Why does yoga make me hungry

You eat, and you eat a lot. As far as Stephanie Ferrari, MS, RDN is concerned, yoga is no less of an exercise than any other physical workout, and especially during the more vigorous practices, your entire body is in for a ride.

So what should you eat after yoga? About the tiredness: Have you made major changes in your diet in terms of the amount of carbs and sugars you take? I never experienced tiredness, although I usually sleep very well after a night yoga session. I have found that when many yogis change their diet, they start to add too many carbs which might cause your insulin levels to spike, causing the sudden tiredness.

Namaste Pandara, I dont think ive made any huge changes in my diet. I try to eat for my dosha, which is Pitta, so i eat lots of vegetables, fruits and a reasonable amounts of whole grains. Granted, when i do go to bed at 9, i sleep very well and wake up around 9 the next day so i get a good 12 hours of sleep.

However, the next day, usually after lunch, i absolutely need to take a nap. When i wake up from my nap i am again, ravenous and very very thirsty. Its very strange. Factors affecting weight gain or loss include how much you breathe, in what manner you breathe, how stressful your practice is, how many calories your practice burns, how effective your digestive system is and how well you can activate and relax your muscles.

The body regulates blood pH to stay within the narrow range of 7. If you breathe more than normal in your practice hyperventilate , it will tend to raise the pH level of your blood slightly towards alkalinity. Conversely, if you tend to breathe less than normal in your practice hypoventilate , you will probably not be hungry after your practice. Carbonic Acid levels in your blood increase as a result of breathing less, lowering your blood pH, making it more acidic.

If the blood is slightly acidic then you will feel less like eating, be attracted to more alkaline foods such as fresh fruit, salad and vegetables, and therefore lose weight. If you tend to breathe naturally into your abdomen using your diaphragm as opposed to breathing more into your chest, your digestive system tends to work more effectively to digest food, absorb nutrients and eliminate waste.

Often people especially women tend to hold in their abdomen using muscles of forced abdominal exhalation to try to look slimmer or perhaps to try to stabilize the spine and manage lower back pain. In our previous blog we explain how to firm your core in a safe stress-free way. If the abdominal exhalation muscles are always in use to stabilize the back or hold the tummy in then the abdominal inhalation muscle the diaphragm is inhibited and by default chest breathing occurs.

Sometimes people think that breathing into the abdomen will automatically mean that they do not over-breathe, however this is not the case. If you do a full abdominal breath every 2 or 3 seconds, the amount of air breathed per minute can be as much as 50 litre per minute, which will mean that you are definitely over-breathing compared to the 5 litres per minute that is considered to be normal breathing for a healthy person at rest.

Rapid abdominal breaths can be the result of an unfocused mind or stress, which result in a stressful practice that depletes your immune system instead of strengthening it.

Sometimes people consciously do rapid abdominal breathing as part of the kriya yogic cleansing process referred to as kapalabhati.

Of course, there are many people who get hooked the first time. I even gave up on it halfway through the course because it was so boring, did not learn anything and swore off yoga for years. I gave it another chance 3 years ago and this time, I tried all sorts of yoga — Bikram yoga , Ashtanga yoga, Vinyasa flow, Sivanandan yoga, Core yoga, Power yoga, Yin yoga, Yin-Yang yoga, Hatha yoga, Hatha flow yoga and Restorative yoga just to name a few common styles.

Point is: every style of yoga is different. Try another style, try non-heated, or simply try another teacher — the experience can turn out very different! It was that one good teacher that changed my perception and got me hooked. Currently I do hot flow Vinyasa yoga mostly, because my studio offers mostly hot classes and I love flow classes the most. I am not a fan of the hot room to be honest but since my favourite teachers are there, I can make do with the heat.

My first priority is always the teacher. Every teacher has their own style and it makes the biggest difference. You should not simply follow a friend into a yoga class. Yoga is a solo thing — you do not talk or interact during class. You focus on your own practice and shut out from the rest of the world for the entire duration. Besides, you may not like what you friend likes. I personally love yoga as a solo activity where I do not need to interact and can be occupied the whole day having fun.

Of course, you can make friends at yoga or perhaps your friend happens to want to attend the same class. The main point is, you should still want to attend with or without your friend. When I first started, I just wore whatever I had which was terrible. This perception should go to the bin. Exercise gear has all the valid reasons to cost more than normal clothes! The technology involved to create the sweat wicking, anti-bacterial fabric will not come cheap and easy.

I can wear it if I have 3 consecutive classes without having to change out due to odour. That means less laundry to handle. Also quick drying can reduce the amount of bacteria breeding as compared to cotton which gets soaked for too long.