5 Wise Tips to Gain Weight and Lean Muscle in a Healthy Way

By Luke Douglas

Many people are concerned about their weight, but rarely do you hear someone wishing to add weight to their frame. For the most part, people want to achieve sensible weight loss to eliminate unwanted fat and reach a healthier weight target. Needless to say, losing weight is a healthy decision if you’re currently overweight, and especially if you’re experiencing certain symptoms that might deteriorate your health.

But then there are the people on the other end of the spectrum. Many of us are actually looking for a way to optimize our nutrition to gain weight in a healthy way and if possible, build lean muscle mass to shape our physique and make us stronger in the process. If you are currently for ways to add weight to your frame without adding unwanted fat, then you have to take a careful and calculated approach.

Let’s take a look at some important tips that will enable you to gain weight and lean muscle in a healthy way this year.

Prioritize your calories

You probably know by now that the most important element of weight loss or weight gain is how you manage your calories on a daily basis. Simply put, you need to eat more calories than you’re expending during the day in order to gain weight, and do the opposite if you’re trying to drop pounds off your frame. However, restricting calories can be much easier than adding them, because you’re not used to eating more and because you have to be very careful about the kind of calories you add to your diet.

Typically, you would always want to prioritize calories from protein-rich foods if your goal is to add lean muscle and sculpt your physique. Keep in mind that carbohydrates and fats are not fattening per se, but focusing on maximizing your protein intake will ensure that you keep growing muscle while burning fat. It takes more energy for your body to process proteins than other macronutrients, and protein is the building block of muscle.

Focus on the right exercise program

Once you know that you need to consume more calories, you can start complimenting your diet plan with muscle-building exercise. Remember, it’s much easier to add pounds to your frame by complementing your lifestyle with exercise, particularly if your training sessions revolve around resistance training.

You should focus your resistance training on hypertrophy (building muscle) and strength, because muscle is lean, and it shapes your body. If, on the other hand, you start eating more but don’t exercise, you can expect to add only fat to your frame. With that in mind, be sure to work closely with your personal trainer to create a workout routine that will prioritize strength and lean muscle growth.

Include the right supplements into your diet

When you’re trying to lose weight, it’s important to use healthy supplements in the form of vitamins and minerals. However, when you’re trying to build muscle and add weight, then it’s important to use specific supplements for muscle gain that will help optimize your metabolic rate, increase hunger steadily, and get more nutrients like protein into your system.

That said, supplementation is not a substitute for a healthy diet, but it can help you get more of the right calories into your body on a daily basis. After all, eating more is a difficult task, and you have to ensure that you stay consistent. The right weight gain supplements will focus on quality proteins but also the right micronutrients to help you slowly but surely start eating more healthy foods.

Try eating more frequently

Speaking of eating healthy, you can’t hope to put more food on your plate but eat the same number of meals every day. For many people who are struggling to add weight to their frame, eating more is impossible, but eating more frequently is a smart alternative.

The key is to add healthy meals into your daily routine, preferably something like a plant-based diet rich in fiber, vitamins, and various minerals. Eating more frequently is not only a great way to nurture your metabolism, but it’s also one of the best ways to safely add calories to your diet without even noticing the difference.

Hydrate throughout the day

Last but not least, remember that it’s not just about the calories and the supplements – it’s also about healthy hydration. Most of us forget to drink ample amounts of pure aqua every day, and that’s a bad habit that you’ll need to change if you want to add lean muscle and weight to your frame in a healthy way.

Hydration is extremely important for athletes, whether you’re exercising occasionally or every single day. Over the long term, proper hydration will help you stay energized and it will allow you to push your limits in training. Of course, you should try to drink more water between meals so that you don’t ruin your appetite.

Wrapping up

As with every habit in life, the key to healthy weight gain is to stay consistent. Follow these tips but make sure to adhere to them consistently over the following weeks and months and you should have no problem adding lean muscle and weight to your frame, sculpting the physique of your dreams.


