What is Obesity?
Obesity is a condition characterised by improper fat metabolism and storage in the body especially under the skin. This storage of fat causes a large number of problems to the body, affecting many organs. When the energy supply to the body exceeds the requirement, the excess energy is stored in the form of fat mainly under the skin for future use. This storage of fat by the body is a defensive mechanism as a contingency store during a period of shortage. But unfortunately, the period of shortage never occurs and its just more and more fat which gets stored in excess in the body everyday. There is an increase in the number of obese individuals in the present time. Many factors can be attributed to this drift like excess availability of resources and a wide choice of foods, machines assisted life, sedentary work pattern and lifestyle and increased stress levels.
Obesity may lead to many other complains such as diabetes, heart diseases, hypertension, liver disorders, vascular diseases etc. It reduces the quality of life and work efficiency. It is a complication when present with other physical and mental ailments. It creats problem at multi organ level. Only on rare occasions, obesity occurs as a result of hormonal imbalance or genetic in nature. But most of the time it is due to improper dietery intake and a sedentary lifestyle.
Symptoms:
- Increased body weight.
- Flabbiness of the abdomen and waist.
- Lethargy
- Breathlessness on even mild exertion,
- Dislike for physical activity.
- Excessive sleep.
- Increased perspiration on exertion.
- Low sexual activity
The first line of treatment for obesity is dietary management and more physical activity and regular exercise. No medication can help in this condition like a proper diet and an active lifestyle. In dietary management, crash dieting or complete fasting will not help, on the contrary it is very harmful. There should a change in the type of food rather than drastic reduction in food quantity. Some people resort to eating when they are stressed. Such individuals should identify this process and should find ways to manage stress in a harmless and healthy way like meditation, yoga etc. In extreme cases of obesity, modern medicine offers surgical solutions like partial or total gastrectomy, gastric bypass surgery etc. These surgical procedures are associated with their own complications like heart diseases, stroke etc.
In Ayurveda, there is a deep understanding of the pathogenesis of this disease rather than just considering it as excess fat under the skin. The body is made up of 7 tissues namely Rasa (nutrition part which seperates from the food), Rakta (blood), Mamsa (muscles) , Medas (fat), Asthi (bones), Majja (marrow) and Shukra (semen and the other hormonal complex for reproduction). The Rasa is formed from the food after it undergoes transformation with the digestive fire. Each of the tissue possess a digestive fire of it own which metabolises that tissue and transforms it into the successive tissue element.
In case of obesity, there is a fault at the level of Medas (fat). The fire in this dhatu is impaired hence the proper transformation of this tissue to the next level of Asthi does not happen and it leads to the accumulation of this tissue in the body which results in Obesity or Sthoulya. Kapha (one among the 3 bio regulating principles of the body) which has qualities similar to medas is also vitiated in this condition.There is also the impairement of the digestive fire and a block in all the channels of the body due to this vitiated Medo dhatu.
The main line of management is increasing the digestive fire of the body and also of the individual tissue, clearing the channels of the body and elimination of any undigested toxins from the body. Panchakarma therapies are best suited for this purpose. It helps in removing the block from the various channels of the body and clearing the body of the Aama (undigested toxins). The internal medications are also administered which helps to cut down the fat and also increase the tissue's Digestive fire, so that the fat which is cut down easily transforms to the successive tissues. But these medications work effectively only after the purificatory therapies. Udwarthana is the treatment of choice when it comes to external procedures. This involves rigorous massage of the body with fine herbal powder, which results in the liquifaction of the subcutaneous fat and it is eliminated through the pores of the skin.
Diet plays the most important part in the treatment of this condition. Since the digestive fire is hampered even at the tissue level, the diet should be light and easy to digest comprising more of fresh leafy vegetables and fruits. Pulses and cereals should be supplemented instead of carbohydrate and fat containing foods like rice, meat etc. Over eating and intake of heavy and hard to digest foods are to be strictly avoided. Fried oily foods should also be avoided. Day sleep has to be strictly avoided. One should indulge in regular exercise and an active lifestyle. Physical exercise can involve simple walking for atleast 45 mins every day. Vigilant monitering of the weight can help prevent the complications of obesity like arthritis, hypertension etc.
Oil bath and bath in cold water has to be avoided. Simple boiled vegetables, fruit salads, high fibre containing foods like oats etc are beneficial. Groundnut oil should not be used for cooking, instead sesame oil can be used. The diet should always consist of small portion of digestive drugs like cumin, pepper etc which can be included easily as a part of cooking.
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