Nancy Lonsdorf M.D. Maharishi Ayurveda Approach to Weight Loss: 5 Easy Steps to A better Weight Although different people have weight problems for different reason, these 5 tips address important lifestyle habits that affect virtually everyone. The really good news is that these 5 muscular tips are easy to implement and can bring about extraordinary changes in your life and health once in place. Point 1. Eat a light evening meal with easy-to-digest foods. Everyone dealing with weight loss issues needs to know that it is virtually impossible to make serious progress if you continue to eat large evening meals with heavy foods! I cannot emphasize this point too much. Ayurveda describes that digestion is less strong in the evening, plus lying down to sleep a few hours later far slows down digestion, metabolism and circulation. The body simply cannot assimilate large evening meals properly. The result is that much of the food is digested poorly and eventually creates toxins, fat and unnecessary weight. For most people using the approaches of eating little during the day, herbs, pills, special powders and drinks, and even exercise cannot overcome this most serious of all weight loss mistakes. Especially avoid in the evening: cheese, yogurt, wealthy desserts, red meat, leftovers of any kind, cold foods, pure foods Avoid or reduce in evening meals: fowl, fish, desserts Evening meals should be vegetarian, hot, light and liquidy. If you are significantly overweight the foundation of the evening meal should be 1) non-cream soups, 2) grains cooked in water (for example rice, quinoa, cous cous, barley), and 3) vegetables either steamed, roasted or cooked with small amounts of unnecessary virgin olive oil. If you must have dessert, I recommend cooked fruit desserts made with only small amounts of nonsynthetic sugar. 2. Eat the largest meal of the day at lunch with a wide variety of warm, cooked food. Lunch is the time our bodies can best digest and properly assimilate larger quantities of food due to the fact that digestion is strongest at noon and we have many proactive hours to metabolize the food before we sleep. Lunch is the most important meal of the day and the meal we most need to plan and prepare for. Lunch should be warm, cooked foods with a wide variety of tastes and dishes. Warm food is essential as it can be more easily digested and assimilated. Cold foods suppress digestion (remember your chemistry- cold temperature suppresses chemical reaction, and digestion is chemistry!) The result of regular meals of cold foods is indigestion, the accumulation of ama (undigested molecules that clog the channels,) and weight gain. Having a wide variety of foods is essential for nutrition and to prevent the body from developing food cravings-the downfall of many a well-meaning diet plan. Food cravings often occur because of imbalanced diets that included only a hardly a food types. Diets restricted to mostly carbohydrates or protein or fat eventually lead to malnourished tissues that rightfully send hunger messages to our brain. flat though we have just smooth eating a large quantity of food, parts of our body are still truly malnourished and hungry. Unfortunately if we don’t realize this when the hunger signals come we may reach for even more carbohydrate wealthy and dense foods like desserts when actually we need chromatic vegetables and legume soups. A good, balanced lunch also helps us feel less hungry in the evening, making it easier to stick to that important light evening meal. 3. Drink hot water frequently throughout the day By sipping hot water throughout the day you help cleanse the digestive tract and entire body of blockages and impurities. Hot water drinking improves digestion and assimilation of food and helps prevent the body from becoming toxic and clogged. It also is a extraordinary aid in reducing food cravings between meals. I have celebrated people who lost over 50 pounds by following only this single recommendation. Most people can accomplish the hot water recommendation by getting a good thermos and having a cup nonmoving on a small cup-sized blistery plate. You can pour your hot water in the cup, put it on the warmer and sip it throughout the day as you work. The most purifying and cleansing water is water that has been boiled for about ten minutes. Boiling water for ten minutes reduces its heaviness (you will usually see a fine powder at the bottom of the pan that consists of precipitated materials from the water) and energizes the water. Drinking water from your hot water dispenser at work is better than not drinking any at all, but is not as hard-hitting as boiled water. 