Luke is a lifestyle blogger. He is editor in chief at blog Ripped.me and one of the contributors at blog Trans4Mind. He follows the trends in fitness, gym and healthy life and loves to share his knowledge through useful and informative articles.
Connect with him on Facebook & Twitter


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Chinese Medicine To Support Sensible Weight Loss

By Sally Perkins

According to the CDC, around three-quarters of all American adults are overweight. With around two-thirds of these trying to change their eating habits and lose a few pounds, it’s no surprise that weight loss plans and programs are big business, with a huge range of suggestions and options touted as providing miraculous results – some with more success than others. Chinese medicine offers the opportunity for mindful, realistic and sustained weight loss, so if you’re looking for a sensible solution for an ongoing, healthy lifestyle, here are some changes you could consider making.

Food and Functionality

Traditional Chinese Medicine is based on many principles relating to food consumption, metabolism and digestion which can aid weight loss and improve your relationship with eating. Excessive weight gain is thought to relate to the accumulation of ‘dampness’ – a condition that occurs when food intake, absorption, digestion and transportation are not balanced. Take the festive season as an example – if you eat too much, or consume food higher in fat, your spleen and stomach will struggle to transform your food, and any excess will be left sitting stationary, leading to an accumulation of dampness.

Elimination of dampness is the main tenet of traditional Chinese weight loss programs, and there are a number of ways to achieve this. According to the guidelines, cultivating a diet of bitter, sour and pungent foods can aid with achieving a healthy body shape, and help you avoid fluctuating weight that can have an impact on your mood, wellbeing and budget – having to invest in different clothes of different sizes gets expensive, and has a negative impact on the environment too. Whether you’re ensuring your favorite bikini will fit exactly come the summer, aiming to eliminate health conditions exacerbated by weight, or simply want to adopt a more mindful lifestyle, changing the way you eat can make a real difference.

Antioxidant Assistance

Many Chinese people drink tea every day, and it is thought to have a number of health benefits. Polyphenols are an antioxidant found in tea and may help to maintain a healthy metabolism whilst you lose weight, repairing cells and easing digestive issues. Green tea, Jiaogulan tea and Oolong all have a soothing flavor and a good level of antioxidants, and just one cup a day is enough to make a difference – something that can be easily incorporated into most daily routines. There are also various herbs known to support weight loss by suppressing appetite, burning fat, and boosting metabolism. He Ye (lotus leaf), Fu Ling and Huang Qi are some of the most well-known, but there are others that may also be suitable, depending on your lifestyle, goals and commitment to weight loss. Consulting a Chinese medicine practitioner can help you to tailor an individual treatment plan based on your personal needs.


Photo by Kristaps Ungurs on Unsplash

Changing the way you eat and drink and supplementing with appropriate herbs is not just about losing weight; it’s about improving your overall wellbeing and health as well. Making one or two small changes at a time can support you to develop positive food habits that’ll balance your body and leave you feeling fit and functional – as well as helping you to stay that way.


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Acupuncture for Weight Loss

By Dr Bruce Stafford

For over a millennium, health practitioners living within the Far East have been using Traditional Chinese Medicine (TCM) to help their patients with their mind, body and spirit. Studies have shown that within recent years, more people within western countries are now searching for ‘alternative’ methods to improve their general health – particularly towards acupuncture for weight loss. Acupuncture helps identify with the root causes of the weight loss to help your body deal with it
accordingly:

Here’s how acupuncture can help you finally lose the weight:

Repairing Your Digestion

If your digestive system is not functioning properly, this will also inhibit your body’s ability to lose weight. You will know if it’s not working properly if you experience symptoms of bloating, reflux, nausea, constipation, lose bowels or IBS (Irritable Bowel Syndrome)

This is because your body will be producing an excessive amount of ‘Damp’ or ‘Phlegm’ in Chinese Medicine terms (The closest term we can use to explain this would be ‘inflammation’) and you’ll know if you have a lot of Damp or Phlegm if you experience sinus problems or chronic allergies, if you feel exhausted or lethargic in the mornings, have loose bowels, feel sluggish and tired and experience bloating.

Acupuncture for weight loss helps return your digestion back to normal by stimulating your body’s natural blood flow to your stomach and spleen to strengthen their function so they start to work properly again which is important for weight loss as not only will you be able to lose weight more easily, but you’ll also feel lighter and have more energy.

