Weight loss
Why you get over weight
According to the Traditional Chinese
Medicine (TCM), there are several major reasons for people
becoming over weight. No matter what the reason, it eventually
results in an accumulation of water and phlegm (e.g. the fat
tissue) in the body. Check the following and find out the major
reason for your over weight:
(1). You may have too much Fire in
your stomach area.
Now a days, people have much more business
activities, especially for business people. There are many
business functions which include eating and drinking. Their
diets are oil-rich and they feel stressed. This causes the
accumulation of too much Fire in the body and they feel bitter
in mouth, bad breath, tend to have constipation, skin itch (or
loss of hair), headache, red eyes,
to have dark yellow urine, and be irritable. Their tongue
looks dark-red in colour, dry, with thick tongue covering. Their
stomach is large, high (when lying down) and hard to the touch.
This kind of over weight is usually seen in males.
(2). You may have Phlegm
accumulation.
The Phlegm here does not only mean the
phlegm that comes out of the mouth when you cough. It is a very
broad concept in the TCM. It can be regarded as a condensed
water/liquid, or even a kind of “ice” in the body. It is caused
by the weakness of the Spleen system which guides the water
movement in the body. The Phlegm can accumulate in any part of
the body causing trouble: in the brain, it causes strokes; in
lung, the phlegm through cough; in the Heart,
madness or psychological problems; in the joints,
arthritis; under the skin, fibrosis; in the ovary, cysts; and
uterus, fibromyosis;
and in the stomach,
overweight.
These people are usually sensitive to
physical and emotional changes in their body. They easily feel
nausea/vomiting when they see unpleasant things, in an
uncomfortable situation, or when they travel by car or plane
(car-sick or air-sick). They tend to feel something in the
throat, which forces them to clear the throat frequently. They
feel bloating in the chest or stomach to feel short of breath.
These are people very sensitive to their health. Their tongue
does not typically show something is wrong but has much
covering, white or yellow, wet or dryness. The pulse
feels strong and smooth similar to feeling a round smooth bead
running under your finger. When touching their upper stomach,
they may feel uncomfortable or even pain.
(3). You may have too much stress.
When people have stress, they tend to have
poor appetite, but may also have a strong appetite. Eating is a
way to release stress. Similarly to consume coffee, alcohol,
smoking, drugs… to release stress. One may feel bloating in the
both sides of upper stomach, giggling, nausea, bitter taste in
the mouth, red in face, headache (side of the head). The tongue
may not look abnormal but the pulse could feel like a thin
string on a violin. Their stomach looks not very big and the
body weight varies largely according to their emotional stress.
This kind of overweight is usually seen in younger women.
Menstruation, of course, is usually abnormal.
Without proper treatment, this kind of body
constitution will develop more into the blood-stagnation
syndrome. People will have black colour in the tongue, or
pigment on the skin. They may feel hot in the body. This does
not feel the same as the hot flash experienced during the
menopause syndrome. The hot feeling which mostly occurs during
the evening, is due to blood stagnation.
(4). You may have Qi deficiency.
For
people with Qi deficiency, they feel tired, even after a
short walk, work,
thinking or talking.
They easily feel shortness of breath, have
sweat, easy to have swelling on the legs with pain on the knees.
Their face looks pale and movement is slow. Their stomach looks
flat and feels very soft when touched.
Without proper treatment, the Qi deficiency
will develop into Yang deficiency. At this time, people
could feel tired and drowsy all
day and have cold hands and feet. They may have a low
appetite, constipation or diarrhea. Their eyes show less spirit,
tongue has purple tints and pulse feels very weak, thin or deep.
Their stomach looks big but flat and soft, as if it is
filled with water or cotton.
For these people, it is said that they tend
to gain body weight even if they simply drink water. This kind
of overweight is usually seen in elderly woman.
(5). You may have Yin deficiency.
