Obesity is most commonly found in today’s world. Hundred out of one thousand are suffering from obesity. An excessive deposition of fat in adipose tissue is the most vital cause of obesity and insomnia or lack of sleep is second leading cause. Disturbance of sleep cycle disturbs hormones due which body fat gets affected. Obesity occurs at any age in either sex. Its incidence is higher in persons who consume more food specially junk food. Women usually gain about 12 kg weight after pregnancy and in menopause. Obesity is most serious concern which leads to organ damage. For example- damage of liver, gall bladder and spleen as fatty liver, splenomegaly and hepatomegaly, and this is because of our lifestyle and diet.
As extra fat strain kidney, heart, knee, ankle and hip joints, the chief causes are over eating, consuming high calorie food and carbonated drinks. Sometimes people fail to control their appetite to reduce calories. Obesity effects the hormones, disturbs the thyroid and pituitary gland. In such person metabolism become slow and all the toxins gets deposited in the body and they continue to gain weight unless they follow some treatment and reduce their calories. As according to the researchers obese person mostly deal with psychological problems.
Generally, it is observed that those people who are slacker, unhappy, lonely or unloved, disconnected with their families tend to over eat as eating is a pleasure to them, they tend have high risk factor of several diseases like coronary thrombosis, heart failure, high blood pressure, diabetes mellitus, arthritis, gout, sleep apnea, stroke, certain cancers, liver disorders, gall bladder disorders, depression and pregnancy complications.
To know the severity and level of obesity, we can calculate the BMI (Body Mass Index) by weight and height of an individual. Body Mass Index is calculated by person’s weight in kilograms (or pounds) divided by the square of height in meters (or feet). A high BMI indicate high body fat i.e., overweight. BMI screens weight categories that may lead to health problems, but it does not diagnose any disease or health of an individual. The ranges of BMI are: below 18.5 is underweight, between 18.5- 24.9 is normal BMI or healthy weight, between 25-29.9 is overweight and above 30 or over is obese.
Generally, a question arises what is the treatment for it and how we can deal with this? If we focus on naturopathy treatment ‘A holistic approach treatment without drugs like dietics, hydrotherapy, manipulative therapy, mud therapy etc. A suitably planned diet includes more fibres, whole fruits and vegetables. A balanced diet which contain micronutrients and micronutrients both. As in naturopathy we also focus on fasting therapy, prescribe juice fasting for ten days, juices of grapefruit, lemon, orange, pineapple, spinach, carrot, celery, amla, kiwi and other fruits and vegetables. Long juice fasting up to forty days can also be recommended under proper guidance and supervision of doctor. A short fasting can also be prescribed to patient at regular interval of one or two months and continue until the desired weight is achieved.
After juice fasting provide fresh fruit and seasonal fruits for 1 week so that the metabolism of the body can be improved and the digestion power is improved. One Can add some seeds to their diet plan like – chia seeds, flax seeds, basil seeds, sunflower seeds and other seeds. In early morning one can take lukewarm water/ wheat grass juice/barley water/jeera water/fenugreek seed water or any other beverages. The high- fat foods should be avoided such as butter, cheese, cake, chocolate, cookies, potatoes, rice, honey, sugar, syrup, puddings, white flour and all junk foods.
One can do exercise or yoga daily up to 45 minutes to one hour. Brisk walking is also recommended. Drink plenty amount of water approximately 3 – 4 litres daily. Along with this, in naturopathy steam bath is prescribed as it opens the pores of the skin so that the excessive toxins from the body can be removed. Other treatment modalities like hot lapet (pack) on the abdomen, abdomen pack, mud pack, hip bath, heliotherapy can also be recommended.
There is one more method of reducing weight is called “Fletcherism.” It was discovered in the USA by Horace Fletcher at 40 years of age. He considered himself as an old man. He used to complain about his overweight, indigestion issues and fatigue for continuous six months. He did some research over his issues and got to know about naturopathy and he started inculcating it in his lifestyle. He made certain rules that are to chew your food properly and slowly, second never eat until hungry, third enjoy every bite and take taste of each bite. Fourth do not eat when tired, worried, angry and while taking meal, try not to think or talk about unpleasant things. Horace Fletcher followed these rules for five months; As a result, he lost his weight more than he expected. Later he named this method Fletcherism.
According to studies ingestion of honey around ten grams with hot water is an excellent home remedy for reducing weight. Honey works on extra fat deposition in the body and improves the metabolism. The dose of honey needs to be increased gradually. One of best remedy is lemon- honey water (LHW), it is beneficial in reducing weight without loss of energy, appetite and weakness. Take one spoon of fresh honey mixed with half lemon in lukewarm water, take at regular interval of time.
Most effective another remedy is juice diet which was mentioned above as in elaboration – On first day one is recommended to drink plenty of water, avoid food products and drinks. On second day, juice of three lemons mixed with water and distributed in equal three glasses. One lemon increased per day by day and 12 lemons consumed on the last day . Then similarly reduced the number of lemons one by one each day. Lemon juice diet may make patient lethargy and decrease the energy of the body. First two days, patient may feel hungry and the blood pressure might fluctuate. While following the juice diet patient should be stabilised, take proper rest physically as well as mentally.
Cabbage is considered and effective home remedy to control obesity. Recent researches has discovered that cabbage contains valuable content called “Tartrotic acid.” Tartrotic acid inhibits the conversion of sugar and other carbohydrates into fat. Hence, it helps to reduce weight. Cabbage can be consumed in salads and is a simplest way to stay slim as well as painless way of dieting. Complementary of cabbage is celery; Celery also helps to reduce weight when consumed in salads. Another way is before taking meal consume one plate of salad. Some specific vegetables for salads include carrot, radish, celery, cabbage, tomato, cucumber and beetroot.
If the patient is weak and there body do not support whole day fasting then patient is prescribed the boiled food and fibre diet, such as boiled pulses spinach and cabbage etc. Avoid taking any kinds of medicine for reducing weight it will create some side effects and make severe disorders.
In conclusion nathuropathy is the best way to loose weight in a healthy way also can take proper planned diet as prescribed, eat when you are hungry, and drink plenty of water and do yoga asana such as sarvangasana, dhanurasana, chakrasana, trikonasana, halasana, shalabasana, naukasana, ardh-matsyendrasana, paschimmottasana, vajrasana, yogmudra, madukasana etc. Pranayamas such as- kapalbhati, bhastrika and many more. Perform jal neti, kunjal once in a week empty stomach in early morning to remove toxin from the body.