Balancing Your Natural Hormones

The body naturally produces fat-producing hormones such as cortisol, estrogen and insulin as well as fat-burning hormones such as adrenaline, human growth hormone, testosterone, insulin growth factor and glucagon. For many people, their fat-producing hormones are over-stimulated and much too active, while their fat-burning hormones are under-stimulated and not active enough.

Acupuncture for weight loss corrects your organ function, particularly your Liver, Kidney, Stomach and Spleen which are all crucial in the synthesis and secretion of the correct number of hormones for weight-loss.

Furthermore, Acupuncture may also assist with better sleep, reduce your pain and stress levels, which will in turn reduce the amount of cortisol (a key fat-making hormone) your body is producing to help you lose weight. When all these organs start to function properly again, your natural fat-controlling hormones will start to stabilize making it easier for you to lose weight.

Making Weight Loss Easier

Acupuncture for weight loss is also used in appetite suppression, to prevent you from feeling hungry all the time and to stave off cravings (especially for sweet or savoury foods) and keep you ‘cool’ and relaxed while you lose weight.

Whilst it’s extremely important to get your digestion and hormonal balance working in balance, you will also need to watch what you eat. It is this combination that makes acupuncture for weight loss so effective.

Correcting the Root Cause of Weight Gain

Not only does acupuncture for weight loss help you to lose weight, it is also helps facilitate in the identification of the root cause of the source of the problem and why you gained weight in the first place.

On top of this, acupuncture is also helping to improve your overall health. So if you want to lose weight and feel great doing it, acupuncture may be the answer you’ve been looking for.

Here is a handy infographic with 5 Chinese Medicine Weight Loss Secrets.

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Author Bio
Dr Bruce Stafford (Chinese Medicine) is the owner and founder of Emperor’s Acupuncture & Integrative Medicine in Melbourne, Australia

He has trained with some of the world’s best-know Masters in Australia, Taiwan and the USA. Bruce has treated thousands of patients using acupuncture for weight loss at Emperor’s Acupuncture and Chinese herbs to help improve organ function to rebalance the body’s natural fat-controlling hormones.


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Incorporating Chinese Medicine Into Your Weight Loss Program

By Sally Perkins

Half of Americans say they are trying to lose weight. That’s over 163 million people in the United States alone who are unhappy with their weight, and that doesn’t take into account the rest of the people around the world who are also trying to be healthier. Traditional Chinese Medicine has many principles that contribute to weight loss and a healthier lifestyle, as it relates to food consumption, digestion, metabolism, and other bodily functions that relate to weight. There are many of these principles you can incorporate into your daily routine to aid your body in processing fuel and help with weight loss.

Definitely Your Cup Of Tea

Igor Miske

Many people equate tea, especially green tea and black teas like oolong, with Chinese culture. This is for good reason, as many Chinese people drink tea every day, and it is thought that drinking tea has many health benefits. Tea contains polyphenols, a specific type of antioxidant, which can help keep your metabolism from slowing as you lose weight. Polyphenols can also assist with digestive issues, and, as with other antioxidants, help repair cells. You can reap the benefits of polyphenols by drinking just one cup of tea per day. You can easily add this to your daily routine; just brew one cup every morning as part of your morning ritual. Just like other small habit changes you can make to improve your health, like drinking more water, standing instead of sitting at work, or going to bed half an hour earlier in order to get more sleep, this is a small modification that can yield great benefits. Sometimes the best way to make positive changes for overall health is to make one or two small changes at a time, allowing those changes to become habits before taking on more.

Eating For Energy

Qi is the energy that runs through our bodies, and maintaining a healthy, balanced qi is essential for proper health. Habits that drain your energy can be detrimental to your weight loss efforts. Unhealthy habits like eating late at night, eating raw, cold foods, and skipping breakfast can stress your digestive organs and cause your qi to become unbalanced. Something as small as adding breakfast to your daily routine can help to restore balance to your body and increase your energy, making it easier for your body to lose weight.   

