Chinese Medicine and Weight
Loss
The purpose of this article is to put in perspective the possibilities
that exist within the art and science of Chinese medicine to help each
person reach and maintain their ideal weight.
First of all, the differences in paradigms and "common sense" must be
examined, so that the reader may approach the issue based on sound and
logical information, and not magazine or gossip inspired myths. The
typical jargon is that the less you eat, the less you weigh, and the
more you eat, the more you weigh. And while this may make some sense in
the high school physics sense of the phrase, the complexities of human
physiology cannot be summed up by this reduction. There are numerous
reactions of both the nervous and endocrine systems that are triggered
by both the ingestion, and denial of food to a system that is asking
for it by way of the hunger mechanism. If more than is needed is
ingested, the body will hold onto this for further use. If these
resources are used through mechanisms such as moderate exercise, then
there will not be a net gain. This is plainly seen, and irrefutable.
BUT, in response to adaptive mechanisms designed to ensure our
survival, the denial of food in response to hunger will trigger the
body to hold onto the present resources with the assumption that more
food is not on the way. Falls in blood sugar further reinforce this
conclusion of the body, and with this assumption further in place,
whatever resources do come into the body after this mini fast will be
firmly held onto in preparation for the next fast.
This is commonly viewed in terms of the body’s metabolism,
and is the basis for severe altering of this metabolism resulting from
yo-yo dieting and essentially starving and eventually gorging ourselves.
This all results in the maintaining or increase of weight, despite the
denial of food. In Chinese medical theory, the digestion is likened to
a cauldron on a stove, the fire being the digestive processes, and the
pot being the stomach and the food ingested. Imagine the pot with pipes
linked to the rest of the body, avenues for the digested food to be
distributed (intestines, and eventually blood vessels). Like the
typical paradigm, if too much is put in the pot, it will essentially
overflow into the pipes, and the result will be the increase in mass in
the body. And like the correction to the typical paradigm above, if the
pot is not filled with food, or the food intake is irregular, the food
that is eventually eaten will not be properly digested and will flow
into the pipes where the cooked food should be, also resulting in an
increase in mass. In both cases, weight gain comes from both the
overindulgence of food, and the irregular intake of food.
This is because ideally, the digestion, will "cook" the food, and the
resulting mush will be sent to the rest of the body for use. If too
much is put in, the digestion becomes overwhelmed and backed up. If not
enough is put in, the digestion can be damaged, because there is not
enough energy to keep the fire going, and then what is put in will be
inappropriately used/conserved. If stress disrupts the normal
digestion, the food, even if ingested in normal/moderate amounts, will
be undercooked and will build up in the body. If the body or the mind
is overworked or fatigued, the digestion will also be impaired. The
bottom line is that if the digestion is impaired, the possibility of
gaining weight will always exist, and the four main reasons that the
digestion becomes impaired are overeating, under-eating, stress, and
fatigue.
"What about exercise?", you may ask. Most people’s assumption
is that someone may gain weight because they do not burn enough
calories through exercise. While this true to a degree, the possibility
also exists that a person may gain weight by over-exercising, thereby
fatiguing the body and damaging the digestion. Exercise, if done in an
appropriate amount, will reduce or relieve stress, also making the
digestion function more efficiently.
"What should I eat?", is a common question as well, and based on the
information established above, the best food to eat is food that is
easily digested, so as not to disrupt the cooking process. The easier
it is to be made into mush by the digestion, the easier it is to be
utilized by the body, and the less likely it is to be unnecessarily
held onto by the body. While the common perception is that salads are a
great way to decrease calorie intake, the reality is that raw and/or
cold foods require more cooking by the digestion, and therefore are
more likely to be undercooked and held onto in the long run, they
require more fire, and as a result decrease the strength of the fire,
or digestive fire, overall. If these difficult to cook foods are
combined with other factors that decrease digestive fire such as stress
or fatigue, the consequence is increased. Many of us can think about
friends or colleagues who eat nothing but salad, overwork and
overstress themselves, and continue to gain weight. The simple solution
to this problem is to eat foods that are cooked and easily digested,
such as soups, stews, and stir frys, and avoid foods that are the
terrible 3: cold, raw, and difficult to digest. A common
example of the terrible 3 is ice cream. In this way of thinking, what
we eat is just as important as how much we eat. Even small amounts of
difficult to digest foods are as damaging as large amounts of easy to
digest foods.
"I feel hungry, but I don’t want to eat or I’ll
gain weight." Again, while this is true to a degree, the conditions
under which a person becomes hungry can change from day to day, and
many people have trained themselves to become hungry under stress,
because they use food as a stress reliever. This presents a double
whammy, as people are eating when their body does not need sustenance,
and the food they are eating is typically not easily digestible. On top
of that, the presence of stress will compromise the digestion. But,
denying the body food can also have negative consequences as discussed
earlier. So the ideal result is to moderate the hunger mechanism, by
moderating stress and balancing the emotions, both of which are easily
accomplished by acupuncture and Chinese medicine.
Acupuncture and Chinese Medicine can moderate both the causes of weight
gain (stress, emotions, fatigue), and the resulting damage to the
digestion and increase in body mass. By directly affecting the nervous
system and brain, the effect of stress and emotions on the body can be
regulated, and the efficiency of the internal digestive organs can be
increased. Unfortunately, the only one who can prevent stress and
emotional imbalance is you and your lifestyle and environmental
choices, but these choices can be easier to make with long term
treatment, and, if necessary, adjunctive counseling.
Acupuncture and Chinese Medicine is not a magic bullet. There is no
magic needle that will melt the pounds off. But by discussing your
individual circumstances and planning an appropriate treatment
strategy, your weight management goals can be easily achieved. The
important thing to remember here, is that healthy weight loss is
achieved through maintaining healthy lifestyle choices, and reaping the
benefits of those choices. It’s a little like watching
children grow up, they do so gradually, and then one day, boom, they
are adults. So too will be your healthy weight management quest, and as
always, the value lies in the journey, not the destination.
© 2009 by Michael Padilla, L.Ac.