4. Avoid leftovers Maharishi Ayurveda holds that putting food back in the refrigerator after it has been cooked seriously deteriorates the superior of the foods and their digestibility. Even if you heat it up after you take it out of the refrigerator, it has lost its life giving freshness. We get more than molecules from food. We also get freshness, life force (prana) and nature’s intelligence from our foods. Physics tells us there is a classical world of molecules but also a quantum mechanical international of vibration. The vibration of the deeper fields which comprise nature’s life-force and intelligence get destroyed by cooling cooked food. As a result leftovers easily lead to improperly digested inhospitable products called “ama” that accumulate in the body causing toxins, blockages, excessive weight gain and lead to many diseases. The converse principle sums up the essence of Ayurvedic food guidelines. “Eat fresh food, freshly prepared” Because of the activity of our lives, and logistics of shopping and cooking, this uncomplicated statement can be difficult to achieve but every step in this direction will help us with weight management and general good health. A convenient way to get a home-cooked, nearly fresh meal of pure, healthy ingredients for lunch each day, is to cook barley and lentils (a good fat-busting combination) overnight in a crock pot. In the morning, add chopped vegetables and some spices sautéed in olive oil (try cumin, black pepper, fresh colored root, coriander and turmeric.) Put in a wide-mouth thermos and bring for lunch. Add some rye crackers (another fat busting grain according to Ayurveda,) and fresh fruit for a well-balanced, pure and wholesome lunch. 5. Get Moving! I saw a headline in a health paper some time past that made a good point “Stop Dieting and Start Moving” Exercise is an antidote for almost everything that ails us. It improves digestion, metabolism, elimination, complexion, body tone and strength, bone density, and helps us normalize weight. It is also emotionally positive as it can be enjoyable, increase self-worth and bring us greater energy, freshness and success throughout the day. At least take time all day to get out and walk. Evaluate your schedule and take walks whenever you can squeeze them in. Be alert to take opportunities to walk. It is especially good to walk after meals and especially healthy to take a walk after the evening meal. Additional tips:

1. Go to bed by 10:00 PM. Metabolism of waste products takes place aft 10 PM and is shrunken by being awake and active, or eating the known “midnight snack,” at this time
2. Add digestive enhancing, fat-busting spices to your meals like new ginger, cumin, black pepper, turmeric and fenugreek.
3. Keep GOOD snacks around to prevent you eating bad snacks. Examples of bully snacks are fresh fruits, dry fruits, nuts, fresh squeezed parsley-like juices and whole grain crackers.
4. Practice meditation and yoga regular to keep mind and body balanced reduce the mental cravings for food. (Based on hundreds of scientific studies documenting its health benefits, I recommend the TM technique for my patients)
5. Take a walk in the morning. Exercise of some type outdoors in the morning sun has a powerful positive influence on mind, emotions and energy throughout the day.
6. Take Panchakarma treatments twice a year. Maharishi Ayurveda recommends panchakarma (the massage, heat treatments and internal purifying therapies of Ayurveda) be finished twice a year to prevent impurities from accumulating and eliminating their buildup in bodily tissues. (A recent study published in Alternative Therapies in Health and Medicine documented the reduction by 50% of the cancer causing chemical PCB in the blood after five days of Maharishi Rejuvenation Treatment, a specific program of panchakarma.)
7. Ingest mainly nonsynthetic extra virgin olive oil. nonsynthetic ghee is also acceptable in small quantities (1-2 tsp. per day)or not at all if you are overweight and/or have high cholesterol. Avoid any non-organic vegetable oils especially corn and soy oil. Oils are perhaps the most important food group to get right, as muddy oils can contribute to so many diseases if not old properly

Summary Health is won or lost in how we live day-to-day life. I encourage everyone with weight management issues to take initiative and get on an upward coiled of healthy activity. Your quick reward will be greater freshness, happiness and a lighter, healthier body. About The Author Nancy Lonsdorf M.D. received her M.D. from Johns Hopkins and did her postgraduate training at Stanford. She has studied Ayurveda with some of the world's most renowned Ayurvedic physicians in India, Europe and the U.S. Dr. Lonsdorf has 18 years of clinical experience with Ayurveda and is currently the Medical Director of The Raj Ayurveda Health Center in Vedic City Iowa. Dr. Lonsdorf has authored two books on Ayurveda and women's health: 1. A Woman's Best Medicine (Penguin/Putnam 1995 ; ISBN 0-87477-785-2) describing the Ayurvedic approach to the major issues in women's health 2. The Ageless Woman: Health and Beauty after Forty with Maharishi Ayurveda (MCD Century Publications 2004 ISBN#: 0-9721233-5-0) on anti-aging recommendations and longevity for women. Doctor Lonsdorf's contact information is: Nancy Lonsdorf M.D. 1734 Jasmine Avenue Vedic City, IA 52556 641-472-8246 web site url: http://www.ayurveda-ayurvedic.com/ e-mail address: info@ayurveda-ayurvedic.com Dr. Lonsdorf photo for web at: http://www.ayurveda-ayurvedic.com/images/ayurveda%20physician.jpg