Yoga - Yes! Dieting - No!

Jean-Paul Deslypere, University of Ghent professor of human nutrition says, "Dieting may be the major cause of obesity." Between 95 and 98 percent of dieters fail to keep any weight off permanently, and a great many of us actually put on more weight after the diet is over. And yet, Americans spend over $30 billion a year on weight loss products and services. Somehow, we don't hold the dieting industry accountable for their failure to help us lose weight. Could it be that we blame ourselves?

According to Wendy Oliver Pyatt in her inspiring book, Fed Up, chronic dieting changes you biologically and psychologically. She lists several ways dieting can jeopardize your health.
Dieting is hard on the heart and cardiovascular system

Dieting can weaken bones
Dieting increases your risk of gallstones
Dieting can affect your immune system
Dieting causes changes in the breast tissue
Dieting may increase a woman's risk of having a hysterectomy
Dieting can ruin your teeth, and cause your hair to fall out
Dieting makes you physically weak
Dieting is bad for your mental health
Dieting can put you at risk for alcohol abuse.

This doesn't even take into account the countless problems brought abut by the drugs used for weight loss: fen fen, amphetamines, purgatives, all have nasty side effects. Plus, dieting can cause bad breath, constipation and make you cranky. You may get a great high when the pounds start dropping off, but once you let down your guard and start eating like you did in the old days and you start gaining the weight back, it is really demoralizing.

On the other hand, exercise and Yoga improve metabolism and blood chemistry It's much better to stop yo-yo dieting and stick to a lifelong path of health-building. It's not a quick fix, but it will improve the quality of life. But we all reach for something to deal with the pain of life. I don't know what your pain might look like, but we usually have a default setting to deal with whatever it is. Overeating is a common coping strategy for those of us who find life-on-life's-terms is getting too difficult. Or we may drink too much, talk too much or even work too much. We may take up gambling, or casual sex. Let's face it--we're human. In Yoga we begin to observe these behaviors and, without judgment, begin to look for the root cause. Healing comes in honesty, awareness, and self-reflection.

This is a branch of Yoga called Jnana Yoga, the Yoga of self-knowledge. As we study the mind, we are on fertile soil for introspection. Watching the mind with detachment is a form of meditation, a process by which we can begin to gain master over the mind. Then we can begin to rise above its petty disturbances.

It's as if we put the mind on a diet. I think we will have much better results when we put the mind on a diet, rather than the body.

Big Yoga is an adapted approach to classical yoga that takes into account the more modern Western body. Most American women are a size 14 or larger, and men in the U.S. are much beefier than the ancient sadhus (holy men) who invented yoga. Big Yoga isn't just BIG in terms of size, but expansive and inclusive of the many different approaches to yoga, from asana (the poses), breathing techniques, devotion, meditation and even self-less service.

The original Big Yoga Hatha 1 DVD was described by Dr. Dean Ornish as "invigorating and restorative". A new DVD, Big Yoga Flex-Ability, is due in the fall of 2009. The companion book, Big Yoga: A Simple Guide for Bigger Bodies, is scheduled for publication in late in 2009 with Square One Publishers. You don't have to be thin to enjoy the benefits of yoga!