Joseph Gonzalez

Supplement Your Diet

In addition to eating the right foods for your organs and to aid in digestion and energy levels, there are many Chinese herbs that can help with weight loss. In Traditional Chinese Medicine, it is believed that excessive weight is caused by an accumulation of “dampness,” and therefore attempts to lose weight are made by relieving this dampness. Herbs that help to balance this condition and aid in weight loss include Bao He Wan, He Ye or lotus leaf, Fu Ling and Huang Qi. You can develop a supplement plan with a TCM specialist, and by adding your personalized combination to your diet, you can help restore your body’s balance.

 

Traditional Chinese Medicine can assist with weight loss, whether you subscribe to TCM principles completely and transform your lifestyle, or simply incorporate some of them into your existing routine. You can use TCM to aid you with a particular issue, or to achieve a generally healthier way of life. Traditional Chinese Medicine can be highly customized to create a specialized regimen for your body and your lifestyle and weight loss needs. The more research you can do on Chinese medicine and the different ways it can improve your body’s functionality, the more ideas you can integrate into your life.



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Applying Lessons from Chinese Medicine and Nutrition for Weight Loss

By Samantha Wiggins

Everyone wants to look good. But all too often, our pursuit of beauty comes at the expense of our health. It's important to remember that looking and feeling good isn’t just about the amount of food and exercise you get every day. It’s also about successfully nourishing every part of your being. That’s exactly what Traditional Chinese Medicine (TCM) is all about. In TCM, food is viewed as medicine — something you can use to nourish and harmonize your mind, body, and spirit.

To the Chinese, the overall well-being of the body is more important than how it looks. In fact, TCM practitioners use the food energetics system to teach patients how to heal their bodies through what they eat. It is not a one-size-fits-all approach, as each person has a particular body constitution that they must eat according to. For example, a person with a body constitution that is dry and warm would benefit from food that can bring moisture to the body. If you want to lose weight the healthy way, here are some lessons you can pick up from TCM:

Follow a Balanced Diet

You hear this advice even in Western medicine, but in TCM, the focus is the spleen and the stomach. It's important to not eat too much, but also not too little. Men's Health Magazine explains that when you gorge yourself with food regularly, your spleen and stomach fail to handle the load. This eventually leads to a whole host of problems — from poor digestion and slow metabolism to food stagnation and internal phlegm. Therefore, it's important to focus on consuming food that can boost your metabolism, promote bowel movement, and prevent fluid retention.


This delicious Photo by Katie Smith on Unsplash

Help Your Digestive System

Poor nutrition, coupled with a stressful and hectic lifestyle, is a recipe for weight gain. By getting digestive organs in good form, you would be able to digest food properly. This, in turn, allows you to harness the energy and nutrients that your body needs to prevent energy drain. In order to help your digestive system, eat food that corresponds to the organ that you want to nourish. For example, Traditional Chinese Medicine World Foundation notes that sour foods support the liver, so if you're craving sour food, that might just be your liver asking for an extra boost.

Boost Your Metabolism

Here on the Chinese Medicine Living site, we previously listed the 10 best foods you can eat to stimulate your metabolism. This includes food rich in omega-3 fatty acids, which you can find in salmon, herring, and tuna. This can help balance your blood sugar, reduce inflammation, and regulate your metabolism. Green leafy vegetables, garlic, onion, nuts, seeds, green tea, and grapefruit are other examples. If your metabolism is slow, your meals are broken down less efficiently, leading to weight gain. Drinking plenty of water is also important.

If you ever want to try losing weight with the help of modern methods like diet pills, choose the kind that mimic what TCM does — helping the digestive organs work better and ridding it of waste. Many dietary supplements are designed to help cleanse your digestive system. This works to remove toxins and promote faster metabolism. And when your body effectively rids itself of toxic materials, you can achieve a balance that can lead to long-lasting weight loss.

All in all, rebalancing your life and managing your weight shouldn’t be difficult when you follow the techniques of TCM. All it takes is a little discipline and awareness about what your body needs. 

 

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Qi Gong for Weight Loss - One

By John Voigt

Before commencing this or any other weight loss program consult with your appropriate healthcare providers. If any procedures in this article cause any mental or physical discomfort stop doing them and see a professional healer. If you have had or have any mental illness do not do the following visualizations.

