Traditional Chinese Medicine Diet Therapy and the "Additive" Concept of Weight Loss

Does Traditional Chinese Medicine also have dietary therapy?

Food is essential for human life; people eat every day to absorb the various nutrients their bodies need.

Nutrients are essential for the human body to grow and develop normally, for learning, for working, and for engaging in various social activities.

The human body needs various substances, including protein, fat, carbohydrates, water, and so on.

It contains various vitamins and minerals. Each nutrient has a specific physiological function. A balanced diet is important for prevention and treatment.

Obesity is a very important issue. Dietary therapy for obesity involves restricting calorie intake to achieve a negative calorie balance.

This balance helps reduce weight.

Traditional Chinese medicine believes in "moderation in diet," "harmony of the five flavors," and "the balance of grains, meat, fruits, and vegetables."

Nourish them to the fullest extent, but do not overindulge them. "Do not eat strong, rich, or heavy foods" (Lüshi Chunqiu); "Do not consume fatty, rich, fishy, ​​or greasy foods."

"Oil, cheese, and drinks" (Sun Simiao); "Eat only until half full, without adding other flavors" (Shou Shi Bao Yuan); "Breakfast can be full, lunch..."

"Eat less afterwards, for you will be completely empty by evening" (from *Lao Lao Heng Yan*). This shows that traditional Chinese medicine emphasizes diet.

The prevention of obesity has a long history.

The diet of obese patients must be controlled, the purpose of which is, on the one hand, to...

"Starvation therapy" aims to burn off excess fat accumulated in the body, while also preventing the formation of new, unnecessary fat.

Adipose tissue formation.

In terms of specific food choices for controlling obesity, the first step is to strictly limit foods that are easily converted into body fat.

Adipose tissue is composed primarily of fat and carbohydrates, followed by salt, which also needs to be controlled appropriately because salt intake...

It can retain water, leading to weight gain. Since protein is a major component of all human tissues, it is...

Protein is a primary safeguard for physical health; therefore, in order to protect the proteins in the body's tissues and organs from being depleted, diet...

The protein content in food must be guaranteed; generally, the daily protein intake should not be less than 1000 grams per kilogram of ideal body weight.

1 gram per day, which can be increased to 100 grams if conditions permit. Similarly, the body needs essential vitamins and...

Inorganic salts should also be supplied in sufficient quantities.

To reduce the feeling of hunger that obese individuals often experience during dietary control, those who can should consume small, frequent meals.

Eat 5-6 meals a day, and appropriately increase the intake of low-calorie foods such as vegetables and oil-free soups.

You can also add some fruit or drink more tea to combat hunger.

If you are still not satisfied with the weight loss after several weeks of observation, you can further reduce your food intake or the calories in your diet.

However, if the body temperature drops too quickly or excessively, it can cause symptoms such as weakness, fatigue, and chills; therefore, it should not be exercised.

Too much haste requires a combination of reducing food intake and increasing physical exertion to achieve better results.

In the specified diet plan

At that time, in addition to considering drinking

General principles of dietary therapy

In addition, fertilizer should be fully considered.

The age, ethnicity, and other factors of obese individuals

nature of work, socioeconomic

Status, physical condition, individual

People's dietary preferences and obesity

degree and presence of complications

Factors such as these were taken into full consideration.

Their unique characteristics allow for targeted, individualized treatment for obese individuals. For example, during puberty...

Obese individuals should strive to meet their nutritional needs during puberty while losing weight.

The required amount of vegetables; obese vegetarians should avoid overeating during weight loss while maintaining a balanced diet.

Currently, there is a deficiency of certain nutrients; obese Hui Muslims should have a suitable diet formulated according to their religious dietary habits.

Weight loss diets. Other obese individuals, such as those with diabetes, gout, or other conditions, also have their own dietary recommendations.

point.

Traditional Chinese medicine dietary therapy mainly includes: weight loss foods, snacks, medicinal cuisine, medicinal teas, medicinal porridge, etc.

Weight loss can also involve "addition".

