8 Compelling Reasons to use Acupuncture for Weight Loss

Acupuncture for Weight Loss: An Affordable Weight Loss Solution

Ok, so you want to lose weight and you’ve probably spent hundreds of dollars on quick fix promises and diet plans – and you’ve probably noticed that after you’ve spent the time, effort, and money, your weight bounces back on.  Are you ready for a more permanent solution to weight loss?  Then it is time to try acupuncture for weight loss.  Acupuncture used to be considered “alternative medicine” but these days it is proving its efficacy in mainstream medicine as more doctors refer people and more insurance companies cover service.

Using acupuncture for weight loss is not a solution for anyone looking for a quick fix or any gimmicks.  Although the method and steps are super simple, this process can be challenging- but no worries, you can find programs that integrate extensive and affordable help along the way.  We recommend a program such as Source’s 21-Day Weight Loss Challenge in which you get step-by-step guidance by certified health coaches, clinically proven supplements, and bi-weekly acupuncture to curb cravings and increase metabolism.

How does Acupuncture for Weight Loss Work?

“The guiding principle is that acupuncture can power up any other weight control strategy by curbing appetite, quelling cravings, boosting metabolism, improving digestion, regulating obesity-related hormones and enhancing the way nutrients are used,” says Dr. Mehmet Oz on his website, DoctorOz.com.

When you come in, an acupuncturist will review your medical history and assess a diagnosis and treatment plan based on any digestive disharmonies you might have, your overall constitutional health, and your tongue and pulse.  Then the practitioner will insert hair-thin, sterile needles into specific points to increase your body’s metabolism and organ function.  Many effective treatments involve something called “electrical stimulation” or “e-stim” of the needles, which applies a painless small electrical current to certain needles to provide constant stimulation and tissue healing.  Auricular needles are also often used in order to curb food cravings and emotional addictions to food which could be an underlying challenge for losing weight.

Reason 1:  Acupuncture Works!

 Studies show that women who got acupuncture at least bi-weekly for 6-10 treatments, combined with low glycemic-index foods and regular exercise, lost seven pounds more than their counterparts who only ate a reduced calorie diet.  The women who received acupuncture also reported feeling less hungry and having less cravings. 

Research out of Hong Kong Baptist University randomly assigned 72 overweight people to receive real acupuncture or sham acupuncture.  Each person did 16 sessions over eight weeks.  Those who got the real deal, lost an average of five pounds, with one patient losing 16 pounds.  In contract, the sham group lost an average of only one pound. 

 Reason 2: Acupuncture Decreases Stress

 When under stress, we all have our ways of coping – and sometimes they are not healthy ways.  No doubt about it, when stress is knocking, that candy bar and chocolate sounds really good!  Maybe even smoking, alcohol, or binge TV watching (which leads to popping in that extra bag of potato chips without thinking about it!) is a way people deal with stress. 

Acupuncture slows cortisol production, which is a major player for adding weight around the midline when stressed.  It also tunes the vagal nerve which is connected to every organ.  Tuning this nerve allows for your parasympathetic nervous system to override the fight or flight response more readily.

Reason 3:  Acupuncture Increases your Energy

Acupuncture increases blow flow which increases the amount of useable energy you have.  This medicine naturally uses your body’s own healing ability to decrease inflammation, improve mood and sleep, and create hormonal harmony – all of which can give you the right mindset and reserves to make better food choices and have less pain and inflammation in the body to feel overall more vital. 

Acupuncture has been shown to stimulate the release of endorphins, the hormones associated with that awesome “runner’s high” feeling. 

Reason 4:  Acupuncture Curbs Cravings

Acupuncture for weight loss can help stabilize blood sugar levels which can keep an overactive appetite in check.  When your cravings are kept in check, you eat less.

Here’s a list of surprising conditions acupuncture can treat.

Reason 5:  Hormonal Harmony

Researchers believe acupuncture may boost the production of the “happy” hormone, serotonin (95% of which is found in the gut of a healthy person) and beta-endorphin.  Beta-endorphins boost mood, suppress appetite, and increase the breakdown of fats.

Reason 6:  Acupuncture Decreases Inflammation

Inflammation is linked to many serious conditions such as weight gain, high blood pressure and cholesterol, obesity, diabetes, and chronic pain.  In 2015, a study published in the Open Access Macedonian Journal of Medical Sciences found that acupuncture can decrease inflammation and change the body composition of obese individuals.  Dr. Josh Axe states “They believed the effects of acupuncture were at least partially due to improvements in pro-inflammatory markers like high sensitivity C-reactive protein, which has been found to be positively correlated with abdominal fat.”

Reason 7:  Acupuncture Improves Insomnia

Acupuncture for weight loss can even help decrease insomnia symptoms.  Insomnia can be caused by many things – one of which is poor food choices or eating too late at night.  Good quality sleep is proven to aid in weight loss too.  A meta-analysis of 46 studies done by Beijing University in China found acupuncture to be effective and safe for helping people sleep. 

Sleep expert Michael J. Breus PhD, says “When you are sleep deprived, you have more ghrelin, the ‘go’ hormone that tells you when to eat and you also have less leptin, the hormone that tells you to stop eating.  More ghrelin plus less leptin equals weight gain.”

Reason 8:  Detoxes the Liver and Improves Liver Function

Dr.Oz also states that “It (acupuncture) also strengthens the function of the liver, the organ that produces many chemicals critical for digestion, processing nutrients and breaking down of fats.” 

We live in a toxic world so it’s no wonder that it is common to have an overloaded liver – the liver is a main organ that processes chemicals and toxins from the body.  It also processes emotions.  When the liver is overloaded, we can get lots of symptoms like headaches, weight gain that will not move, flank pain, high blood pressure, tinnitus, insomnia, and irritability.  The liver plays a huge role in digestion as well.  Acupuncture for weight loss, along with herbal medicine, can greatly regenerate the liver and improve its function in the body which can greatly improve sleep, digestion, and mood.

If you are looking for an acupuncture weight loss program, feel free to contact us at Source Empowered Wellness.

 

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