Benefits Of Slow Metabolism? (Ayurvedic Perspective)

Collden

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According to Ayurveda, people can be broadly classified into three different constitutions which derive from genetics and early environment - Vata, Pitta and Kapha.

Kapha is the classic hypothyroid type, tendency to low energy, depression, slow digestion and susceptible to obesity and metabolic syndrome. But Kapha is also considered to have greater resistance to other diseases, and less problems with skin, hair and bone.

Thoughts on this? Are some differences in metabolism innate? Should we formulate our health goals with respect to our individual physiology rather than aspire to some universal idealized type?

Prakriti and its associations with metabolism, chronic diseases, and genotypes: Possibilities of new born screening and a lifetime of personalized prevention
doshas-table.jpg
 
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yerrag

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I don't believe this.

It's a very fatalistic type of thought. It's like saying a certain kind of people are always of a lower caste or a higher caste. That they are made that way and have no will to power to effect a chsnge through their own efforts. It is a culturally ingrained form of helplessness that only favor the class blessed by the gods. It's no different from the conventional medical thought that places too much emphasis on genetics and age.

What is observed and can't be explained, storytellers can weave their narrative to fit the observation. This is the path of belief and not of studious inquiry, and is what primitive society will use to explain phenomena. A lot of the characteristics we are born to is shaped by many factors that as a fetus we have no control over. The mother's nutrition and state of mind, and the environment the fetus is exposed to, will shape how the child comes out into the world. But once born, there are still plenty of influences that determine the outcome of that person's development. Certainly there is the element of a phenotype that cannot be changed, but I don't think this inborn phenotype can substantially define the person to that extent.

We can start out in life having fears, but with effort we can overcome these fears, and as we do so we develop into becoming more well-rounded. Fears define our personality, and as we overcome fears, our personality change. We are not static but dynamic characters in the stage of life.
 
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For some unknown for me reason this particular "school" of Ayurveda is associated with Ayurveda in public's mind. There are other "schools" with quite different opinions about. One of the foundational texts of Ayurveda called Charaka Samhita, English translations available, is 98% equal Ray Peat's ideas. The only non peat thing at all in this Ayurveda foundation is sesame oil, that we consider high PUFA, but it is not supposed to be used as food, a component of some "supplements" like rasayna preparations. And the very interesting thing, sesame oil is a source of anthraquinones, so probably sesame oil has net prometabolic activity despite presence of PUFA. I would recommend you read it yourself, to see how ancient Ayurveda could be different from modern pop interpretations. Charaka Samhita talks about how high metabolism makes one live 100+ years and never become old.
There is a recipe for a longevity from Charaka Samhita saying a year of milk only diet supplemented by fruits after a year of strict milk only makes one be everyoung and live 100+ years.

https://www.researchgate.net/public...one_F_from_the_Seeds_of_Black_Sesamum_indicum
 

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Pardon, another not peaty thing in Charaka Shamita is some kind of beans. Although it's not recommend in every diet in this book, for some specific goals only. And probably it also can be a net prometabolic food if we dig deeper.
 

LUH 3417

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For some unknown for me reason this particular "school" of Ayurveda is associated with Ayurveda in public's mind. There are other "schools" with quite different opinions about. One of the foundational texts of Ayurveda called Charaka Samhita, English translations available, is 98% equal Ray Peat's ideas. The only non peat thing at all in this Ayurveda foundation is sesame oil, that we consider high PUFA, but it is not supposed to be used as food, a component of some "supplements" like rasayna preparations. And the very interesting thing, sesame oil is a source of anthraquinones, so probably sesame oil has net prometabolic activity despite presence of PUFA. I would recommend you read it yourself, to see how ancient Ayurveda could be different from modern pop interpretations. Charaka Samhita talks about how high metabolism makes one live 100+ years and never become old.
There is a recipe for a longevity from Charaka Samhita saying a year of milk only diet supplemented by fruits after a year of strict milk only makes one be everyoung and live 100+ years.

https://www.researchgate.net/public...one_F_from_the_Seeds_of_Black_Sesamum_indicum
Reminds me of Chyawanprash. Apparently the recipe is from an old sage fell in love with a young woman and wanted to make himself young again so he went to the forest to pick fruits and herbs that made him a young man again.
 
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Charaka Samhita offers cyavanaprasa also know as chavanprasa recipe. Here sesame oil (til oil in the text) presents as an ingredient but mixed with ghee and in unknown proportion.

@raysputin
 

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Ableton

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I still believe the slow metabolism, fat type doesn’t lose hair as easily. They will still lose it if they have the disposition, but not as quick as the lean relatives
 
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Actually I think the reason behind of popularity of the school of Ayurveda mentioned by OP is pure profits. It should be studies for years to figure out all those Vata, Pita, Kapha interactions to create a very specific diet and supplements for every patient. Charaka Samhita in turn offers easy to make and follow recipes one can figure out without an expert or so called auyrvedic doctor's.

It says for example eat a diet of fruit, honey, rice, milk and ghee and you are fine.

PS I might be wrong on my interpretations, but I don't think the dosa is a foundation of Ayurveda anyways. I would say dosa comes to be useful in derailed metabolism and could be used as a dignosis by auyrvedic doctor. Why would we use dosas if there are basic recipes in the very beginning of Ayurveda?
 
