Articles — Weight Reduction
Overweight and obesity is recognized as a major health problem facing the world today. The problem is also spreading in the younger age group.
There are now many methods and strategies trying to solve this problem.
The major Western strategies are:
- Exercising
- Diet
- Drugs
- Extract herbal supplements
- Surgery
Common Chinese strategies are:
- Passive exercise (weight reduce machine)
- Diet
- Chinese (TCM) herbal treatment (delete fat)
- Drugs
All the above methods are trying to increase your metabolism, suppress and control your appetite, and delete your fat inside.
The risks and side effects of drugs and surgery are well documented. Extract herbal supplements and vitamins mostly involve a man-made process, and the affects are often not obvious. Since it is hard enough for the body to convert natural food, then imagine how hard for man-made products.
Common TCM herbal treatment use herbs to delete the fat, but the result is that the Qi and blood is even more deteriorated.
The most common methods people think are healthy are exercise and diet. ACM has quite different views to these methods.
Exercise method
Exercise is good for the young overweight group, who has extra energy and need to burn it off. Not including the genetically overweight, the majority of overweight people are "Qi deficiency".
The Medical Classic of the Yellow Emperor (recognized as the highest medicine book
in China) says:
"Female over 35 and male over 40, the Qi, blood and body start declining ..."
A lot of people don't have weight problems when they are younger, but as they get older they put on weight a lot easier. In this modern age of poor lifestyle, including poor eating, bad sleep patterns, stress, and over-consuming the body, the Qi, blood and body declining age is getting much younger.
When your body's Qi and blood is lower, then the whole body metabolism slows down and easily stores and accumulates the fat. Also, it is hard to convert the food to become "Qi" (energy). This will lead to the body being even lower in energy and then, if you use an exercise program (some intensive), it is the same as whipping a weak and thin horse running on the rough road. The result is the overweight person will start to doubt the method in their heart, and other people will think they are lazy and not determined enough, unless they faint on the scene.
The Medical Classic of the Yellow Emperor also says:
"Reading for a long time hurts the blood, lying down for a long time hurts the Qi, sitting
for a long time hurts the muscle, walking for a long time hurts the tendons, and standing
for a long time hurts the bones".
Diet method
The diet method is good for those people who have a good understanding of their body and know what sorts of food suit them.
If you do not eat correctly, or eat less than what your body requires, then your Qi and blood will not be nourished. Not only will your weight not come down, but also your health will get worse and other illness will start to appear.
An old Chinese saying is "One meal not eaten, Qi is already weakened; two meals not eaten, body already has been hurt"
ACM's answer - the Tonic Method
ACM believes the right way is to use the tonic method to tone the body's Qi and blood to get the body stronger, not the delete method that uses over-consuming, deleting or starving the body.
We believe sleeping is one of the most important tonic methods. If people do not sleep well (difficulty falling asleep, light and broken sleep), then your organs are harmed. If you don't sleep well between the hours of 11pm to 5am then your internal organs have not been nourished and restored, and the following day your organs will be Qi deficient.
Another aspect is oversleeping in the daytime. At night, the Qi needs to be inward and restored to nourish the organs. During the day, it is the opposite and the Qi needs to be outward and released to support the body working.
As long as your body's Qi and blood are toned, then your body's metabolism will get stronger and be able to fight the overweight itself.
Tonic method is different as between the younger and middle-older age groups.
Middle-older group
The middle-older age group will show weight loss more as a measurement around the body and waist reducing, not necessarily the actual weight, as this group's bodies are more saggy and loose. The reason is, when you tonic, the kidney Qi is strong, and your body becomes more firm and tight and your bone becomes denser.
Younger group
The younger age group will show measurement and weight reducing at the same time, as they generally are over-eating and consuming cold, damp and raw foods which drain the spleen Qi, leading to accumulating hard and heavy fat. When the spleen Qi is toned, then the transporting system will move more easily, leading to weight reduction.
If the younger group is over-eating, it is often due to excess stomach heat (sometimes other organ heat).
The best method is to find out the cause of the stomach heat and reduce it with food-herb formulas or acupressure, rather than other methods of drugs and surgery to control the eating desire.
Drugs and surgery control the eating desire, but exercising, diet and forceful delete method only lead to the body not being able to bear or accept it and it is difficult for the weight reduction to last.
Suggested methods
- Food-herb formulas to tone the spleen and body Qi, and cool down the stomach and body heat.
- Qigong exercises and meditation to tone and regulate the internal organs.
- Qigong Acupressure to clear the blocked channels.
- Machine (passive exercises).