Acupuncture to Achieve a Healthy Weight: A Total Health Program
Finding the motivation to start or stick with a weight loss program can seem overwhelming, but using a multi-faceted program is a good approach. Acupuncture and Oriental medicine address system imbalances that can cause weight gain and create hurdles in achieving a healthy weight with effective tools to control appetite, improve digestion, knock out unhealthy food cravings, increase energy, and decrease bloating.
When the spleen cannot efficiently break down food, an excess of body fluid or mucus results. This is a condition known as dampness. Damp conditions also interfere with how well nutrients are extracted from food. Without proper nutrition, the body is unable to provide energy to its cells and in comes the onset of fatigue. Moreover, dampness causes stomach distention and interferes with digestion. If you can imagine how heavy and difficult your footsteps would be while trudging through knee-high thick mud, you can begin to see how unwieldy a debilitated digestive system can become.
The Spleen channel enjoys regularity. Aim to have meals around the same time every day. Balancing the Spleen and Stomach channels will correct energy imbalances throughout the digestive system and result in a physical shift toward more natural energy and less food cravings.
Each acupuncture and Oriental medicine treatment is customized to your needs and focuses on overall well-being, with the objective of correcting imbalances, increasing circulation, stimulating metabolism, and calming the nervous system. Techniques and points vary and are chosen, each session, based on the symptoms or triggers you are experiencing at that time. For instance, you may need help addressing a desire to overeat during your menstrual cycle or increased stress one week.
Deep breathing with visualization can strengthen willpower and be used as a tool to curb hunger and cravings. Most patients report a marked decline in appetite and cravings with acupuncture treatment alone, but healing foods and exercises can definitely enhance the results.
Acupuncture and Oriental medicine are powerful tools for achieving a healthy weight, by itself or as a supportive treatment for other weight management programs.
Call today and schedule a consultation to see how acupuncture and Oriental medicine can assist you with your weight management goals and help you to live a long, healthy life!
Curb Your Food Cravings with Acupuncture
It’s a challenge to eat healthy when there is junk food readily available. It only takes a single glimpse or thought of a sweet treat or salty, savory snack for a ravenous craving to kick in.
Over time, these binges, if not controlled, can lead to weight gain, fatigue, muddled thinking, and moodiness, to name a few.
A balanced meal, according to according acupuncture and Oriental medicine, consists of foods that represent all five tastes—sweet, sour, bitter, salty, pungent. Each taste corresponds with a specific organ channel. By understanding their connection, you can move toward maintaining a healthy appetite.
The five tastes are:
- Pungent – Associated with the Lung and Large Intestine pungent tastes include the dry, hot taste found in garlic, ginger, and onions needed to help the lungs properly circulate energy throughout the whole body.
- Sweet – Sweet tastes are associated with the stomach and spleen. Fruits, sweet potatoes, and some vegetables like carrots aid in digestion and reduce the toxicity of all foods.
- Sour – Liver and Gall Bladder are associated with sour tastes. Sour foods, like pickles or vinegar, help your body metabolize fats better.
- Bitter – The bitter taste found in dark chocolate, radish, and bitter gourd removes excess heat from the Heart and Small Intestine helping them function better and pacify negative emotions.
- Salty – The salty taste associated with the Kidney and Bladder has a big impact on moistening hard bowels and regulating their movements.
Curbing your cravings takes knowing which system is out of whack. If there is an intense hankering for sweet and salty, this implicates the Spleen, Stomach, Kidney, and Urinary Bladder. The desire for rich, fatty foods can be traced back to the Liver and Gall Bladder.
Since the Spleen and Stomach are associated with obsession, which can certainly be the case in an inability to restrain oneself from devouring all cookies and chips in the kitchen, these are usually the culprit behind every craving. An acupuncture treatment typically includes points to help bolster a sluggish Spleen and other lagging organs.
To learn more about using food as medicine and how to address your food cravings call for an appointment today!
Self Acupressure for Weight Loss
Using self-acupressure allows you to directly assist your digestive organs and provide a respite from unhealthy food cravings.
By pressing on certain areas of the body, Qi is activated and blood flows more freely. Your internal organs will feel invigorated and be able to perform at optimum levels.
Before starting a session of self-acupressure, always be seated and in a calm state of mind. Tension only impedes the technique.
Activate Your Lungs
It may be surprising to learn that the lungs are responsible for excreting the vast majority of fat from the body–up to 84%! This fact more than presses the point on how important exercise is. The more you breathe out, the more fat you release.
To activate lung power and really get your Qi flowing throughout your entire body, look down at your chest. On the same level as the nipples, in the middle of the chest, is a wonderful point called Chest Center. Apply moderate pressure here to stimulate the area.
If you’re feeling like you need a more vigorous shake-up of your energy, try beating your chest like King Kong. The area you want to hit is higher than Chest Center. Aim for the breastplate in the center and a little off to the sides. You can even let out a sustained low noise as you do this for a little extra mileage.
Give Your Digestion a Boost
To give your internal organs a massage, stimulate the acupressure points surrounding your belly button.
On either side of your belly button, about 1-2 inches away, are points that assist your Large Intestine. Simply press and make small circular movements. Do this for a couple of minutes.
If you line up eight fingers directly above the belly button, there is a point directly above the stomach that stimulates it. Be careful not to apply pressure here after a big meal.
Gently massage this area with the pads of three fingers. Use both hands if you’d like, just switch from a clockwise to a counter-clockwise direction.