Return to Indian principles helped Peter lose pounds

ALWAYS fairly thin, Peter Brown had no worries about his waistline until he hit 40.

Then, through a combination of poor diet and lack of exercise, he gradually began to put on weight.

"It was partially due to the fact I had started working for myself and was working very odd hours," admitted the 56-year-old college lecturer from Crediton.

"I wasn't always getting the amount of exercise I needed, working in front of the computer instead of walking around as I had done, and often working late at night eating biscuits.

"I gained quite a lot of weight gradually."

It was a complete change of lifestyle for Peter, who had trained as a meditation teacher in 1976 and in Ayurveda, the Indian system of natural medicine, in the 1980s.

In 2000, he changed career again and became a teacher. He moved to Devon, and now lectures in IT and web design at Exeter College.

Taking a course in a meditation technique called Oneness Blessing inspired him to re-examine his lifestyle.

"I had been meditating for many years but again meditation was one of those things that was rather sidelined when I started my own business," he explained. "When I launched Oneness Blessing it completely brought back the whole concept of looking after my mind or consciousness and improving the situation as far as stress was concerned.

"It also seemed to have a profound effect on my lifestyle. It was much easier to stick with a good routine. I was motivated to start yoga again and be on a really good diet.

"I started to be attracted to things that were good for me — I had been quite a sugar and chocolate addict but I found I was no longer so interested.

"I also got more back into the concept of Ayurveda. I found Ayurveda fitted so well into how I was feeling, all the advice about eating at the right time of day, eating only when you are hungry, stopping eating when you are not hungry. Very simple things but you forget about them when you are in a rush or feeling stressed."

According to Ayurveda, we often ignore our bodies' signals. People will eat because it's time to eat, not necessarily because they are hungry.

A key part of Ayurveda is to learn to read your body and work with it. Followers believe if you eat when you are not hungry, not only will you gain weight but undigested food will clog up the system and cause other health problems.

Instead, followers are advised to improve digestion through exercise such as yoga, which is believed to eliminate toxins from the body.

People are recommended to eat a balanced diet which incorporates the 'six tastes' — sweet, sour, salty, bitter, pungent and astringent.

"Sweet would be things like sugar, milk or grains. Sour includes vinegar and lemons. Salty is self explanatory. Pungent includes pepper and ginger. Bitter is things like green, leafy vegetables and astringent includes beans and lentils," explained Peter.

"Ayurveda says that unless we have all of these tastes in our meals we feel dissatisfied. That dissatisfaction can lead to food cravings and attractions to things like chocolate and sweets or the feeling you want to snack between meals even though you are not hungry.

"The quantity depends on your constitutional type. People who are heavy by nature will be recommended to have less of the sweet, sour and salty foods because they tend to increase bulk. Fast food, for example, tends to be sweet, sour and salty. The other three tend to help burn fat and digest heavy proteins."

Meditation is also important as stress is one of the reasons people eat when they are not hungry.

Incorporating all this into his lifestyle has helped Peter feel healthier — and slimmer. As a result, last September, he started teaching an evening course called Ideal Weight through Ayurveda, Meditation and Yoga.

"Although I haven't weighed myself, I've been gradually losing weight over the years," he said. "I keep having to put new holes in my belt so my trousers don't fall down."

For more information on Ideal Weight through Ayurveda, Meditation and Yoga, telephone 01363 773787 or see www.onenessblessinguk.co.uk.