Saturday, May 21, 2016

Weight Loss & Acupuncture

Whether you are cutting calories for health reasons or to fit into a special dress, many patients at my clinics, Boston Chinese Acupuncture and Boca Raton Acupuncture Clinic, ask if acupuncture can help them lose weight on top of resolving their other medical conditions.  Over the years, I have developed 4 complimentary tools to help my patients lose weight and keep it off: weight loss acupuncture, ear needles, Chinese herbs, and nutritional advice.

Although researchers are still figuring out the specific mechanisms of acupuncture, ear needles, and Chinese herbs on weight loss, some preliminary results suggest that these treatments can increase metabolism and decrease your cravings for sweets. One study published in 2014 by a group of Chinese scientists found that electrical acupuncture can induce weight loss in rats potentially by increasing their level of norepinephrine, which helps you feel more energized. When people feel energized rather than lethargic, they tend not only to exercise more but also to eat less junk food.

Electrical acupuncture on the belly area

Furthermore, electrical acupuncture can increase muscle tone and tighten sagging skin.  Thus, after you have lost weight, your body will be firmer rather than having droopy, stretched out skin.  Increased muscle tone can also help your body burn the calories you consume more effectively, rather than converting the energy rapidly into fat to be stored.

In order to speed up the weight loss process and save you time and money, we sometimes combine traditional full body acupuncture with ear needles.  These tiny, intradermal needles are taped to the acupuncture points on your ear that reduce appetite and cravings.  Because they are left on continuously for several days until they fall out, ear needles can help amplify and lengthen the effect of acupuncture treatments.  They can also be used alone if time and money are an issue, although the effect will be slower than combining acupuncture with ear needles.



Of course, no magical treatment will work if your diet is not healthy.  Sometimes, we are not aware that some of our dietary habits can result in weight gain.  I help patients understand the effects of their dietary choices on their health and help them formulate plans to follow to ensure that the weight stays off after all their hard work.

To learn more about weight loss acupuncture in Boca Raton, FL, visit our website at http://bocaacupuncture.org.  For service in Boston, MA, please visit http://bostonchineseacupuncture.org.