• Obesity is the accumulation of excessive fat in the body.
• Ayurveda cells it ‘sthoulyam’.
• Agni mandhya increase makes one eat more, which become fat and stays in the body leading to obesity.

Ayurveda gives the following causes

• Lack of physical exercises, laziness
• Sleeping in the afternoon
• The diet and lifestyle which increases kapha
• Consuming sweets, too much of fatty foods
• A man needs per day 2800 calories of food and a woman, 2500 calories. When this limit is exceeded, body weight increases.

Risk factors

Obesity may lead to serious and chronic diseases like

• Diabetes mellitus
• High Blood Pressure
• Ischemic heart diseases
• Stroke
• Varicose veins
• Impotency
• Back ache, Joint pains
• Breathing problems
• Depression
  • To distinguish between over-weight and obesity, the body mass index (BMI) is used.
  • BMI – It is weight in kilograms multiplied by 10,000 divided by height, in centimeters squared.
  • For example, let us assume that your weight is 50 kilos; and height is 160 cm. Your BMI is 50x10000 divided by 160x160 = 19.53
  • If your BMI is less than 18.5 – Under weight
  • 18.5 to 24.9 – Normal weight
  • 25 to 29.9 – Over weight
  • 30 to 34.9 – A little obese
  • 35 to 39.9 – Medium obese
  • Above 40 – Obesity.
    • Hip measurement: Use a tape to measure your hip an inch above navel. Normal Girth is 40 inches for men and 35 inches for women. Any thing above these is indication of over weight / obesity. “Tyre” around hip/stomach is not healthy and must be attended to.
    • Healthy weight: Chart given below

Management of obesity

• Burn the excess calories you eat, by physical activities. Best exercise for obesity is walking.
• Resort to swimming
• Oil massages, dry massage using weight reducing medicinal powder are to be undertaken.
• A combination of oil massage, Followed by wet fomentation and culminated with dry massage is a good ayurvedic remedy for obesity. It helps the skin also
• Horse gram, Barley, Honey with water etc are good
• Mix 2 spoonful honey with 1 tsp lime juice and drink it on empty stomach in the morning.
• Drink plenty of water
• Do not sleep in the after noon.
• Foods prepared with digestive spices like cumin, caraway, ginger, mustard seed, cloves, basil, turmeric, fenugreek, cinnamon and garlic help reduction of fat. Avoid meat.
• Do not altogether give up ghee. Take a small amount, preferably melted ghee.
• Of course, exercises, yoga are must.
• Drink water sometime after meals. Best is to drink water when you are not eating.