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Thread: meda roga or obese

  1. #11
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    Re: meda roga or obese

    Quote Originally Posted by Believer View Post
    Namaste,

    I am not a nutritionist, so my comments are coming from general observations.

    Outside of the health issues and lack of activity that have been mentioned as the causes of weight gain by some, the obesity in Mexico and some of the other places that I have visited was due to the diet borne out of the poverty. The dependence on high starch, deep fried items was almost invariably the reason. In the Marshall Islands for example, there is grinding poverty and the 'Bread Fruit' is their main sustenance item. In Hawaii, Taro root is a cherished delicacy. In Mexico, deep fried things made from corn flour are favored by the poor. Total lack of any vegetables and items rich in protein seemed to be the suspects at many of these places. In North America of course, it is the super sized fast food, rich in fat and carbs, which makes otherwise healthy people to become bigger. So, at least on the face of it, outside of the US, obesity is a poverty driven low nutrition diet trait among otherwise healthy populace.

    How does all this affect one's spirituality? Probably does not help at all. They eat to live and can't afford to overeat, but whatever they do eat, is sustenance type and of very little nutritional value. The people I met and saw were very humble and down to earth, but not thinking much about spiritual growth, as their minds never strayed too far from the thought of the next tummy filling exercise.

    Pranam.

    This is so wise, such a very very wise observation. Kentucky I think is second in obese adults. This is due to the very impoverish peoples here. The fresh food in a hilly area such as myself is VERY expensive.

    When one only has one place to purchase food in a 40-100 mile radius...one has little choices.

    Just this past week I went to purchase apples and the price was almost 2$ each. UGH! So I went through my coupons and bought clementine Tangerines called Cuties, I got them for 5 pound box for around 5$.
    Thanks to my coupons my children have very healthy meals. Always spinach...beans...but that is because I have used coupons with my weekly groceries and save about 150-200$ extra which I put on whole grains, veg and fruit. Without my coupons I would be in the same situation.

  2. #12

    Re: meda roga or obese

    Namaste All,

    A fascinating subject, for many life revolves around their eating habits, be that eating too much, too little or obsessing over what one eats; it is so very true that this is a luxury so many people can not afford.

    Were it possible that those who have pleanty were able to free them self from the residual fear of going with out, it could be that we would be better organised to give to those who have not?

    It is interesting to think of how we perceive our selves.

    We can be so deluded when it comes to our own self assessment.

    I am normally an average weight for my height and build, but I fluctuate between the minimum and maximum over periods of time. Currently at the heavy end, It has been a while since I partook in any sport!



    praNAma

    mana

  3. #13

    Re: meda roga or obese

    Namaste,

    From what I have seen, a person's weight is largely a result of genetics and circumstance. Unfortunately, the whole world teaches us that we can judge a person's self-control and food intake by the person's size. I have seen these harsh judgments cause endless misery.

    I prefer to not judge myself or others by our weight. I wind up doing it anyway, and I have to remind myself that such judgment is not healthy. Not for me, and not for the person who suffers my judgment. And it's especially not healthy when I am the person I'm judging!

  4. #14
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    Re: meda roga or obese

    hariḥ oṁ
    ~~~~~~

    namasté

    One must realize that being excessively over-weight is not the desire of the person that is obese. There is no doubt there are economic influences that have been called out in the posts above. That influence says this - I am economically challanged so with the money I have I need to buy the most with it. It just so happens that the economy of scale brings one's choices that puts on excessive weight.

    This ( excessive weight) is a kapha imbalnce of sweet, sour and salty tastes in excess. This drives kapha in excess - it even holds more water within the body.

    So , is all lost ? No. Even the most poor can afford to purchase various spices that will balance out kapha - the reducing spices are pungent, bitter and astringent ( for kapha imbalance) in taste. So what is missing ? Proper knowledge.


    At the end of the day, one still is left with the body, the vehicle of ātman. How you keep this vehicle determines one's health, well being and the thoughts that arise in the mind. No-one (IMHO) can pass this responsiblity on to another.

    So, one must say, being thin ( really thin) is the proper physical format. This too is upside-down logic. We then enter into the other realm of vatta imblance. This too causes the same if not more havic within the body and the mind.


    What is the answer ? Balance. The ingestion of all 6 tastes¹. If you are not aware of these , this would be a great thing to read about.


