Weight Wellness

More than one-third (34.9%) of U.S. adults are obese. The obesity rates in children are also on the rise. Being overweight is not just about image anymore. It is about current and future health risk. Carrying extra weight can lead to serious health issues like heart disease, diabetes, and arthritis to name a few. By losing excess weight, not only can you prevent these health risks, but you can also improve your quality of life. It will allow you to move better, sleep better, and have more energy. Better health means longer life span. At Tao of Wellness, we focus not on just shedding the pounds. Our attention goes towards sustaining a healthy weight.  There are plenty of diets and cleanses to help you lose weight and fast, but in the long run it ends up causing more damage to your metabolism and health. Losing weight naturally and gradually will benefit your health right now and will have a lasting impact on the rest of your life.

How We Successfully Address Weight Wellness

There are many reasons why weight increases in a person or why it’s difficult to shed the excess pounds.  Most people are aware that nutrition and exercise play an important role in weight management.  But there are other issues that can create weight issues as well including hormonal imbalances, sleep problems, mood disorders, blood sugar imbalance or side effects from medications.

During your appointment with one of our doctors at Tao of Wellness, he or she will go over your medical and lifestyle histories with you to determine the underlying issues related to your unique weight condition.  A personalized treatment plan will be devised for you including acupuncture, Chinese herbal medicine, and nutritional therapy to help you achieve your goal.  We want to help you lose the weight, but more importantly, to help you keep it off.  In doing do, we strive to help your body function at its optimal level, while ensuring a healthy future for you, and much less concern for your friends and family.  The focus of Chinese medical treatment is to get your entire body working well.  Losing weight may involve one or more of your body’s systems and when your body is functioning well, you will lose weight naturally.

Our Customized Therapies for Weight Wellness

Acupuncture
There are therapeutic points all over the body that can assist in weight control.  You may receive acupuncture in your ears, arms, legs, abdomen, back, or chest.  Acupuncture can help to increase fat metabolism, control appetite and cravings, decrease “stress eating,” and regulate blood sugar levels.  Acupuncture aids in restoring proper function to all bodily systems, thus the pounds come off in a natural manner.  Learn more about Acupuncture.

Chinese Herbal Medicine
Your practitioner will construct an herbal formula specifically for your unique weight issue.  There are a variety of herbs that control appetite and cravings, eliminate bloating, improve digestion, increase fat metabolism, regulate blood sugar, and relieve constipation.  Sprouted rice aids in breaking down starches, hawthorn fruit assists the digestion of heavy proteins, green tea helps metabolize fat, rhubarb relieves constipation, and cinnamon stabilizes blood sugar.  There is no one-size-fits-all response when it comes to weight management, therefore no single herbal formula is for everyone. Your weight issue may be coming from a slow metabolism, while someone else’s may be due to hormonal imbalance, and each needs to be addressed accordingly with its own custom herbal formula.  Learn more about Chinese herbs.

Nutritional Therapy

Nutritional Consultations
Each patient receives nutritional guidance during the initial appointment but a comprehensive nutritional consultation goes much further and can be imperative to a patient wanting to control their weight.  With a diet-specific consultation we’re able to gauge your eating likes, dislikes and habits so we can develop a custom weekly menu plan, complete with meals and snacks.  Combine this with regular weight measurements, food journaling, and exercise guidelines, and you have a comprehensive plan designed to overcome most weight issues.

Nutritional Supplements
Certain supplements are quite helpful with weight control.  For example Carnitine promotes efficient fat metabolism by helping the body convert fatty acids into energy and can be useful if taken before exercise for this purpose.  We also use glandular supplements such as Metabolism Boost to support healthy thyroid function, normalize metabolic rate, and improve digestion and nutrient absorption.  Learn more about nutritional therapy, and read our Weight Wellness Menu Plan.

Tuina Bodywork
Unique to Chinese medicine, tuina bodywork combines acupressure, massage, connective tissue stretching and joint mobilization to stimulate the body’s own healing response.  It is used effectively as part of a weight management system at Tao of Wellness that includes cupping, skin brushing, and lymphatic massage.

Cupping is a popular tuina technique used to help promote circulation, increase metabolism, and reduce cellulite. Cupping is a suction-based massage, sometimes called “massage in reverse,” and is placed on various parts of the body to activate the lymph system, which is responsible for mopping up the infectious toxins.  Skin brushing accomplishes this as well, in addition to exfoliating the skin. Cupping, brushing, and lymphatic bodywork—a combination of pressing and rubbing techniques—can help rid the body of toxins stored in the cells and tissues, which supports healthy metabolic function.  Learn more about tuina.

Mind Body Exercise
This gentle and targeted exercise focuses on movements, breathing techniques that promote healthy metabolism, stress reduction, circulation enhancement, and balancing blood sugar levels.  At Tao of Wellness we will assign you a certified instructors in this and other forms of tai chi or qi gong.  Your doctor will work with you in determining the right practice as a supplement to your other exercise and nutrition regimens.  Learn more about tai chi and chi gong.

Weight Wellness Patient Success Stories

A Much Healthier Body and Eating Plan
Lucy is 47 and came to Tao of Wellness wanting to lose 20 pounds.  She was overweight and admitted to having a horrible diet that consisted of a lot of cheese, pastries, and other baked sweets.  Lucy did exercise three times per week for an hour each but her nutrition kept her chronically overweight.  After her initial consultation, Lucy received an acupuncture treatment designed to curb her appetite and stimulate water metabolism.  She also received a custom herbal formula with magnolia bark, orange peel, sprouted barley, and hawthorn fruit to help digest the food leftover in her digestive system in addition to increasing the breakdown of excess fat.  We put Lucy on a nutrition plan of vegetables, fruits, proteins except red meat, and whole grains except wheat.  We had her avoid refined sugars and cheese and instead recommended berries and nut butters as a substitute that would quench her sweet and salty cravings. After her first week, her cravings subsided and she lost 8 pounds.  This is definitely above average in terms of a first week’s weight loss but many people will notice water weight accounts for a lot when strengthening these metabolic functions.

Over the next 3 months Lucy lost between 1 and 3 pounds each week as she kept up her exercise, nutrition, acupuncture, and herbal regimens.  At this point Lucy had lost 16 pounds, she was feeling great, and her body mass index was in a perfect range.

Then Lucy visited her family in Europe over the winter holidays, completely lost track of her nutrition, and gained 8 of those pounds back.  Lucy’s family was use to eating a diet heavy in meat, cheese, potatoes, and bread, and Lucy had no other options.  She ate admittedly too much of all the foods that caused her weight to rise in the first place.  But when she got back into town she got back on her treatment and nutrition plan again and brought her weight all the way down to losing a total of 17 pounds.  Lucy now comes less regularly to maintain her much healthier body.

Natural Healthcare for Weight Wellness

Tao of Wellness was established in 1976 as a resource to address weight wellness. We strive to support you in mind and body, and invite you to make an appointment for your health and wellbeing. It would be our pleasure to serve you.