I hate to admit it, but I’ve only recently gotten a handle on metabolizing cellulite. And if you haven’t yet experienced this, let me tell you — it’s pure joy to metabolize your own cellulite.

I had excessive meda dhatu — fat tissue (see Dr. Lad’s table below). We’ve all had that experience in life where too much = poor quality.

Now, it’s not like I carried much extra weight or had handfuls of cellulite. But, between you and me, it was there. I’ll let you know what I changed to burn a little deeper and a little cleaner and how to get the glow that comes from deeper fat metabolism.

There’s a certain joy that arises when you metabolize or burn up your own cellulite.

In Ayurveda, the concept of metabolism is that it happens in your gut, but it also happens in your liver, in your five elements, and in your seven tissue levels. You guessed it, one of those tissue levels is your fat tissue.

I made a short video explaining how I’m entering a new phase of fat burning and mind clearing and what my results were throughout the March 2017 detox!

Ayurveda + Cellulite

Cellulite happens when your body isn’t metabolizing your fat properly. In essence, you have poor-quality fat tissue. Ayurveda describes it as the dhoti agni — or metabolic strength of that level of tissue. In this case, it’s fat tissue — and it’s weak. You have poor meda dhatu agni.

The reason cellulite looks ugly is because it’s poor-quality tissue. When a tissue is excessive, it’s automatically of poorer quality than what’s possible. Too much quantity cannot equal stellar quality.

The Joy of Fat Metabolism

We know in life that any emotional category — like joy or fear or anger — has a number of flavors. As far as I can tell, there’s a specific flavor to the joy of metabolizing your own fat tissue. This unique flavor of joy is amplified, again as far as I can tell, when you’re upleveling from poor-quality fat tissue to high-quality fat tissue.

This upleveling can only take place when you’re burning fat instead of burning sugar. To do so, a few circumstances are prerequisite.

The Prerequisites to Metabolizing Your Fat

1. You don’t take in any calories between meals, even liquid calories
2. You fast for 13–16 hours between your last meal of the day and your first meal of the next day. Sixteen hours is better for resting your digestive functioning and getting deeper fat tissue back into cellular circulation. Sixteen hours of fasting time is also easier for daily bodily efficiencies and functions once you get the hang of it.

Or

1. You eat frequently but restrict your calories. This is hard and it sucks because it’s more about restriction than timing.

That’s it.

There are just one or two boxes to check off to start conquering metabolizing your own fat. You might read this brief checklist and think, “But that’s too hard for me.” The top two (intermittent fasting) are much easier than the bottom one (calorie restriction). I’d rather not restrict what I’m eating or how much I’m eating. When I’m hungry, let me eat!

If you currently snack between meals, you’re probably thinking it’s not that bad for you. But it is. You’re automatically riding the blood sugar roller coaster. By definition, you’re not turning over your fat cells. And boy, if you don’t keep those precious gems in circulation, you’re not only prematurely digging your own grave, but your joints won’t be as lubricated, your fat will store toxins, and your emotions will play yesterday’s tune. This gets quite predictable and actually depressingly boring once you realize what’s going on and which outdated habit loops you’re stuck in.

Yogahealer + Cellulite   

Yogahealer — that’s me. I felt awkward back in 2001 when I bought the domain name on GoDaddy. Yes, both GoDaddy and Yogahealer have been around awhile. I was 28, a newly minted Ayurvedic medicine practitioner and Iyengar yoga teacher. My head was packed with wisdom…and my body hadn’t caught up.

I had excessive meda dhatu. We already know: too much = poor quality. I hate to admit it, but I’ve only recently gotten a handle on metabolizing cellulite. And if you haven’t yet experienced this, let me tell you — it’s pure joy to metabolize your own cellulite.

Other Symptoms of Low Quality Fat Tissue (Meda Dhatu)

You can see (from the list below) the other symptoms that come from high-quantity, poor-quality fat tissue. It’s not that I had handfuls of extra flesh on my frame. I just had solid padding. That solid padding was made of cells that were in storage, as opposed to being in circulation.

Symptoms from Lad’s chart that I had were: underactive thyroid (diagnosed by Lad in 2004), lipomas, and low libido. I didn’t have the other symptoms. I’m not sure I would’ve said I had lethargy — but it’s a little wacky how much energy I have now.

Check the list for any symptoms that may indicate how your fat tissue quality actually is:

(from Dr. Lad’s Ayurveda Textbook, vol. 1)

If you want me to coach you in burning your fat on the next level, I guide my Yogidetox groups through this. We begin October 9. See the green box below to find out more!