acupuncture for weight loss
Treatment with Chinese Medicine
Many people would like to lose weight but struggle to do so. Try a different approach that is based on treatment in China.
This page looks at how Traditional Chinese Medicine can help with WEIGHT LOSS when combined with a calorie controlled diet. Call 0772 9617471 for a free telephone consultation.
Find out
- what is involved in the Chinese approach
- how the problem is explained by Traditional Chinese medicine
- what clients have said about treatment
- what the evidence is that acupuncture is effective for the problem (includes links to World Health Organisation if appropriate)
- what links there are to other useful sites
What is involved?
This approach to weight loss includes both acupuncture and Chinese exercise. It is based on current acupuncture practice in China (as seen in Guiyang and Guangzhou). The abdomen and back are the main areas for acupuncture treatment. Patients also have ear treatment with tiny pellets on sticky plaster that can be left in place for 4 days. They are put on several places on the ear which include points for the mouth, hunger and stomach.
In China, acupuncture would be given several times a week but this is not practical in the UK, so Sue will use her experience in Chinese exercise to give patients enjoyable exercises to do daily in their own time. These are qigong exercises and particularly include exercises for the waist.
If you are interested in trying this approach to weight loss then just look through the check list below to see if you are suitable.
- Are you above your preferred weight to a moderate degree?
- Are you generally fit and well with no serious health problems?
- Are you willing to organise your own choice of calorie controlled diet?
If you can answer yes to all the above, please read on.
How does Chinese medicine help with weight loss?
- Working on the waist
- We know that weight gain round the waist line carries particular health risks. See for example, this link to GP notebook. It is no surprise to find how important the waist area is in both the acupuncture and exercise. The vitality of the waist region has been valued and cultivated in China over a long period of time. Perhaps this is one of the reasons why they have, until recently, been a country with relatively low obesity rates. It is interesting to see that young people in China turn to Traditional Chinese medicine to help them lose weight.
- Treating the underlying cause
- The strength of Chinese Medicine is that it will treat the specific problem for the individual. If, for example, there is a problem with the digestive 'fire' being weak, it will be diagnosed and highly specific treatment will be given.
- Lifestyle change
- The emotional upset caused by restriction and changes in diet should not be underestimated, it can be very unsettling. Acupuncture can help with these difficult changes because it is a very calming treatment. It can help people to give up unhealthy, possibly addictive, habits.
Have clients been pleased with treatment?
I saw patients visiting hospital clinics on a trip to China in 2009, they were mainly young women and were pleased with the weight they had lost with regular acupuncture treatment. The doctors called it the Lazy way to lose weight.
What evidence is there that Chinese medicine works?
The methods that they used in China and the evidence that it works have yet to be published. My patients have often found that acupuncture helps with weight loss even when that has not been the aim of the treatment. I am optimistic that this program of regular acupuncture and exercise will work well when combined with a calorie controlled diet.
Call Sue on 0772 9617471 for a free telephone consultation.
