by Sheela Rani Chunkath
I have not been writing a lot about weight loss medications in ayurveda because indiscriminate weight loss can lead to serious health issues.
A friend's son who lost 40 kg and was into marathon running has wrecked his health by not realizing that a diet which lacks unctuous foods and is predominantly made up of dry salads and sugar free drinks or the like is not healthy.
I dislike marathons -- they increase vayu and could be a potential source of cardiac events, weak muscles and a long term source of pain. Many people who participate in marathons feel that they are doing so to help a social cause and are incidentally doing something to improve their health. They couldn't be more wrong. Too much physical exercise increases vayu.
So if you are obese and want to get back to being trim do some moderate steady exercise, yoga or walking.
Ayurveda has two popular remedies for controlling weight. They are consumed under directions of a supervising ayurvedic vaidyar. Both are effective. They help you lose weight without endangering health of tissues or dhatus. The dhatus are the rasa dhatu (chyle), rakta dhatu (blood tissue), mamsa dhatu (muscles), medho dhatu (the unctuous part of the muscles), asthi dhatu (bone tissue), majja dhatu (bone marrow) and shukra dhatu (reproductive tissue). We have a concept in ayurveda called 'shudasthu' which means that a treatment procedure is not considered a proper or pure treatment which when attempting to cure a disease or problem ends up promoting some other disease or problem. Proper treatment is that which pacifies a disease without promoting another.
The two kashayams which are used among other things for weight loss are called varadi kashayam and varanadi kashayam. Varadi kashayam consists besides triphala, chitraka (Plumbago zeylanica), loha patra and haridra. It is a safe remedy but all weight loss should be supervised lest it provoke the more dreadful diseases. However this kashayam is far safer than many of the highly commercialized products we see on the shelves.
Then there is varanadi kashayam which definitely needs a vaidyar's supervision. It is not so well tolerated by people with pitta prakriti. Varanadi kashayam consists of the following herbs; Crataeva religiosa (varana), Strobilanthes ciliatus (Sairyaka), Asparagus racemosus (Shatavari), Plumbago zeylanica (Dahana), Chenomorpha fragrans (Morata), Aegle marmelos (Bilva), Aristolochia bracteolata (Vishanika), Solanum melongena (Brihati), Aerva lanata (Bhadra), Pongamia glabra (Karanja), Holoptelia integrifolia (Pootikaranja), Premna corymbosa (Jaya), Terminalia chebula (Pathya), Moringa oleifera (drumstick), Desmostachya bipinnata (Darbha) and Semicarpus anacardium (Rujakara). This kashayam corrects fatty liver problems and is specific for controlling obesity. Mentioned in the Ashtanga Hrdya, this kashayam is said to be helpful in tackling internal abscesses. Many vaidyars prescribe this for Polycystic Ovary Syndrome. This kashayam is also helpful in lowering lipids and cholesterol. So many young girls suffer from PCOS which was practically unheard of when I was growing up. As Charaka would say use yukti and see what could be the cause.
My firm belief is that it is a combination of terrible food habits, lack of sleep and an unhealthy lifestyle. Eating endlessly with hardly a gap, eating very late into the night, physical exercise that is either too much or too little and a lifestyle that does not know the concept of 'moderation'. That said being healthy is quite easy, eat light, sleep right and exercise moderately. Take it easy.
--- The writer is retired Additional Chief Secretary, Government of Tamil Nadu. She can be reached at Sheelarani.arogyamantra@gmail. com. Earlier articles can be accessed at http://arogyamantra.blogspot.com/