THE CREATION OF THE SLENDER YOU

The Chinese alchemist begins from the point of energetics and used guided visualization and physical techniques to effectuate the fusion of the energies. The fused energies are then purified, transformed and projected to create an energy body or energy double.” George A. Katchmer. The Tao of Bioenergetics, pg. 92. YMAA, 1996.

The body is activated by the interplay of two psychic structures: first, hun, which because it belongs to the yang principle, I have translated as animus - p'o which belongs to the yin principle, as anima. Carl Gustav Jung. Secret of the Golden Flower, pg. 14.

Qi Gong for Weight Loss : John Voigt

Michelangelo’s David. Florence, Galleria dell'Accademia.

Yang is archetypal Masculine energy—as in father, sun, fire, phallic, aggressive, logical, left brain. Yin is archetypal Feminine energy—as in mother, moon, water, womb, receptive, intuitive, right brain. They are not separate entities: all yang contains yin, all yin contains yang. Every man has a hidden female alter-ego that Jung named “Anima.” Every woman has a hidden male alter-ego Jung called “Animus.”

Qi Gong for Weight Loss : John Voigt

Daphnis and Chloe (1827), Jean-Pierre Cortot. Louvre.
In a second century C.E. Greek story, as infants they are found by shepherds, and grow up secretly in love with each other. After adventures they are happily married. In the sculpture their bodies seem to represent an anima/animus perfection.

The interaction of yang and yin (as in father and mother) gives birth to the child. By imagining the anima or animus within you, then externalizing, and returning them into you, it becomes possible over to give birth to a new slender you.

Personal Transmutation: Projection and Assimilation for Physical Realization of the Imaged Slender Self

Go into your standard meditative posture. See (imagine) sitting facing you, a healthy slender, full of youthful energy, beautiful/handsome you. A truly perfect you: all you would ever want and wish to be--BUT OF THE OPPOSITE SEX. Feel their presence by fully imagining them with all your senses. Then though practicing visual imagining,  run life energy (qi, prana, or whatever you call such things) up their back and down their front. This is called the Microcosmic Orbit. As an advanced option in time you may add the bio-life cosmic energy coming into the fingers and toes up through the limbs and jointing with the flowing inner-river of qi. This is called the Macrocosmic Orbit. Imagine/see/perceive your vision of radiating qi from their entire body. Picture their energy pathways aglow. Then have this image move toward you and mentally hold and turn them so their back is to you and bring them, squeeze them, into your body. As they enter you their sex automatically transforms into your sex. [If you are gay then adapt this so it fits your personal sexual proclivities.] They were in so many ways the true you anyway—perhaps even possibly your hidden subliminal dream lover. All the glowing radiating energy pathways in their body have now become yours.

After you have drawn in your projected perfect-self, do another short imagined running of  life energy orbiting up your back and down your front, then if you are up for it into the tips of the fingers and toes to add more qi into this bio-electric streaming inside you. As always, finish by finally cycling the qi-energy into your navel into the dantian, the living energy storage cauldron in the center of your lower abdomen. This is an absolute necessary step: such inner and outer cosmic power must be stored in the dantian.

It is necessary to daily repeat this visualization/transformation. It is like gaining skills on a musical instrument, but now the instrument is your mind and body, as well as your mental habits of eating, and your body habits of movement and exercise. To gain qigong skills it is necessary to practice the exercises. Any qigong, especially such advanced Daoist exercises,  is always best done under the thoughtful observations of a master teacher. So when doing this qigong, as with any advanced spiritual health practices, if anything does not feel right, or gets too weird or spacey: STOP IMMEDIATELY!

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Qi Gong for weight Loss : John Voigt

Nüwa and Fuxi.
According to legend the earth was swept by a great flood (circa 3000 BCE). Only Fuxi and his sister Nüwa survived.  Like Adam and Eve, they began procreating the human race. That they seem to be hermaphroditic—therefore a manifestation of joined yin yang—and that the intertwined serpents or dragons appear to relate to primordial creative energy—what the Hindus called “Kundalini,” and the Chinese called “Jing Qi” —is pertinent to this article.

