Strategies for losing weight for patients undergoing Chinese medicine and acupuncture:

video of the exercises below

Obesity: If your BMI is less than 18.5, it falls within the underweight range. If your BMI is 18.5 to <25, it falls within the normal. If your BMI is 25.0 to <30, it falls within the overweight range. If your BMI is 30.0 or higher, it falls within the obese range.

Risk: 40 years or older, menopause, neurologic disorders.

Secondary: disorders of Endocrine glands: Pituitary gland, Thyroid gland, Reproductive system, Adrenal glands, or Pancreas.

Symptom (SX): aversion to heat, profuse sweating, palpitations, abdominal distention, fatigue, hypoxia, leading to hypertension, somnolence, Coronary Artery disease (CAD), Diabetes, Gall stones, gout.

Women: amenorrhea, infertility.

Everyone: Weight will be to much on ankles, knees, hips, lower back, including possible joint degeneration or arthritis (wear and tear).

Chinese Medicine patterns: Phlegm, Spleen qi deficiency, Dampness, Damp-heat, Empty heat Stomach and Large Intestines, Qi and Yang Deficiency.

Spleen: Weakness of the spleen and it’s inability to manage damp and leads to the formation of phlegm. This can lead to liver stagnation and mental depression.

Treatment (TX): Tonify Kidney , Spleen Yang, Clear damp, Eliminate phlegm, Reinforce Yang and Qi.

Obesity is multilayered and needs a multi pronged approach to balance. Will need: diet changes, Nutrition changes, Lifestyle changes, Increase in activity, Psychotherapeutic measures.

Nutritional Therapy:

•Keep a journal of what you are eating, notice what foods makes you fatigued, tired, excited, sweaty, thirsty, moods, or make you feel cold or hot after eating. Our diet recommendations here. Watch what you eat between meals of breakfast, lunch and dinner. Are they healthy snacks? Try: Breakfast 7-11 am, Lunch 12-2pm, Dinner 5-8pm.

Meals 3x a day:

•Breakfast: try warming foods like rice congee, millet gruel, steel cut oats, amaranth muesli.

•Avoid fruit juices and excess dairy products.

•Other items to try: Hard boiled egg, light toast and jam, bagel, or steam bun.

•Lunch: have a good sized lunch.

•Dinner: light dinner.

AVOID:

•Too much Dairy. Try small amount of yogurt, cheese (room temp, not melted), or 1 cup of milk.

•Excessive amounts of meat which causes food stagnation. 15% in diet is recommended.

•Sweets, irregular food consumption, skipping meals.

•Do not make dinner main meal of the day. Do not eat late at night.

Obesity: teach them diet strategy

•Smaller portions. Eat less, move more.

•Walking 10,000 steps daily.

•Low Fat and Low sugar diet.

•Breakfast like a king, lunch like a prince, dinner like a pauper.

•Balance of proteins, vegetables, and fruits that are organic and grown locally or from your temperate region.

Psychotherapeutic: train to calm the mind, which changes the stomach’s need to eat something every time you are excited, worried, sad, glad, or mad. Try pranayama or 6 syllable formula to calm the mind and emotions.

Prognosis: If you commit to changes and your health, you can lose up to 15 kg (33 lbs.) in 3-6 months.

Diet: Avoid Cold and Hot/Fire foods.

Obesity Pattern: Accumulation Turbid phlegm

•Sx: Obesity in Abdomen, heavy sensations in limbs, fullness in chest, fullness in chest, dizziness, fatigue, lassitude, sleepiness, overindulgence in greasy, sweet, and alcohol. Tongue white and greasy coat, Pulse: slippery.

•Prescription: weight loss qigong or Yijinjing as primary. •Secondary: Standing stake or Abdominal Kneading massage 100x both directions.

Obesity pattern: Spleen and Kidney Qi deficiency

SX: Obesity, weak and soft muscles, puff complexion, lassitude, sleepiness, abdominal distention, loose stools, spontaneous sweating, Shortness of breath, Tongue: pale and swollen, Pulse: deep and thin.

