Control Your Weight with Traditional Oriental Medicine

At Kwan Acupuncture & Herbs, our weigh loss plan is more than just acupuncture and herbal supplements. We work with our weight loss patients to educate them about a healthy diet and how to lose weight.

Every day we see and hear from TV shows, news, newspapers, and magazines new resolutions to lose weight. It is impossible to gather all the informations and products about weight loss into one place. Likewise, it is impossible for anyone to try all of them until they find their solution.

During my practice, I have been fascinated by the very different perceptions patients have about how to lose weight, the journeys they have been on over the years, and how to eat a well-balanced diet. The most important thing in weight loss is to understand one’s lifestyle. A weight loss program needs to be designed for an individual – there is no one size fits all. An effective plan takes into consideration gender, age, occupation, eating habits, and personality. 

Some patients ask why it matters to know personality and individual lifestyles in order to lose weight. The answer is that everyone’s body processes food and emotion differently even though we share the same anatomy and physiology. Acupuncture and Chinese herbs are complementary therapies. An overweight person must be willing to make a deep, long-term commitment to controlling their weight. Any therapy for weight control must be combined with a proper diet and exercise.

Acupuncture for weight loss works on different levels. Acupuncture can stimulate the body's production of serotonin and endorphins, which relaxes the person so they can avoid stress eating. Many of us eat for emotional reasons. When you feel sad or depressed, you might eat in an attempt to make yourself feel good.

Acupuncture has also been shown to improve the muscle tone of the gut to decrease hunger. Furthermore, acupuncture affects the hypothalamus, which plays a large role in hunger feelings. Some people are anxiety eaters. Eastern medicine is particularly helpful in these cases because of its centering, calming, and balancing function. Once stress is relieved, the desire to eat for comfort is lessened.

Ear acupuncture (also known as auricular acupuncture), is very effective for weight control. Acupuncture stimulates the auricular branch of the vagal nerve and raises serotonin levels. Both of these actions increase the smooth muscle tone of the stomach, thereby suppressing appetite