Obesity is not only an American problem. According to the World Health Organization (WHO), it's a global problem. They call it globesity. Parodoxically, their understanding of this problem began with their original mission to eliminate hunger and malnutrition. We live in a world where many have nothing to eat, and many eat too much. From 1995 to 2000, the number of obese adults worldwide mushroomed from 200 million to 300 million. That's a 50% increase in just 5 years!
What is Obesity, and What is Overweight?
Overweight means an excess of body weight. This excess weight may be muscle, bone, fat, and/or body water. Obesity refers specifically to an abnormally high proportion of body fat. You can be overweight without being stout - for instance, a jock or other profoundly built competitor. But many people who are overweight are also obese.The main way to determine whether you are overweight or obese is with the body mass index (BMI). It doesn't specifically gauge muscle versus fat, and it's not sex particular, but rather it gives you an entirely solid estimation.
To find your BMI, divide your weight (in kilograms) by your height in meters squared. Correct, for the math-tested, that is mind boggling, so I'll give you a site that will make sense of it for you, the National Establishment's of Wellbeing BMI adding machine. This will very quickly tell you if you are normal, overweight, or obese, and it does all the calculating and metric conversions for you!
Overweight is characterized as a BMI over 25 (counting those over 30 BMI, as well), and corpulent is a BMI over 30. So, all obese people are overweight, but not all overweight people are obese.
The Obesity Epidemic
Obesity isn't just about not feeling good or having trouble getting dates...
- It leads to more than 300,000 premature deaths each year in the United States. 90,000 are preventable cancer deaths. (CDC)
- Severely obese men die 13 years sooner than men of normal weight.
- As a killer in America, obesity is second only to tobacco. (CDC)
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The Weight Loss Industry
- Spending: Americans spend between $40-50 billion per year to lose weight.
- Results: I haven't seen any recent news that Americans are getting any thinner - have you?
- Conclusion: What people are doing isn't working. If we want different results, we have to try a different solution.
Acupuncture Weight Loss: Fantasy, or Fact?
- Fantasy or Fact? As a well-trained and fairly conservative Chinese medicine practitioner, I had assumed that acupuncture for weight loss was a marketing fad and a patient fantasy.
- Confirmation: Yet while looking into my up and coming book Chinese Drug: A Viable Manual for Ideal Mending, I discovered some shockingly positive data that altered my opinion.
Chinese Medicine's Collective Clinical Data on Acupuncture Weight Loss
Chinese Medicine has thousands of years of clinical experience. This aggregate information not as persuading as randomized controlled trials may be, but rather it contains truth - it's flawed yet at the same time legitimate and imperative.
A U.S. government study in the 80's concluded that 85% of western medicine is based on clinical experience, not on research. (Office of Innovation Evaluation of the Congress of the Assembled States, The Effect of Randomized Controlled Trials on Wellbeing Arrangement and Restorative Practice, Foundation Paper OTA-BP-H-22. Also see Michael Millenson's book, Demanding Medical Excellence)
There is good Chinese Medicine research in Taiwan, Australia, and Europe that gets ignored by American scientists and media. Much research in Chinese has not been converted into English.
Seven Studies of Acupuncture for Weight Loss
How it works: By enhancing the function of two neuroendocrine pathways that regulate many bodily processes, including metabolism.
What it does:
- Lowers body weight, body fat, insulin levels, and lipid levels in the blood
- Decreases excessive appetite and makes it easier to satisfy your hunger with less food.
- Decreases menopausal weight gain
- In one study, acupuncture took off 10 pounds in 2 months - that translates to 60 lbs in a year!
- Combined with diet control, and aerobic counseling it not only takes off the pounds and body fat, but keeps them off, especially if you're diligent with their exercise.
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Ephedra misuse and mislegislation
Ephedra is a Chinese herb for colds and coughs. It has been misused to increase metabolism, and this misuse has caused numerous deaths. As a result, the FDA is considering a total ban on ephedra products. We can blame two major things:
- Supplement companies that care more about your money than your health (no, not all of them are that way, but some of them are, especially the ones that market weight loss formulations).
- The idea that you can medicate yourself safely with herbs - self-medication of any kind is risky. Self-drug with herbs is off the radar, and individuals for the most part figure they can do it securely. The ephedra disaster is a case of how risky it can be.
No traditional Chinese herbs should be outlawed without allowing Chinese medical practitioners to continue to use them traditionally.
Food Cravings
- Problem #1 (Protein Insufficiency): The sustenances you pine for relying upon your own irregular characteristics. Modern digestive science explains that when your body can't digest a food, you crave more of it - you're not getting what you need from it.This prompt a cycle of longing for and gorging the correct sustenance you can't process.
- Problem #2 (Low Blood Sugar): Another endless loop happens when you can't process complex carbs, so your glucose is low, so you eat straightforward carbs that raise your glucose which raises insulin, which brings down your glucose once more, and your stuck eating doughnuts and feeling loathsome.
Weight can be lost safely if done slowly and naturally.
You can lose up to 2 lbs per week without gaining it back. That implies you could lose 104 lbs this year and keep it off!
Positive change is like stretching a rubber band- if you stretch too far too fast, it breaks or snaps back on you.
So avoid the temptation to take an easy solution like ephedra or citrus aurantium (both misused Chinese herbs), because you'll gain the weight back, and you're risking heart problems and stroke.
5 Things to Do Right Now To Lose 10 Pounds Within 2 Months
And Keep Them Off:
1. Maintain a strategic distance from intensely advertised supplements - rather, see an expert prepared botanist (acupuncturist) - it's more secure and more powerful - my inclination would be a Chinese solution professional, yet some exceptionally accomplished western cultivators are great as well.
2. Acupuncture Weight Loss: See an acupuncturist/chinese herbalist - Get acupuncture (once to three times per week) to SAFELY regulate your metabolism and hunger-satisfaction. Your acupuncturist can also get you the herbs that will balance your digestion and cravings - and based on your Chinese pattern diagnosis, they can also give you personalized diet advice. Herbs and compounds (particular definitions from the chemical organization, Changes) can wipe out your sustenance desires.
3. Develop a plan and goals with your acupuncturist and aerobics instructor- make it realistic, and stick to it. If you mess up, don't beat yourself up, just get back on track as soon as you can. Any progress is better than none at all.
4. Eat less, exercise more - Eat a low fat diet, and don't miss breakfast! Weigh yourself regularly, and exercise an hour a day. Start by walking a few minutes each day, or take the stairs at work. Don't overdo it! Remember the rubber band. In fact, you may want to wear a rubber band on your wrist to remind yourself to make changes slowly. Get some aerobic exercise help- a public class, or private aerobic counseling.
5. Join a support group like Weight Watchers or Overeaters Anonymous. There's nothing like positive friends to encourage you and keep you on track. OA members say that this spiritual program of action has changed the way they relate to food.
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