TCM and weight loss

Traditional Chinese Medicine viewpoint on the causes of obesity and weight loss:

Deals with the underlying body condition that may have led to the excess weight.

Once the body's balance is restored, the metabolism will process food properly and excess weight should no longer be a problem provided correct foods are eaten in moderate quantities.

Causes:

1. Dyspepsia, also known as indigestion or upset stomach, is a term that describes discomfort or pain in the upper abdomen. 

• It is not a disease. 
• Dyspepsia is a group of symptoms which often include bloating, nausea and burping.
• Over consumption of heavy, greasy and spicy foods or alcohol facilitate production of unhealthy heat in the stomach.
• Meanwhile, inadequate exercise after eating these types of foods damages the spleen function.
• The over-heated stomach will ripen an excessive amount of food. 
• Therefore, the stomach will digest food easier and make an individual feel hungry, but the spleen cannot handle an excessive food load causing it to under function and be unable to carry out its transformation and transportation functions properly. 
• As a result, the spare metabolic products turn into turbid fluid and phlegm which intermix with blood and qi (vital energy) filling up the organs, bones and muscles. 

 

2.  External/environmental pathogens giving rise to obesity



•     Invasion of external causes or over consumption of greasy foods leads to poor transformation and transportation functions of the spleen.

  3. Qi (vital energy) stagnation causes turbid phlegm accumulation



• For those who are emotionally disturbed, experience trauma, have menstruation problems or are elderly, the liver can fail to regulate qi (vital energy) flow which in turn affects digestion and blood flow.
• The resulting sluggish qi (vital energy) and blood flow tend to impair circulation of blood and energy
• Over time, this will congeal into phlegm and result in obesity.
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4. Kidney essence exhaustion leads to disharmony


• Lifestyles, which consume kidney essence ( vital life force) such as being over active.
• This affects the digestion, leading to a malfunction of the stomach and spleen.
• When this persists over a long period, the vaporization and elimination of wastes accumulates and will worsen the obesity condition, causing fluid and waste retention