Blog
Want To Lose Weight? Try Acupuncture!
According to the National Institutes of Health, obesity is the second leading cause of preventable death in the United States. An estimated 300,000 deaths per year are due to the obesity epidemic. In addition, more than one-third (34.9% or 78.6 million) of U.S. adults are obese as stated in the Journal of American Medicine. This is a health crisis like we have not seen in our lifetime. It is estimated that the current (younger) generation may not outlive their parents because of obesity. And what makes the crisis so dangerous is that it is largely man made.
While some people may have predispositions to being overweight or developing conditions that lead to the use of food as a drug, this disease is preventable. We forget that there was a time when foods were not processed or had less additives. There was a time when Americans cooked whole foods at home and did not have such an abundance of fast food and processed food available to them. Times certainly have changed. You now can have food virtually anytime, anywhere, and in untold varieties. Take water for example, you can have water with added flavors and vitamins or in different sizes. All of this is bottled; in fact, the world spends over $100 billion on bottled water a year. This is a drink that should be free! With such a prevalence of unhealthy foods available, one must take certain actions to help manage his or her health.
Acupuncture is a complement to two of the most important factors in leading a healthy lifestyle: diet and exercise. Diet and exercise go hand in hand. Doing one without the other yields less of a gain in weight loss than when using both combined. As stated in an article on Real Simple magazine’s website, “It’s clear that you need to restrict calories in your diet to lose weight—and exercise to keep it off,” says Tim Church, M.D., the director of preventive medicine research at Louisiana State University in Baton Rouge. Both have their equal benefits such as increased energy, increased alertness, lowered blood pressure, lowered cholesterol, and so many more. When combined, diet and exercise are key to a healthy lifestyle—add acupuncture and you have a dynamic triple effect.
Acupuncture does help with weight loss. According to Women’s Health, in one study researchers looked at 91 overweight Koreans, giving some the “five point” treatment and others the “single point” treatment. All participants were then asked to keep a restricted diet and to not do any additional exercise. After four weeks, those in the five-point group showed a 6.1% reduction in BMI (body mass index), while the one-point group showed a 5.7% reduction. So it looks like both methods may help boost weight-loss efforts, but the five-needle technique may be slightly better if you’re interested in trying it. The technique being referred to is one where either one or five needles are placed in the ear. The points they are placed on relate to hunger and other systems involved with food and weight control. The treatment helped those already helping themselves. Therefore, when acupuncture is combined with diet and exercise, it increases the effectiveness of the diet and exercise.
Of course, it is not always as simple as it sounds. Any plan involving lifestyle changes should be done in small incremental steps. For example, you may start with just tracing what you eat, which brings awareness to your choices and helps you make better choices. You then may want to start removing or replacing certain foods after you are habitually journaling. With exercise, it is wise to consult your physician first. Then gradually start with a couple days a week working at your pace, and increase time, frequency, and intensity incrementally. The same principle applies to acupuncture. Incorporate it over multiple treatments. One treatment will not be a magic bullet. The more effective acupuncture treatments are drawn out over weeks or months. Take your lifestyle changes gradually, and before you know it, you will no longer be a statistic. In addition, you will see changes in your personality and accomplish things you may never have thought you would be able to. Lastly, do not think of the process of leading a healthy lifestyle as trying to go back to some place where you used to be thin or healthy. You are merely continuing on a different journey in life. As the Chinese proverb states, “A journey of 10,000 miles starts with a single step.”
For more facts on obesity, visit this site. To learn more about a healthy lifestyle, visit the Let’s Move Initiative website.
Above and Beyond Acupuncture serves the Scottsdale, Mesa, Tempe and Phoenix areas. If you’d like to schedule an appointment, please give us a call or use the online scheduler. Please feel free to call if you have any questions about how acupuncture can help you with weight loss.
