I first heard about Ayurveda when I was speaking to some co-workers from India during a Celebration of Staff Diversity event at work. They explained that Ayurveda was a healing process used in India based on massage. I was already sold once I heard massage, but in January’s Chopra Center Newsletter I learned more about Ayurveda and how it can also help you balance your eating habits to get you toward reaching your ideal weight. Now I was really intrigued.
In reading more about it, it was good to know that they agree with what I have been saying since I started my Getting Skinny journey, it’s not about trying to reach the ideal weight Hollywood, magazines, friends, family and even medical charts say we should be. It’s about getting to what is ideal for each of us. If you’ve never been at the weight a medical chart says you should be at, at any point in your life (as a child, in high school, after a severe flu), it is unreasonable to believe that that is the ideal weight for you – so let that go. Instead, think back at that point in time where you felt the most comfortable and confident in your body and make that your goal. If however, you happen to be one of the few who can get to that weight on the medical chart without ever having been at that weight before, congratulations. Unfortunately, that has never been the case for me and a lot of people I know, which is why my current goal is based on the weight I was able to maintain for several years as an adult.
As I continued to read on, the article pretty much reinforced a lot of what I have been sharing regarding intuitive eating.
- It’s not about following stict diets, it’s more about bringing awareness to your hunger levels, i.e. only eating when you’re hungry, vs. allowing yourself to eat/overeat to give yourself a temporary sense of comfort.
- Then once you eat, keeping the awareness with you to know when you are no longer hungry, but instead satisfied to the point you can stop eating.
- Eat only when you can dedicate time to actually take in what you’re eating with all your senses (i.e. break the habit of eating in front of the television, while working, or otherwise distracted enough that you aren’t aware of your hunger or fullness levels)
- It also encouraged eating fresh foods, at every meal, if possible; eating more at lunch and less at dinner; using food as a true energy source vs. using it to feed/calm your emotions.
All great reinforcements to what I have been trying to do more often than not, but what I really found interesting was the Chopra Center’s Dosha Quiz. If you have a moment, I would encourage you to take the quiz since it provides some interesting insight into what can set us off into a binge fest and what foods can help keep us balanced so that regardless of what we may be feeling emotionally, we won’t want to go into a binge spiral. More to come on this in a future post. 😉
Based on the description above, what does your ideal weight look like now? How often do you allow yourself the luxury of allowing your five senses to take in everything you’re about to nourish your body with?
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I think you’re so beautiful no matter what the scale says! I’m trying to be more mindful myself and find myself enjoying meals more because of it. Finding the time to make and buy fresh foods has been the toughest. Any favorite meals you have right now?
Awe, thanks lovely. I always feel beautiful, thanks to the strong dose of confidence my family instilled in me, but it’s been more about feeling comfortable in my own body. 🙂 Right now, I’m all about natural and when available organic chicken in all it’s forms. I just can’t get enough…Mole, chicken and rice, grilled chicken, roasted chicken, chicken salad, you name it, if it’s chicken, I’m eating it at some point during the week 😉 How about you, what are your favs right now?