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lampofred

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I think the interpretation of Ayurveda in modern times is backwards. Obesity is considered to be an excess kapha issue but it's actually excess vata. In older times people were obese because of an excess of high quality food like full fat milk but in current times obesity is mainly due to being full of "air" which is causing your tissues to grow in a way that expands and takes up volume instead of becoming denser.

Kapha types have the best thyroid, their metabolism might seem slow because ATP formation is very efficient. Pitta on the other hand is low magnesium/GABA, they are constantly losing ATP so they constantly need to eat. But in terms of useable biological energy kapha has the most.
 

lampofred

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Could you expand on this?

I think air = oxygen and earth = carbon dioxide. The stress of modern society (both culture + physical causes like pollution, radiation, etc.) causes chronic hyperventilation leading to excess oxygen, and poor diet (chronic PUFA exposure) causes low thyroid leading to low CO2 production. High oxygen and low CO2 leads to poor salt retention which leads to swollen, expanded, water-logged tissues as opposed to dense, dry tissues.

edit: I just realized dense tissues will still weigh a lot even though they might not look obese... Can't really explain my thought process well but I still think obesity in current times is due to excess vata as opposed to excess kapha, as it was in older times.
 
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robertf

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Incorrect information in the original post. Out of balance kapha may* present hypothyroid symptoms, or not. Any dosha can present as hypothyroid.

The entire basis of ayurveda is tridosha. This is not to say that you can't self diagnose and self treat, with ease or with difficulty.

There is a lot of western reductionism going on here. Any qualified ayurvedic practitioner (they are scarce in the west from what I have seen) would never just look at one metric like obesity and say aha 'kapha, case solved!'

Re the post above, it's a good observation but also wrong. I agree that there are a ton of overweight issues that are rooted in vata excess aka burnout, but the reasoning is incorrect. You can't apply western science or Peat thought processes to ayurveda. It is its own system. Swollen, water-logged tissue is definitely a kapha imbalance. It could be rooted in salt dysregulation, it could be plain vanilla kapha excess from lifestyle, or it could also be rooted in pitta. If you look at more than one metric, and for whatever reason western people are overly focused on only appearance, the prakruti and vikruti will let themselves be known. Getting the correct diagnosis is absolutely paramount.

Really it takes hours to get the diagnosis done properly. You have to go back in time and look at a person's complete history and the progression of the imbalance.

Also ayurveda is OLD. Imo it is not fully equipped to handle just how f^!@ed up people have become in modern times. The basic principles are sound, but I think for severely toxic/ill people you need to go outside what it offers.

I see on the forum mainly vata rooted disorders, but also I see some kapha types here who are just pounding their heads against a brick wall trying to lose weight on ice cream and it ain't gonna happen.

The comment earlier about milk, rice, honey etc...I think it's a good point. But it's not relevant to everyone, that's the whole point of ayurveda - to give people tools to deal with individual problems, not a one sized fits all prescription. A sattvic diet certainly will not cure anyone who is deep into illness. Sattvic diet is for when you are already in balance.

So back to the original post, I have never seen anything written anywhere that there are benefits to a slow metabolism. Actually I would say that you're totally missing the point. If you encounter slow the appropriate thing to do is speed it up. For kapha that means exercise, dry out the system, and heat it up with hot stuff and sun exposure.

When you encounter too much fast (could be racing mind), let's say vata burnout, you slow it down with heavy foods, salt, sweet.

When you encounter too much heat you cool it off.

There is no benefit to being out of balance.

Slow could probably loosely translate to a kaphic excess, but even there you have to be careful jumping to conclusions and improperly applying principles. Slow could also be a vata excess burnout or even a pitta blowout resulting in a secondary cause. You have to look at the whole set of symptoms in an individual and make sure you get the diagnosis correct before proceeding.

The so-called Peat diet is a pitta/vata mix. So you could say Peat diet is a subset of ayurveda. I like how they both came to a similar set of conclusions through wildly different means.
 
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boris

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Benefits of slow metabolism (Peat perspective)

JJ said:
Is there ever a time that one would want to decrease the metabolic rate? For instance, if they have some nutrient deficiencies or infections? Thanks!
Ray Peat said:
When marooned without food, waiting for rescue.

:lol:
 

dreamcatcher

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I think air = oxygen and earth = carbon dioxide. The stress of modern society (both culture + physical causes like pollution, radiation, etc.) causes chronic hyperventilation leading to excess oxygen, and poor diet (chronic PUFA exposure) causes low thyroid leading to low CO2 production. High oxygen and low CO2 leads to poor salt retention which leads to swollen, expanded, water-logged tissues as opposed to dense, dry tissues.

edit: I just realized dense tissues will still weigh a lot even though they might not look obese... Can't really explain my thought process well but I still think obesity in current times is due to excess vata as opposed to excess kapha, as it was in older times.
Kapha has the characteristics of being heavy, oily and cold and vata is light, cold and dry. But when vata is very imbalanced for a long period, it can manifest the opposite qualities i.e. the one's of kapha. The 5 types of vayus (air) can contribute to the manifestation of those opposite qualities.
 

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