It has become a trend of sorts that, every now and then a new systems of diet crops up, to aid weight loss and people follow it religiously like it’s a one size fits all, without knowing the cause of the weight gain!
For example, let us talk about ketogenic diet; this form of diet became popular as a therapy for epilepsy in early twentieth century. It was developed to provide a fasting alternative and was successfully able to reduce the symptoms of epilepsy.
What is Ketogenic Diet?
The ketogenic diet is a very low-carb, high-fat diet and low protein diet. In order to provide energy, our bodies start burning fats instead of carbohydrate and this process is called ketosis. Liver works extra hard to change fats into ketones and body fat starts depleting, to supply energy to body as well as brain. However this is not a natural state of any human body and this cannot be sustained for long.
Side-effects of Keto Diet
Ketosis works by inducing an artificial extreme starvation artificially, includes heavy fats and ignores other nutrients. It leads to range of side effects like vitamin and mineral deficiencies, frequent headaches, low blood sugar, fatigue, muscle cramps and many more.
It is also not necessary that everyone will get desired results immediately or they will be long lasting. As soon as we switch to our old normal routine, chances of gaining weight would be higher.
Ancient wisdom to the rescue
Ayurveda talks about balancing the diet for some time and soon body will atomically start to respond without forcing our self to have food that we do not want to eat. If there is already an imbalance in our body, it can be handled by reducing some aspect of our diet and adding up herbs or supplements as per our body type or metabolic profile. Herbal mix can be recommended by an Ayurvedic physician after understanding the current situation and the body type (based upon various metabolic activities).
Let’s understand three important aspect of Ayurvedic diet to get sustainable results and to maintain the desired weight. One can plan their own diet by following these concepts
Balance food by taste
There are six tastes or rasa (sweet, sour, salty, pungent, bitter, astringent) which can be sensed by our tongue. Every food in our diet has its unique taste and specific impact on our body. All kind of food can be broadly classified into these categories as per their taste. For example carbohydrates taste sweet or slightly salty while protein can taste bitter. These tastes should be in balance in our everyday diet. Sweet, salty increase fats in our body and bitter, astringent reduces it.
So if we want to cut down on gaining weight due to fats, we should reduce portions of sweet, salty and sour tasting food to some extent and focus on having more bitter or astringent food. Such food include green leafy vegetables and Pulses. Milk and milk based products, meat should be reduced in the diet. Oils and ghee can be taken in lesser quantiles but mixed with herbs.
Focus on eating seasonal fruits and vegetables
Our body is designed to be in sync with our external environment and is always in a balancing act. If it’s very hot outside, we crave for cold and sweet drinks and if it is too cold we like to have hot drinks, tea, coffee and even hot food. Nature –flora and fauna is also designed in such a way. The vegetable or fruits grow in a specific season are rich in taste or quality which balance the adverse impact of the nature on our body. Natural dietary shifts are very evident in each season, for example
High-protein, fiber and vitamins/minerals is largely available during winter (eg. Cabbage, Cauliflower, Carrot, Radish, Peas, Broccoli, Spinach, Fenugreek, grapes, berries, pomegranate etc )
High carbohydrate, fruits, grains diet during summers (eg. Rice, Lady’s finger, Beans, Pumpkin, Jackfruit, Sweet potato, Corn, Mango, Litchis, Watermelon, Muskmelon etc)
It is very important to include such seasonal fruits and vegetables in our diet to keep healthy and maintain our weight.
Follow periodic fasting
For centuries, fasting has been followed in India. Fasting for just one day, in a week with increased water intake can drastically reduce toxins in our body. Low carb, medium fat and low protein diet is followed from centuries (eg. Kichidi made up of pulses, rice topped with a spoonful of Ghee).
Fasting during specific time of the year (the time when there is change in the seasons) also has a profound impact on our overall health and helps to maintain digestive system thus reducing unwanted fats in the body. In such period of the year when we fast, our bodies goes into a natural state of ketosis. If we do not eat heavy carbohydrate diet and stick to Fruits, vegetables and milk, one can reduce excess fats naturally. It is important to follow discipline while selecting the food naturally available in each season and keeping the body hydrated during these days
How body react to different diets
Ayurveda treats food as medicine. A wrong diet can lead to an imbalance in the doshas or bio-energies thus impacting our health. This leads to various metabolic issues and weight gain is one of them. So it is very important to understand underlying cause of weight gain rather than just focusing on its manifestation. There are seven body types on the basis of dominancy of three dosha ie. Vata (Air), Pitta (Fire) and Kapha (water) in the body. A body type can be easily identified by an Ayurvedic Physician, based upon observations, habits and symptoms. Foods that correspond to your first dominant dosha can be enjoyed most of the time or in moderate amounts. And foods that correspond to your smaller dosha should be enjoyed once in a while or in small amounts. You can add some herbs in for balancing other energies or doshas. So if we want to understand in simple from, person with Strong Vata (air) type body can handle high fat content in the food on other hand person with strong kapha (water) type body cannot handle high fat content thus following keto diet would be counterproductive.
Summery- Follow your Natural Diet
Therefore following a fad diet can have severe health repercussions. It is advised to address the root cause of a problem, rather than treating its symptoms. It is best to go natural and rely on ancient wisdom and eat local origin food. Listen to your elders, see their food habits and follow the nature. Especially since it is not only cost effective, but also natural and will be able to provide long lasting results with minimum modifications.
Unlike many other diets, ayurvedic diet provide personalized recommendation about which food to eat and avoid. Diet get customized based upon the seasons, available natural food and a person’s body type. To Get your personalize diet plan, contact us.
