Traditional Chinese Medicine For Weight Loss: Does It Work?

For centuries now, traditional Chinese medicine has contributed significantly to the understanding of how the human body works and how to use natural remedies to help boost the efficiency of our biological processes.

Traditional Chinese medicine is not only limited to the treatment of disease, but also focuses on a holistic approach to health – the state of physical, social, and psychological wellbeing.

Though one question still stands out:

Does Chinese medicine help with weight loss?

The shortest answer to this question is, Yes!

But here is the long version: to understand how this works, you should first know the types of Chinese medicine.

Types of Traditional Chinese medicine

1. Acupuncture

Acupuncture is perhaps one of the well-known components of traditional Chinese medicine. The procedure involves the strategic insertion of needles in different parts of your body. It is commonly used to manage pain and stress but can also boost your overall health.

2. Moxibustion

Moxibustion is a treatment therapy which involves the burning of a spongy plant material known as moxa as close as possible to the skin. It is believed that the burning moxa can induce healing by promoting the flow of life force, qi, into the right places of the body.

3. Tui na

This technique is pronounced as “Twee naw” and simply translates to “pinch and pull”. It is a therapeutic massage that is mostly used in combination with other TCM procedures such as acupuncture.

4. Qi gong

It is one of the oldest TCM techniques and involves specific dance moves. The mechanism is believed to be based on the principle that focusing attention to certain areas can make the life force, qi, to flow in those areas.

5. Herbal medication

This section of TCM has contributed significantly to natural health. It involves the use of several different plants, animal products and minerals in various formulas to treat the human body.

How TCM weight loss works

There are certain benefits of TCM that have been backed by research. For instance, it has been found that acupuncture is a preferred TCM for weight loss especially among individuals who are overweight with a BMI of between 25 and 30.

Studies also show that a combination of both moxibustion and acupuncture is associated with a significant reduction in bad cholesterol and also inhibits the accumulation of fat in the body.

Tai chi, another component of TCM that is more like qi gong has been proven to be just as effective as walking, jogging or cycling. It helps as a slimming treatment that loses a significant amount of weight. It also helps in improving your mood and boosting the quality of your sleep which are direct influencers of weight.

Popular Chinese herbs that are used in TCM such as angelica root, goji and Panax ginseng are known to help in losing weight. They work by either enhancing your performance in exercise or stimulating the breakdown of fats.

Conclusion

It is true that TCM weight loss programs are effective in the management of weight. You just have to select the one that works best for you and stick by it. However, you should ensure that you obtain TCM services from a qualified professional and seek their advice on the type of TCM method that’s best to help you achieve your weight loss goal.

How Does The Qi Energy In TCM Helps In Weight Loss

Millions of dollars are spent on diet and exercise programs in the West in an effort to lose weight. However, weight loss is not just about regulating your intake of calories and shedding excess weight, it is also about taking care of your overall health.

Frankly, what we are missing in weight loss programs is a crucial piece of Traditional Chinese Medicine (TCM), the element on how our body functions, which perfectly fits the jig-saw puzzle of weight loss. This crucial element is energy. And we are not talking about the energy you obtain from food, but the responsible for your vitality, your well-being and controls the functioning of the body.

Our ability to lose significant amount of weight and maintain a healthy weight is enhanced by the strength and balance of this energy.

What is qi

According to TCM, this energy is called “qi”, pronounced as chee. TCM weight loss programs in Singapore use movement activities, diets, acupuncture, herbs and meditation to achieve its definition of health – building and conserving energy of qi.

When there is abundant qi within our body, our organs and systems function properly to maintain our health.

But how does qi help with weight loss? According to TCM weight loss, losing weight does not solely depend on the regulation of calorie intake. It focuses mainly on channeling, fortifying, nourishing and sustaining qi.

Qi then helps in raising and boosting metabolism which then improves weight loss. It is by far one of the best slimming treatments Singaporeans can try out.

