Chopra - Perfect Weight

Table of Contents

INTRODUCTION

Perfect Weight is not an ordinary weight control program. Its unique in many respects, but the fundamental difference between this book and other, more conventional approaches can be expressed quite simply. Instead of beginning with the assumption that theres something wrong with you that needs to be corrected, our starting point here is the idea that theres nothing essentially wrong with you at all. On the contrary, this program is based on the fact that you are inherently perfect ... and, even more important, youre absolutely unique.

Your ideal weight, therefore, cannot be expressed as a three-digit number on a chart mass-produced by an insurance company. The perfect weight for you is much more subjective. When you feel healthy, energetic, physically attractive, and comfortable with your body, then and only then are you at your ideal weight. You are the sole person who can determine this, and your own opinion is the only one that truly matters.

If youve been trying hard to live up to an artificial, media-generated notion of what the human body should look like, its easy to forget that powerful forces of nature worked for millions of years to create you exactly as you are. Your body is a miracle of biological engineering. The underlying flawlessness of your body is always present, and grasping this fact is the first, all-important step toward genuine good health. Thus, despite what many authorities would have you believe, theres no need to create a "new you" in order to solve a weight problem, or for that matter, any other health problem. The real solution lies, quite simply, in recovering the perfect physiology that nature has already given you. And its easier than you might think.

I recognize, of course, that all this may sound rather abstract. Right now you may not feel youre perfect. You may not be feeling good about yourself at all. Theres an excellent chance youve tried one or more of the scores of weight control methods readily available at any given time. Many of these require you to carefully monitor the number of calories you consume. Others demand limited fat consumption, vigorous exercise, or a combination of the two. If youve tried such programs, the chances are that you did indeed lose weight, and perhaps very quickly at first. But theres also an overwhelming probability that you gained back all the weight you lost, and more, within twelve to eighteen months. Unfortunately, research indicates that the overall effects of losing and regaining weight are probably worse than those of being overweight in the first place.

Calorie counting, depriving yourself of foods you enjoy, and extreme physical exertion have no place in this book. Instead, youll find simple, natural principles for balancing the mind and body. By learning to listen to your inner intelligence, youll be able to restore the natural rhythms of your physiology and regain the unique perfection you were born with.

Let me once again emphasize the word unique. The combination of biological, emotional, and spiritual elements comprising your mind/body system is absolutely singular and cannot be defined by graphs, charts, or tables. Leaf through the pages of this bookyoull see no columns of numbers. Although my experience with literally thousands of patients over the years has enabled me to recognize certain norms based on height and weight, these are simply clinical observations; theyre certainly not ideals held up with the intention of regulating behavior. While it may be true that many men who are five feet eight inches tall can feel healthy and energetic at a weight of 154 pounds, I would not prescribe this weight as "best" for all males of that height. To do so would simply be unrealistic, based on what I know about variations in the human physiology.

To help you identify the characteristics of your physiology, Perfect Weight includes a body-type questionnaire based on the traditional Indian science of health known as Ayurveda. By completing this questionnaire, and by becoming familiar with Ayurvedas astonishingly perceptive descriptions of the body and its variations, you can instantly gain access to five thousand years of wisdom about human health. With this as a starting point, youll be able to recognizeperhaps for the first timethe real needs and rhythms of your body. Youll learn to see where, perhaps, youve broken with those rhythms and how to restore them. Youll gain the power to achieve your ideal weight without the physical pain, emotional stress, and eventual disappointment that are built into virtually all other weight control methods.

The fact is, once youve learned to live in accord with your biological needs instead of fighting against them, proper weight is literally achieved by itself. Cravings for unhealthy foods disappear. The loss of self-esteem that accompanies overweight is replaced by a sense of mental and physical well-being. Lack of energy and sedentary habits give way to enthusiasm for life and an eagerness to take part in it. To think of these natural processes in terms of struggle, as most diet programs do, will come to seem almost ludicrous. Grass, after all, doesnt "struggle" to grow, fish dont "struggle" to swim, and the Earth doesnt "struggle" its way around the sun!

I urge you to put the ideas and techniques of this book to work in your life as soon as possible, because the benefits of achieving and maintaining your ideal weight can be far-reaching indeed. This is especially true if youve tried other weight control methods and have been disappointed with the results. By regaining balance in this very significant area of your life, and by enjoying the sense of health and well-being that comes with it, youll take an important, inspiring step toward fulfilling the truly unlimited potential that nature intends for you.

UNDERSTANDING THE TRUE NATURE OF YOUR MIND AND BODY

Americans are extremely worried about the problem of overweight. For some of us, in my opinion, theres good reason for that concern, and for others theres not. But even when someone has valid concerns about his or her weight, the actions taken as a result are often ineffective and even dangerous to health. This confusing state of affairs has been documented many times with regard to crash diets, strenuous exercise regimes, and eating disorders such as anorexia and bulimia. The whole issue of weight control has become a muddle of contradictory evidence and constantly changing directives that has left us confused and perhaps somewhat fatalistic about the possibilities for positive change.

One of the primary goals of this book is to simplify the issues of weight control so that you can make intelligent decisions about how to achieve the weight you want, or how to feel more comfortable with the weight you have. To begin, lets look at some of the very few hard and fast truths that have emerged from all the concern with weight.

First, dietingin the traditional sense of restricting food intakealmost always works in the short term and almost never works in the long term. You can pick virtually any of the dozens of commercially available diet plans, stick to it for a few months, and lose weight. But the lost weight, and probably even more, will come back over time. This has been the experience of virtually everyone who has undertaken serious dieting.