Acupuncture for Weight Loss

Weight control is a multi-faceted problem and a functional program that involves stress reduction, diet, and exercise techniques. Chinese acupuncture and exercises for better digestion are also helpful means in the struggle with weight loss.

Acupuncture is an ancient Chinese medicine practice that is about needles and energy. When an individual is healthy, life energy or qi flows more freely via a network of complex channels known as meridians, across the entire body. When the meridians get blocked, the theory becomes null, paving the way for sickness or pain. Acupuncture refers to the insertion of fine needles at certain points along the meridians in order to clear blockages and facilitate healthy energy flow.

Why Acupuncture?

Acupuncture is an incredible adjunctive therapy. It isn’t a remedy for treating weight problems, but acupuncture is highly effective in helping you to lose weight, especially if you’re willing to embrace new lifestyle changes. Acupuncture involves the insertion of fine needles into specific sites of the body and around the ear for the release of endorphins. This will trigger a calming and relaxing effect, which makes it easier to manage stress, anxiety, and frustration that can lead to overeating or bingeing on junk foods. In addition, endorphins disrupt the digestive system as well as the hormonal systems; therefore, acupuncture may help rebalance the body that is running too slow or too fast.

The Acupuncture Treatment

For your acupuncturist to select the right points for you, you should first book an appointment to discuss your overeating patterns, and let your practitioner determine if you are having any digestive problems. Then your acupuncturist would carefully check your pulse to establish the overall state of your energy and determine the health of your stomach’s energy in particular. He/she then checks for any cracks, puffiness, or peelings in your stomach area. The presence of white or thick coatings might indicate severe heat or coldness inside your stomach and would clearly suggest why you were gaining excess weight.

Acupuncture Points

After gathering all these details, the acupuncturist would formulate a treatment protocol using several body points. Although the Chinese devised the system of auricular acupuncture many years ago, several other acupuncture points have also been developed, including adrenal, pituitary, and thyroid points. Some of the other important weight loss points for acupuncture treatments are:

• Mouth - for the impulsive eater who might also smoke and drink excessively

• Stomach - for people who eat a lot of food even after they’re full or who are constantly nibbling

• Shen men or ear point - calming points for controlling anxiety, insecurity, anger, and frustration

• Lung - this is meant for food addicts as well as those people who are fond of sweets and chocolates

• Spleen - for hormonal and sugar imbalances in the body

For each treatment, the practitioners will choose two or more of such points depending on the nature of the patient’s condition plus their personality profile regarding overeating. The acupuncturist might also utilize electro-stimulation on some points in order to accelerate the endorphin release as well as stimulating the metabolism.

Dietary and Lifestyle Changes

Good weight loss programs include nutritional counseling, commitment to adopt permanent lifestyle changes, and exercises. Your acupuncturist can assist with nutritional counseling and diet regimens that will help maintain a long-term weight control measure. A diet that’s highly enriched with fiber, low-fat proteins, and low-density carbohydrates is often the best choice to embrace. With acupuncture, the patient can keep off from the pitfalls of overeating; hence, losing significant weight.