    Key āyurvedic principle: Food is medicine, medicine is food.


    praṇām
    1. More on tastes here : http://www.hindudharmaforums.com/showthread.php?t=6917
    यतसà¥à¤¤à¥à¤µà¤‚ शिवसमोऽसि
    yatastvaṠśivasamo'si
    because you are identical with śiva

    _

  5. #15

    Re: meda roga or obese

    Namaste All,

    I feel that it may be of interest to highlight the involvement of epigenetic in our metabolism; our body clock is run by our thyroid which also deals with the immune system allergies and body temperature, It is very much a centrer of feedback. This gland is, found in the throat, is very much connected to our thoughts via the pituitary gland found in the centre of the brain.
    It is this mechanism which causes one to change temperature with fear and even at times feel that one is choked by anxiety. It seems perfectly reasonable to me to suppose that one who has control of their senses has also control of these mechanisms.
    It has recently be found that worldly events in our lives, through (I am supposing here) the neuro epigenetic and endocrine systems, can actually activate our genes, like a kind of switch board mechanism. This means that events in the material world can feedback to our DNA and genes and switch them on and off.

    It has also been found that disease such as diabetes is passed on through generations. You may be susceptible to this disease if your grandparents ate to well at the time that they conceived your patents.

    What does this mean? It means that it is not only our self which continues after death but also reflections of our physical body.

    Article

    Podcast



    It wound seem that our DNA and thus our genes are part of a fractal symmetry that is much bigger than our selves; our thoughts and actions have a great affect upon that symmetry.

    Beautifully synchronous with Ayurvedic thought and practise.



    praNAma

    mana
    Last edited by Mana; 17 December 2011 at 02:40 AM.

  6. #16
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    Re: meda roga or obese

    Hari Om,

    This topic has been a sore point several times over in my lifetime to date. There are so many elements that come together that make this a very difficult area to be very articulate in but I will give it my best try. I ask for your forgiveness and patience in advance for what may be at times nothing more than ramblings that, if nothing more, are especially meaningful to me in the processes on the road to personal growth and freedom.

    Weight was always tied to self esteem, and I must admit still is to a degree. An "aha" moment that I've been fortunate to encounter a couple of times while looking into the mirror is seeing and feeling that I am not this body. All judgement stopped for a brief moment and I was able to feel what I thought was my true self. This has only happened recently.

    Yes, as a child I was "husky" as it was called. The other kids made fun of me. Eventually I outgrew this horrid period for some time while embarking on a journey into metaphysics. Into my early adult years, I was a fitness nut, a runner and very careful with my diet. A true fanatic. Later, once the manic episodes turned to the morose depressions that haunted me to the point of nearly taking my life several times and finally deciding to give up a job to spend my last paycheck on an eating spree due to the depression and last only until the money ran out, some miracle happened and I found the help that I needed to overcome the dreaded disease known as Bipolar Disorder - classically know for, among other things binges in eating due to the extreme lows in mood. Food made me feel good, even if it was temporary. Problem was, the weight was the down side to such behavior.

    With the help came a barrage of prescription drugs to tame the beast within. Many of them put on pounds and again the self esteem plummeted. The spiritual practices that I had undertaken, namely finally believing in a God again came to a screeching halt. My meditations ended, yoga ended - I just couldn't get into the postures or concentrate. The weight was my enemy and it kept me from enjoying a large part of life as I had come to know it. Food again became the drug of choice and only hampered my practices more. I gave up everything spiritually though I was improving mentally.

    Fast forward several years. Finally medications were produced that worked well for me that kept the weight at bay. I felt good about myself and by the grace of God resumed my spiritual studies. I had always had a calling to some sort of "ministry" for lack of a better word. I finally came to know of Sanatana Dharama and Lord Ganesha in particular. He eventually led me to Lord Shiva and Shri Hanuman.

    So my take on this? Ayurvedic studies as part of SD proved and still proves especially beneficial for this and other items that cause ill in my life. Lord Hanuman and the Gods have been gracious and have blessed me over and over with freedom from food addiction and a return to sadhana - a deepening and understanding as never before of myself and the beginning of understanding that we are all one.

    I must agree with many of the posts above in relation to the fast food syndrome and a lack of proper diet, but I'd also like to add a lack of education in eating habits that is being passed down to today's generation because parents don't seem to know and better or really care.

