vata dosha) can put weight on due to a significant personal circumstance or mood change. Regular routines are key to regulating digestion including setting regular mealtimes and sleep and wake times. Increasing fiber and warmth and moisture in food are also important. Fats should not be avoided just avoid large quantities including meats and dairy. They are harder to digest and require a strong consistent digestive process. Fats can feed your skin, brain and joints.
Strong metabolism (Pitta dosha) can cause increased appetite and people with a strong digestion love food! Most of their lives they can balance food intake with exercise but that gets harder to do after middle age. This is where eating the largest meal at noon is most beneficial. Taking in most of your calories in the evening is keeping you from losing weight, contributes to heartburn at night and congestion. Eating foods that can cool your digestion instead of hot spicy foods is essential. Raw fruits and vegetables can be cooling and balance hunger. Avoiding heavy fats, red meats, heavy sauces and fried foods will help avoid feeling dull and may even improve your sleep. Instead focus on proteins like white meats, tofu and egg whites and of course eat more fruits and vegetables especially those that have complex tastes and textures.
Slow metabolism (Kapha dosha) means that your body may be storing more fluid and fat. You may have a tendency to get colds in the winter and are sensitive to pollen and toxins in the air. The respiratory system produces more mucus too. It is so easy to give up on dieting and exercise and yo-yo dieting is common. Detoxing or cleansing diets can be very beneficial by eliminating refined sugars, flours, meats, and most dairy products. They not only jump start the weight loss process but can improve sleep and energy levels. Detoxing first helps people that have gained a large amount of weight and cannot see results from typical diets. After a detox plan, gentle or intermittent fasting can help maintain weight or continue weight loss. Spicing up your food and choosing bitter and astringents foods are all ways to improve digestion and help clear out mucous and release fluids from the body. Hot water with ginger will help retrain your taste buds.
Exercise is the next step and another way to detoxify the body and promote sleep. The proper type of exercise can be determined for you according to your dosha. Morning exercise before breakfast is beneficial to your body’s internal clock. Exercise too close to bedtime can interfere with sleep in some people.
How your body responds to exercise changes as you age. Chronic joint pains along with other aches and pains can be caused by too much intense exercise as well as lack of any exercise. Systemic inflammation may be the cause and diet should be focused on. Restricting heavy sauces, fried and spicy foods and sodium can help clear the heat from you body. Cleaning up your diet with lean proteins, increased vegetables and some whole grains can reduce toxins and cool you down. Certain yoga poses and movements along with the speed of the movements are better for certain body types than others. Slow metabolizers’ benefit from more stimulating higher intensity exercise. Consistency is King no matter what body type.
Eating with the seasons is another way to follow the laws of nature and respect our body’s natural rhythms. Ayurveda has 3 dominant seasons, Spring, Summer and late Fall/Winter. Early in the year or early spring is the time to start lightening up the diet, exchanging heavier root vegetables for lighter spring vegetables. This is a good time to cut back on portions and reduce fats. What’s going on outside is also what is going on inside your body. Making changes in your diet according to the season and eating food that is “in season” will keep you in balance through out the year.
The connection between overeating, overweight, fatigue, and depression to poor diet and lack of the proper exercise has been proven. Choosing to loose weight in a sustainable way specific to your body type will help you gain the energy you need to handle stress and balance the demands of working and doing life for the rest of your life. Loosing weight and feeling your best is empowering and becoming more self-aware is transformative.
Please check out The 3-Season Diet by John Douillard and Change Your Schedule, Change Your Life by Dr. Suhas Kshirsagar for ways to bring harmony to your life by following the laws of nature.