Acupuncture for Weight Loss

Why My Acupuncture for Weight Loss Protocol Works

• Both the Cause & Symptoms of Weight Loss are treated.
• The whole person (body, mind, spirit, and emotions) is treated.
• Weight gain is a result of imbalance in the body. I find the imbalance. 
• My Acupuncture for Weight Loss protocol allows your body to balance itself.
• Patients are committed to their Weight Loss Success & actively participate.

Acupuncture for Weight Loss Protocol: Trigger the Body to Heal Itself!

• Improve Digestion 
• Improve Elimination
• Increase Energy
• Reduce Addiction (Hunger/Cravings)
• Reduce Inflammation
• Reduce Pain
• Regulate Hormones
• Relax Nervous System, Reduce Anxiety for better mood
• Create the Sensation of Fullness
• Suppress Appetite
• Avoid Binge Eating 
• Avoid Excessive Snacking 

Acupuncture stimulates the vagal nerve & raises serotonin levels, both of which have been shown to increase tone in the smooth muscle of the stomach, thus suppressing appetite.

Weight Management is a Balancing Act

It’s my job to unravel the mystery of why you are out of balance & bring you & your body back to homeostasis/balance & the body will normalize its weight. Side effects of balancing the body are better sleep, less pain, less arthritis, better digestion, and better elimination.

Weight Loss - Regulate Metabolism

Acupuncture also helps to regulate metabolism. A history of overeating, irregular eating, and even thyroid dysfunction all contribute to a slow metabolism. Acupuncture increases metabolism by stimulating the thyroid and endocrine glands stabilizing blood sugar levels as you lose weight.

Frustration

Controlling weight can be a frustrating process. 

It’s not that exercise and diet won't help you lose weight, it's just that sometimes it's a very slow process, and most people after 3 months of exercising daily and watching their diet and only losing 2 pounds, they lose heart. Acupuncture and herbs will speed up that process.

No Diet Plan Works For Everyone

There are so many different weight loss diets with conflicting info about what works & what doesn’t and its crazy making.

Over the years, we’ve all seen fad diets come and go. 

Each weight loss program has its proponents. 

Why do they fail? Because NO DIET PLAN WORKS FOR EVERYONE. 

Each patient requires a different approach to weight loss.

Fad diets promise instant, significant weight-loss results, but most of them rely on depriving your body of nutrients and disrupting the natural function of your body's metabolism thus putting you further out of balance.

Obesity Is Rare In China

Chinese medicine is 1000’s of years old. It is rooted in the laws of nature.

The Magic Bullet for Weight Loss

There is NO magic bullet - That is a myth. 

Healing is a natural process & you can't cheat nature with chemical or therapeutic means. 

The innate process of the body healing is miraculous in and of itself. I use that very process as I guide people to become healthy and stay that way. I am aware of the awesome responsibility and privilege I have. I never lose sight of that concept.

Healing

There is this idea in the West that doctors have the power to heal. They don’t. 

All they have is the power to facilitate. We don’t heal anyone; we move things around so that nature & you can heal yourself. 

You heal yourself, in ways they could never have imagined. 

The body is intelligent. It has an innate survival mechanism.

My treatments give you & your body the chance to work things out for yourself. 

Your job is to be willing to participate so we move what ever is standing in your way of health and balance.

Drugs - Is there a safer way to Lose Weight?

The majority of people who resort to drugs to lose weight have previously tried dieting. Weight loss drugs get thrown out because of their proven health risks. 

Yet, the FDA still approves new diet drugs, despite potential side effects damaging to heart.  

There is no One Magic Wand. There are millions of them; one for each of us

The Western tradition of dieting models the western philosophy of medicine. Everybody with a disease (in this case obesity) takes the same pill. Well TCM is the opposite of that. If 500 people have one disease there will be 500 different treatments. Each person is unique and each person gains weight for a different reason. 

YoYo Dieting

Studies say 95% regain ALL their weight within a year.

The problem with many diets and diet drugs is that both approaches attempt to eliminate excess weight quickly by treating only the SYMPTOM.  

They don’t reach the ROOT of the problem, results not long lasting and may even be damaging.

The Flame Under The Pot

Your digestive system is like a wood burning furnace. 

If the fire in the furnace is low, putting cold, wet wood on it will dampen it further, perhaps even put it out. For people with poor digestion, raw foods, cold foods, dairy, and ice cream are like damp wood. The furnace has to work very hard to burn them. Warming or partially cooking foods may help tremendously in these cases. 

Simply sautéing or lightly steaming vegetables can enhance the ability to digest them. Most herbs and spices are warming. Adding them to foods will also aid in the digestive process. For meat eaters with poor digestion, it is important to cook meats well and keep the quantity low and quality high. Think of that furnace, partially burned wood is easier to burn. Hardwoods burn more slowly - meats fall into the hardwood category. Marinating meats is another way to ‘season the wood’ so it burns more readily.

Soups and stews are a staple of Chinese diets and are especially beneficial for those with weak digestive systems. Food is cooked slowly so less nutritional value is lost, and yet the end product is easy to digest. 

