Question: It’s a New Year, and I’d like to improve my health by shedding some extra pounds. What do you recommend?
Ken Rosen M.S. L.Ac.
With Traditional Chinese Medicine (TCM), there’s never just one answer, such as acupuncture. Everything is related. Acupuncture can help overeating, but the root causes of excess weight are poor food choices and lack of exercise. Acupuncture is only a good therapy for helping people curb their appetites and reduce stress-induced overeating.
That said, by the time we reach the New Year, we have already rounded the corner of winter and are headed toward spring. In TCM, spring is a time to cleanse from the excesses of winter.
In Chinese Medicine, the main culprit with weight gain is dampness. People eat too much damp, doughy, sticky food as a way of dealing with stress. Over time, their stress levels continue to peak, and dampness and weight gain set in. Cleansing or eating less regularly helps reset and unburden the digestive system while also helping people burn up their reserves. Acupuncture treatment is helpful in treating stress thresholds, and therefore, quite helpful with stress-induced over-eating. It helps balance people in body, mind, and spirit so that they do not overeat.
Ken Rosen M.S. L.Ac., practitioner of Traditional Chinese Medicine with specialties in Thai Medical Massage and Wholistic Nutrition.Brian Mahoney, Certified Hypnotherapist
Many people describe weight loss as a battle, it’s their willpower vs. the cravings. Instead of trying to strengthen your willpower, a good hypnotist will approach this issue from the other side, helping you get the ‘craving’ side of the battle resolved so you don’t need that heroic willpower.
The first step in the process is becoming aware about the feelings that trigger you to overeat, they’re the key to getting the problem solved. Clients often describe feelings that include emptiness (even though they’re physically full), anxiety, or simply being out of control. Using hypnosis allows you to work directly with the part of your mind that’s the source of the feelings. With hypnosis, you can find out why you have them. Once you know why they’re there, you can get them resolved. Once they’re resolved, the battle is over. No more cravings. You win.
Many ask if the process is like therapy. It’s not. Working directly with the feelings that drive the extra eating makes it a very direct, goal-focused experience. Some people are concerned that if they’re hypnotized, they’ll lose control of themselves. It’s a myth maintained by stage hypnotists skilled in creating that illusion. When you’re hypnotized, you’re totally safe, and you have the same ability to control yourself that you have in a normal waking state. So if you’ve tried all the traditional approaches and they haven’t panned out, you may want to consider hypnosis.
Brian Mahoney is a certified hypnotherapist and certified coach, and a member of he National Guild of Hypnotists. He is the founder of Boston Hypnosis, www.bostonhypnosis.com.
Ashley Koff, Registered Dietitian
Identifying the ultimate goal of health improvement versus weight loss is important, because a reduction in weight does not always translate to health improvement. Health improvement encompasses improvements in body composition as well as those that help optimize the body’s functions.
To start, abandon diets in favor of a personalized nutrition plan. Gather insights by keeping a food/beverage/health behavior journal for a week. This helps expose areas of opportunity from which you can develop personalized strategies for health improvement.
Example: Your journal reveals several ‘dips’ into the candy jar at work daily. Strategies:
1) Discuss visiting the jar only once a week.
2) Write down each ‘dip’, awareness may help reduce frequency.
3) Bring your own healthy snacks.
You’ll find that developing several strategies, which means having choices, typically garners greater success. Ultimately, health improvement comes from awareness of choices and learning to choose what’s right for you.
And remember, any modifications made to improve health will do exactly that: improve your health. It’s worthwhile to simply switch from eating a packaged cake containing partially hydrogenated oils to one made with a healthy fat. So yes, you can have your cake and eat it too.
Ashley Koff, RD, embraces integrative medicine in her approach to nutritional counseling. She’s the author of Recipes for IBS: Great Tasting Recipes and Tips Customized for Your Symptoms (Fair Winds Press, 2007).
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