Traditional Chinese Medicine Weight Loss: Differentiation and Treatment Methods and Eight Core Dampness-Clearing and Diuretic Strategies

Traditional Chinese Medicine (TCM) for weight loss. Currently, the domestic and international markets are flooded with various weight loss methods and preparations. Comparatively, while the efficacy of TCM in treating obesity is not yet ideal, its fewer side effects and lack of impact on appetite and physical strength have led to its increasing popularity. Modern medicine believes that TCM can act on multiple aspects of metabolism, regulating lipid production, metabolism, and excretion, thus restoring balance to the disordered metabolism, energy metabolism, and water-electrolyte metabolism of obese individuals. Obesity is fundamentally due to spleen and kidney deficiency, with phlegm, dampness, heat, blood stasis, and excessive fat as secondary symptoms.

The treatment principle is to replenish the deficiency of the spleen and kidneys and eliminate excess phlegm and dampness. Traditional Chinese Medicine (TCM) weight loss treatment methods: 1. Dampness-resolving method: Used for obesity caused by poor spleen function and dampness accumulation. Symptoms include abdominal distension, greasy tongue coating, and a deep, thready pulse. Representative formulas include Ze Xie Tang, Er Shu Fu Ling Tang, and Fang Ji Huang Qi Tang. 2. Phlegm-resolving method: Used for obesity caused by phlegm turbidity. Symptoms include qi deficiency and chest tightness, lethargy, a white, greasy, swollen tongue coating, and a slippery pulse. Mild cases use Er Chen Tang, Ping Chen Tang, and San Zi Yang Qin Tang; severe cases use Kong Xian Dan and Dao Tan Tang. 3. Diuretic method: Divided into mild and severe diuresis. Symptoms include obesity with edema, oliguria, abdominal distension, a white tongue coating, and a thready, deep pulse.

4. **Purgative Method:** Primarily uses mild purging, often for obesity caused by a diet high in rich, fatty, and sweet foods. Symptoms include obesity with a large abdomen, dry stools, difficulty moving, shortness of breath upon exertion, a thick yellow tongue coating, and a strong pulse. Use Major Purgative Decoction, Minor Purgative Decoction, Stomach-Regulating Purgative Decoction, or rhubarb tablets alone. 5. **Digestive Method:** Used for obesity caused by excessive appetite. Symptoms include obesity, lethargy, abdominal distension, food stagnation, and a white tongue coating. Generally, hawthorn is used to eliminate meat stagnation, medicated leaven to eliminate fat stagnation, and malt to eliminate food stagnation.

Combined, these form the Three Immortals Drink, which has a certain effect on obesity caused by overnutrition. 6. Liver-Soothing and Gallbladder-Promoting Method. Used for obesity accompanied by liver qi stagnation or blood stasis. Symptoms include obesity with hypochondriac pain, irritability, dizziness, fatigue, abdominal distension, yellow tongue coating with red tongue body, and wiry pulse. Commonly used formulas include Wendan Decoction, Liver-Soothing Drink, Xiaozhang Powder, and Xiaoyao Powder. 7. Spleen-Strengthening Method. The primary treatment for obesity is strengthening the spleen and stomach. Symptoms include spleen deficiency and weak qi, reduced appetite, fatigue, obesity with weakness, white tongue coating, pale tongue body, and weak pulse. Commonly used formulas include Shenling Baizhu Powder, Yigong Powder, Zhishu Pill, and Wuling Powder.

Warming Yang Method. Used for obesity accompanied by Qi and Yang deficiency. Commonly used formulas include Jisheng Shenqi Wan, Jiawei Shenqi Wan, and Gancao Fuzi Tang. Many traditional Chinese medicines are also used for weight loss. While many herbs don't directly address weight loss, literature records their ability to "make one thin" and "eliminate fat." 1. Kelp. Salty and cold in nature, it enters the liver, stomach, and kidney meridians. It softens hard masses, dissipates phlegm, and promotes urination, thus also causing weight loss. Modern research shows that kelp contains laminin, a polysaccharide that helps eliminate blood lipids. 2. Seaweed. Bitter, salty, and cold in nature.

Especially effective in resolving phlegm, softening hardened masses, and promoting diuresis. Seaweed has a lipid-lowering effect because the alginate contained in seaweed, combined with an equal molecular weight of amphetamine, acts as an appetite suppressant. 3. Red beans. Sweet and sour in taste and neutral in nature, they have good diuretic, swelling-reducing, and detoxifying effects. They are particularly effective for obesity accompanied by edema. 4. Lotus leaves. Sweet, astringent, and neutral in nature, entering the spleen meridian, they are an excellent medicine for clearing summer heat. Some people have used dried lotus leaves to make a decoction daily as a tea substitute, resulting in significant weight loss. 5. Winter melon. Sweet and bland in taste and slightly cold in nature, it has diuretic, phlegm-resolving, heat-clearing, and detoxifying effects.

Tea is one of the world's three major beverages, known for its benefits such as clearing the head and eyes, relieving thirst, resolving phlegm, aiding digestion, and promoting urination. Pu-erh tea and oolong tea from my country are considered the most effective for weight loss and are often referred to as "slimming teas."