Ayurveda for Natural Weight Loss: Do You Suffer From Ama?

It’s very important to not eat more than your stomach can comfortably digest and to not eat between meals when you’re not hungry. Like the rest of the body needs rest during the night, the stomach needs rest between meals. If you keep heaping food in, or eat so much that your stomach is struggling to digest it, the digestive system gets exhausted and weakened. This draws the vitality from the other parts of the body and affects your energy and well-being.

According to Ayurveda, the ancient Indian system of natural medicine, habitual overeating creates ama in the system. Ama is debris of partially digested matter. If ama is allowed to accumulate in the body, according to Ayurveda, it turns into a toxic sludge of metabolic waste products, which impair circulation through the minute channels of the body and becomes a breeding ground for disorders.

Ama also interferes with the proper absorption of foods, and therefore can even be a factor if you suffer constant cravings for food, even when you’ve just eaten.

Do You Suffer From Ama?

Here are some of the signs of ama:

• White coated tongue, particularly when awakening in the morning

• You often feel sleepy and tired after meals

• Your stomach feels bloated or you have gas after meals, particularly after large meals

• Your digestion is slow and your appetite is poor—you rarely feel hungry before meals even when you don’t overeat

• You feel tired and lethargic during the day, particularly in the late afternoon, even though you’re getting enough sleep

• You have frequent cravings and don’t feel really satisfied, even when you’ve just eaten

• You have low vitality, and feel a lack of motivation and zest for life

• Your mind feels cloudy, unclear, sometimes even “spaced out”

• You suffer from frequent constipation; feel congested and heavy

• You have vague aches and pains, or often feel a vague, general lack of well-being

If you answered yes to five or more of the above, chances are that you have some degree of accumulated ama in the system. Consider doing an Ayurvedic cleanse or other type of detox to rid your system of accumulated toxins.

Regular overeating is one of the main causes of ama, as it weakens the digestive powers and interferes with proper digestion and absorption. So if you’re left with any feelings of guilt about leaving food on the plate, now is the time to let go of them. Don’t treat your body as a repository for leftovers. It is just too important to ignore this simple little principle: It is essential to your long-term health.