The slender anima (female soul in the male) or animus (male soul in the female) now exists inside you buried under your excess weight. Like a butterfly crawling out of a chrysalis spun by its former caterpillar self, she/he will—if allowed to—grant you the power to almost automatically do and not do the things necessary to become slender in time: he or she eats properly and is not a lazy couch potato but  moves; that is why they are slender. And that is why you (if you allow it) will do the same as they do: thereby becoming slender and more healthy.

Personal Comments by the Author: My anima alter-ego does things I like to describe with words my parents used:  Such a finicky eater.” “Just picks at  their food.” “Eats like a bird.” “Never finishes what’s on their plate.” And “Always running around. Never gives it a rest.”

So every time I am around food—shopping, at a restaurant, opening my refrigerator’s door, cooking, or eating—I feel her presence in me automatically guiding me to do the right thing.

She loves to do body movement qigong and exercise—and therefore so do I.  And we both love to walk—I try to do that at least a half hour a day.

She seems immune to hunger and being physically tired, no wonder I am glad I have found her and that she is me.

Present day media improperly—and potentially dangerously—offers too thin models or actors, or professional athletes as goal models. Trying to have the body of a model, movie star, or athlete is counter productive for most of us. Nevertheless, the healthiest, longest living, most energetic, most beautiful people are usually not overweight or obese. Here Daphnis and Chloe,  and David are offered as artistic examples of a perfect weight; something to strive for in theory and practice.

Achieving and maintaining the proper weight for wellbeing is a very honorable goal. Over time, through qigong visualizations, exercises, and Traditional Chinese Health dietary practices it may be accomplished. These themes will be expanded upon in my upcoming articles in  HYPERLINK "http://www.chinesemedicineliving.com/" http://www.chinesemedicineliving.com/.

John Voigt may be contacted at john.voigt@comcast.net

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Books to Learn More:

Mantak Chia . Awaken Healing Energy Through Tao. Aurora.

Lu K'uan Yü. Taoist Yoga. Weiser.

Wikipedia websites were consulted for the following subjects or images:  Body Mass Index. Daphnis and Chloe. Fuxi. Carl Jung. Michelangelo’s David.  Microcosmic orbit. Taoist alchemy.

As a possible aid in imagining how a resonating anima/animus might appear look at the art of Alex Grey. I suggest “Adi Da Samraj,” “Alex,” “Holy Fire,” “Namaste,” and “Psychic Energy System.”  All are on Alex Gray's website at www.alexgrey.com.

 

The lovely featured image by Core Spirit


Asian Black Rice Salad Recipe

Ingredients

1/2 cup black rice

1 carrot shredded

1/3 green bell pepper

1/2 half pint grape tomatoes

1/4 cup dried cranberries, chopped

1/4 cup slivered almonds

Sauce

1 tsp grated ginger

1 tbsp soy sauce

2 tbsp honey

1 tbsp light sesame oil

1/2 tsp black pepper

Boil black rice in 2 cups of water until softened, adding additional water as necessary. Remove from heat and let it completely cool off.

Add the sauce and all other ingredients to a bowl and marinate for 15 min or longer. Add cooled rice to mixture, toss and serve.

This recipe from BlackRice.com

Black Rice Nutritional Information

Black rice is considered very high in nutrients, minerals and has many anti-aging effects. Because of its dark colour it is extremely high in antioxidants (a good rule of thumb is the darker and richer in colour a food is, the higher in nutrients, minerals and antioxidants). Black rice is a whole grain rice with its bran layer intact. Black rice is sometimes referred to as Forbidden Rice, or Emperor's Rice since in ancient China it was served only to the Emperor to aid in his longevity and because of its many healing properties.

Black rice is considered yin or cooling. It has the actions of invigorating the liver, benefits the eyes and moves the blood. It treats anemia, dizziness, blurred vision, and signs of aging like greying hair, sore lower back and knees and hearing loss.

Black rice has higher dietary fiber and has a low glycemic index (55 - white rice is 87) and does not cause dramatic fluctuations in blood sugar levels. It is high in potassium, magnesium and helps to control blood pressure and reduce the risk of cardiovascular disease. Therefore, including black rice in your diet is an excellent for prevention, but added to the diet can help to reverse these conditions.


