Category Archives: Acupuncture Weight Loss

More Milk Debate…

Hi guys,
I was just doing my daily yahoo reading and came across this article http://shine.yahoo.com/channel/food/is-skim-milk-making-you-fat-2479492/ ) that was discussing the benefits and drawbacks of skim versus whole milk. This article has a lot of good information but I found some of it to be a tad misleading. The article quotes several studies that claim that reducing calories will not lead to long-term weight loss. While this is true to some extent, a reduction in calories to a proper level for your ideal body weight is exactly what you need to lose weight permanently. This, combined with eating a variety of whole, nutritious foods will lead not only to permanent weight loss, but will help stave off many of the chronic deseases affecting Americans today. The reason that restricted calorie diets don’t seem to work in the long run is because people think of the restriction as a short-term thing, and generally return to poor eating habits after the weight is lost. Permanent weight loss requires a life long commitment to eating healthy.

The article also quotes studies that make it seem as though you can replace your skim milk consumption with the same amount of whole milk and not only avoid gaining weight, but lose weight. While it is true that fat in your diet helps you feel satisfied longer and keep your blood sugar levels down, it is not the more, the merrier. You have to watch your fat consumption and get the proper amounts. The leading nutritional guidelines state that fat should make up 25-30% of you daily calorie intake. So don’t go gulping whole milk afer this article. Use your common sense.

All in all this is a great article outlining the benefits of whole, un-manipulated foods. Try to eat your foods the way they are provided for us naturally and for the most part you can’t go wrong. Stay healthy my friends.

Acupuncture – The Safest Weight Loss Therapy

Losing weight is a very hard process especially if the person is 40 yrs. old or above.  At this age and beyond, the ability to burn calories is not as efficient as it used to be.  Working out at this age, especially for a sedentary person can be strenuous and hard especially after a wicked workout where one can merely manage to lose just a fourth of a pound.  Sometimes the reason to do it gets lost along with the aching muscles and demoralized spirit.

Dieting may be a better option for weight loss for the sedentary person.  Cutting on calories is a good way to lose weight, that is, if one has the will power to see the process through.  The problem starts when if one somehow manages to lose weight through dieting, the urge to overeat will still be there and it really takes exceptional will power to deny that urge especially when presented with mouth-watering delicacies. Eating low calorie, highly nutritious food is always a good decision but again, it takes a lot of will power to stick to this lifestyle.  In short, dieting may even be harder for the body to do than working out.

Another option would be taking weight loss medications.  This surely looks the easiest of the lot.  Appetite suppressing pills work but at some point, the strength of the pill wanes and larger doses may be needed for the same effect to take place. The downside to this program is the side effects the drugs have on the body, especially the kidney where the toxic ingredients of the drug can wreak havoc on this vital organ’s functionality in the long-term.

With acupuncture for weight loss, one does not need to undergo any strenuous exercise programs nor does one need to experience agonizing and frustrating diet programs.  The power of chi, the Chinese word for the life force in the body and the universe essentially is the force that one only needs to treat an obese person of her sickness and proclivity to overeat.

In traditional Chinese medicine (TCM), the reason for sicknesses, maladies and ailments is the imbalance of chi flowing in the body.  The chi travels through channels called meridians.  These meridians distribute chi though all parts of the body.  If the chi stagnates or gets stuck in a particular part of the body, the person experiences sickness or diseases related to that part.

For obesity, the common areas where chi deprivation usually occurs and, which acupuncture targets, are the kidney, lungs, liver, spleen and the nervous system.  Some acupuncture points for obesity are also located in the ear since the ear has several meridian points connected to virtually all major organs in the body, not least, the central nervous system.