Does your body structure border from slightly overweight to obese?
Perhaps you have considered shedding off a lot of those body fats not
only to make you look good but feel good as well. That fad diet that
promised to make you lose weight fast only succeeded in one thing – make
you regain all that weight back.
By now, you may be tired and
disgusted with yo-yo dieting and have seriously decided not to live with
it. It has been reported that around 500,000 people die each year due
to the bad effects of obesity. You read that right, a lot of people
can’t live with being overweight, about half a billion of them.
Instead
of wasting your time, money and effort on useless diet fads, you should
instead be focusing on safer and more natural ways of taking your
weight off. How about meditation to lose weight?
Meditation is
the practice of finding serenity and calmness by focusing your
attention. Some of its benefits include lowering your blood pressure and
managing your stress which causes you to overeat. Stressed people try
to comfort themselves with food they like.
While there isn’t
sufficient studies to support that meditation actually helps people lose
weight, it’s a fact that meditation does make you more mindful of the
way you think and act, including how you respond to food. As an example,
a study showed that meditation can help curb emotional eating and binge
eating .
Bingeing on diet plans that you can’t sustain will
bring more harm to your system than good. It is an unhealthy way to lose
weight that can wreak havoc on your body’s metabolism and natural
functions. Bottom line is stop trying to lose those fats and start
eating right with the help of meditation.
Some practitioners
claim that meditation needs a specific diet to go with it: try the brown
rice diet (macrobiotics), be a vegetarian, or eat only light nutritious
foods. However, a lot of people would surely want to try their hand at
meditation but are unready and unwilling to give up the foods they can’t
do without.
A good sensible diet is only one of the many
conditions that can make the meditation process easier. Other factors
that are included are:
- A simple and relaxed lifestyle
- Close interaction with a teacher to help you in the process
- Staying in touch with fellow practitioners
- A calm living environment
- Abstaining from alcohol and tobacco, as well as other drugs
- Living in a community that is conducive to meditation
- Exercise and good health
- Living free from stress
The Connection Between Meditation and Dieting
Many people
believe that there is a connection between meditation and dieting. A
person who meditates calms their mind and body, and focuses on their
breathing which properly uses oxygen. The oxygen as a result helps in
conditioning the body.
Many doctors are not in agreement about
the link between meditation and dieting. Some believe in the holistic
approach while others clung stubbornly to science alone. The holistic
approach involves the use of acupuncture, relaxation, meditation, herbal
cures, and other methods that help get rid of toxins that are harmful
to the body and delaying the progress of weight loss.
When used
with the right dieting plan, meditation can help you stay within your
ideal weight after you’ve reached your target weight. Regular
meditation will help you reach your target weight and keep you there
through the imagery of a slimmer you being able to resist the temptation
of unhealthy and fattening foods.
Meditation, however, is not
the only effective means to burn off excess fat. It offers a way to
attain a peaceful mind and calm spirit while eliminating toxins from the
body through natural and organic foods. If you put your belief in it
and give it enough time to work its magic, this ancient practice may
just do wonders for you.
Combining Healthy Foods with Meditation
Holistic
health covers the entire human body – mind, spirit, emotions and body.
Foods included in the holistic health approach help rid the body of
poisons like impurities in drinking water and other disease-carrying
microbes that you come across with everyday. When your body is freed
from germs and toxins with the help of holistic foods, you will notice
that you start to feel better and have a lot of energy and stamina to do
the things you want to do and more.
Eating holistic foods is not
a fad diet because fad diets have been found to be ineffective. It is
actually a lifestyle change where you make a big shift in your food
preference to successfully lose weight. You must be able to ask yourself
before putting any food into your mouth if it is beneficial to your
health. Will it just satisfy your food craving? Will it promote better
health for you or will it just be empty calories that will only make you
fat?
There are many questions you’ll have to ask yourself before
eating just any kind of food. You may have to do this many times over,
unless you adopt the holistic lifestyle and shift to naturally-grown
organic foods and quit asking all those questions.
Combine the
benefits of holistic food and the healing powers of meditation and you
are on your way to a healthier body and sounder mind. You will have
plenty of energy to spare, feel a lot better than you’ve ever had, and
be able to things that would otherwise have been difficult if you start
and continue with the healthy lifestyle of combining meditation with
dieting.
Bear in mind that a healthy and trim you starts with a
complete shift in lifestyle, not merely adopting certain diets and a
brisk walk in the park. Diets don’t usually work but a change in
lifestyle surely does. Consider changing the way you live your life to
shield your body from various diseases like heart disease, diabetes, and
many other health disorders that spring from an unhealthy diet.
Can’t Lose Weight? Try Mindfulness Meditation!
If
losing weight seems to be an uphill struggle for you, the problem may
not be in your waistline but in your mind as well. Being overweight
usually isn’t linked with hunger and binge eating. The root of the
problem could be lying deep within your mind.