Acupuncture for Weight Loss

By Emma Suttie, D.Ac, AP

There are so many diets out there and it seems like every doctor, nutritionist and medical professional has a different approach on how to help you lose weight. This can be overwhelming and confusing to the average person trying to find information about how to eat better, exercise and lose excess pounds. I am here to tell you about the Chinese medicine approach.
Nutrition and dietary therapy are a very important aspect of Chinese medicine. The difference with Traditional Chinese Medicine is that it has 4000 years of history to back it up and it belongs to a culture that generally, do not have problems with their weight. China, and indeed much of Asia are cultures of slim people. So, they must be doing something right. The key is that, as a culture, they have a different approach to food and nutrition.
In North America we live in a culture with an excess of food and most importantly, an excess of unnatural foods full of additives and preservatives. Never in human history have we had such an array of chemicals, additives and pesticides in the food we eat. Things like MSG and aspartame – which are both extremely toxic and major causes of disease, are ubiquitous.One of the most important things we can do, and a concept that is integral to Chinese medicine, is to eat REAL FOOD. This may seem ridiculously simple, but it is not that easy to do. It is becoming increasingly confusing for the consumer to know exactly what is in the food we buy and how much it has been modified. Laws about labelling vary from country to country so it is difficult to know what exactly is in the food we are eating.The Chinese have a holistic view of the body, and a very different approach to diet and nutrition than we do in the West. It may seem strange at first, but it has been practiced for thousands of years. They believe that it is not only WHAT you eat, but HOW you eat. Here are some examples:
  1. Being MINDFUL when you eat, that is not dispersing energies by watching tv, working or studying
  2. Sitting while you eat without crossing your legs, as this crosses energy that should flow freely and unhindered
  3. Chewing your food very well
  4. Eat organically and locally
  5. Eat with the seasons
  6. Wearing loose fitting clothing so Qi can flow and not become obstructed

 

preparing food

The Chinese believe that one should eat foods that are locally grown, that is to say foods that are indigenous to where you live. This was certainly easier to do in a time before air travel. We have been spoiled by a variety of foods from all over the world that are available to us at any time of the year. And although many people love to be able to eat things like strawberries all year long, it is not considered healthy according to the TCM model, as this was not the way our digestive systems were designed. Weight has not been a problem in China until the last couple of generations because of the introduction of North American food into the diet. It is not necessarily the variety of foods that have caused this change, but the fact that the foods that many of us eat in the West are overly processed and full of unnatural preservatives that are difficult to metabolize. Foods full of refined sugar, wheat, oils and salt are some of the most unhealthy and a large cause of unnecessary weight gain.

One of the main strengths of Chinese medicine is that it is so individualistic. Because it is a holistic system, each part of the body affecting and influencing the others, there is a real emphasis on individual diagnosis. For example, lets take a headache. In Western medicine if you were to complain of headaches your MD might suggest taking something like Advil or Tylenol, and would probably give pretty much the same advice to most people who came in with that complaint. In Chinese medicine there are over 100 different types of headaches and each one is treated completely differently. It is this way with all diagnostics in TCM. There are many different types of obesity and people struggle with their weight for many different reasons. The reasons can range from physical, psychological, emotional to spiritual. This is why the Chinese medicine approach works so well. Each person is diagnosed as an individual according to their specific issues and treatment is designed specifically for them. When people ask me what I “DO” for people to help them lose weight, I have to say that it is a completely different approach for every person I treat. The reasons for gaining and keeping weight on are individual, so then, must be the treatment.

scale

In my experience, I would say that the most important thing you need if you would like to lose weight is the DESIRE. I cannot tell you how many patients have come into my office and asked me to work my magic and make the pounds disappear. And, flattering as this is, it is simply not possible. What I tell them is that they must WANT to lose the weight. And if they do I will gladly work with them using acupuncture, herbs and nutritional therapy, as well as any other TCM modalities that might help in their particular case, to get the weight off. It is a joint effort and the acupuncturist is there to help and support you through the process. With the desire of the patient, and the skills of the practitioner, acupuncture really works to help you lose weight and get back to health.