What's the story with weight loss in Chinese Medicine?

“Can you treat people for weight loss?”
...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.

For more info ask your TCM practitioner, or to make an appointment with Marie Hopkinson contact us via www.metrohealth.com.au

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. 

Ever woken up with a stiff neck in summer?

A common problem seen around this time of the year is invasion of wind. Wind is considered an "External Pathogenic Factor" in Chinese medicine. Wind can be created by fans, air conditioners or just be a normal part of the environment. No matter it's source Wind can cause a number of problems when it invades the body.

Wind carries other pathogens into the body - heat, cold, dampness - these are common causes of joint pain, aches and arthritic conditions.

Wind causes things to contract and stiffen up...a common scenario in Perth at this time of year is the typical waking up with a stiff neck after a hot summers night...This happens because during the hot weather, it's common to be lying in bed under the fan or with the window open so the wind is directly blowing onto a persons uncovered skin. Of course it's hot so the person either lies in bed with little covering or because of the heat can be sweating. The pores are open and the wind can easily invade the body through the open pores.

When you wake up with a stiff neck, or a neck pain which is pulling your head to one side, in Chinese medicine the cause is Pathogenic wind invading the Bladder and/or Gall Bladder channels(these are the channels located on the neck).

The Solution?

The good news is that Chinese medicine is all about prevention...try to sleep with a thin sheet or t-shirt on so if the weather does cool down and wind starts to invade you have this level of protection. Try to face so it's not directly on your body and make sure air conditioning vents are not directly blowing onto you. If you do have stiffness, pain and particularity severe pain with restricted movement try to use a hot pack for about 10-20 mins and then try to free up the movement with slow normal movements.

A moxa stick applied to an acupuncture point

Chinese medicine practitioners can use acupuncture, cupping, moxibustion (or called Moxa) and herbs to expel wind from the channels and restore the normal function and stop pain.

Marie is available for treatments and can be contacted at the Metro Health clinic on 089371 8077 or email info@metrohealth.com.au.

Sitting Vs Standing...a TCM Perspective

The more patients I see with the TCM pattern of Qi Stagnation, the more I notice there is a link between sitting long term and symptoms of Liver Qi Stagnation. Sitting compresses the abdominal area, compared to a standing posture where blood flow can occur more freely, you will be getting a better blood supply (with that comes oxygen, nutrients etc) to your vital organs by standing.

Common symptoms of Liver Qi Stagnation are frequent sighing, feeling of a lump in the throat, pain around the ribs, feeling of heaviness in the chest, feeling much better energy from doing exercise although many people with this pattern leave it so long they no longer have the motivation to do the exercise. When the liver energy becomes stuck and not flowing smoothly, pain can more easily occur. Particularly in the upper part of the body - headaches, neck and shoulder pain or chest pain.

While not always, many jobs which require extended periods of sitting can be stressful. Many executives fall into this category. 

What makes the liver Qi become stuck? 
Simply, too much coming in and not enough going out...excessive stress, thinking, and/or food - combined with not enough exercise, no outlet for the stress or thinking to go (leading to internal worry) makes for ideal conditions of the Liver Qi Stagnation pattern. Jobs in which a person has a predominant sitting posture often go along with the above symptoms. Office jobs of executives, high pressure business owners, students who are writing alot, and many government /office jobs are of this nature.

If your in a predominantly sitting job how can you improve? I don't' think it's enough just to get up regularly or even frequently. I've seen plenty of patients who get up frequently, even using alarms to get up but this doesn't necessarily stop the qi stagnation which happens from the sitting posture. One solution can be to create a sit-stand workspace. While you can invest in an actual desk and chair which can raise up and down, there are other less expensive options you can do straight away. Ask yourself what tasks you can do standing that you currently do sitting with little effort to change? EG taking some phone calls while standing,  set up a standing bench in your office or multi use area. I got one from Ikea for one of our shops, whenever I go in our shop, I don't sit on the stool I just set up my ipad at the desk and stand there doing my work, checking emails etc.

I recently created a standing station in my office using two bookshelves. Doing your work at a bench rather than seated at a desk can give you a different perspective of things which can be another plus! You could try hold some of your  meetings at a standing bench rather than sitting at the desk. You can promote the benefits of standing in your workplace to encourage a culture of standing more and less sitting...you won't look so out of place if everyone is doing it!

The Point?
To create opportunity to stand in your job more. Whichever way you do it, standing is better than sitting. Simply standing you will burn more calories than sitting so you will be doing your body a favour too. There are many other treatments in Chinese medicine (acupuncture, herbs and diet advice) for Qi Stagnation - acupuncture is particularly effective, but long term lifestyle changes like the one shared today are necessary to ensure the root of the problem is treated. Episode 2 of Marie’s new podcast on YouTube is all about self help for Liver Energy Stagnation. 