Some people may go on diets and still not lose weight.  They may give up on the more natural, effective weight loss program and try drugs or fad diets.  Too often this is counter-productive. The problem may well be that after years of impaired digestion, their metabolism may simply not be functioning as well as it should.  By “reinforcing the flame under the pot,” I get to the root of the problem, bring the body back into balance, and allow the body to heal itself.

2 Thumbs Up for Ear Acupuncture

The Director of the World Health Org - "Auricular (ear) acupuncture is probably the most developed and best documented, scientifically, of all the micro-systems of acupuncture and is the most practical and widely used."

Medical Journal Proof It Works

Ear Acupuncture 70% Effective For Weight Loss – Journal of Chinese Medicine.

A hospital carried out a study with 45 patients with drug-induced obesity and 44 obese patients not taking such medication. Randomly they received ear acupuncture, sham acupuncture or ear acupuncture plus physical exercise.

In both the drug and no-drug induced obesity groups, those who received true ear acupuncture lost weight, (5.7 pounds average) while those who received the sham acupuncture gained an average of 1.3 pounds. Those who combined the ear acupuncture with physical exercise lost the most weight, (9.5 pounds).

For weight control, auricular (ear) acupuncture is a very common and effective therapy especially when combined with regular body acupuncture. The auricular acupuncture points have more emphasis on the neurological function of the body associated with appetite and digestion. For example, ear acupuncture stimulates the auricular branch of the vagal nerve, which functions to:

1. Increase smooth muscle tone of the stomach (gives sensation of fullness)
2. Raise serotonin levels (suppress appetite & over-consumption of food)

In another Australian study, 95% of the active test group noticed suppression of appetite, and lost average of 4.4 pounds whereas none of the control group noticed such a change. None of the control group lost the required 4.4 pounds, with only 4 subjects losing any weight at all.

There are different ear points used for each different weight gain habits:

• Impulsive eater who may also smoke a lot and talk a lot
• Person who eats even after they're full or constantly nibbling
• Appetite control, relieve hunger, control compulsive eating
• Food addicts, and people who love chocolate, sweets 
• Calming, anxiety, anger, frustration, insecurity, stress
• Water retention responsible for some weight gain. Aids metabolism
• Weight gain is due to menopause or P.M.S. 
• Sugar imbalances and hormonal disturbances
• Water retention, and nervous system and hormonal imbalances
• Slow metabolism
• Slow digestion

I also use the National Acupuncture Detoxification Association (NADA) ear acupuncture protocol derived directly from the Chinese medicine theory of detoxification. I took the course over a decade ago as I was intrigued by the success they have had and proof it works for food addiction.  

Take Home Ear Seeds/Beads

Non-needle ‘ear beads’ stay in place 3 days to a week and are massaged by the patient for 10-second intervals if cravings occur.

Chinese Herbs… The Icing on the Cake 

No matter what kind of diet you are on, a Chinese herbal formula will provide better digestion and potentially lower food requirements.  

Benefits of Chinese herbs:

• Stimulate Metabolism (Boost Energy Level)
• Dissolve Fatty Accumulations (Lower Blood Pressure, Lower Cholesterol)
• Regulate Appetite (Naturally Curb Hunger)
• Strengthen Digestive System (Less Bloating, Belching, Gas, Sluggish)
• Optimize Digestion (Get more Energy from the Food you Eat)
• Efficient Elimination (Remove Toxins, Smoother, More Regular)

But resist the temptation to just pick up an OTC Chinese herbal weight loss preparation. Many of the OTC Chinese medicines have been contaminated with western drugs or heavy metals stimulants or appetite suppressants. Obtain your herbs from an Acupuncturist who orders theirs from Mayway or Evergreen. (Yes I do!)

Let Food Be Thy Medicine & Medicine Be Thy Food

Following the philosophy of bringing the body into balance, foods are used as another tool to enhance wellness while individual differences are taken into account.

Eating specially selected foods that compliment your Five Element body type can help you lose weight by eating them, not avoiding them. 

Salads May Not Be Right For Everyone

Salads are a staple of a number of weight loss diets and raw foods in general are growing in popularity for various health reasons. But these choices may be wrong for some people, especially those who tend to feel cold and fatigued. Some people will, however, benefit tremendously from a raw food diet. Those with strong digestive systems tend to feel warm and have more energy than those with poor digestion. They are the ones likely to do well on raw diets according to Traditional Chinese Medical theory.

Electro-Acupuncture Obesity Treatment 

A Turkish study has investigated the effects of electro-acupuncture (EA) on obesity and accompanying psychological symptoms. 165 female volunteers were divided into three groups: EA, placebo EA, and diet restriction. EA was performed using three ear and six body points. Patients receiving EA experienced a 4.8% reduction in weight compared with a 2.7% weight reduction for placebo EA and 2.5% reduction for diet restriction. Significant decreases in phobia, anger, anxiety, obsession, paranoid symptoms and depression were also seen in the EA group, compared with the other groups.

Reality

You must be committed to losing weight. The acupuncture kick starts and accelerates weight loss but you must participate in some way. One course of treatment may take about 2 months of 2 sessions per week, (3 sessions for severe weight issues) & a regular regimen of exercise and a healthy diet.