"Losing weight" means eliminating excess fat and sculpting a slim and well-proportioned figure, so losing weight should be...

However, the principle is "subtraction," and "subtraction" should be the correct approach. How can anyone use addition to lose weight?

What about legal methods? Of course, there are. We usually use methods like taking diet pills, dieting, exercise, and liposuction.

Methods for weight loss are indeed forms of "subtraction." However, overemphasizing "subtraction" often leads to...

You lose weight without even realizing it, and not only is it easy to regain the weight, but worse, you lose your original health.

The vitality and dynamism of life. So, what exactly is "addition"? Actually, this is from the perspective of Traditional Chinese Medicine...

Du said that the goal is to use the "addition" method of traditional Chinese medicine to achieve scientific weight loss.

Traditional Chinese medicine believes that the pathogenesis of obesity is a combination of deficiency in the root and excess in the branch. For example, Zhang Jingyue, a physician from the Ming Dynasty, stated: "Obese people..."

"The opposite is due to qi deficiency...therefore, obese people often have qi deficiency" (Jingyue Quanshu), and also "obese people often have phlegm, which is due to qi deficiency."

Also... (from Chen Shiduo's *Shishi Milu*, Qing Dynasty). Obesity is caused by qi deficiency and spleen deficiency, leading to impaired digestion and absorption.

Disorders of distribution and metabolism, abnormal ascending and descending functions, obstruction of body fluid distribution, failure to transform dampness, accumulation of dampness leading to phlegm, and internal stagnation of phlegm and dampness.

It is formed by the accumulation of lipids and turbidity. Therefore, obesity is fundamentally caused by qi deficiency and spleen deficiency, while phlegm, dampness, and blood stasis are the superficial manifestations. Treatment of obesity should begin with...

However, the treatment should focus on strengthening the spleen and replenishing qi, warming and resolving phlegm and dampness, and promoting qi circulation and removing blood stasis.

Let's revisit the methods of weight loss. For example, weight loss drugs that use diarrhea as a remedy...

From the perspective of Traditional Chinese Medicine, these are mostly cold in nature, and patients who take them will inevitably damage their spleen qi, leading to severe deficiency of the middle qi. Initially, treatment should focus on purging.

The main cause is easy weight loss, but the spleen yang is weakened, the spleen is deficient and its function is impaired, and the transportation and transformation of food and body fluids are disrupted, resulting in the accumulation of phlegm and fat.

Because of its turbidity, it easily leads to weight gain later on, which is why diet pills often cause rebound weight gain. Similarly, without any restraint...

Strict dieting is also not advisable, as long-term dieting can lead to protein deficiency, causing edema, anemia, and weakness.

Weakness, irregular menstruation, etc. Furthermore, dieting can disrupt the brain's central nervous system, leading to bodily dysfunction.

Hormonal imbalances can lead to symptoms such as amenorrhea and infertility, and can also cause anorexia nervosa.

These are all problems caused by excessive "subtraction," where while losing fat, one also loses...

The normal function of the internal organs and tissues is compromised, resulting in more harm than good.

At this point, do we understand that weight loss involves not only losing fat but also improving spleen function?

Does this improve the stomach's digestive capacity and enhance the body's vital energy? From a Traditional Chinese Medicine perspective, treatment involves resolving phlegm and eliminating pathogens.

Addressing dampness, promoting blood circulation, and reducing fat are like subtraction to treat the symptoms, while strengthening the spleen and replenishing qi is like addition to address the underlying deficiency.

To restore the depleted vital energy. Therefore, we propose that weight loss can also be achieved through "addition."

Riga method refers to addressing the underlying "deficiency" in obesity by using medications that invigorate qi, warm yang, strengthen the spleen, and harmonize the stomach.

Examples include Astragalus membranaceus, Poria cocos, Atractylodes macrocephala, and Cinnamomum cassia. This method of treating both the root cause and the symptoms, based on "addition," is similar to...

Compared to simply using "subtraction" as a temporary solution, this is a healthier way to lose weight and will yield better results.

Good results.