Overweight means weight above what’s considered Healthy, often measured by using Body Mass Index (BMI). Generally, an overweight condition is referred to as ‘Obesity’.

Overweight is defined as a BMI of 25 or more, it includes Pre-Obesity defined as a BMI between 25 and 30, and Obesity is defined by a BMI of 30 or more. Pre-Obese and Overweight however are often used interchangeably, thus giving overweight a common definition of a BMI of between 25–30.

[Note – BMI is a measure that takes into account a person’s weight and height to gauge total body fat in adults. Someone with a BMI of 26 to 27 is about 20 percent overweight, which is generally believed to carry moderate health risks. A BMI of 30 and higher is considered Obese. A BMI of 25 to 29.9 is considered overweight.]

Obesity or being Overweight is a condition characterized by excessive storage of fat in the body. When the body’s calorie intake exceeds the number of calories burned, it leads to the storage of excess calories in the form of body fat.

Proper obesity treatment reduces the risk of many critical conditions such as heart disease, liver damage, diabetes, arthritis, and kidney problems.

The etiology of Overweight or Obesity

Excessive weight gain prime cause is when people consume more calories than the body needs and most commonly due to eating a diet high in fat and calories, being sedentary, or both. This imbalance between calories consumed and calories burned, however, can also be caused by several different obesity-related factors such as genetic, hormonal, behavioural, environmental, and, to some extent, a cultural factor is also included.

Some causative factors are:

• Reduced physical activity with excessive consumption of food
• Excessive calorie intake and reduced calorie output.
• Pregnancy (usually after delivery due to metabolic change that takes place in the body)
• Tumours as well as endocrine disorders and medications that include psychotic drugs
• Oestrogen, corticosteroids, and insulin

There may be other causes for the overweight condition, to provide precise, root-cause Obesity treatment, all causes and symptoms are evaluated by Pranava Kerala Ayurveda Clinic doctors.

Sign & Symptoms

• Increased body fat
• Breathlessness on exertion
• Lethargy, Fatigue
• Excessive sweating with bad odor
• Palpitation during mild activity
• Hormonal Imbalance, High BP, sometime Cardiac issues, etc.
• Loss of Libido also called Sex Drive, relationship issues,
• Stress, or Tiredness, can be a sign of an underlying medical problem, such as Reduced Hormone Levels.

Ayurvedic Concept with Management

In Ayurveda literature, the human body is a body made up of three constitutions, which are called Vata, Pitta, and Kapha (three subtle energy of the human body). Among them, Kapha Dosha is responsible for being Overweight and Obesity. In Ayurveda, this is considered “Sthaulya”.

According to Ayurveda, Kapha Dosha is responsible for strength and immunity. It also provides the basic substratum to all the tissues of the body. Biological fire humor or Pitta Dosha is responsible for Digestion and Metabolism and Biological air humor or Vata Dosha is responsible for all the movements- Gross and Subtle in the body.

To balance these subtle energies, it is first important to identify the imbalanced Dosha, and then accordingly select the Panchakarma therapy to treat the condition from the roots.

Obesity is known as Medaroga (Disorder of fat tissue), which is caused by the aggravation of Kapha. Kapha Dosha property is explained as Dense, Heavy, Slow, Sticky, Wet, and Cold in nature. It governs all Structure and Lubrication in the mind and body apart from controlling the weight and formation of all the seven tissues – Nutritive fluids, Blood, Fat, Muscles, Bones, Marrow, and Reproductive tissues.

So, Ayurveda believes in a balanced state of Kapha Dosha gives nourishment to these tissues through various micro channels and when it is aggravated, Kapha leads to the production of toxins in the body.

Ayurvedic Physicians at Pranava Kerala Ayurveda Clinic state that in the case of an obese person, toxins accumulate in Medovahi Srotas (Fat channels), thereby leading to an increase in the production of fat tissue (Meda Dhatu). When the body produces more fat tissues, it causes an increase in weight.

Pranava Kerala Ayurveda Clinic mainly focuses on the pacification of Kapha Dosha in case of Obesity or being Overweight and this can be done by eliminating Kapha-aggravating foods from the diet. Next, the treatment also focuses on cleansing the Medovahi channels through cleansing Herbs so that excess weight can be reduced.

Pranava Kerala Ayurveda Clinic provides proper screening of patients and advice on diet and lifestyle tips which are highly beneficial to the management, some general advice is as follows.

• Avoid high carbohydrates like polished rice and potato.
• Avoid oily and fried foods, processed foods, fatty foods like butter, purified butter, cheese, whole-milk yogurt, cream, chocolate, etc.
• Have more bitter vegetables like bitter gourd and the bitter variety of drumsticks.
• Replace refined flour with whole-wheat flour and rice with brown rice or parboiled rice.
• Increase intake of fruits, salads, and vegetables.

To find out more about how Ayurveda can help with the above condition, visit Pranava Kerala Ayurveda Clinic or call 0208 907 7902 to book an appointment with an expert Ayurvedic Practitioner.