NuttyYogi — Sweet

Traditional Dining Practices Leads To Weight Loss 0

ONCE UPON A TIME I was invited to a naming ceremony for my grandmother’s friend’s daughter. I was very young at that time and excited to wear a beautiful dress and adorn myself with flowers and jewellery. I was even more excited at the prospect of a wide spread of sweets, snacks, varieties of rice preparations etc served over a banana leaf.

The only thing I dreaded was sitting down on the floor cross legged! 

It's been just a couple of minutes of sitting cross legged that i felt that there was no feeling in my right leg at all. I just wanted to stretch my leg when I saw a glimpse of my granny giving me a stern eye. This made me fold my legs again and sit straight :)

All that practice paid off and even now I sit on the floor cross legged to have my meals although we do have a dining table and chairs (I can manage to sit like that for an hour now).

But why punish myself this way?

Well, there is a scientific basis to sitting cross legged on the floor. Did you know, this traditional way of dining can teach you to eat mindfully and help you to lose weight.

In an age when there were no dining tables, everyone sat on floor while having food and very few suffered from lifestyle diseases that have become so rampant in our times

According to the experts, sitting on the floor strengthens the lumbar region of the body. Digestive juices are secreted in the stomach, which gets ready for processing the food. 

It is more of a blessing than a punishment…

Science supports tradition

Many research articles have been published in international journals about the benefits of our traditional dining practices.

Sitting on the floor and eating also makes you mindful of the amount of food that you are eating. Sitting cross legged stimulates the vagus nerve to send signals to the brain about the feeling of fullness which prevents you from overeating. This in turn can help in weight loss.

The digestion process is also better at preventing gastric issues or bloating. 

So it is ok to chuck the dining set and use the floor (saves money too!)

To conclude:

To eat is a necessity but to eat intelligently is an art  - La Rochefoucauld

Marrying Ayurveda to Modern day Diets 0

Marrying Ayurveda to Modern day Diets 

There is no denying that currently we are on a roller coster ride full of new diets and fads. These include diets of cleanse, superfoods, clean eating, detox and the list can go on. What we forget is that Indian Ayurveda had known and practised this science generations ago and there is a vast treasure of knowledge what we have had all along. Ayurveda, an age-old Indian science, has secrets to clean, healthy lives that don't need you to spend excessively on every new health fad, and can be accessed through one's everyday kitchen.

Ayurveda talks about elements our body is build of air, water, fire, ether and earth and the misbalances these elements get into - the doshas - Vata, Pitha and Kapha! The key is to eliminate or reduce the dosha and achieve a state of harmony. All foods many not suit us despite being inherently healthy and safe to consume. So how to do we really figure whats good for us. 

There are two simple choices in front of us. We go to a Ayurvedic practitioner and get our dosa checked and go as per recommended diets for the same. Or better still start listening to our bodies. Is the red rice we just had, actually made us feel lighter or heavier. How did we emotionally feel after consuming a particular food group at the time of the day. If we felt lighter, energetic, happy. We can listen to our internal gut system. 

Going on a diet should not be a mind game but mindful eating would actually lead us to the bliss we are looking from a healthier body…..