PRESS RELEASE: Can acupuncture help you lose weight?
December 2019: Have you ever heard the saying that the simplest approach is usually the best one? That’s a great place to start if you’re looking to lose weight. No fad diets, fasting, or freaking out over how many carbs are in that bowl of pasta… A basic kilojoules-in vs. kilojoules-out approach is the gold standard, whether you want to drop a few kilos health reasons or just hope to tone up in time for those beach days over summer.
But there are ways acupuncture and other Chinese medicine treatments can help support weight management.
“We do what we can to stimulate the digestion and the metabolism,” says Waveny Holland, president of the Australian Acupuncture and Chinese Medicine Association (AACMA), who adds that the advice and treatments patients receive in the clinic can help them achieve a better result.
But, she adds, it’s crucial to note that there’s no magical fast fix for weight loss.
Long-term health requires a sustainable, holistic approach.
“Acupuncture and Chinese medicine can help with the weight loss, yes, but it’s important to keep in mind we’re treating the whole body,” Waveny explains. “It’s not just about how a person looks; we’re potentially taking care of many of the lifestyle diseases that occur due to being overweight, such as Type 2 diabetes and heart disease.”
Melbourne-based acupuncturist, coach and herbalist Ilana Sowter has worked with several patients on their weight-loss journeys, and has seen how effective traditional practices can be when coupled with a healthy, balanced lifestyle.
“A lot of people will try fad diets, which just aren’t sustainable,” she explains. “A traditional Chinese medicine approach is more holistic – when I support my patients for weight management, I’m encouraging them to create new habits but at a pace that suits them so that they’re lasting, rather than a quick extreme weight-loss that sees them returning back to their old habits.”
So how can acupuncture and Chinese medicine help with weight loss?
For many, there is a psychological component to overeating – one of the things acupuncture can help address.
“In the clinic, I’ve found that acupuncture works very well,” explains Ilana, “particularly in reducing appetite and relaxing the patient, so they’re less likely to emotional eat”– which is a key factor in many people’s tendency to indulge.
Ear acupuncture has also been shown to have great success.
“There’s a point in the ear that’s known as the addiction point and it’s been used for centuries to help with curbing any kind of addictions including eating for comfort, or binge eating,” she tells. “I’ve used it for the cessation of smoking, heroin addicts… and eating can be an addiction as well. So when you get any kind of craving you massage that point and, in my own experiences with patients, it can work to ease cravings.”
Ilana adds: “Its effectiveness in treating overeating perhaps speaks to the psychological process involved in weight gain.”
Fellow acupuncturist and Chinese medicine practitioner Eliza Chan also has patients stimulate certain auricular points at home, “to help them feel relaxed and reduce any excessive hunger”.
But the possible benefits don’t stop there: Acupuncture has the potential to help with not only some of the psychological aspects associated with overeating, but also the health issues related to being overweight. In China, Waveny explains, “a lot of lifestyle diseases that are a consequence of weight gain and poor eating habits have been shown to benefit from qi-balancing acupuncture treatments”.
Are there herbs that will assist weight management?
Traditional herbal formulas can also be suggested to help support patients’ weight loss outside the clinical setting, but as Ilana explains, it’s never a one-size-fits-all treatment.
“In Chinese medicine, you have to treat the person’s individual constitution, so you work out what that is and you modify the formula for the weight loss. It’s always going to be holistic, and it’s always going to be individual.
“For example, I have some women who will gain weight before their period and they want to eat a lot, and they have liver qi stagnation, so I’ll give them the formula Xiao Yao San . It’s really good for women; it gives them more energy and makes them more relaxed, so when they take that, they’re less likely to crave, they have a better PMS and they’re less likely to overeat in that time.”
The role of food
It’s important to remember that acupuncture and Chinese medicine should support a healthy diet – not replace it. “You always get the best results with patients who are having the treatment and taking herbs but also following lifestyle and dietary and exercise advice,” says Ilana.
But, as Eliza explains, being guided by TCM principles for food preparation can boost weight-loss results, too. “The purpose of food is to nourish the body and maintain our health and vitality, but people sometimes overlook the types of food and the preparation methods,” she tells.
“Generally, our body prefers foods that are warmer than our body temperature – anything cooler than our body temperature requires more energy for our spleen to digest, so if we eat too much raw or cold food, our spleen cannot extract the nutrients we need.”
A simple solution for this? Instead of adhering strictly to the raw salads so often favoured by those trying to lose weight, try including warm vegetable salads into your diet, giving the vegies a light stir-fry to help unlock nutrients and get the most from your food. This can help prevent a weight-loss plateau that can occur as your body struggles to draw the important nutrients from what you eat.
The bottom line
Ultimately, the key to losing a few kilos – and, more importantly, boosting your body’s overall health – is to focus on leading a balanced lifestyle, eating enough calories a day to maintain healthy body function, and incorporating acupuncture and Chinese medicine to support and supplement this sustainable approach.
“Each one of us is an individual and all of our metabolic needs and rates and so on are very individual,” says Waveny – meaning everyone’s journey will be a little different.
“But that’s also the beauty of an acupuncture treatment – it isn’t one size fits all, we individualise each treatment for the patient’s personal health requirements.
How to easily find a registered Acupuncturist:
To find an accredited, knowledgeable and skilled acupuncturist or Chinese medicine practitioner to help you spring into spring and maintain your health all year round, AACMA recommends searching their AACMA national practitioner database.
AACMA has been representing Chinese medicine professionals for the past 45 years and is considered Australia’s most trusted source for qualified practitioners in the field. With more than 2,200 registered practitioners listed, all of whom have a minimum four-year degree in Chinese medicine and are registered with the Chinese Medicine Board of Australia, “you are guaranteed to know you are sourcing the best possible professional who can offer the highest quality treatment and care”, says Waveny.
The AACMA ‘Find a Practitioner” online database is free to use and open to the public: https://members.acupuncture.org.au/practitionersearch
Media Contact: Amanda Kuhn – [email protected] / 0410 570 993
The AACMA Media Kit is accessible by clicking this link: https://www.dropbox.com/sh/ufh3gtd758scu8w/AABogMahImmV-5pvNyotGHbSa?dl=0
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Who is the Australian Acupuncture & Chinese Medicine Association Ltd (AACMA)?
AACMA was established in 1973 when traditional Chinese medicine (TCM) was relatively unknown by the western population of Australia. Today, the association represents the majority of qualified acupuncture and TCM practitioners in Australia. We encourage and enable our members to grow as TCM practitioners through professional development opportunities, research and collaboration.
Disclaimer: Before undertaking any course of treatment AACMA recommends seeking advice from your CM Practitioner or other health care providers.
