The most important factor in losing weight, from a Chinese medicine perspective, is to have a healthy digestive system. Many of our weight loss patients come for their first visit thinking the frozen smoothy they start their day with is helping them lose weight. They are surprised when we tell them that fruit smoothies damage digestion.
Weight Loss and Healthy Digestion
Diets don’t work because they are not addressing the root issue for weight loss. Reducing calories will only reduce weight as long as those calories are being withheld. As soon as the diet ends, most people put the weight on again. Chinese medicine has a different approach to weight loss.
Acupuncturists believe that the key to weight loss is to strengthen the digestive system. A strong, healthy stomach will transform the food you eat into energy, not fat. This will enable you to lose weight naturally, without dieting. So the key to weight loss is promoting a healthy digestive process.
How To Promote Good Digestion
When we tell our patients that fruit smoothies damage digestion, the first thing they as us is, “Well, how can I strengthen my stomach?” The answer to this question lies at the heart of Chinese medicine. Stomach function is critical for all of us. The energy we need to live healthy, productive lives comes from the food we eat. That food, in turn, must be processed in our stomachs.
If our stomach is functioning well, food is turned into energy and we have the fuel we need to live healthy, productive lives. If our stomachs, on the other hand, are damaged, they don’t have the capability to digest properly. You can eat all the good food in the world and still not have good energy. Alternatively, you can eat as little as possible and you still not lose weight.
The key to a healthy stomach is to feed it what it needs. Stomachs prefer warm, cooked foods. They like a warm environment to digest properly. And cooked foods greatly assist the stomach’s ability to break down the components of food. Fruit smoothies damage digestion because they contain the two ingredients that give the stomach the most problems. First of all they are cold, made from frozen ingredients and ice, which impede the stomach from digesting properly. Second, they contain raw fruits and vegetables, which are difficult for the stomach to digest.
Fruit Smoothies Damage Digestion
So while you are eating healthy ingredients in your morning smoothy, the cold and raw nature of the food is actually damaging your stomach. And since the most important factor in losing weight is having healthy stomach function, your morning drink is harming your weight loss efforts.
Alternatively, eating warm, cooked foods helps the stomach digest. Starting the day with a bowl of oatmeal or eggs and toast provides the stomach with the fuel it needs in the form it likes. A happy stomach turns food into energy, giving you the strength to have an active day, resulting in burning more calories and losing weight.
Acupuncture and Weight Loss
Many times people find that they still cannot lose weight, even when they eat right. Acupuncture for weight loss focuses on strengthing the stomach. Our digestive function naturally declines as we age. After 40 the stomach does not work like it did when we were in our twenties. Acupuncture can help restore normal stomach function by activating points on the body to rehabilitate the stomach’s ability to digest efficiently.
Once your stomach has been “tuned up”, eating the right foods (warm and cooked) can lead to better weight loss outcomes. Other warm cooked foods include stews, any foods cooked in a slow cooker, soups, steamed or stir-fried vegetables, and baked potatoes and chicken.
But I Love My Morning Smoothy!
If you don’t want to give up your morning smoothy, try steaming the vegetables first, thawing the fruit ahead of time and not adding ice. A room temperature smoothy will be digested a whole lot better than a raw, frozen one.
Next Steps
If you are trying to lose weight, make the switch to eating warm, cooked foods. If that is still not working, come in for some acupuncture to tune up your digestive system.
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What our Clients are Saying
I have been a long time client and friend of Jinmei and Mark. I came to learn of their practice from a friend of mine who had remarkably lost a great deal of weight, when I asked how he achieved this accomplishment he pointed me to their practice. This goes back to 2008; my initial success with their program for weight loss was very quick and lasting. Jinmei always made a point to see how I was doing not only in the area of weight loss which initially brought me in but also she always was treating the total me asking about any concerns that she could help me with. I strongly recommend their practice; you will not find more results oriented, concerned or caring acupuncture practitioners.
