| Lose Weight, Gain Health |
The benefits of losing excessive weight are numerous. So many people have complained to me that when they go to their doctors's offices for knee pain, hip pain, back pain, high blood pressure or heart disease, their doctor would suggest them to lose weight. "Losing weight is easier said than done," most of my patients say. In this society, losing weight has become a very popular topic especially among women. Just take a look at popular women's magazines; almost every issue has some kind of article talking about weight loss. We know we need to lose weight. There are so many programs and diets and so much research out there designed for people to lose weight. But being overweight continues to be an issue. Why?
Maybe we should take a step back. Instead of focusing on losing weight we should focus on getting healthy. From the point of view of Chinese medicine and acupuncture, being overweight is a message the body is telling us that we have an underlining health imbalance. Most of the time it is our digestion not working correctly. When our digestive system is working properly, all the food we eat is transformed into energy. We feel energetic and have hunger only at meal times. We have no gas or bloating. We do not have overwhelming food cravings. We can taste the natural taste of foods. Ask people who want to lose weight how they feel. Often the answers are "I feel tired, lethargic and lack motivation to do activities", "I don't have an appetite but I eat because I feel bored, stressed, tired, sad, lonely, depressed", "I am hungry all the time", "I have uncontrollable cravings for sweets (or salty or fatty foods)". From a Chinese medicine perspective all of these emotional and physical symptoms are clues. A well-trained Chinese medical practitioner can fit these symptoms into specific patterns and use acupuncture and Chinese herbs to treat the underlining disharmonies. In our acupuncture office, we also incorporate a special Chinese weight loss breathing technique that has been past down in my family for the past four generations. This technique is very powerful at regulating food intake to help lose weight. Let me give two examples from our practice. One patient came to me complaining that she did not eat much but still gained weight. She also felt lethargic and lacked motivation to do activities. She felt depressed. The diagnosis was that her digestive system was not effectively transforming food into energy but rather into fat. I treated her with acupuncture and taught her our weight loss breathing technique to improve her digestive function and help her energy flow. After several sessions she got her energy back. She felt more motivated to do activities. Her mood was lifted. Before long, she started to lose weight. In another example, a patient gained excessive weight because she ate all the time. She ate not because of hunger but because of emotional upsets. She had strong food cravings. Food had become her comfort. The diagnosis was that her emotions were not flowing smoothly. This, in turn, caused her physical body's disharmony - the craving for foods. My partner Mark Molinoff treated her with acupuncture and Chinese herb. After several sessions she felt much calmer and more at ease, and was better able to manage her emotional upsets. Sure enough, she then started to lose weight and became happier with her life. Acupuncture and Chinese herbs work very well to help your body and mind return to harmony. When your mind is at ease and your body is healthy, your natural weight can be restored. |
