Category Archives: Weight management
Yoga has a way of making you slimmer! – Stress is directly linked to putting on the pounds
Even from practicing the more gentle styles, Yoga has a way of waking up your intuition about your own health and well-being, it helps you get a handle on what your body needs to be healthy and feel good. Yoga requires your full attention and concentration to move through the poses and to hold them, and over time a regular Yoga practice will sharpen your ability to gauge how hungry or full you are.
STRESS IS DIRECTLY LINKED TO PUTTING ON THE POUNDS!
Stress is like your own personal bodyguard that launches into defence mode, in trying to protect you it unleashes the hormones Cortisol and Adrenaline. The fight or flight hormone Adrenaline gives you an instant shot of energy so you can face a conflict or get away from it altogether, but Cortisol is more like an over-protective mother whose mission is to feed and nurture you and is the reason you want to eat during these particular times of stress. It makes you want to eat everything in sight and the easier to digest the better. That’s because it requires foods high in fat and sugar, energy sources your body can access fast! Some scientists believe that Cortisol also messes with the signals that control appetite and feelings of fullness, which is why being stressed out may make you crave dessert even after a big meal.
To make matters worse, when stress causes your Cortisol levels to stay high, it can have long-term detrimental effects on your weight because it encourages your body to store fat, particularly in your belly.
Yoga can help by reducing stress which then reduces Cortisol levels!
Weight Management
Regular Yoga practice can also help in Weight Management. Some poses stimulate sluggish glands and increase their hormonal secretions. The thyroid gland, especially has a big affect on our weight because it affect body metabolism and some poses such as the shoulder stand and fish postures are specific for this. Also by practising Yoga there is a reduction in anxiety which will help to reduce anxious eating. Finally Yoga poses induce continuous deeper breathing which gradually burns many of the calories already ingested.
As yoga continues to stimulate the flow of positive health within you, you will notice other changes, your tastes will alter, you go off food and drink that you once thought you could not live without. Once you start feeling good about yourself, you stop wanting to harm your body with junk foods, eventually you will regard them as toxins. This is Yoga’s way of naturally encouraging you to eat foods that are beneficial to your body.