Yoga, meditation, and diet: the wisdom of slimming from mind to table

Yoga meditation

Meditation with eyes closed to the accompaniment of mystical Indian music, while using breath to balance the entire body system, can burn excess fat that affects body curves and has therapeutic benefits for obesity and its complications.

The principle of meditation for weight loss

Yoga meditation, through mental cultivation, teaches one to control their thoughts and behaviors, controlling any factors that might disrupt a weight loss plan, such as negative emotions, laziness, and food cravings. It begins with regulating the mind, thus fundamentally overcoming the enemies of weight loss. Scientific research has found that during meditation, breathing and heart rate slow down, blood pressure decreases, overall oxygen consumption decreases, blood oxygen saturation reaches 100%, the brain and internal organs enter a resting state, and the body's hibernation genes can control or "switch on" internal mechanisms, causing the body to stop consuming carbohydrates and instead burn large amounts of fat for energy. Therefore, meditation is similar to "artificial hibernation" and has significant effects on the treatment of obesity and its complications.

Meditation methods and requirements

1. Meditation Time

The best times for meditation are in the early morning and before bed. Other times are also fine, but you should avoid meditating immediately after meals.

The duration of meditation should be determined based on the actual situation, ranging from 15 minutes to half an hour or even longer.

2. Sitting posture

Sit in the lotus position (left foot on right thigh, right foot crossed on left thigh). If you cannot do the lotus position, you can kneel with your big toes interlaced and sit on your heels, or sit with your legs naturally drawn up on the ground. Keep your body straight, with your cervical spine, spine, lumbar spine, and tailbone in a straight line. Bring the tips of your index fingers and thumbs together, relax the other three fingers without bending them, and place your palms on your knees, palms facing up or down. Focus your attention on the space between your eyebrows. If you are lying down to relax, place the back of your head flat on the floor, place your arms at your sides with palms facing up, and slightly separate your feet.

3. During meditation

After relaxing your body quietly in a comfortable yoga sitting posture, next, relax your mind. Mental relaxation is just as important as physical relaxation during meditation. Mentally visualize the images you see and carefully experience the emotions that arise. Next, breathe deeply, focusing on your emotions and thoughts as you inhale and exhale. During meditation, focus your attention on each image you see and the emotional experience associated with it, mentally reminding yourself of everything you see. In meditation, you can clearly experience those vague emotions you experience in daily life, including both positive and negative ones. In meditation, act as an observer, objectively telling yourself what you see. Through meditation, affirm positive emotions and analyze negative emotions, examining their root causes. Mentally ask yourself why you feel this negative emotion, whether it's related to the nature of the event or if you've made a logical error. Carefully observe the entire process of how negative emotions arise, identifying at which point you made a judgment that didn't align with reality, thus giving rise to the negative emotion. Through meditation, one can release the anxiety and tension caused by living and working under pressure for a long time, accurately grasp one's inner world, and look at familiar things in a new way, freeing oneself from the cage one has set for oneself, and making oneself healthy and full of vitality.

4. Environmental requirements for meditation

When meditating, first and foremost, pay attention to keeping the environment warm. If you are lying down, you can cover yourself with a blanket in autumn and winter; if you are sitting, your legs need to be kept warm. Secondly, if you are meditating indoors, ensure that the indoor air is fresh, but avoid drafts; if you are meditating outdoors, choose a sunny day in spring or summer when there is no wind. The seaside, mountains, and grasslands are all good environments, but avoid noisy places.

How beginners can get into the zone

When beginners find it difficult to quiet their minds during seated meditation, they can focus their attention on their breathing, quietly experiencing their breathing rhythm. This makes it easier to enter a meditative state free of distracting thoughts. Choosing a cross-legged meditation posture can slow blood flow to the lower limbs, allowing more blood to flow to the upper limbs, thereby stimulating and repairing the functions of internal organs and brain cells, making one feel relaxed, calm, and clear-headed. Alternatively, one can sit comfortably in a chair, without any specific posture, breathing quietly to calm the mind. Placing a candle, small oil lamp, or incense in front of one can create a warm and comfortable atmosphere. Other postures such as Burmese pose, vajrasana (thunderbolt pose), and lotus pose can also be chosen; simply choose a sitting position that feels comfortable. This ensures stability and relaxation of the body during meditation. Beginners can also place a cushion under their buttocks, raising them slightly above their knees, to relieve tension in the lower body and facilitate entering a meditative state. The content of thoughts during seated meditation is not important; what matters is the focus of attention and maintaining awareness. In conjunction with slow, long, and rhythmic breathing, you can also play some yoga meditation music to enter a peaceful and joyful state, thereby achieving health in both body and mind.

Dietary recommendations for yoga

Yoga eating philosophy

Besides calming the mind and lowering blood pressure, yoga can also help eliminate feelings of depression and tension, which are major contributing factors to overeating. In addition to these immediate benefits, practicing yoga can also aid in dieting. The self-control and mental strength learned from yoga practice can help control food intake without experiencing the pain of hunger.

Before getting out of bed after waking up in the morning, lie quietly for a moment, place one hand on your heart and the other on your stomach, and then begin to breathe slowly and deeply through your nose, repeatedly telling yourself, "Today, I will nourish my body with healthy food." Repeat this at least dozens of times.

Yoga practitioners place great emphasis on eating slowly, even considering it more important than choosing the right foods. Eating too quickly prevents the proper digestion of even nutritious foods. In other words, eating too fast not only prevents the absorption of all nutrients but also creates toxins in the body. Even if the food isn't particularly nutritious, as long as you eat slowly and your digestive system functions healthily through yoga, your body can still absorb every drop of nutrition and eliminate toxins. Of course, the smartest approach is still to chew nutritious food slowly.

Recommended Yoga Recipes

Besides breathing and postures, yoga also places great emphasis on diet. Many yoga practitioners believe that what a person eats affects not only the body but also the mind and consciousness. Yoga promotes a healthy vegetarian diet. Yoga advocates a diet that maintains good weight loss results without advocating for restrictive food intake. However, with consistent yoga practice, one will find that their eating habits gradually become healthier, thus ensuring that weight loss results are not reversed.

Below are recommended yoga recipes. Friends who like yoga or are practicing yoga for weight loss can give them a try.

1. Breakfast

Fruit juice: apple juice, orange juice, lemon juice, etc.

Fresh fruits: apples, bananas, peaches, oranges, strawberries, grapes, etc.

Main course: Two slices of whole wheat bread or toast.

Other drinks: 1 cup of milk or honey grapefruit tea.

2. Lunch or dinner

Salad: Fruit salad or vegetable salad are both acceptable (Recommended: Steam or boil potatoes until cooked, then dice them. You can add cucumber, apple, carrot, diced ham, etc. For the salad dressing, mix one egg yolk with cooked oil. Note: Add the oil in several batches, adding only one spoonful at a time, mixing well before adding another spoonful. Finally, add a little vinegar and salt to make the potato salad).

Soup: Nutritious tomato and egg soup, but you can also make any kind of soup you like.

Staple food: Rice or bread.

Dishes: Stir-fried vegetables (leafy greens) and legumes (if you are a meat-eater, you can eat chicken, fish or animal liver, but try to avoid other meats).

3. Afternoon tea

Beverages: Herbal tea or fruit juice.

Snacks: 2-4 savory biscuits or oatmeal biscuits, or a small handful of dried fruit, such as almonds or walnuts.

Fruit: 1 fresh seasonal fruit.

<Separator>