...This is one very common question I encounter in my practice of Chinese Medicine. The simple answer is “yes”, although the how is the slightly more complicated part.
I will try to unfold some of the theory behind the treatment of fat and weight loss according to Chinese Medicine.
Just as in the west, the use of Chinese medicine and acupuncture can be used in the “fad” weight loss sense too. When I was in Hangzhou Chinese Medicine Hospital I saw plenty of weight loss treatments in the acupuncture clinic. These ranged from using lots of acupuncture where the fatty areas are to stimulate the body to break up and metabolize the fat, to stimulating with electro-acupuncture, ear acupuncture, herbs and weight-loss massage through to purging type herbal treatments and more bizarre treatments.
Weight gain from western lifestyle is becoming increasingly problematic in China now too as the influence of the West penetrates in to both food and lifestyle. Before dissecting the follies of the western lifestyle, let us first get a picture of the body’s digestive function according to Chinese medicine.
Fat is considered a yin substance. It is dense, heavy and generally pathogenic yin - that is an accumulation of damp or phlegm.
Accumulations of damp occurs from consuming too much dampening foods - rich, greasy, heavy, dairy along with a weak digestive energy.
Digestion in Chinese medicine takes place when food, received by the Stomach, is transformed by the Spleen’s energy. This process is likened to the Stomach being the cooking pot on the stove and the Spleen being the fire below the pot.
When the “fire” - the Spleen energy is weakened (from long term poor diet) or the food consumed is overwhelmingly greasy, rich, fatty and/or heavy, the spleen gets weak and becomes overwhelmed with a pathogenic substance called dampness. Damp is heavy, dense and yin. Fat is often referred to in TCM, as an accumulation of dampness in the body. This story explains the “bad diet” overweight person, but what about weight gain with age?
In Chinese medicine, the Kidneys are a source of energy for digestion in the body too. This energy is like a storage reservoir, and it declines with age.
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At age 35, the Kidney energy begins to decline.
At age 49 for females and 56 for males, the Kidney fire decline affects the Spleen energy and digestive function. It is not uncommon for people to put on weight in their 40's, with no diet or lifestyle change and not be able to shed those kilos.
The treatment for weight loss in this situation centers around strengthening the digestive fire through boosting up the Kidney energy.
For all overweight people, the focus should be on eliminating dampening foods, using pungent flavors which stimulate the movement and breaking up of stagnation.
Your Chinese medicine practitioner will be able to give you specific diet advice along with an individual prescription of herbs and/or acupuncture to suit your personal diagnosis, however there are some foods which are beneficial to everyone trying to loose weight.
1) Barley - get it in the soup section of your local supermarket or Chinese food shops (called “pearl barley”). You can cook it into a porridge, put into soups or stews or simply eat it as you would rice with a meal. Barley drains dampness so it’s great for overweight and puffy types of people.
2) Adzuki beans - work similar to barley. You need to soak them overnight before cooking. Add to soups etc as well or use like you would a kidney bean. You can even make them into a chilli con-carne type of meal or nacho sauce.
3) Mung beans - add to soup for a richer and filling vege soup. Mung beans drain damp and are great to eat when the weather is humid.4) Fresh herbs like Coriander, Basil & Mint. These herbs can break up the complex dense-ness of meats and heavy carbs if you find yourself eating these foods, try adding pungent fresh herbs to assist in their digestion. Great additions to wraps and salads.
5) Eat lots of cooked. Cooked foods take up less energy. If you are eating salads and raw foods make sure you include a soup (miso soup is a good one) in the meal to assist the digestive fire.
Finally, Here is a free tip for this autum season from the yellow emperor's classic text. Try to avoid the wind in Autumn and you will avoid getting sick.
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