Can Acupuncture be used along with healthy eating to lose weight? Can it be used along with exercise to lose weight? The answer is a resounding YES! Sometimes diet and exercise alone does not do it for a lot of people, simply because their internal organs especially the spleen/digestive system is very sluggish, so loads of exercise and diet may not work until this is corrected. But this does not mean that you should not exercise. More on this later. Acupuncture works by enhancing the function of two neuro-endocrine pathways that regulate many bodily processes, including metabolism.
It lowers body weight by lowering body fat, insulin levels, and lipid levels in the blood
It decreases excessive appetite and makes it easier to satisfy your hunger with less food.
It decreases menopausal weight gain, in one study; acupuncture took off 10 pounds in 2 months.
Combined with diet control, and aerobic counseling it not only takes off the pounds and body fat but keeps them off by balancing the spleen/digestive matrix, especially if you’re diligent with the exercise. Overweight means an excess of body weight. This excess weight may be muscle, bone, fat, and/or body water. Obesity refers specifically to an abnormally high proportion of body fat. You can be overweight without being obese – for example, a bodybuilder or other highly muscled athlete, or someone just a few pounds overweight. But many people who are overweight are also obese.
Depress Cravings
Acupuncture releases endorphins into the body, which has a relaxing effect to reduce the sort of stress that triggers overeating and bingeing on high-calorie foods. The body’s natural feel-good factors are enhanced by acupuncture which decreases the need for comfort foods like sweets and chocolate. Also, endorphins affect the digestive and hormonal systems so acupuncture can help rebalance the organ systems (e.g. metabolism) that are running too slow. The theory behind Acupuncture for weight loss is that it helps to curb appetite, depress cravings, rid excess water, and stimulate the pituitary gland to burn off extra calories.
Problem 1 (Enzyme Deficiency): Modern digestive science explains that when your body can’t digest a food, you crave more of it – you’re not getting what you need from it. This leads to a cycle of craving and over-eating the exact foods you can’t digest.
Problem 2 (Low Blood Sugar): Another vicious cycle happens when you can’t digest complex carbs, so your blood sugar is low, so you eat simple carbs that raise your blood sugar which raises insulin, which lowers your blood sugar again, and you’re stuck eating donuts and feeling horrible.
Acupuncture
Solution: Acupuncture and Chinese herbal formulas can help you digest your food and break both of these cycles. With acupuncture treatment, the stomach/spleen system can be strengthened allowing the proper digestion of all foods thus interrupting the food craving cycle, which in turn will balance the digestive system, eliminate cravings and lead to an overall reduction in weight.
Exercise and Diet
Eat a sensible diet, and DO miss breakfast! It’s not the most important meal the food industry will have you believe, look up intermitting fasting, Try and avoid carbohydrate type foods, fatty foods don’t make you fat but carbohydrate foods will. Try and eat a more protein-based diet, but do not overdo it. Weigh yourself regularly, and exercise an hour a day or better still join an exercise class, the new “Body Burn Workout” at our Natural Health Centre would be a good start. If you have never exercised before try a Tai Chi class or try walking a few minutes each day, or take the stairs at work. Don’t overdo it! Remember the rubber band effect if you stretch it too quickly it will bounce back. Get some aerobic exercise or book one of our private aerobic counseling classes, focusing on self-esteem, motivation, exercise, and diet.
In my own clinics, I treat people all the time for weight loss, one woman who followed my instructions lost one stone! In 4 weeks! This, in my opinion, was too much too soon but it was a good testament to the effectiveness of acupuncture for this particular problem.
Constipation Stops Weight Loss
Constipation can also be a major factor that blocks weight loss and I usually try to treat this problem first and foremost to put the bowel in good working order to pave the way for weight loss. There are two very important acupuncture points on the stomach that moves the bowel and also the Chinese herbal formula Ma Ren Wan is excellent to treat this condition, it is not a laxative nor does it have a laxative effect, it moistens and moves the bowel in a very natural way. All in all, acupuncture combined with regular exercise seems a really good start on the path to weight loss, but realistic checks to lifestyle and diet must also be considered.