Yin is the material part of the body and
the Yang Qi, the power part of the body. When the body Yin,
which includes blood or the liquid part of the body, is not
enough, people feel dry mouth, weakness in the lower back and
knees, have poor sleep with frequent dreams. People may also
feel hot in the hands and feet (mostly from late night to noon)
with less patience. They may also have more sweat, with more at
night. The tongue is dark red and dry with less tongue covering.
The pulse feels thin, soft and fast. Their stomach is bigger
mostly in the lower tummy. This kind of overweight is seen
mostly in elderly women.
Yang Qi is transformed from the Yin. When
the Yin is not enough in the body, there will be a shortage of
Yang Qi also. Therefore, after some time, the Yin deficiency is
usually combined with the Yang deficiency.
In clinic, it is not so easy to identify
where the overweight belongs. The reasons for a given person
being overweight are usually combined.
However, the Yang deficiency is usually the most
important and basic reason for being overweight.
There are too many factors in our modern
life that could damage our body Yang Qi. Stress in school and/or
work environments damage the Yang Qi in the Heart-Lung system.
Sometimes, feeling very hungry, sometimes eating too much,
drinking cold water and eating too much ice cream in summer…
damages the Yang Qi in the Stomach-Spleen system. Too much
sexual activity damages the Kidney-Liver system. Together with
large amounts and
the frequent use of
antibiotics,
cortisone and estrogen products damage our whole body Yang Qi…
All of these factors contribute to our body being in the Yang
Deficiency status. People will tire easily, have cold
hands and feet, have psoriasis or acne, sleep poorly and
have reduced memory, suffer from impotence and infertility,
irregular menstrual cycles, many allergic reactions, such as
sinus problems, asthma and arthritis.
If the Yang Qi is week in the Stomach area,
the Yang Qi in the other part of body will move to this area to
maintain the work by the primary Yang Qi here. However, the fact
is, the Yang Qi from other parts of the body is the guest. It is
a kind of trouble-making Qi. This causes Fire syndrome in the
stomach area i.e., feel hungry, eat lots, drink cold water, have
constipation and bad breath, over eating and less exercise
results in becoming overweight.
When the Yang Qi is lacking in the
Heart-Lung system, the guest Yang Qi causes Fire in this area:
creating less patience, reduced ability to focus, blurred mind,
poor sleeping. This is because the Heart is the “General” of the
body which maintains emotion and mind function. Eating is one of
the ways people can choose to sedate the stress.
When the Yang Qi is diminished in the
Liver-Kidney system, the guest Yang Qi gives the frequent desire
for sexual activity, but once the time comes, they cannot eject.
Such frequent emotion exhausts their Yang Qi further and creates
a bad cycle.
When the Yang is deficient, there will be
less production of Yin in the body. Yin is also dependent upon
the function of the Yang Qi to absorb Yin from the diet to
maintain enough Yin in the body.
For all of these reasons, in our weight
loss program, we carefully observe the status of the Yang Qi in
your body. We also need to release extra Fire and/or Phlegm to
release emotional stress and supply more Yin into your body.
Weight loss program
In our clinic, we apply acupuncture and TCM
herbal therapy for weight loss, in combination with the use of
ear acupressure if we find that your ear acupuncture points are
sensitive to the treatment.
It is recommended that acupuncture is
needed at least twice every week for the first two to three
weeks. It can then be reduced to once every week. Too long a
period between the acupuncture treatments will not give
satisfactory body weight loss results. Also, we recommend the
ideal time for the weight loss program is during the warm
seasons i.e., spring, summer and fall, not in the winter. Winter
is the season for animals to keep fat as fuel. We follow the
cycle of nature.
The herb formula varies according to the
reason for your over weight. We do not recommend the
diarrhea (or the colon cleansing therapy) for every patient.
We do not need you to restrict your diet
and recommend only gentle physical exercise.
Follow these guidelines and you will enjoy
satisfactory weight loss results.
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