Photo courtesy of FreeDigitalPhotos.net

NEW VIDEO BLOG via youtube. How Chinese Medicine sees a typical "healthy diet" - check it out and leave your comments welcome here!

NEW Vlog - The Chinese Medicine Podcast with Marie Hopkinson

Preventing Disease & Staying Healthy with Chinese Medicine

Prevention is one of the most important aspects of Chinese medicine. When practitioners assess their patient, they are looking for signs and symptoms of disease, and also signs that illness or health may be out of balance.

Key diagnostic areas to detect disease BEFORE it arises, are the tongue and pulse. In addition, by keeping a healthy diet and lifestyle, a greater state of health can be achieved. Chinese medicine takes into account seasonal factors, and diseases that can easily arise due to weather conditions.

A known flu-prevention treatment is Moxa on the acu-point St 36. It's name Zusanli, means “three leg mile”. This point was named when Chinese soldiers massaged the point, they found they could walk another 3 miles! In the weeks leading up to the change of season, this point can be acupunctured and warmed with Moxa (a herb which sits on the needle and warms the point). Although this is a different point, the photo opposite shows how such an acupuncture /moxibustion treatment might be done.

Chinese medicine theory observes two main causes of disease or poor-health in the body. Internal and External causes.

External Causes - known as the six pathogenic factors. Avoiding Wind, cold, damp and heat etc will help to avoid getting sick. How, you ask?

1) Wearing layers of clothing to ensure you are not too hot or cold especially when the weather changes.

2) Keep out of drafty areas/direct A/C or fans. ESPECIALLY at night! (Otherwise you may wake up with a stiff neck or sore lower back.

3) Protect the lower back/waist by making sure clothing fits around this area!

Internal causes of disease are considered by CM to be things such as emotions, inactivity, and poor lifestyle.

Emotions - over thinking (or worry) knots the spleens energy. The Spleen, in Chinese medicine, helps the Stomach to separate the pure and impure parts of food. The Spleen gets weakened by over-thinking, which can result in a low appetitte. The body can be further depleted because it can’t properly absorb nutrition from food.

Overeating is a common lifestyle factor in cause of diesaes. Not just leading to overweight or fat, but when we overeat we must exercise harder to burn the excess calories, thus making our bodies work unnecessarily harder. Two Chinese medicine quotes to consider are: "curing and nourishing come from the same source" and "when you eat, satisfy only seven-tenths of your hunger”.

Healing Heels

From acute injuries and sport or activity over strain, and chronic pain experienced on a daily basis, acupuncture is often sought for heel pain relief.

Heel pain can have many causes, one common one is known as Plantar Fascitis. It’s an inflammation of the band of tendon that runs from the ball to the heel of the foot (the Plantar Fascia). (see picture right)

Poor foot mechanics are often blamed for the cause of the problem. If the foot moves incorrectly, the plantar fascia is overstretched and can tear, becoming weak and inflamed. The pain is usually sharp, severe pain on the ball of the foot.

The good news is that acupuncturists treat this kind of pain all the time. We call it Qi (Chi) Stagnation or Blood Stagnation type pain. Stagnation pain is always more noticeable after lack of movement (i.e. Sleeping). Upon rising the pain is usually intense, then after walking around a little the pain gets less.

Once you get moving, the circulation increases and the pain eases. Acupuncture works to increase the circulation of blood and energy, activating your bodies own healing response to come to the local area. Pain can be eased by the release of your bodies natural pain-killers - endorphins which are often released by acupuncture.

What about the cause of the problem? Inflammation can be treated with acupuncture, simply by “speeding up” the bodies own healing response. By relaxing the local muscles, reliving swelling and getting more blood and energy flow to the injured site, acupuncture can reduce the inflammation and encourage the speedy repair of the plantar fascia.

Not all heel pain is due to Plantar Fascitis. Some heel pain can be from too many ankle injuries and poor local area circulation, or an "unknown" cause. However, Chinese medicine practitioners always make their own Chinese medicine Diagnosis. In treating foot pain, it’s not necessary to have the Western Medicine diagnosis to commence acupuncture treatment.

In my practice, I have found heel pain to be a bit more stubborn and slower to respond, however after 6-8 treatments most patients find a great relief of pain. I have found many heel pain patients experience little or no change in symptoms until the third or fourth treatment. This is not the case in treating pain in other areas where the pain relief is often instantaneous.

If you have heel pain, its worth approaching your acupuncturist with a 6-8 treatment plan in mind. Treatments can be done 2x or 1x a week. Don't leave it longer than one week in between treatments, or effectiveness is diminished. Secondly, points on the heel itself are sometimes used but they can be more sensitive than other points. The overall treatment is not meant to be painful, and you should experience a pleasantly relaxing effect.