Prescription: Weight losing qigong or Yijinjing. •Secondary: •Figure 8 creating exercise “Hai Ai”, (holding the breath). •Losing lumbar weight exercise: waist and dai mai channel circles, •Losing buttock weight exercise: hip and buttock circles. •Losing leg weight exercise: toe raises.

Obesity Pattern: Spleen qi and Spleen Yang Deficiency.

•SX: Obesity with slack fat tissue, few muscles, patient eats little, easily tired and exhausted, little thrist, do desire to drink, sloppy stools. •Tongue: pale, swollen, with teeth mark •Pulse: faint and weak.

•Tx: SP3, Sp2, BL20, BL21, St36, Ren12

•Avoid: ice cold drinks, raw fruits, raw vegetables, dairy, tofu, cold juices, tropical fruits.

•Try: steam salmon or tuna, beef bouillon or chicken broth, lamb, cherries, plums, apples, fennel, carrots, sweet potatoes, cabbage, rice, ginger, cardamom, honey, maple syrup, pinenuts, sesame.

Obesity Pattern: Retention of damp and phlegm

•SX: Hypertension, heaviness in the head, slowness, pressure in chest, dizziness, fatigue, excess weight. •Tongue: pale, thick white slippery fur •Pulse: slippery •

TX: ST40, Ren22, PC6,SP3,BL20, BL21, KD7,BL23.

•Avoid: dairy, bananas, fatty oily foods, junk food, sugary foods, raw foods, salads, fruit juices, frozen foods, microwave foods, alcohol.

•Try: cooling foods, flavors: bitter, salty, Other: pears, soy milk, warming foods, leeks, ginger, garlic, cardamom, white pepper.

Obesity pattern: Stomach Fire

•SX: Overweight but with musculature, fat belly, patient eats a lot with gusto, bad breath, dry stool, constipation, thirsty. •Tongue: red, thick yellow fur •Pulse: rapid, forceful

•Tx: ST44, ST45, ren12, PC6, Ren9, Ren10.

•Avoid: spicy , fatty, seasoned, hot spices, high-proof alcohol, coffee, red wine, smoking.

•Try: Cool foods, sour-cool, sweet-cool, bitter-cool, Tomatoes, kiwi, celery, water chestnut, mung bean, cabbage, seaweed, green tea, wheat, barley, yogurt, tofu.

Obesity: Liver qi stagnation

•Sx: Feeling fullness, belching, nausea, heartburn, bitter mouth taste, upper abdominal cramping. •Tongue: thin white fur or reddish sides. •Pulse: wiry, tense

•TX: Liv3, Li4, Pc6, Ren12, Liv14, St36

•Avoid: Spicy, hot foods, fatty foods, meat, high proof alcohol.

•Try: neutral and cool foods, steaming and boiling foods, plums, radish, celery, peppermint tea, ginger, garlic, coriander.

Obesity Pattern: Kidney Yang deficiency

•Sx: accumulation of fat in abdomen and buttocks, large soft thighs, patient eats normally, frequent urination, feeling cold, sloppy stool, weakness and pain in lower back and knees, impotence in men, and light or almost no period in women. •Tongue: pale •Pulse: Faint and deep.

•Tx: Kd7, Du4, Bl23, Ren4, Ren6, Moxa.

•Avoid: cool and cold foods, raw foods, cold fruit, sugar, alcohol.

•Try: warming foods, game meat, salmon, lobster, fennel, cabbage, leeks, root vegetables, millet, rice, oats, ginger, garlic, black pepper, cinnamon, chestnuts, sesame, walnuts, sunflower seeds.

Ear Acupuncture or Ear Seed:

•Shenmen •Stomach (anterior and posterior) •Hunger •Sympathetic •Anti-aggression and Hypothalmus (3).