Acupuncture and Chinese Medicine An Effective Treatment for Weight Loss

Acupuncture and Chinese herbal medicines, (TCM or traditional Chinese medicine is a combination of using traditional Chinese herbs, acupuncture, body work, diet and exercise) when coupled with healthy eating choices, can be a tremendously helpful tool for meeting your body weight goals. Healthy weight loss takes time, no matter what method you use. And nothing will make you lose weight. But TCM and dietary changes can help you lose weight. Changes in thinking, diet, and lifestyle are also necessary.

DIETARY CHANGES: You will never lose weight if you don’t consider necessary dietary changes. Cutting down on the amount you eat comes first. Makes sense, right? But often patients tell me they eat very little, but still hold those unwanted pounds. This indicates internal imbalances that need to be corrected so the metabolism can function properly. When our system is weak we produce Phlegm and fat from our foods instead of good nutrition, qi* and blood. Adipose tissue, fatty tumors, plaque, bone spurs, kidney stones, are examples of what is included in the Chinese concept of Damp and Phlegm**. Making healthy food choices such as limiting carbs, eating clean unadulterated foods, avoiding additives especially hormones, steroids, and antibiotics, and preservatives, avoiding icy cold drinks and cold, raw foods, eliminating all aspartame or other artificial sweeteners, together can be an effective treatment for weight loss.

When we ingest unwanted chemical additives, preservatives, antibiotics, hormones and such, our body will build fat to protect itself against these unwanted invaders. Energy is required to process and rid the body of the toxins. If you want to lose weight you will have to read labels. If you don’t recognize ingredients and can’t pronounce them, don’t buy it. Commercial meats, dairy and eggs contain steroids, antibiotics and growth hormones. All of these will make you fat! And never eat anything that claims to be low fat or sugar free. Fat is good, sugar is bad. Only eat fats that are healthy – coconut oil, butter, extra virgin olive oil. Try to avoid all sugar. Stevia is a great alternative, but don’t use too much. It is 100 times sweeter than sugar so be careful.

How does acupuncture help with weight loss? It helps to restore balance, and supplies the energy to transform food to good stuff, instead of bad stuff (fat). It is especially helpful for those who try to lose weight but nothing seems to help. When you are young and healthy it’s easy to lose those 10 extra pounds. As we age, and the imbalances build and multiply, we end up not being able to budge the scale. 

I advise avoiding extreme diets, for several reasons. As humans, we can survive in a variety of climates and difficult environmental situations. Until recently we didn’t have trucking, large scale farming, greenhouse gardens. We ate what was available and were strong and healthy in spite of being seriously limited in our food choices. During difficult times, humans depended on animal protein and fat. Vegetables, fruits, seeds, roots and such were available in limited supply. Grains were not eaten. Think Paleo diet. Low carb diets can be a great way to lose weight, but should only be used until you reach your weight goals and then start to introduce healthy carbs a little at a time. The keto diet which is a high fat, high protein diet is the only diet that has possible side effects. This certainly makes me wonder. It can be hard on the kidneys.

Finally, snacking between meals will make it almost impossible to lose weight. This is another example of a habit. When you find yourself going for that snack cabinet, have a glass of room temperature water and give it a few minutes. You’ll probably forget you wanted a snack.

LIFESTYLE CHANGES: We are all victims of our habits. The biggest challenge for helping people lose weight is to convince them that they are acting habitually. Anything that is bad for the body will become addictive.  The way we think about our food is a good example. If you think that eating will make you fat, it will. When you eat think of it as nourishing, no matter what it is. Ice water is another good example of a common addition that contributes to weight gain. Using ice to cool water is a fairly recent practice. So is obesity. Most people are under the misconception that ice water is good for you. Your body is about 100 degrees, water is zero degrees. When you ingest icy cold water, it causes your body to generate heat, and depletes your energy in the process. The unnatural, unwanted heat causes stagnation so that we feel cold, but we are, in fact, hot. So instead of metabolizing your food, all your energy goes to adjusting, readjusting and then readjusting again. 

Taking medications often contributes to weight gain. One should take as little pharmaceuticals as possible since no one knows how more than any two medications will interact. I see many patients who are on many medications, sometimes as many as twenty different prescriptions. And the astounding thing is that they don’t have any diagnosable disease or condition. All their symptoms are due to side effects. You gotta let go of our need to medicate. Over medicating makes us sick, tired, depressed and fat! 

Exercise is vital to losing weight. You don’t have to be extreme, just start by taking walks, ten minutes at a time, simple stretches, and learning how to take an occasional deep breath. Meditation is also helpful since it helps reduce stress and makes you feel happier. Stress, depression and anxiety cause an increase in the stress hormone cortisol. This causes an increase in insulin levels causing blood sugar to drop so you will crave sugar and carbs. 

Drinking water is important. People drink water to hydrate, and often to flush out toxins. Keep in mind that over drinking water can flush out the good nutrients we are trying to absorb through our digestive tract. When you feel thirst drink a big glass of water. This will hydrate you whereas if you sip water you will get over the feeling of thirst but you may not be hydrating. When you feel tired, a glass of water can help you feel better as well. 

Helping people lose weight takes effort and patience. Acupuncture and Chinese medicine carry thousands of years of experience in keeping people fit. I start by asking lots of questions to determine what Pattern this particular patient exhibits. Patterns are the presenting signs and symptoms the person has experienced over the last several months. There are over 200 patterns in TCM practice. Once we determine the pattern, we know what acupuncture treatment and herbs to use. Finally, I use an auricular acupuncture treatment that helps with weight loss. Nutritional and lifestyle counseling are part of the treatment course. 

*Qi is the term used for the energy that warms us, propels us, transform food into nutrients. It is the spark of lifeforce that gives us life.

** Capital letters are used to designate when words such as Damp, Phlegm and Heat are used within the context of Chinese medicine theory and practice.