Factors that weaken qi

Stress is the major factor that weakens qi. However, other emotional imbalances, poor quality and quantity of sleep, as well as poor diet are known to reduce qi. These factors tend to make the body depleted, hence a barrier to letting go of weight. You end up with low energy and increased cravings for food.

How to enhance your qi

1. Avoid changing dietary regimen too often

This strategy is particularly important to those with a weakened digestive system. When your digestive system is weak, you tend to suffer from unnecessary bloating, excessive gas, and feeling sluggish after eating. Try to figure out foods that make you feel this way and avoid them.

2. Eat foods full of qi

Eat plenty of vegetables, fruits, whole grains, organic meats and legumes because they are full of qi. You should also try and avoid eating refined, artificial or packaged foods.

3. Follow your body’s clock

Your biological clock controls a lot of processes in the body. The chief of these processes is sleep. If you follow the natural rhythm of your body, you are likely to improve in your energy, boost your digestion and maintain a healthy state of mind.

Conclusion

Weight loss is not just about limiting calorie intake and increasing protein intake. You should also keep your body in check and your system working in good condition. By focusing on your qi as indicated by TCM, you basically indulge in a holistic effective slimming treatment approach to achieving weight loss.

How Does Acupuncture Effectively Help You Lose Weight?

You might have heard of this before, but acupuncture is a form of traditional Chinese medicine which involves the stimulation of certain points on the body using needles that are expertly inserted through the skin.

Acupuncture has several health benefits and has been the centre of focus in several studies. It is mostly used to manage pain and stress. But there are also studies that specifically talk about how acupuncture can be related to weight loss.

Acupuncture for losing weight

For those who practice it, it is believed that acupuncture stimulates the body’s qi which in turn reverses the biological mechanisms associated with weight gain.

It is believed that acupuncture helps manage weight loss using four major mechanisms:

• Increasing the overall metabolism in the body
• Reducing your appetite to food
• Alleviating your stress levels
• Suppressing your hunger centre in the brain

Ideally, traditional Chinese medicine posits that weight gain is a consequence of the disorder of natural balances in the body, what is scientifically referred to as homeostasis.

By properly channelling your qi energy to the right places, acupuncture helps alleviate this imbalance and normalizes your entire system.

How it works

1. Increasing metabolism

For you to lose weight, you have to burn more calories than the amount you consume. This creates a deficit which makes your body to burn more fat to maintain your usually energy requirements. As a result, your fat stores reduce and you end up losing weight. Acupuncture helps in boosting metabolism, especially the metabolism of fats to help get rid of stored body fat responsible for weight gain.

2. Reducing appetite

Acupuncture effectively reduces appetite using various techniques. It produces inhibits the production of appetite stimulating hormones and also manipulates appetite centres so much so that you wouldn’t feel any cravings for food. A special type of acupuncture called ear acupuncture is used for weight loss because it is hypothesized that there are curtained regions in your ear which controls your appetite.

3. Alleviating stress

Most studies have linked stress to increased weight. Stress can range from a variety of factors such as lack of sleep, disease and/or social-economic factors.

When you are stressed, your body produces copious amounts of a stress hormone called cortisol. Cortisol is a potent appetite inducer and may explain the reason why some people crave for junk foods when they are stressed.

By alleviating stress, acupuncture helps inhibit the excess production of stress hormones and subsequently helps in reducing appetite.  By reducing the number of calories entering your body, de-stressing makes for an effective slimming treatment.

4. Suppressing hunger

Among the several benefits of acupuncture, it is also hypothesized that this procedure can suppress the hunger centre in the brain.

This makes you less hungry and lowers the number of calories you consume per day. Since weight gain is affected by how much you eat, hunger suppression is one of the beneficial effects when you want to lose weight using acupuncture.

Conclusion

When considering acupuncture for weight loss in Singapore, the overall results you achieve is dependent on the person performing the procedure as well as the number of sessions you undergo. Different practitioners would recommend different methods and different number of sessions. Consult a qualified practitioner to find out which procedure best suits your needs.