    Again, I'm sorry for some ramblings, but I hope that I've provided some insights to both the medical opinions as well as the personal trials that kept me and I feel keep many in the cycle of poor and improper food habits, thus hampering spiritual progress to a great degree. Many of you may disagree, but this is my experience.

    All the best to those who struggle with food, spirituality and both at the same time. May your God bless you and take you to new heights along your chosen path.

    Again, Hari Om!

  7. #17

    Re: meda roga or obese

    Namaste,

    Weight has been a fraught topic for me as long as I can remember. My mother stayed slender. I think that she suffered constant hunger but permitted herself very little food out of fear of growing fat. (She was very irritable and I think now that hunger was the main cause.) When I was 13 or 14 I weighed a few pounds more than she did. I was horrified. Many of my relatives range from fat to extremely fat. When I would ask my mother about those relatives, she would first report that they were very fat before she would tell me anything else about them.

    Until I moved away to where I had no scale, I used to weigh myself 5 or 6 times a day.

    I tried to diet, but I soon found that dieting made me obsess about food and I would gain weight without even losing any first!

    So I then just ate a healthy, varied diet and let the weight do what it would.

    That is what I have done for decades, and my weight has varied. When I lived in a place with tropical diseases and an unsafe, unpredictable water supply my weight plummeted. I had no scale, and no mirror, and I just thought that my clothes were all stretching. I felt like myself, just sick a lot. After a few years in that place I stopped getting sick constantly and my weight crept back up. About 10 years later, in a different place (this time with a safe municipal water supply) my weight plummeted again, unexpectedly. And then, on it's own, it recovered, and slowly kept going up, until it plateaued a few years ago as I went through the woman's change of life.

    It plateaued in the "obese" range. For a number of years now I've been as fat as the rest of my family, and as fat as my mother feared I would be.

    Physically I feel fine. Now that I am practicing hatha yoga I not only feel fine, but I feel great! I'm sure that I could do more asanas and go farther with them if I were more slender -- but that isn't the point. As I practice to my own capabilities I find myself on a spiritual path that is the true point. And actually, part of that spiritual path is learning how not to judge and how not to be competitive. When I am practicing a simple modification with all my heart, and the rest of the class flies forward with something I can't get close to, I learn tolerance for myself and by extension, for other people. Now that I have been practicing for almost 2 years, sometimes I practice next to someone less physically skilled than I, and I have to watch out for feeling superior. The mirror image, but the same problem. My sense is that the inferiority/superiority feelings are part of avidya, and I am given these feelings as a gift in the asana class -- a gift to see what is superfluous.

    So what is superfluous? My belly fat? Or the inferiority/superiority feelings toward someone who has the same atman as I do?

  8. #18

    Re: meda roga or obese

    Namaste c.smith

    I am interested to hear that you speak of bi-polarity; it has touched me also; I view this a blessing, a gift all be it hard to handle. I am very interested to hear of your experiences; Thank you so much for sharing.


    praNama

    mana
    Last edited by Mana; 18 December 2011 at 03:53 AM.

  9. #19
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    Re: meda roga or obese

    hari o
    ~~~~~~


    namasté


    Regarding sthaula¹ - If this were my condition I would look to the āyurvedic offerings of:
    • amalaki
    • triphala
    • honey
    I am user of amalaki ( a+malaki - removing impurities) for general health. Triphala is a main stay offering of āyurveda ; And honey even as a 'sweet' one would think this aggrevates kapha, when it is digested it has the opposite affects. The honey is to be unheated in the manufacturing process - nor should it be heated for one's own use.


    praām

    words
    sthaula - means excessively large; it is another way of saying meda roga or being obese
    यतसà¥à¤¤à¥à¤µà¤‚ शिवसमोऽसि
    yatastvaṠśivasamo'si
    because you are identical with śiva

    _

  10. #20
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    Re: meda roga or obese

    Namaste,

    I am sorry to hear about the problems/health issues, both past and present, of so many of our forum members. However, I have not walked in your shoes and am unable to fully comprehend the pain that many of you have been through. It is a miracle that you have found the solace of SD (along with medications and some helping hands) to salvage this life and make something of it. All I can offer is my encouragement to keep doing what works for you folks and stay on the spiritual path. I am sorry if I ever inadvertently offended you with any of my words.

    Pranam.
    Last edited by Believer; 18 December 2011 at 11:00 AM.

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