Persons who are
under a lot of stress or experiencing sadness tend to eat often. A walk
down the block can trigger the desire to eat with the smell of freshly
baked pastry coming from a bakery store. Emotions like boredom usually
are the subconscious triggers that drive people to go eat.
The
above examples show that many people are driven to eat by numerous
factors other than hunger. Now that you’ve realized that, you may be
wondering how to control it. The urge to eat and the emotions that
trigger it starts in the brain. Gaining control of your brain and
emotions is possible with the help of mindfulness and meditation.
Mindfulness
is one of the most powerful techniques of mental fitness and awareness.
Research scientists have discovered that mindfulness meditation can
reprogram the brain in ways encourage cheerfulness, empathy, attention,
morality and happiness. Recent research reveals that mindful practices
can beneficially influence our actions, attitudes and even our
biological makeup.
Mindfulness helps you to become constantly
aware of your thoughts, emotions and feelings even when you eat. If you
start doing mindfulness meditation early each day, you will have clear
thoughts for most of the day. If you need to get started, there are
various mindfulness meditation apps you can download online.
Mindfulness
meditation can quickly give you that feeling of fullness and diminish
your craving for food and anything that can make you fat instead of
healthy. Start practicing mindful eating which includes chewing your
food in an unhurried manner and doing some meditation when mealtime
comes.
The small changes that you make in your lifestyle can lead
to bigger and better changes. You will notice that you are responding a
lot more to the sensations you feel in your body once you have
developed connection through meditation and mindfulness. So instead of
going for that extra helping without thinking, you will instantly notice
the feeling of fullness or think that you may be eating not because of
hunger anymore.
Another benefit of meditation apart from curbing
your urge to eat is stress relief. During practice, your stress hormone
called cortisol is lowered to a safe level. Cortisol is the hormone
that’s responsible for storing fat particularly in your belly. By
relieving stress in your daily life through mindfulness, you are then
eliminating the hormones that are at the root of your weight problem.
Release your stress and remove some extra weight.
What Is the Right Food to Eat Before Meditation?
Whatever
you eat – whether they are healthy or unhealthy foods – can affect the
way you meditate. No matter what type of meditation you practice, it
always makes good sense to be aware of the kind of food you take inside
your body.
The basic rule to remember when it comes to meditation
and diet is not to eat an hour before doing meditation practice. If you
really must eat an hour earlier, then make it a light meal because a
heavy one can make you feel dizzy or sluggish. As a rule, vegetarian
meals eaten an hour before can actually benefit meditation practices.
Sattvic
foods are foods that improves your meditative practice and develops a
calm mental attitude. Yoga and meditation practitioners recommend a diet
that is mostly made up of sattvic foods. These type of food includes
fruits, vegetables, whole grain, seeds, nuts, legumes, herbs, organic
dairy products and natural sweeteners. Brown rice, cut oats, millet and
quinoa are just a few examples of whole grains.
Brown rice, whole
grains, legumes and other vegetables are a rich source of vitamins,
minerals and amino acids that are proven helpers in the digestive
process. This will enable you to do meditation practices that are free
from disruptions. Your diet can also include nutrient-packed foods that
can go with your pre-practice meal like strawberries, grapefruit,
raspberries, eggplant, spinach, broccoli and cauliflower.
Foods to Avoid When You are Meditating
Avoid
all tamasic and rajasic foods prior to doing meditation. Rajasic foods
are those that include coffee, soft drinks, tea, onions, garlic, spicy
foods and any processed food items that contain either a lot of salt or
refined sugar. Tamasic foods include meat, fish, poultry, eggs,
mushroom, vinegar and alcoholic drinks. It is highly recommended that
you stay away from these foods because it is believed that they can
muddle the mind with angry and unclean thoughts.
If you should
have meat in your diet, make certain that the source animal was organic
and grass-fed, ensuring that the energy coming from it is pure.
Commercially-raised animals can create a negative effect on your diet.
If
your diet generally consists of meat, fish and poultry, avoiding them
and embracing the meditative lifestyle can make a huge change in your
entire system. If you think that adapting a vegan lifestyle will be
right for you, it is best to make the transition gradually and over time
in order to get it done right and to ensure that your body is indeed
ready for this kind of diet.
Conclusion
Our knowledge of
meditation’s connection to dieting will keep on growing as more and more
discoveries are revealed by research and experiments. It is clear,
however, that mindfulness is a major tool to alleviate stress, create
beneficial hormonal and emotional changes that inhibit fat accumulation,
and prevent certain diseases.
Mindfulness combined with healthy
eating habits can also strengthen specific parts of the brain
responsible for controlling behavior, making wise decisions and
responding to urges. By being diligent in your meditative practice and
eating the food that are compatible with meditation, you build a strong
foundation in your mind, body and spirit to make positive long-term
changes in your life.
